Kez
28th April 2002, 13:13
Success for Jean-Marie Le Pen in winning through to
the second round of the presidential elections has
provoked almost unprecedented unity amongst the French
ruling class. The eclipse of one of the two mainstream
candidates, Lionel Jospin of the Socialist Party, was,
as Le Pen himself triumphantly declared, a great
defeat for the establishment leaders and the
political establishment now wants a landslide for
Chirac so as to safely confirm society behind the
Fifth Republic.
But with the overwhelming majority disinfranchised by
the May 5 poll, millions of workers, migrants,
democrats and youth have taken to the streets in
cities and towns across France - amongst them the
apathetic abstention vote. Previously left cold by
the prospect of what had seemed the certainty of a
second round contest between the Tweedle Dum of prime
minister Jospin and the Tweedle Dee of president
Jacques Chirac, they now have an impossible choice.
Things can either be settled by an illegitimate ballot
on May 5. Or they can be settled using other means:
not only street demonstrations, but occupations,
strikes and street barricades. Raw anger must be
organised and given a definite political programme -
for a sixth republic which enshrines extreme democracy
and puts people before profits.
Of the 14 defeated would-be presidents, 10 have now
called on voters to plump for Chirac on May 5 - for
the honour of France, as Jospins campaign manager,
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, put it. Lining up amongst the
10 was Robert Hue of the Parti Communiste Franais,
for whom the defeat of the incumbent had been the
highest priority before the first round. Reformists
like Hue must be forced to choose - Chirac or the mass
democracy of action.
Thankfully the three candidates of the revolutionary
left - Arlette Laguiller of Lutte Ouvrire, Olivier
Besancenot of the Ligue Communiste Rvolutionnaire and
Daniel Gluckstein of the Parti des Travailleurs
(Workers Party) - refused to recommend such an
unprincipled course. However, the left has been
characterised by indecision, to say the least.
Comrade Laguiller, who won a disappointing six percent
of the vote (opinion polls had consistently put her at
just under 10%), at first told the press that she
would not be calling for an abstention in the second
round. Later though, Lutte Ouvrire issued a
statement calling on supporters to help swell the
demonstrations, at the same time warning against
backing those whose purpose was to boost Chirac and
against joining some republican front of all the
parties, from the CP to the Gaullists, via the
Socialist Party and the greens, under the pretext of
being anti-fascist.
Alain Krivine, veteran leader of the Fourth
Internationalist LCR, was convinced that the
demonstrations would continue from now until the
second round. But the LCRs advice to voters was far
from clear-cut: We must bar the route of Le Pen, the
worst enemy of the workers, in the street, as in the
elections We understand those who will vote Jacques
Chirac in the second round to keep out Le Pen, but we
dont think Chirac will be a bulwark against this new
rise of the extreme right This is not Germany 1933
and it is clear that Chirac will win without
difficulty.
The LCR statement did point out that Chirac was no
friend of the working class: Right from his election
he will take measures against wage-earners, youth and
immigrants. Quite correct - which leads me to suggest
that the left should offer more than understanding
to workers tempted to vote for him. As the
revolutionary democratic publishers of La Lettre de
Liaisons noted, The danger before us is the
re-election of Chirac on an authoritarian programme
inspired by Le Pen (April 24).
Chirac is indeed combining his populist appeals for
democracy and against extremism with an attempt to
undercut the FN - more prisons, tougher sentences for
criminals (mostly immigrants, of course, according to
Le Pen), the partial removal of the 35-hour week, the
stepping up of privatisation
The working class must look to its own strength and
take the threat posed to its rights and conditions
with the utmost seriousness. The lurch to the right
is no illusion. Le Pen might have won just 200,000
more votes on April 21 than he did in 1995 (4.8
million, as opposed to 4.6 million), but in conditions
where the Fifth Republic is losing legitimacy - no one
should forget the 1995 strike wave - the very
political establishment that is today united in
denouncing Le Pen could effortlessly turn to him as an
extra-parliamentary auxiliary.
French society is polarising. This is partially
reflected in just under three million votes (more than
10% of the total) for three candidates openly standing
for revolution. But this is merely the tip of the
iceberg. By taking to the streets, those who voted
Socialist Party, PCF, Green or stayed at home are now
free agents. On the streets the reformist pleas of Hue
and Jospin to vote Chirac will be questioned, found
wanting and discarded.
Everything depends on programme. Some on the left will
no doubt grit their teeth on May 5 and then look
forward to a left recovery in the June parliamentary
elections. That is certainly the perspective of the
reformists and centrists. However, the key for
revolutionaries lies with organising the self-activity
of the masses themselves - committees of action,
defence squads, lines of communication - and mapping
out a line of march. Not for us the dry calculus of
first round tallies, but the algebra of the
imagination.
Demonstrations will be maintained - and probably grow
- until the May 5 presidential elections. The argument
must be made for an active boycott and ensuring that
an illegitimate Chirac presidency must be made into a
lame duck. Our strategy must be for upping the tempo
at every stage up to May 5 and beyond.
May Day could be decisive. Paris must top Rome.
Millions will surely want to protest - slogans should
be directed not only against Le Pen but Chirac and the
presidential monarchy of the Fifth Republic itself. Le
Pen is intending to mobilise on May Day too. Our
forces should be prepared for battle.
PREPARE FOR BATTLE!
Comrade Kamo
the second round of the presidential elections has
provoked almost unprecedented unity amongst the French
ruling class. The eclipse of one of the two mainstream
candidates, Lionel Jospin of the Socialist Party, was,
as Le Pen himself triumphantly declared, a great
defeat for the establishment leaders and the
political establishment now wants a landslide for
Chirac so as to safely confirm society behind the
Fifth Republic.
But with the overwhelming majority disinfranchised by
the May 5 poll, millions of workers, migrants,
democrats and youth have taken to the streets in
cities and towns across France - amongst them the
apathetic abstention vote. Previously left cold by
the prospect of what had seemed the certainty of a
second round contest between the Tweedle Dum of prime
minister Jospin and the Tweedle Dee of president
Jacques Chirac, they now have an impossible choice.
Things can either be settled by an illegitimate ballot
on May 5. Or they can be settled using other means:
not only street demonstrations, but occupations,
strikes and street barricades. Raw anger must be
organised and given a definite political programme -
for a sixth republic which enshrines extreme democracy
and puts people before profits.
Of the 14 defeated would-be presidents, 10 have now
called on voters to plump for Chirac on May 5 - for
the honour of France, as Jospins campaign manager,
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, put it. Lining up amongst the
10 was Robert Hue of the Parti Communiste Franais,
for whom the defeat of the incumbent had been the
highest priority before the first round. Reformists
like Hue must be forced to choose - Chirac or the mass
democracy of action.
Thankfully the three candidates of the revolutionary
left - Arlette Laguiller of Lutte Ouvrire, Olivier
Besancenot of the Ligue Communiste Rvolutionnaire and
Daniel Gluckstein of the Parti des Travailleurs
(Workers Party) - refused to recommend such an
unprincipled course. However, the left has been
characterised by indecision, to say the least.
Comrade Laguiller, who won a disappointing six percent
of the vote (opinion polls had consistently put her at
just under 10%), at first told the press that she
would not be calling for an abstention in the second
round. Later though, Lutte Ouvrire issued a
statement calling on supporters to help swell the
demonstrations, at the same time warning against
backing those whose purpose was to boost Chirac and
against joining some republican front of all the
parties, from the CP to the Gaullists, via the
Socialist Party and the greens, under the pretext of
being anti-fascist.
Alain Krivine, veteran leader of the Fourth
Internationalist LCR, was convinced that the
demonstrations would continue from now until the
second round. But the LCRs advice to voters was far
from clear-cut: We must bar the route of Le Pen, the
worst enemy of the workers, in the street, as in the
elections We understand those who will vote Jacques
Chirac in the second round to keep out Le Pen, but we
dont think Chirac will be a bulwark against this new
rise of the extreme right This is not Germany 1933
and it is clear that Chirac will win without
difficulty.
The LCR statement did point out that Chirac was no
friend of the working class: Right from his election
he will take measures against wage-earners, youth and
immigrants. Quite correct - which leads me to suggest
that the left should offer more than understanding
to workers tempted to vote for him. As the
revolutionary democratic publishers of La Lettre de
Liaisons noted, The danger before us is the
re-election of Chirac on an authoritarian programme
inspired by Le Pen (April 24).
Chirac is indeed combining his populist appeals for
democracy and against extremism with an attempt to
undercut the FN - more prisons, tougher sentences for
criminals (mostly immigrants, of course, according to
Le Pen), the partial removal of the 35-hour week, the
stepping up of privatisation
The working class must look to its own strength and
take the threat posed to its rights and conditions
with the utmost seriousness. The lurch to the right
is no illusion. Le Pen might have won just 200,000
more votes on April 21 than he did in 1995 (4.8
million, as opposed to 4.6 million), but in conditions
where the Fifth Republic is losing legitimacy - no one
should forget the 1995 strike wave - the very
political establishment that is today united in
denouncing Le Pen could effortlessly turn to him as an
extra-parliamentary auxiliary.
French society is polarising. This is partially
reflected in just under three million votes (more than
10% of the total) for three candidates openly standing
for revolution. But this is merely the tip of the
iceberg. By taking to the streets, those who voted
Socialist Party, PCF, Green or stayed at home are now
free agents. On the streets the reformist pleas of Hue
and Jospin to vote Chirac will be questioned, found
wanting and discarded.
Everything depends on programme. Some on the left will
no doubt grit their teeth on May 5 and then look
forward to a left recovery in the June parliamentary
elections. That is certainly the perspective of the
reformists and centrists. However, the key for
revolutionaries lies with organising the self-activity
of the masses themselves - committees of action,
defence squads, lines of communication - and mapping
out a line of march. Not for us the dry calculus of
first round tallies, but the algebra of the
imagination.
Demonstrations will be maintained - and probably grow
- until the May 5 presidential elections. The argument
must be made for an active boycott and ensuring that
an illegitimate Chirac presidency must be made into a
lame duck. Our strategy must be for upping the tempo
at every stage up to May 5 and beyond.
May Day could be decisive. Paris must top Rome.
Millions will surely want to protest - slogans should
be directed not only against Le Pen but Chirac and the
presidential monarchy of the Fifth Republic itself. Le
Pen is intending to mobilise on May Day too. Our
forces should be prepared for battle.
PREPARE FOR BATTLE!
Comrade Kamo