protests in france some months ago

[Black Sheep]

I'd seen them on the news.
Correct me if i m wrong but france has some powerful anarchosyndicalist and trotskyist forces.

Well, knowing that , i was socked when i heard in the news that
'2 million people marched on the roads of france today, demanding the goverment to reconsider not lowering their wages due to the economic crisis'

FUCK man, that is some srs buisiness - aggressive proletarian demands arent they.

what's the situation in france? :bored:

[Stranger Than Paradise]

'2 million people marched on the roads of france today, demanding the goverment to reconsider not lowering their wages due to the economic crisis'


Why do I have no prior knowledge of this. Very strange. I never remember seeing anything about it on the BBC or even on LibCom.

[Tower of Bebel]

France has seen many desperate attempts by workers eager to use desperate means to defend jobs and wages. This article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/business/global/18explode.html) is a nice example. A year ago French workers also threatened to throw chemicals into a river crossing the French-belgian border. They did so in order to force bosses to reconcider redundancies. Boss-napping is also a new French phenomenon. On several occasions bosses found themselves in custody with their enterprise serving as a prison and their employees acting like custodians. These semi-terroristic or overtly terroristic attempts serve as an example of what it means for a militant working class not to have a mass organization serving as a platform for opposition. The class has been hit hard by neoliberal attempts through anti-social reforms supported by trade unions. There is no genuine class struggle in France (yet); but there are the perspectives for the recreation of that class which in the past had started many glorious rebellions.

Even though within the CWI articles refer to French mass strikes and demonstrations (from a couple of months ago) as an important example I see them mainly as an attempt organzid by trade unions (in accordance with the government) to have some control over the steaming kettle of militant, spontanious workers' struggles.

[Black Sheep]

Also could someone describe the political parties of france?
edit: and syndicates and workers organizatons of course

[Tower of Bebel]

The most important Union involved is "La CGT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conf%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_du_trav ail)". Originally it had organic ties with the PCF (French communist party). It doesn't do much for the working class; it only organizes general strikes and demos to let some steam off. They have some pretty radical proposals on some occasions, but they don't pose a class alternative; let alone a class organization.

The most important opposition parties involved are the PCF and the NPA. Everyone who knows a bit of the political situation in France would say this their role is marginal compared to the influence of the bourgeoisie (through media, populism, etc). Yet, the NPA seems to attract "layers" of militant workers, but it's unable to organize them properly. The young mostly ignore the NPA. Either they don't know what it is or they don't trust it.