France: A tale of two General Strikes
The growing world-wide storm
of resistance by workers that raised its banner in Greece in response to the
swingeing attacks on the living standards of the working class, coupled with
the police murder of a young protester, is sparking confrontation in the
centres of imperialism and third world towns alike as a major crisis of
overproduction rocks the world’s capitalist economies.
In France where ‘Thatcherite’ President Sarkozy had
earlier this year promised, along with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to
lead the way to a more ‘moral’ form of capitalism, a general strike, with
events in 77 towns, was called in response to his austerity measures for
workers – measures coinciding with policies of pouring public money into keeping
the banks afloat (a major pastime in imperialist countries these days it
seems). The one-day strike of public and private sector workers was, according
to a poll by CSA-Opinion for newspaper Le Parisien, supported by 69% of
the French population. ‘Black Thursday’, as the day came to be known, was
unprecedented in that the eight major trade unions in France had come together
to call it with the active backing of many political parties.
Sarkozy, who had bragged just a year ago that “Now
when people go on strike nobody notices”, saw France brought to a virtual
standstill. Many of the banners and chants of the strikers made reference to
those earlier boastful words of the President with one in particular reading “Hey,
Sarkozy, now can you see the strike?”
Many of those who were out on the streets,
estimated at between 1 million and nearly 3 million, were indignant that the
French Government was intending to cut the real wages, jobs and services for
workers while paying public money to bale out banks. The main demand on the
street was (a) for workers’ spending power to be increased by raising wages and
lowering prices to get the country out of the recession it is in, (b) to
reverse the cuts and closures that have been visited on France’s major
industries including steel manufacturing and car-making and (c) to bring down
the unemployment rate of 9.8% (expected to rise to 10.6% next year). These
demands show the extent to which Social-Democracy still controls the
organisations of the working class in France, for while they are prepared to go
on strike and actively take to the streets in protest against their bourgeoisie
they are still essentially looking for answers within capitalism and show a
lack of understanding of the need to overthrow capitalism and replace it with a
socialist system. However, that said, the very act of pushing for these
demands will bring them face to face with the un-workability of capitalism and
the glaring need to create/support a party of the working class based soundly
on Marxist-Leninist principles to lead them on to the road of socialist
revolution and real freedom from exploitation.
Sarkozy has promised to listen to the voice of
workers but there is little he can do to alleviate their pains within the
boundaries of capitalism or to stave off further crisis and more intensified
class confrontation.
Indeed the Sarkozy Government has not only failed
to put an end to the problems within France proper: it has further problems
within its ‘territories’ across the seas in the Caribbean.
Guadeloupe and Martinique (both French ‘overseas
departments’) have also seen militant working class action arising from the
world-wide capitalist crisis. Workers in Guadeloupe went on general strike for
over four weeks and were making similar demands to workers on ‘mainland’ France, calling for a 200 Euro increase in monthly salaries. The strike later spread to Martinique where it severely affected tourism. An added twist to the struggle in Guadeloupe is that the population is overwhelmingly black. Only the ruling families (these
families can trace their rule back to the colonial landlords and slave-owners
of the 17th-18th century), the police and administrators are white. Wages are
lower than on the mainland with prices kept artificially high as the ruling
families not only own 90% of the island’s wealth and most of the land but also
all the shops and food distribution facilities. They also control all imports.
The first response of the French Government to the
strike was to send more police and, after one clash between some youths at a
barricade where buckshot was reportedly fired at police, without any injuries,
to shoot dead a union organiser. Police said that the union activist, Jacques
Bino, was caught in crossfire while driving near a road-block in the capital
Pointe-a-Pitre.
One of the members of the ruling families, Alain
Huyghues-Despointes, infuriated strikers early on in the dispute by publicly
condemning ‘mixed-marriages’ and calling for the “preservation of the race”.
In these circumstances it is not surprising that the leaders of the strike, the
LKP (a coalition of unions and left parties) accused the French government of
wanting to “break the negro”. A black minister in the Sarkozy
Government, Rachida Data, admitted, with breath-taking understatement, that Guadeloupe was suffering from “a problem with the distribution of wealth”. The
French Government has made some concessions to the financial demands of the
strikers but in reality this just means paying an increased subsidy to the
monopolist ruling families. Thus the underlying cause is not resolved as any
increase in workers’ wages can be countered by increased prices over which the
black workers have no control. This problem festers on to re-ignite at some
future date.
The Guadeloupe workers are, however, learning the
lessons of standing together against their enemies. Ideological understanding
and clarity concerning the real causes of their misery alone will ensure a
brighter future for these and other workers.