The French strike wave: A new stage in the class struggle

[Hannah Bell]

The strikes and mass demonstrations in France against pension cuts are the latest and most developed expression of a new stage in the class struggle—the entry of the international working class into mass opposition against the ruthless assault on jobs and living standards...These events deal a shattering blow to all claims that the working class is a spent force and the class struggle is a relic of the past.

By all accounts, the strikes against legislation that would raise the retirement age are expanding. As the week began, petrol stations throughout the country were running out of fuel as a result of a strike by refinery workers. Truck drivers have joined in, slowing traffic on the country’s major highways. Hundreds of high schools are shut down by student protests. Mass demonstrations are planned for Tuesday, following similar days of action over the past week that brought more than 3 million people onto the streets.

The strikes have the overwhelming support of the French population. Polls show 70 percent in favor of the strikers. Among young people aged 18-24, support is as high as 84 percent. The popularity of Sarkozy, in contrast, is at record lows.

The events in France are world events. They are part of a growing mood of resistance in every country. In Europe, there is increasingly determined opposition to the austerity measures introduced throughout the continent following the debt crisis in the spring...The reemergence of the working class into struggle is not limited to Europe. China has been rocked by strikes of auto workers; textile workers have staged mass actions in Cambodia and Bangladesh; and Foxconn workers in India have struck in defiance of police repression. In the United States, there is a brewing rebellion of auto workers against brutal wage cuts worked out between the auto companies, the government and the United Auto Workers union.

These events show that there will be no peaceful restabilization of the world economy following the financial panic of September 2008. The breakdown of world capitalism has ushered in a new period of social upheaval...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/pers-o19.shtml

[SoCalDem]

1. Storming the Bastille, 2010 style

[Jim Sagle]

2. Good reporting on the disease by WSWS as usual. But I don't trust their prescription/analysis.

They always assert capitalism's inevitable breakdown without ever explaining why it isn't a willful takedown.

[Hannah Bell]

3. i don't trust their prescriptions either, or their motives. but they cover stories the msm ignores,

& cull factoids the msm buries in the 9th paragraph.

[sabrina 1]

4. This is what should be happening here.

Those people are determined. They have been doing this all summer and I imagine they will throw out the government in their next election.

The wealthy Globalists were working together across the globe. And they destroyed country after country. Now maybe the PEOPLE can start working together across the globe to rid their countries of these greedy, corrupt tyrants. Iceland has thrown out their government and are starting prosecutions. The U.S. seems to be so apathetic compared to other nations. Maybe France can lead the way. I hope the elites are scared to death by the reaction they are seeing. I guess they thought it would be easy.

[DFW]

5. Important nuance:

Probably OVER 70% support the strikers. Less than 20% support the strikes.

I was just in Paris yesterday. Everyone from the waiters in cafés to the Arab immigrant taxi drivers to the small store owners
sympathized with the cause of the strikers. NONE of them sympathized with blocking the gas stations or stopping mass transit.
These people all have jobs, some of which hang by a thread, and need to get to work, too. Taxi drivers need fares or they earn
zero, and they are not exactly in the high income bracket. I have been through these things more than I can count. My French is
close to native fluency, so it's not like there is a communications barrier. When the strikers bring their kids and make it look
like a picnic for Papa's day off, it just enrages the other workers who otherwise would have been their closest allies.

Of course, pissing off those who should have been your closest allies is not exclusively the domain of the French.

(see "Obama, Barack").

There was a great film from Sweden about 40 years ago about the general strike that brought the Social Democrats to
power in Sweden in 1931. It is called Ådalen '31, because a general strike was the result of a rightist government
overreacting to a peaceful demonstration with arms (à la Kent State) in the town of Ådalen.

It's a beautiful film, and at the end, the son of one of the killed demonstrators is talking to one of the strike
enthusiasts who lost no one but was exulting at the general strike. He says "but you also have to learn from this."

When the film was made, the Social Democrats had been in power in Sweden for almost 40 years uninterrupted.

A written text shows on the screen mentioning this, and then saying: "Equality has not been achieved."

[laughingliberal]

13. Perhaps those who support the strikers but not the strike have some other idea how to stop the new..

austerity program.

I know! They could write and phone their reps like we do here!!!

[DFW]

15. They don't do that even when they're happy (and French never are)

But burning cars and picnicking in the streets in the faces of those who have to work for
a living isn't exactly fostering solidarity either. Those who do that are just playing
right into Sarkozy's hands by driving a wedge into what should have been a front of
solidarity, and so far, they are succeeding admirably.

[laughingliberal]

16. Can't fail worse than the American workers' tactic of keeping our heads down, crossing our fingers

and hoping they don't take all our crumbs away.

[DFW]

17. Agreed there: both fail

Both are extreme ends of the spectrum and equally as detrimental to the cause of the working man.

Bashing a window of some café is just as useless as accepting any indignity with "yes, boss."

[laughingliberal]

18. Disagree

There is a long history of protest by the French people and I can't help but notice they are in the streets protesting a raise in early retirement age from 60 to 62 and a raise in full retirement from 65 to 67 while we sit here already at 62 for early retirement and quaking in fear that our current full retirement benefit age will be raised from 67 to 70.

The workers in France who find those standing for their rights an inconvenience put me in mind of the 'good Germans' who were OK as long as the trains were on time.

[Hannah Bell]

83. lol.

[Hannah Bell]

21. 70% support the strikers, but no one supports the strike?

most of the strikers have jobs, too. cgt (general confederation of labor) is point organization for the strikes.

[uppityperson]

28. I don't see "no one supports the strikes" in that post. Perhaps you misread.

"Probably OVER 70% support the strikers. Less than 20% support the strikes."

[Hannah Bell]

35. "NONE of them sympathized with blocking the gas stations or stopping mass transit"

& it beggars belief even that 70% report sympathy with the strikers while only 20% have sympathy with the strike.

no strikers w/o a strike.

[laughingliberal]

41. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, trains gotta run on time.

I LOL at the French who feel they are being inconvenienced by those who are fighting for the rights of all of them.

Perhaps they'd like to take a look at how much better they have it, as the result of those who take to the streets there, than workers in America who just turn the TV set up another notch and sit in the dark praying our corporate overlords don't steal all our crumbs.

[DFW]

33. Do you know who makes up the leadership of the CGT?

I'm not talking about their 30-something poster boy postal worker, but the Marchais types who run it.

I've worked in France and with French people for 35 years, and speak the language fluently, run down there three times
a month, and have had French friends of many walks of life. I suspect you speak French fluently and travel there often
as well, so I won't dispute you if you hear other things there. However, I speak from VERY frequent personal experience
with France.

[Hannah Bell]

37. "Marchais types" -- now that piques my interest. please elaborate.

[Mass]

43. I guess this is whom this poster refers to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Marchais

[DFW]

49. Georges Marchais was head of the PCF

Parti Communiste Français

Quite a colorful character, and wielded some clout in his day. Famous for his interview where he was asked if
he and his party would ever cede power if elected to power and then subsequently voted out of power. His answer
was,"why would we ever get voted out of power?" He was quite wealthy and lived in a big fancy villa, and caught
a lot of flak for it from the left as well as being mocked for it by the French right.

I used to see him all the time on French TV and see him in the French print media back in his day.

When the Soviet Union fell, and a lot of the inner workings of the CPUSSR and the SED before them were exposed,
the PCF line was suddenly "We were betrayed!" It reminded me of American super-"conservative" Richard Viguerie
writing his book "Conservatives Betrayed" when even he had to admit that Cheneybush was a rightist regime, not
a conservative one. You can paste any label on yourself you want, but like the old saying goes, standing in a
church no more makes you a Christian than standing inside a garage makes you a car. Richard can NOW say that he
and his fellow "conservatives" were betrayed, but he and his bunch were they very ones who did all the underground
dirty work that got Cheneybush in there in the first place.

[Hannah Bell]

62. dang it, i thought you meant the monaco royals. too bad.

[DFW]

76. It pains me to disappoint. It's a sad thing, I know.

And at my age, efforts at improvement bear only the smallest of fruit..........

[Mass]

40. Do you even know who Marchais was. I am 50 and he was in politics when I was about 10 to 20.

The CGT leaders are certainly left wing, but certainly not the Marchais type. BTW, all unions are on board (or nearly all), not only the CGT.

CFDT is definitively not communist.

[DFW]

50. CFDT not, CGT yes

They aren't concealing anything, they embrace the label. Just stand on any large boulevard during one of their
demonstrations. I have often enough.

I am 58, and have been spending most of my time in Europe since I was 27. I used to watch interviews with Marchais
all the time, and read more from him in the French papers. My French is very good, by the way. I am still there
about 3 times a month, and am on the phone there on a daily basis.

[uppityperson]

27. Thank you for posting this difference.

I've been trying to figure out how to write that and when I've written of what my French relatives report I've been called names.

I agree with what you write, thank you for writing this.

[DFW]

34. Anyone who doesn't know the difference probably doesn't spend a lot of time there

The French have no harsher critics than the French themselves, and the most successful comic book series,
the historical "Astérix" series, makes light of the fact that they argue and bicker incessantly among
themselves, and then criticize themselves for not being able to reach a consensus.

One of my best friends there, a loyal socialist at the polls, keeps telling me "on est vraiment un pays de cons
(we are truly a nation of jerks)," and he makes NO exclusions. He is an absolute French chauvinist, who takes his
vacations only in France, as there is no place he loves more in all the world. It's just how the people are
there, and if anyone who thinks it can't be so just doesn't have any personal contact with the country. On the
other hand, trying to explain it to someone who doesn't know France intimately is a task of nearly insurmountable
difficulty. France is just one of those places where 2+2=5, and looking for an explanation as to why is useless.

[Hannah Bell]

65. my "american relatives" support thr teabaggers, but i'd never think of claiming that they represent-

ed "americans"

neither do i particularly care what someone's french relatives think, or what your impression is, unless i lnow the circles you travel in & the sources you find credible.

for example, if you've been going to france regularly since you were 27, you're not an "average" american. maybe you're an international businessperson, maybe you're a global jetsetter, i have no clue. but either of those possibilities would mean you weren't meeting the "average" french person, either.

so you can describe your experience, but that's what it is. you don't speak for france, or all french.

polls say 70% of the french support the strike. i don't expect that the business class does so much, but most french aren't in the business class.

[Mass]

39. True, but this is typically French. The fact that 70 % supports the strikers is significant.

This means the strike can continue longer because, even if people will vent because their like is disturbed, they also agree with the issues.

I am French and this is clearly starting to look like May 68, or to December 95, where a previous government tried to reform its welfare. Sure, people were not happy that things were blocked, but they also understood and supported the strikers. The government was forced to abandon the project.

Here, a Sarkozy government that is totally rejected by the people is trying to force a reform nobody wants as is. Given what I see and hear from my relative in France, people are very supportive (even if they would prefer not to be disturbed in their life) and hopefully, the project will get the same fate.

[DFW]

51. Agreed--very typical of France

Astérix could have been written about no other country and been so accurate.

But I was in Paris in 1968, too, and so far, this is VERY tame compared to then.

So far, that is. Ça peut toujours changer d'un instant à l'autre, as well you must know.

[Mass]

53. Frankly, this is not what I hear from my family. I guess we will have to disagree.

[DFW]

55. Depends on your circumstances and whom you know

Like I said, I'm there three times a month at least. My views are based on first-hand experience.

If your family tells you something different, then obviously you'll have a different take on things.
I don't find this to be especially unusual, considering that in France EVERYBODY has a strongly-held
opinion, no two of which are identical. I've been going there every year since 1968. Some things never
change, some never stay the same. I have already been there three times this month, just got back
yesterday (train was on time, by the way--gotta get lucky sometime!), and have to be there again next
week. On vera bien ce que ça donne................

[Hannah Bell]

84. the fact that you go to france 3 times a month is meaningless for the same reasons

you claim the posters' relatives' opinions are.

maybe you go to france 3 times a month to deliver drugs to some french aristocrat & his bankster friends. how do we know what circles of opinion your opinion reflects?

polls say 70% support the strikes.

[DFW]

87. Saying I might deliver drugs to French aristocrats and banker friends is, to be polite, inaccurate

Needless to say, that's rather rich coming from someone who has no clue what I do for a living,
and the polls say that 70% of the French sympathize with the grievances that cause the strikes,
not necessarily the strikers and their actions. Taxi drivers and employees who commute to their
everyday jobs in the city, and don't live near public transportation, do not appreciate their
roads blocked or the gas stations running dry. That only generates anger against the strikers,
even if the people agree with the grievances. The Algerian taxi driver who drove me into town
from Roissy on Monday earns maybe €2250 a month--not exactly French banker status. The woman
who does sales at the Debauve et Gallais shop makes less. She doesn't qualify as a rich banker,
either. The Chinese/Vietnamese young people at the fast food place where I barely had time for
a late lunch don't reach that lofty level, either (I don't have any idea what they make).

If you doubt my on-the-ground experience, I suggest you go there yourself and see if my opinion
reflects reality or not. Selective deciding as to which on-the-ground reports to believe will
get you the opinion you want, of course, but not necessarily reality. I have been going to France
for 40 years. If you want to get other first-hand Francophone experience to cite, be my guest.
I submit that doing that would get your post a lot more credibility than suggesting to DU that
I might be a drug runner for the French elite.

[Hannah Bell]

89. i wasn't suggesting you did in fact, as you obviously understand. just an example

to demonstrate that your views about what the french as a body think, feel & believe aren't automatically believable simply because you go to france 3 times a month, or week, or day, for 40 years or 100 years.

just as charles de gaulle's opinions (should he return from the dead) as to what the french think don't necessarily represent what the french think, but more likely what a segment of the french think.

i could probably find a taxi driver & shopkeeper with completely different opinions & your offering up them as some examples of the poor workers who are inconvenienced by the strike is still just two people's opinions.

we'll see how it plays out. i've heard all sorts of things, but no one knows the mind of the body.

[TBF]

6. Solidarity K&R nt

[Starry Messenger]

7. k & r

[Odin2005]

8. K&R +1,000,000,000,000

[blindpig]

9. Workers of the world, unite

Greece, Spain, Portugal, France are in the vanguard. When the Chinese workers get traction, look out.

I hope we are all taking notes.

[xchrom]

10. Recommend

[SlipperySlope]

11. Better to burn the country to the ground...

Better to burn the country to the ground than to let the politicians oppose the will of the people.

[Romulox]

12. Let's hop in the Hyundai and we'll all strike! SOLIDARITY!

:rofl:

[laughingliberal]

14. K & R nt

[leftstreet]

19. K&R

[blindpig]

20. The bastards are using rubber bullets against high school kids...

in the defence of Property.http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/96570


Madame Liberte'?

[WillyT]

22. K & R !!!

:patriot:

:kick:

[KillCapitalism]

23. K&R Hannah n/t

[Better Believe It]

24. World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is a tiny political sect which is not supporting the French protests

socialist organizations, progressive groups and trade unions.

They are armchair sectarian "socialists" who comment, at great length, on events such as the French demonstrations against Sarkozy, but, they are not working together and with the French "left" to build a mass movement that can defeat Sakkozy.

Just read this part of the article:

"The biggest obstacle to resolving the crisis in the interests of the French workers is not the Sarkozy government, which is weak and isolated. It is rather the trade union leadership and its allies in the Socialist and Communist parties and the other supposedly “left” middle-class organizations that work to keep opposition confined within the framework of the capitalist system and its political representatives.

Whether it is the New Anti-Capitalist Party in France—which claims in its most recent statement that as a result of the strikes, “the government will be forced to capitulate”—the Left Party in Germany, SYRIZA in Greece or the International Socialist Organization in the US, the aim of all these tendencies is the same: to prevent workers from understanding the situation they confront, mobilizing their strength and fighting for political power.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/pers-o19.shtml

So the biggest problem French workers face isn't the Sarkozy regime, it's the labor movement, socialists and "left" organizations!!!!
So perhaps the French left should organize demonstrations and strikes against itself, and not the Sarkozy regime???

The WSWS is a website run by the so-called International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). This outfit is what remains of a tiny split-off, numbering at most 200 people, from a far larger Fourth International organization that numbers in the tens of thousands.

The Socialist Equality Party is the name of their tiny sect in the United States.

Like the WSWS and ICFI they also oppose the labor movement and all progressive organizations. They even go so far as to attack all of the unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO as non-working class organizations that should be decertified at work places and be replaced by .... you guessed it .... the Socialist Equality Party!

As they explain:

"As for the trade unions, the analysis that was made by the International Committee of the Fourth International more than 20 years ago—that if workers are to resist the corporate attack on jobs and wages, they must first of all break free of the shackles of these organizations—has proven absolutely correct. In the US, the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Coalition are not “working class organizations,” but auxiliary organs of the state and secondary instruments in the exploitation of the working class, presided over by upper-middle-class executives for whom the “labor movement” is a business, a means of expanding their own personal wealth. Not one of these organizations has engaged in a significant social struggle in more than a generation. They see their primary responsibility as enforcing concessions, often in exchange for lucrative payoffs to the union executives—as in the UAW’s VEBA program."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/aggr-f01.shtml

DU'ers can decide for themselves what to make of this outfit by visiting their website and reading carefully their views on the labor movement, civil rights, GLBT struggles, mass movements and actions such as the October 2nd March on Washington (they opposed it and did nothing to build it).

If you know any socialists in your area ask them about this political sect. They will either confirm what I have written or will indicate they haven't seen anyone from this group active in their area.

The poster should investigate their political history, background and positions carefully. It's sometimes easy to be fooled by radical sounding rhetoric. A lot of sane socialist organizations are around such as the International Socialist Organization, the Socialist Party, etc., that people can check out if they have an interest in Marxism.

[Romulox]

45. Exactly the same could be said of that rag's coverage of issues in Detroit

The WSWS (and its proponents) have ZERO focus on poverty or working people. Their #1 cause is to skewer trade unions, as a casual search under the OP's nom de plume will reveal. :shrug:

[msanthrope]

95. Bookmarked--thank you for the info, and the research on the source. n/t

[apocalypsehow]

25. The Fourth International? It's not 1938 anymore - and Trotsky's long gone.

"For the struggle in France to be successful, it will have to break free of the stifling grip of the unions and take an independent path. Workers need to build new, democratic organizations of struggle—committees of action—to fight for the broadest unity of all sections of the working class and the active participation of students, youth, professionals and oppressed middle-class layers in an industrial and political offensive against the government and the ruling class. The committees of action will campaign for the development of a general strike to bring down the Sarkozy government and replace it with a workers government based on a socialist program"

Here is where I seriously part ways with this outfit's you've linked prescriptions: such a move, were it implemented, is more likely to generate a rightward backlash in France, and bring a center-left bourgeoisie and reactionary alliance together - and that would be the coalition that would assume power. Then matters would be worse.

Edit: typo.

[Hannah Bell]

29. i agree. it's a stupid & possibly double-dealing position. i'm not a member of wsws. however,

i appreciate that they offer detailed coverage of stories the msm doesn't.

posting an article by a news outlet is not equivalent to a belief in the purity of their motives or the righteousness of their politics.

i can say the same about the nyt & the wapo, two less than neutral outlets.

there is no unbiased source.

[apocalypsehow]

32. I agree - our own media is AWOL on this story. I haven't seen anything even on cable news, save one

small blurb on, of all channels, FAUX. And that was Neil Cavuto, uber capitalist, attempting to discredit it.

Thank you for posting the OP.

[robdogbucky]

73. The NYT does, on page A10....

Amid Strikes, French Leader Vows Order

"PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Tuesday “to guarantee order,” restore fuel supplies and crack down on “troublemakers,” as a quarter of France’s gas stations ran dry and other disruptions built from nationwide protests and strikes.

His comments marked a hardening of the government’s resolve to hold to its program of reforming the indebted pension system despite the job actions by public workers at refineries and railways and in other key sectors. The final parliamentary vote on the plan may not come until early next week.

While some French officials argued that fewer protesters were turning out, the damage to the economy is only beginning to be tallied, and there appears to be enough political fallout to potentially cost all the players.

The gas stations ran out of supplies because of transport problems; stocks remained adequate. Furious drivers waited in lines for expensive fuel and worried openly about their plans for the pending two-week school break. Numerous flights were canceled, railway travel was disrupted and garbage went uncollected in some major cities..."


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/world/europe/20france.html?_r=1&ref=france

[Romulox]

47. But posting from the WSWS again, and again, and again, and then vehemently defending their positions

even in the face of your own (self-admitted!) lack of any experience? Cause you do that. A lot. :hi:

[Hannah Bell]

63. you seem to be confused. i don't defend their "positions," if by that you mean their plan to

organize the world revolution.

i defend the facts in the articles, the anti-capitalist slant of the articles, & MY RIGHT TO POST THE ARTICLES WITHOUT BEING REDBAITED, ROM.

oh, & btw: you might take a tip from the poster i initially responded to. he got a civil response & discussion because he led with a reasonable argument containing actual facts rather than a snarky personal attack.

[Romulox]

69. I meant the jihad against trade unions, Hannah.

"MY RIGHT TO POST THE ARTICLES WITHOUT BEING REDBAITED, ROM."

Sorry Hannah, but my response to you was not "redbaiting". Indeed, if I believed you were a true socialist I'd be your fast ally.

[Hannah Bell]

70. You seem to believe that calling out the collaborationist leadership of the UAW & AFT = jihad

against trade unions.

and your, & others responses to me *have* been redbaiting.

[Romulox]

74. I think your singular focus on trashing labor unions is very suspicious, yes.

Do you have any critical words for our Neo-liberal President and his corporate welfare, for example? :shrug:

"and your, & others responses to me *have* been redbaiting."

Link or it didn't happen. You hold yourself as a "socialist"--it's not an insult to mention that fact. Indeed, I don't consider "red" or "communist" an insult at all. :hi:

[Hannah Bell]

82. i've "trashed" no unions, just the collaborationist leadership of two unions.

your problem is with the implicit critique of this administration contained in a critique of the leadership that is SELLING OUT ITS MEMBERSHIP.

sorry, randi weingarten ain't the aft, & bob king ain't the uaw.

they're collaborationist sellouts.

[Romulox]

91. So...no link for your unhinged assertions then?

This is a new low for you, Hannah. You really think fabricated smears are the way you're going to gain influence here on DU? It won't work.

Now, more than ever, I am convinced that your agenda is not what you say it is. Redbaiting? Nonsense! Your attacks on workers are indistinguishable from those of the ruling class.

[Hannah Bell]

101. you're a laff riot, rommie.

[Better Believe It]

59. I understand. But look around, you'll find other genuine left sources, including authentic

socialists who aren't so fricken sectarian and nutty!

Just check out all of the left groups the WSWS attacks!

:)

[Hannah Bell]

64. I post from socialist worker, too & many other sources. however, i find socialist worker is often

indistinguishable from the liberal press, & less "facty".

[apocalypsehow]

26. And, oh yeah, Rec, since the story should be read despite my reservations about its prescriptions.

Americans, even progressive Americans, can be way too insular at times to events tearing apart other parts of the world.

[Better Believe It]

30. I agree. Here's a more serious and informative article from the real 4th International!

Yes, they still exist and in fact seem to be growing. Their party in France got around 10% of the national vote in a recent election!

Here's their article dated October 11, 2010. I think their articles are not copyrighted, they want maximum exposure, so long as attribution is given. Well, here's the views of one of their French members who is a leader of the French NAP party.



An explosive situation
Towards a general strike
Sandra Demarcq
IV Online magazine : IV429 - October 2010



The political situation in France is dominated by the mobilization against the proposed reform of the pension system. This reform is at the heart of Sarkozy’s austerity policy. Although it is presented as an obvious demographic necessity, it is meeting increasing opposition in public opinion.


The mobilization has been growing since the start of the mobilizations in May and the first day of action in June. Since the beginning of September three days of strikes and demonstrations (the 7th and 23rd of September and the 2nd of October) have brought out 3 million people on each occasion. The CGT estimates that 5 million people have participated in the strikes and demonstrations since the start.

On each day of action, we have seen that there are more private sector workers, more young people – even high school students are beginning to mobilise and block their schools - and more radical demands.

The battle against the draft law on pensions also shows a massive rejection of the whole politics of Sarkozy. There is not only the question of the pension, numerous sectors are extremely mobilized, on strike on various topics: post offices, in hospitals, the nurse-anaesthetists, the dockers...

Faced with this resistance, the government is more and more unpopular. These accumulated difficulties are provoking a crisis within the right.

To try to reassert his control, Sarkozy has stressed his racist and security policies, in relation to the Roms in particular. But also in the last few weeks, the government has tried to make people forget the social question by advancing the terrorist danger. But without much success.

Dissatisfaction is growing and the situation is "explosive". Faced with the success of the demonstrations and strike days, the government has not moved and says that nothing will be changed in its proposal. The crisis and the debt are poor excuses to justify the reform.

Sarkozy and his government want their reform. Faced with the determination of the government, many workers know that to win it’s necessary to impose social determination.

Today, in numerous sectors, it is time for an all-out strike. For example in the RATP (Paris public transport system), the SNCF (French national railway company), but also in the chemical and engineering industries there is a possibility of a continuing srike from Tuesday. <1>

We know that the next day of strikes and demonstrations, on Tuesday 12th October, will be a success. And today, the idea that we can win is increasing.

The state of the movement
It is, at the moment, a very political movement. The strike rates are strong but not exceptional. The self-organization of the movement today, is very low. General assemblies in the various sectors have very low participation.

It is a unitarian movement. There is an inter-union coordinating committee <2>, which gives the calendar of mobilisations but which is pushed by the intransigence of the government and by the very radical militant teams.

This movement is characterized by a massive refusal of the reform, a spectacular mistrust against the power, against Sarkozy but we don’t know what will be the end result of this confrontation. Everything is possible.

On the political level
The NPA participates with the whole French left including the PS, but without LO, in a unitarian campaign against the pensions reform .

This unitarian campaign, launched by Attac and the Copernic Foundation, is based on the demand of a pension at 60 years for all and the withdrawal of the law.

Although all the left agrees on these two demands, there are several disagreements.

The disagreement over demands is in particular with the Socialist Party. They agree with the demand of 60 years old as retirement age but they defend the idea that workers must work longer to get a full pension. And so they voted with the rightwing deputies for the increase of years worked to qualify for the full pension.

There are also disagreements about the strategy for winning against the government and obtaining the withdrawal of the draft law. There are disagreements with the Socialist Party but also with the Communist Party and Parti de gauche (Left Party). The Socialist Party ask us to wait for the next presidential elections in 2012 and the other political forces demand a referendum, turning the class struggle into an institutional question. They are all refusing the social confrontation necessary to win.

The NPA’s profile
Since the beginning of the mobilization, the NPA has worked in two directions:

The first : to be completely in the unitarian campaign, defending retirement at 60 years old with full pension. We also demand the withdrawal of the law. Olivier is the party spokesperson who has participated at the most unitarian meetings around the country.

For us, the main demand is the redistribution of wealth and the sharing of work. Our profile is clear, since last May we have been working for a massive social and political confrontation.

As the government is very unpopular, one of our demands is to sack Woerth, the labour minister, and president Sarkozy.

11th October 2010

http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1935

[apocalypsehow]

31. Thank you for the link to the site and the article - while these folks are quite a bit to my Left,

they should be listened to.

On a side note, my junior year in college I wrote a thirty page term paper on Trotsky and the impetus behind the "Fourth International" and probably consumed a thousand gallons of coffee staying up nights - sometimes all night - doing research for/and writing it. It about wrung me out.

I spent a lot of time reading about 'ole Leon and feel I got to know him a little bit, even though he'd no doubt dismiss that as bourgeoisie sentimentality & nonsense. ;-)

[Better Believe It]

38. Did you read "My Life" or his book going after Joseph Stalin? I read them some years ago.

Don't have them in my library now. Somehow lost them while moving over the years.

[apocalypsehow]

44. "Stalin's falsehoods" ( or something like that)? Been so long I'm going to have to Google it. Plus,

the "transitions" work, which more or less dealt directly with the subject, and about a dozen others I'd have to jog my memory about. It's been a lot of :beer: since then - :-)

There was also a fantastic archive of primary documents on the campus itself, though I didn't appreciate its true scholarly worth at the time. Brings back good memories, good times.

[Better Believe It]

46. I remember reading two books.

One was called the "Stalin School of Falsification" and the other "Stalin" which he was writing when murdered in Mexico.

[apocalypsehow]

54. I'm so glad this subject came up, because Googling around I was able to find a resource I could've

used back then:

http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/index.htm

If I'd had access to those resources two decades ago my academic task would've been much, much easier! It's amazing the resources you can find on the internet, whereas you'd had to spend hours in the stacks to find the same information/volumes when I was in college.

[leftstreet]

36. ..

Thanks for posting that!

[BolivarianHero]

42. If workers and peasants unite against debts created by the elites...

The world will fucking explode. Please dear God let this happen.

[MellowDem]

48. My only question is...

when the debts are caused by changing demographics and reality (ie, less workers, more old people, living longer) as is the case in France, then who should pay the debt? I mean, eventually, these societal problems will have to be borne by all of society, so it doesn't make much sense for the working class to be so inflexible given the circumstances. In the end, if they cannot be flexible, they will only hurt themselves in the long run. France just simply won't be able to afford their healthcare system anymore. What are the protester's solutions?

[Joe Chi Minh]

57. I bet you worry about people's health care all the time. Must be a heavy burden. France needs you

to set it on the right lines - like things are for the working people in the US, eh? You're a gem. You know that?

[MellowDem]

61. Calm down sparky...

no need to be an ass. I would love to have France's heatlhcare system and other social benefits here. But those things will have to change somewhat as society changes as well. A generally older populace that lives longer is going to strain a system that was made under much different circumstances. Is the solution just to keep those benefits for all time, no matter how society or the circumstances change?

[eridani]

66. This is bullshit. What is straining the system is that fewer and fewer people

--are needed to produce more and more stuff. It is beyond stupid to deal with this imbalance by forcing old folks into competition for jobs with their grandchildren.

[MellowDem]

77. Wow, you make it so simple...

too bad it isn't.

[Hannah Bell]

85. it is very simple, in gross outline. the rich get richer at the expense of the rest. always.

[Hannah Bell]

71. that's bullshit. older people aren't "straining the system". the rich just want a bigger cut.

[MellowDem]

78. Imagine what you want to nt.

[Hannah Bell]

81. you're the only person imagining.

France, average wealth per adult:

[MellowDem]

94. I don't know what that has to do with anything...

about demographic changes putting a strain on social systems.

[Hannah Bell]

97. um, 146% growth in wealth per adult (just since 2000) vs. negative population growth

excluding immigration & about .5% growth with immigration since 1975?

maybe you don't understand the underlying assumptions of your own argument. which is full of fail.

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=sp_pop_grow&idim=country:FRA&dl=en&hl=en&q=france+population+growth


like most arguments coming from the perspective of capital are.

[MellowDem]

98. Wealth per adult...

has little to do with government revenues, off of which social benefits are paid for, much less who pays for those government revenues and how many people receive them. It may only indicate savings rates and not an increase in spending power or GDP. There are a ton of factors really, and wealth per adult would probably be among the more irrelevant ones. Whether French people are saving more or not does not impact government revenues per se. Actually, if they are spending less and saving more, it is likely there is actually less government revenue from sales taxes etc.

[Hannah Bell]

99. it has to do with the amount of wealth in the society & the growth of that wealth v. population.

there is MORE WEALTH/per person in france today than 20 years ago, or 40 years ago, not LESS.

Your claim is that there just isn't enough to go around anymore; that the french could afford to care for their elders a generation ago, but not today, when they're much richer.

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

The super-rich capitalist class wants a bigger cut, that's the long & short of it.

You can throw up smoke & dance around the basic facts all you like, it's a humorous spectacle, but you're not fooling anyone.

[MellowDem]

104. Why is there more wealth?

We don't really know. It could be that the French are simply saving more and spending less. At their current rates of taxation and benefits, it very well could be that they can't afford someting instituted 20 or 40 years ago. I don't know why that's so hard to fathom. France has spends at a deficit and their total public debt is larger than ours as a percentage. They are spending money they don't have every year, so it's obvious that with their current system, they really cannot afford it.

The French politicians could raise taxes, but I'm sure that would be unpopular too. And I'm not sure that just taxing the rich more would be enough to pay for it all, as it's not like the rich in France have nearly as much wealth as here.

[Hannah Bell]

108. how do you "save" more than you produce, bubbelah?

[MellowDem]

115. Wealth is not an indicator...

of how much you produce or make per se. For example, if you make 100,000 a year and blow most of your money on gambling and fancy meals, then your wealth may be substantially smaller than someone who invests a substantial portion of their 100,000 successfully. And wealth can grow over time. So your total wealth through wise investment will likely be greater as a whole than what you make from year to year later in life.

Some millionaire families are able to live generations off of nothing but saved up wealth without producing anything.

If the French are saving more than they used to, as Americans currently are during this recession, then their wealth may indeed grow, as your savings are part of your wealth. The theory goes that you want a bigger personal safety net in bad times, so you don't spend like you used to.

[Joe Chi Minh]

88. No. The solution is a redistribution of wealth. I expect you have a substantial superfluity,

while there are many homeless families in the US. Is that not obvious to you?

[MellowDem]

93. You can redistribute the wealth until everyone gets the same amount...

and it won't solve the problem of society having less workers to pay for more, longer living older people.

[Hannah Bell]

100. As that problem is imaginary, no need to solve it. Thanks to the miracle of capitalist

productivity.

[MellowDem]

103. It's not an imaginary problem...

every aging society with a social safety net has to deal with it. The increase in productivity isn't enough to make up for it.

[Hannah Bell]

107. lol. 146% increase in wealth v. 5% increase in population says otherwise.

[MellowDem]

116. It may have been a small amount of wealth to begin with...

Regardless, personal wealth doesn't change the fact that France is a net debtor with huge deficit spending like the US. So obviously the French government can't afford it, whatever the wealth of French individuals, which is more equitablly distributed than here anyways. Maybe the solution is to increase taxes, but I doubt the French would care much for that either. It seems like a political calculation.

[mainer]

105. France has one of the highest taxation rates

and they also have a wealth tax, so they're already redistributing the wealth. Plus they don't have much of a military budget, do they?

The problem really is related to increasing longevity and a falling birthrate. I understand they will soon be approaching the ratio of 1 worker to support each retiree.

[Hannah Bell]

110. Unemployment rate in France = 10%. This suggests there's no shortage of workers,

as does the (comparatively) low average number of hours worked per worker.

In addition, industrial production in France is *increasing* despite this 10% unemployment, suggesting that France is increasingly able to produce more wealth with fewer people.

"French workers remain among the most productive in the world, ahead of Britain, Germany, the United States and Japan, according to the European statistics agency Eurostat, the AP reports."

http://www.forbes.com/2005/03/22/cx_da_0322topnews_print.html

Which suggests that French workers are producing so much surplus they can take part of their increased productivity in the form of more leisure time, not that workers are struggling to produce enough to survive on.

Your claim that there is about 1 worker per retiree is also false.

"France’s retirement age was last set in 1983. Since then, GDP per person has increased by 45 percent. The increase in life expectancy is very small by comparison.

The number of workers per retiree declined from 4.4 in 1983 to 3.5 in 2010. But the growth of national income was vastly more than enough to compensate for the demographic changes, including the change in life expectancy.

The situation is similar going forward: the growth in national income over the next 30 or 40 years will be much more than sufficient to pay for the increases in pension costs due to demographic changes, while still allowing future generations to enjoy much higher living standards than people today. It is simply a social choice as to how many years people want to live in retirement and how they want to pay for it."

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/french-protesters-have-it-right


Your claim that France "already" redistributes wealth elides the fact that over the last 10 or so years France has become more unequal: France has experienced the same increase in inequality as the US & UK, i.e., an increase in income shares at the top:

"By contrast with the stagnation of average and median incomes, top incomes
have experienced a steep increase between 1998 and 2006. Figure 2 displays the
evolution of average income for several income fractiles. The average income of the
P0-90 group has stagnated while the average income for the top percentile has in-
creased by 26.9%. The average income of the top .01% of the richest households
has increased by 63.7%. The surge is therefore concentrated within a very small
fraction of the income distribution."

http://www.jourdan.ens.fr/~clandais/Articles/topincomes.pdf

[Starry Messenger]

52. Good crowd.

Only two years ago, Sarkozy could be heard to gloat: "These days, when there is a strike in France, no one notices."

He has been made to notice now, and if a rising wave of strikes can defeat his attack on pensions, it will be a major step forward in the defense of workers in France and an encouragement for workers around the world. Already, Spain's recent general strike and Greece's mass strikes against austerity have shown that European workers are ready to fight.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/10/18/french-workers-strike-back

[Joe Chi Minh]

56. Only two years ago, Sarkozy could be heard to gloat: "These days,

when there is a strike in France, no one notices."

Hilarous! Saw a Frenchie on the news carrying a placard saying something like: "Hey, Titch. We're still a democracy!" There was some text in between, but I didn't catch it.

[Starry Messenger]

58. I also found it amusing.

;)

[alarimer]

60. And most Americans can't get off their lazy asses to go to a demonstration

Too much on TV or something.

[Romulox]

75. Nah, the Kia is in the shop. Can you pick me up? SOLIDARITY!

:rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

86. you know, since you're a supporter of union-busting charter schools, your jokes

about people driving kias really aren't that funny.

particularly if you know anything about why japanese & korean imports became big in the us while european imports -- not so much.

those policies aren't determined at the level of consumer choice, no matter how much the politicians & corporations want to pretend they are.

i'm willing to lay big money we'd find many imports & non-union products in your household should we investigate.

Oh, btw, at the last UAW rally one of the leaders of UAW International drove out of solidarity house in a lexus.

From an actual worker, about not being able to stop bad parts & bad workmanship on the line:

My God, all of that AND of course you are putting parts in from other countries. No, it's not the workers. THAT is management's job. The workers have to do as they are told! And everywhere I have worked it is the workers complaining and management saying "Run it!"

There for a while things got better because the Japanese cars were of so much better quality and GM was losing market share. Now they don't care.

And how do we know you don't care GM? BECAUSE YOU WON'T DO ANYTHING TO FIX THE PROBLEM! What is it? Get rid of too many trades who kept your sorry butts going with parts we scarfed and hid because you wouldn't supply them? Because WE took pride in our jobs?

What is the status of trades at Lordstown now? We know they are trying to get rid of all of them per Document 159!

http://www.factoryrat.com/factoryrat/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=13541

[Romulox]

90. No I'm not. Link? Making up smears is pathetic!

You're now fabricating stuff? :wtf:

[Romulox]

PS I always love your *excuses* as to why it's "OK" to betray this worker or that worker

Is the ANY trade union pure enough for you that it's NOT OK to betray them? And extra LULs for your passionate defense of scab autos! SOLIDARITY! :rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

102. link? link? link?

[Romulox]

114. Sad!

More convinced than ever that I have your number.

[Romulox]

92. PS I always love your *excuses* as to why it's "OK" to betray this worker or that worker

Is the ANY trade union pure enough for you that it's NOT OK to betray them? And extra LULs for your passionate defense of scab autos! SOLIDARITY! :rofl:

[LatteLibertine]

67. We need a measure of this

in addition to voting out politicians who are or who have become corrupt.

The most wealthy have the cash and we have the raw numbers. Most them have workers out seeking to influence us to vote GOP or to stay home.

[maryf]

68. Kick

[blindpig]

72. Things are heating up

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9352930

[malaise]

79. I'm listening to Professor Wolfe on a local radio station

and he agrees - says the level of coordination here took this to a new level - 240 plus cities and towns. Complete solidarity among old and young.
Bravo France.

[malaise]

80. I'm listening to Professor Wolfe on a local radio station

and he agrees - says the level of coordination here took this to a new level - 240 plus cities and towns. Complete solidarity among old and young - a remarkable success.

[Hosnon]

96. There is plenty of wealth in this world for every human being to enjoy a decent standard of living.

Give 'em Hell!

[mainer]

106. How does a country with wealth tax + high income tax, solve this?

If even France can't afford to support its aging population, how can any other country? They are already redistributing their wealth through high taxes and generous social programs. The increase in longevity plus the falling birth rate is going to make it tough for France to support retirees who may live 30 years or more after retiring.

[Hannah Bell]

111. solve what? they can easily support their aging population.

[mainer]

112. Solve the fact their pension system is almost bankrupt

which is the reason for the government wanting to increase the early retirement age to 62. That's why they're striking.

It's not an arbitrary act of government happening because they just "felt" like it. It's because they DO have a problem that needs resolution.

[Bullet1987]

109. Europe is at least a decade or more away from the US

We continue to tell Americans that voting has a point anymore. Clearly several European countries have given up on the voting method of influencing politics. We're continually told to
listen to leaders...people who know better. The size of this country also plays a role. It makes it harder to coordinate something of similar magnitude on the same scale. Americans are lied to constantly...and we know it & don't give a rats ass.

[mainer]

113. Retirement plans didn't anticipate longevity + Alzheimer's

This is the crux of pension plan problems around the western world. When Social Security was formulated, Americans had shorter life spans. Now we live longer -- long enough to get Alzheimer's disease which means more long term health care costs and more Medicare pay-outs. It really is not just an illusory problem when even France, with its wealth tax and its high individual income taxes is starting to see trouble on the horizon. It's not a matter of merely redistributing wealth -- in this case, the redistribution from younger employed workers to older retirees. Since there isn't an actual lockbox "fund," but a redistribution from younger generation to older generation, there is a breaking point beyond which younger workers can't do it any longer.

We have every reason to complain that the US isn't redistributing enough from rich to poor.

But France already does it, and they can't keep their pension fund from going bankrupt.