{"id":280562,"date":"2025-12-21T14:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T14:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/?p=280562"},"modified":"2025-12-21T14:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T14:41:10","slug":"symposium-on-an-alternative-economic-program-organized-by-ehp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/symposium-on-an-alternative-economic-program-organized-by-ehp\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSymposium on an Alternative Economic Program\u201d Organized by EHP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speakers at the \u201cSymposium on an Alternative Economic Program\u201d organized by the Labor Movement Party on December 20-21 made many important observations.<\/span><\/p>\n

First Session:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Three sessions were held at the symposium. In the first session titled \u201cFair Distribution of Income\u201d; <\/span>Prof. Dr. Gamze Y\u00fccesan \u00d6zdemir, Prof. Dr. Hasan Tekg\u00fc\u00e7 and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selin Pelek<\/b> made their presentations. The session was chaired by Ar. Prof. Dr. G\u00fcl\u015fah Suileten took over.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf capital exceeds public power, there are no human rights in that country\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Delivering the opening speech of the symposium <\/span>Prof. Dr. \u0130zzettin \u00d6nder<\/b>, \u00d6nder evaluated the government's choice not to increase the minimum wage as a \u201cpolitical choice\u201d, not an \u201ceconomic necessity\u201d. Saying that Turkey cannot find its own way in the capitalist order, \u00d6nder said, \u201cIn this country, capital has exceeded public power, public power has been crushed; laborers and pensioners have been crushed.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emphasizing that Turkey's understanding of development is based on an incomplete social structure, \u00d6nder reminded the role of global institutions established after the Second World War: \u201cNeoliberal policy means going to the most original form of capitalism. What did the IMF do? It downsized the state, imposed privatization, said \u2018don't run a budget deficit\u2019, said \u2018borrow from the market\u2019 and raised interest rates. The state's infrastructure came under private capital. State-guaranteed infrastructure works were carried out, and now we are paying their bills.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBourgeois economics is asocial, apolitical, ahistorical\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking at the first session of the symposium titled \u201cFair Distribution of Income\u201d <\/span>Prof. Dr. Gamze Y\u00fccesan \u00d6zdemir<\/b>, emphasized that the current understanding of economics is disconnected from social reality. \u00d6zdemir said, \u201cEvaluations made with the figures of bourgeois economics do not reflect reality. Bourgeois economics is asocial, apolitical, ahistorical. Against this, it is necessary not to see the economy as nothing but numbers, and to stick to class analysis and historical analysis.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe environments where workers can come together socially have become very narrow. They are not in places like foundations, associations, organizations, unions. They are distanced from their own publicness,\u201d \u00d6zdemir said, adding that this has led to a weakening of class consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00d6zdemir said that reformist approaches ignore class conflict and emphasized that concepts such as \u201cbasic citizenship income\u201d, \u201cfair transition\u201d, \u201ccompetition against monopolization\u201d, \u201ctransparency\u201d and \u201creasonable tax policies\u201d are in-system solutions that compromise with capital.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnswering the question \u201dWhat should happen?\u201c, \u00d6zdemir said, \u201dThe means of production should be socialized, a planned economy, central planning organizations should be established, public investments should be increased, the labor regime should be transformed and distribution should be rearranged.\".<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIncome distribution has deteriorated unprecedentedly since 2020\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Hasan Tekg\u00fc\u00e7 (Kadir Has University, Department of Economics),<\/b> stated that inequality in income distribution has deepened in recent years. \u201cIncome distribution has deteriorated unprecedentedly since 2020. During the AKP rule, exports increased thanks to the double-decker roads, but inflation also increased due to the negative interest rate policy,\u2019 Tekg\u00fc\u00e7 said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emphasizing that the economic deterioration should be read together with the social structure, Tekg\u00fc\u00e7 said that fertility rates continue to decline despite Erdo\u011fan's pro-natalist discourse. \u201cThe 8-year education reform, which was implemented in 1997, started to yield its social and societal results during the AKP rule,\u201d Tekg\u00fc\u00e7 said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cElderly poverty is a problem of society, not the insurance system\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selin Pelek, <\/b>Emphasizing that Turkey is experiencing a rapid demographic transformation, he said, \u201cThe fertility rate per woman has dropped to 1.5. This rate is even lower than Norway. Turkey is now in the category of very old countries,\u2019 he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pelek stated that although the elderly population is increasing, the social security system is unable to respond to this transformation. \u201cThe average age is rising even in occupational homicides. The retirement period is no longer a period of rest, but a second period of work,\u201d Pelek said, adding that pensions remain below the minimum standard of living.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cElderly poverty is different from classical forms of poverty because there is no way out,\u201d said Pelek, emphasizing that this situation should be seen as a social problem, not just an economic one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Session:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Symposium <\/span>second session<\/b> \u201cThe Crisis and the Downward Trend in Profit Rates\u201d. The session was chaired by <\/span>Assoc. Prof. Dr. Benan Eres<\/b> He did it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Ahmet Tonak, Dr. Ozan Mutlu and Dr. Ekin De\u011firmenci<\/b> made their presentations. The speakers focused on the internal contradictions of the capitalist system, the limits of capital accumulation and the current crisis dynamics in the Turkish economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCompetition makes it inevitable that profit rates will fall\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Ahmet Tonak,<\/b> He emphasized that the downward trend of profit rates in capitalist economies is a systemic problem. Tonak said that low wages reduce demand, and that the reduction in demand leads capitalists to produce less. He said that this situation is at the center of the labor-capital contradiction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tonak emphasized that competition is the main mechanism of crises in the capitalist system and said<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the necessity of competition, capitalists turn to labor-saving technologies to reduce costs and increase market share. This increases capital intensity and raises the organic composition of capital. However, when productivity growth is faster than the increase in surplus-value, profitability falls.\u201d Tonak said that this process leads to the problem of \u201coveraccumulation\u201d, meaning that capital becomes idle as profitable investment areas shrink. \u201cInvestments slow down, unemployment increases, financial instability and recession set in with the collapse of investment. Demand problems are the result, not the cause, of this process,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tonak ended his speech by recalling the historical trend described by Marx in Capital: \u201cThe capitalist production process magnifies the revolt of the working class organized by its own mechanism. The monopoly of capital becomes a hindrance to the mode of production that develops under it. Capitalism carries within itself the conditions that prepare its own end.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are experiencing the most severe conditions of exploitation in the Republican era\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Dr. Ozan Mutlu,<\/b> In his presentation on the course of profit rates and residual-value ratios in the Turkish economy, he noted that there was a significant increase in the residual-value ratio between 2000 and 2011. \u201cThe residual-value ratio has reached 380 percent today. We are experiencing the most severe conditions of exploitation in the Republican period,\u2019 he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mutlu emphasized that the increase in the rate of surplus value does not directly raise the rate of profit. \u201cThe increase in surplus value does not automatically increase the rate of profit. Because the rate of profit is determined by the structural dynamics of the capitalist economy. Turkey's economy has been facing excessive accumulation of capital since 2015-2016. Investments and growth have stagnated since 2018, because profitability is what drives investments,\u2019 he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mutlu said that the fact that capital accumulation could no longer find profitable investment areas created a systemic blockage and this situation deepened the structural crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCapital profits were protected by increasing the intensity of exploitation\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Ekin De\u011firmenci<\/b>, De\u011firmenci explained that capitalist accumulation is sustained in different forms with the downward trend in profit rates. Stating that there is a direct relationship between profit and surplus-value, De\u011firmenci defined crises as \u201cmoments when accumulation processes are interrupted\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the 2001 crisis, a new period of restructuring began in the Turkish economy,\u201d said De\u011firmenci, adding, \u201cRegulations were made in the banking system, real wages were reduced, union organization entered its historically weakest period. Capital profits were protected by increasing the intensity of exploitation.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stating that neoliberal policies provided a short-term increase in profitability, De\u011firmenci said that after 2016, distributional relations changed drastically again: \u201cSalaried workers\u201d wages did not improve under high inflation between 2016-2019. The wage share was rapidly suppressed. Neoliberal regulations temporarily increased profit rates but permanently reduced labor's share.\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Third Session<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The third session of the symposium was titled \u201cAlternative Economic Program\u201d. The session was chaired by Eylem Babayi\u011fit. In the session <\/span>G\u00fcne\u015f G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f, President of the Socialist Laborers Party; \u00d6zkan Atar, President of the United Metalworkers Union; Levent D\u00f6lek, Vice President of the Revolutionary Workers' Party; B\u00fclent Falako\u011flu on behalf of the Labor Party; Do\u011fan Nur on behalf of SODAP; Deniz Tuzcu on behalf of the Social Freedom Party (T\u00d6P); and Ahmet Asena, Co-Spokesperson of the Green Left Party <\/b>He spoke.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the radicalism of a demand that will ensure its realization, but the strength of the front that defends it\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Socialist Laborers Party Chairman Gunes Gumus<\/b>, started his speech with the words of Antonio Gramsci:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGramsci has a quote I like: \u2018The past is dying and the new cannot be born; we are in the era of monsters.\u2019\u201d G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f emphasized the destructive effects of neoliberal policies on society. \u201cWhen you leave health and education to the hegemony of money, babies and children die,\u201d he said. Drawing attention to the disorganization of the working class in Turkey, he said, \u201cThe rate of workers who benefit from collective bargaining agreements is only 5.5 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stating that the minimum wage has become the basic wage during the AKP rule, G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f said, \u201cWorkers have been squeezed into this threshold.\u201d G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f continued his words as follows: \u201cWhat will ensure the realization of a demand is not the radicalism of that demand, but the strength of the front defending it. The main issue is whether we can mobilize for the organization of the working class, neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street, with the burning demands of the people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing a big robbery with income tax\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

United Metalworkers Union President \u00d6zkan Atar<\/b>, drew attention to the injustice of the tax system. \u201cWe are facing a big robbery with income tax. They take it from us and transfer it to capital as an incentive,\u201d he said. Talking about the collective bargaining processes carried out under crisis conditions, Atar said, \u201cThere can be losses, there can be gains. We are trying to cope with this.\u201d Reminding the continuity of capitalism's crises, Atar said, \u201cThere is no process going badly for capital, those who claim otherwise are conducting a conscious propaganda. We come back to the socialist, socialist economy as the way things should be,\u201d he concluded his speech.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCapitalism cannot get out of its crises, it is necessary to prepare the working class for power\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Revolutionary Workers' Party Deputy Chairman Levent D\u00f6lek<\/b>, emphasized the systemic nature of capitalism's crises. \u201cThe tendency of profit rates to fall is a structural feature of capitalism. Capitalism constantly creates crises,\u201d D\u00f6lek said, addressing crises on two levels: \u201cOne is the short-term crises and the other is the depression we have been in since 2018. This is not a crisis that capitalism can overcome with its own economic dynamics.\u2019 Stating that it is wrong to think of the economy separately from the class struggle, D\u00f6lek said, \u201dThis discussion should not be left to economists on behalf of the working class. The economy is a field of class struggle.\u201c.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not pronounce a figure on the minimum wage. We need to talk about workers who are approaching and exceeding the poverty line. We need to talk about our rights that we have taken by the scruff of the neck, what we have won in strikes.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe cheap production model is based on cheap labor\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

B\u00fclent Falako\u011flu for the Labor Party,<\/b> He emphasized that economic analysis should be based on three basic dimensions: \u201cOne, the relations of production; two, the way countries are integrated into the world economy; and three, the class power relations shaped through these.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Regarding the minimum wage, Falako\u011flu said, \u201cInstead of announcing figures, this wage should already be above the poverty line.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

He emphasized the following headlines about the alternative economic program: \u201cIntroduce a wealth tax, provide security for the poor, end public-private partnerships. This program must be in harmony with society and nature. We must transform class interests into national interests. We can write a democratic, egalitarian, anti-imperialist program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the duty of socialists to oppose the MTP together with the wage struggle\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Do\u011fan Nur on behalf of the Socialist Solidarity Platform (SODAP)<\/b>, said that the Palace regime has increased the exploitation of the broadest layers of the working class and reduced its share of national income. \u201cThe Medium Term Program (MTP) is not a disinflation, but a program to lower wages, replenish Central Bank reserves, expand the alliance with international capital and ensure that the Palace regime can withstand crises.\u201d Do\u011fan Nur emphasized the importance of a long-term wage struggle and said, \u201cIt is very important to continue the issue of raising the minimum wage in the long term. However, today, it is also normal that there are nuances between what we will do when we come to power and the program we put forward to organize the working class.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is necessary to fight for the budget and the struggle for free basic needs\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Deniz Tuzcu on behalf of the Social Freedom Party (T\u00d6P)<\/b>, Tuzcu began by emphasizing the declining profit rates and the profit flight of capital. Tuzcu stated that the line of struggle should have two main pillars: \u201cThe first pillar of struggle should be the budget struggle. It is necessary to speak in favor of the working class in the distribution of social wealth and intervene in this area. The revenues collected from workers in the budget are transferred as investments in war and industry.\u201d Stating that the second line of struggle should be to define basic needs as free rights, Tuzcu said, \u201cThis can be achieved either through citizenship income or direct free access. There are masses who cannot even earn minimum wage and are pushed into the reserve industrial army. Therefore, it is necessary to defend the right to life beyond the struggle for minimum wage.\u201d \u201cAny figure we come up with for the minimum wage can be debunked very quickly by inflation,\u201d Tuzcu said, emphasizing that the ultimate goal is a social order that guarantees workers' right to live humanely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA transformative program that takes into account the rights of nature and ecological limits\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Ahmet Asena, Co-Spokesperson of the Green Left Party,<\/b> In his speech, he said that the alternative economic program must respond to the structural crisis of capitalism, not just to current problems. \u201cIt is not necessary to give all the weight of the program to current problems. In this period of depression that capitalism is going through, if the rate of profit is falling, the consequences are obvious in the long run. But the long term corresponds to a short period in today's conditions,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emphasizing that the socialist program must be transformative, Asena said, \u201cOur demands must be transformative and transformative. We have to put social needs and benefits at the forefront. Secondly, we must take into account the rights of nature and ecological limits. We must ensure social control, not bureaucratic control. Solidarity and equality must be the basic principle,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is not possible to carry out such a struggle only within the borders of Turkey. An international network of struggle must be established; unionist and political. We must be the social failure against social consent. For this, we have to unite forces.\u201d and emphasized the importance of united struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n

DAY TWO<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

First Session<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

On the second day of the symposium <\/span>\u201cMethod and Struggle in Minimum Wage Determination\u201d<\/b> Elif Akkaya chaired the session. In the session <\/span>Prof. Dr. Ceyhun Elgin, Prof. Dr. Aziz \u00c7elik and Prof. Dr. \u00d6zg\u00fcr M\u00fcft\u00fco\u011flu<\/b> made their speeches.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMinimum wage hike does not increase inflation\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Ceyhun Elgin,<\/b> Elgin evaluated the impact of minimum wage increases on economic indicators. \u201cThe minimum wage increase should be at least as much as the inflation rate,\u201d Elgin said and shared the results of the research covering the period 2005-2024. According to the findings, a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage affects inflation by only 1 or 2 percentage points. Stating that this level is controllable, Elgin said, \u2019Inflation is mainly caused by the increase in profit margins and exchange rate shocks.\u201c He emphasized that the effect of the minimum wage on unemployment remains in the range of 0.10-0.15 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of suppressing the minimum wage, the public sector should monitor prices, try to reduce profit margins and formulate an economic program accordingly,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are resources; minimum wage is a matter of distribution\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Prof. Dr. Aziz Celik,<\/b> He emphasized that the minimum wage is not just a level of income, but a reflection of class division. \u201cThose earning minimum wage and around minimum wage vary between 50-60 percent. Wages are squeezed around the minimum wage; therefore, the minimum wage is a matter of distribution,\u201d he said. Stating that the richest 1 percent in Turkey received 39.5 percent of the total wealth, he said that the \u2019no resources\u2019 argument has no reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Describing the minimum wage policy as a means of intervening not between classes but within classes, \u00c7elik said, \u201cWhile raising pensions, they lowered the minimum wage, flattening the distribution within the class.\u201d Reminding that in 1974, the per capita wage was close to 81 percent of the GDP, he said, \u2019Today this rate has dropped to 43 percent. Another minimum wage is possible with a publicist approach.\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStating that the idea that \u201dminimum wage increases inflation\u201c has become a superstition, \u00c7elik said, \u2019In 2016, the minimum wage increased by 33.5 percent while inflation remained at 8.5 percent. There is no direct link between minimum wage and inflation.\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWages are the result of inter-class power relations\u201d <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Ozgur Muftioglu<\/b>, emphasized that the determination of the wage is a direct result of the class struggle. \u201cWages are the result of inter-class power relations; the tables are for show,\u201d he said. Stating that the nutrition and housing crisis in Turkey has deepened, M\u00fcft\u00fco\u011flu said, \u201cThere is a vast majority who cannot eat healthy food. We rank first among OECD countries in terms of rent increases.\u201d In this context, M\u00fcft\u00fco\u011flu stated that the class struggle does not only consist of wage increases and said, \u201cEducation, health, housing, ecological struggle, ethnic-sexual inequalities... the class must exist in all areas.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

M\u00fcft\u00fco\u011flu said that workers need unions and class parties to carry out the struggle, but emphasized that the current union structure has become dysfunctional: \u201cThere is no democracy within the unions, there is bureaucracy; the unions are detached from the working class. It is not possible to move forward like this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest dream of the bourgeois world was to turn the labor of the worker into a commodity; they succeeded.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emek\u00e7i Hareket Partisi\u2019nin 20-21 Aral\u0131k tarihlerinde d\u00fczenledi\u011fi \u201cAlternatif Bir Ekonomi Program\u0131 Sempozyumu\u201dnda konu\u015fmac\u0131lar bir\u00e7ok \u00f6nemli tespitlerde bulundu. Birinci Oturum: Sempozyumda \u00fc\u00e7 oturum yap\u0131ld\u0131. \u201cGelir Da\u011f\u0131l\u0131m\u0131nda Adaletli B\u00f6l\u00fc\u015f\u00fcm\u201d ba\u015fl\u0131kl\u0131 birinci oturumda; Prof. Dr. Gamze Y\u00fccesan \u00d6zdemir, Prof. Dr. Hasan Tekg\u00fc\u00e7 ve Do\u00e7. Dr. Selin Pelek sunumlar\u0131n\u0131 ger\u00e7ekle\u015ftirdi. Oturumun ba\u015fkanl\u0131\u011f\u0131n\u0131 Ar. G\u00f6r. G\u00fcl\u015fah Suileten \u00fcstlendi. \u201cSermaye kamu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":280563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-280562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gundem"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280562"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280565,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280562\/revisions\/280565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}