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All power to the French workers
This article, written by Peter Taaffe as the May
events unfolded, was initially published in Militant (No.38, June 1968),
then a four-page monthly newspaper of the predecessor of the Socialist
Party.
ONE MILLION WORKERS out! Hundreds of factories
occupied and controlled by the workers! Schools taken over by pupils and
progressive staff! Capitalist newspaper lies ‘censored’ by printing
workers! TV lies censored by reporters and technicians! Universities
taken over! Docks, post offices, ships taken over – what a mighty
demonstration of the invincible power of the working class when it
begins to move! What a crushing blow to the cynics, sceptics and
apologists for big-business, who have written off the working class as
‘apathetic’, ‘bought off’, etc – and to the professional orthodox
economists none of whose arduous study of the complex mechanics of
capitalist economics could enable them to discern the gigantic force
beneath the surface of modern society: the creator of the new society to
come, the working class. How clear it should be to even the most
politically uneducated workers that their French brothers would be in
power today, but for the cowardly policies of the French labour and
trade union leaders!
The workers and the population of France were
incensed by the brutality of the special police (CRS) in their sadistic
onslaught on the students (it was the first time police had intervened
in the Sorbonne since the Nazi occupation, and the CRS used a
potentially lethal gas). More particularly they were impressed by the
success of the students in gaining their immediate demands without
delay, through their determination to act. The vast mass of students
came out in a general strike throughout the country, protesting at the
intolerable overcrowding, impossible work-conditions (for example 2,000
English students to four professors), against the enormous failure-rate
(20%) and the numbers forced to leave before graduation (50% of the
remainder), against the lack of opportunities afterwards except for
particularly successful careerists, and against the degenerate and
inhuman ‘impersonal society’ of modern capitalism. The Daily Express
reported that 80% of the population of Paris was for the students.
The industrial workers – and particularly the young
ones – were emboldened by the success: "The students came first. They
acted as a spark. They caused the government to yield, they gave us the
feeling that we could go ahead", said one of them to a Times reporter.
Immediately the workers outpaced their union leaders and refused to
restrict their struggle to a harmless one-day strike. They proved that
they would tolerate their grievances no longer.
Falling wages
THE OBSERVER (11 May 1968) revealed that 5.6 million
people live below the subsistence level. At the same time, unemployment
has dramatically increased until it is now over half a million. Some
areas have been faced with a catastrophic increase, "… in the Paris
region it is a rise of 51% and in the north – home of France’s
traditional coal-mining, steel and textile industries – the increase is
59%". (Financial Times) Real wages have actually fallen over the last
two years. Any actual wage rises have been rapidly eaten away by price
increases – prices are "45% higher than in 1958. This rise is
conspicuously the fastest of all EEC countries".
The introduction of massive indirect taxation
through the value added tax has in the past months made the burden yet
heavier. This has been coupled with De Gaulle’s attacks on social
services and attempts to hold down wages in order to give an advantage
to French capitalism in the cut-throat competition which would exist
with the proposed ending of internal Common Market tariffs in July.
Even the farmers were in revolt at the rapid
decrease in their incomes. Many have been ruined and driven off the
land, some into the decaying houses which scar the big cities. In Paris
alone, over one third of the nine million population live in inadequate
housing. Significantly it has been the youth which has been particularly
affected by the slow-down of French industry: "Of the registered
unemployed, about 23% are young school-leavers". (Financial Times, 20
May 1968)
A gigantic wave swept from one end of France to the
other. Not only the industrial workers but the bank employees,
white-collar workers have responded to the call to strike. While only
ten per cent were unionised, over 50% of the labour force is involved
which is incontestable proof of the revolutionary energy and
determination that has been unleashed. As in all revolutions, from the
cracks and depths of society the formerly politically backward workers,
the sweated and impoverished, the demoralised and cynical, have been
brought to their feet. The poor farmers have set up barricades around
the city of Nantes and other cities "in support of the workers and
students". (Times, 21 May 1968) Exemplary order is maintained and, as
even the capitalist press has been forced to admit, the workers "check
and grease factory machines that are lying idle".
All the conditions for a successful overturn are
there; the workers are determined to go the whole hog. The middle class,
particularly its lower layers, look with profound sympathy on the strike
wave and in many cases join in. On the ships "even the officers have
joined the sit-ins begun by the crews". (Times, 23 May 1968)
Soviets
IT IS THE working class which has the effective
power in the factories, the ports, the mines and the streets. A classic
revolutionary situation exists. Even the televising of the debate in the
National Assembly was done only by the permission of the workers’
organisations, as a Gaullist MP was forced to admit. Those instruments
of state repression which are still in the hands of the government, the
police and the army, are completely unreliable. The police themselves
have been touched by the hot flares of revolt. Their union issued a
warning to the government that "the police officers thoroughly
appreciated the reasons which inspired the striking wage earners and
deplored the fact that they could not by law take part in the same way
in the present labour movement… the public authorities will not
systematically set the police against the present labour struggles".
(Times, 24 May 1968) In the event of a clash, many "serious matters of
conscience" would arise, in other words, many sections, if not the
majority, would go over to the workers. The army also would be split
from top to bottom if the officer caste sought to intervene. This is
shown by the comments of a national serviceman when he was "asked if he
would fire on the students and workers and replied, ‘Never. I think
their methods may be a bit rough but I am a worker’s son myself’."
(Times, 21 May 1968) If ever there was a time when the working class
could take power peacefully, that time is now.
In every shop, factory and workplace the workers’
councils would naturally be the dominant form of organisation.
Established at local level they would come together also in the
districts and eventually at national level. The organised sections would
be drawn in until they embraced all the toilers; a parliament of the
masses where their will and demands would be exercised; real democracy
as opposed to the sham democracy of the jugglers in the National
Assembly. Taking up the demands of the workers, the farmers, and the
middle class it would be possible to tie them together, feeling the
common need for a drastic change, the need for a socialist society. Once
in power, the workers’ councils, where all officials would be elected
and subject to recall, from being instruments of struggle for power
would then become the organs of management and control by the masses
themselves.
This is what the French working classes are groping
for, as the strategists of capital so cunningly understand. The only
thing that stands between them and extinction are the leaders of the
mass organisations. They will try to use the prevarication and treachery
of the Communist Party (CP) leaders at a later stage, not only to
discredit the latter but, with them, the ideas of Marxism in the eyes of
the masses.
The leadership of the CP and the CGT, along with the
Catholic unions and the ‘socialist’ Force Ouvrière, refuse to carry
through what the workers have begun: the seizure of power. Gratified,
the Observer remarked, "the Communist unions and the Gaullist government
they appear to be challenging are really on the same side of the
barricades".
At first the students came in for vicious attacks in
the pages of L’Humanité, the CP daily newspaper. Later the CP leaders
attempted to prevent all contact between students and workers. They
attempted to restrict the movement against its very nature to purely
‘economic demands’ – as though these could be met for any length of time
under capitalism! In spite of the utter ineffectualness of any
opposition to the workers, they warned against ‘provoking the
government’, causing bloodshed etc.
What alternative do the Communist Party put forward?
Over the heads of the workers they are supposed to represent they have
agreed, in private negotiations with big business, to send back the
workers they never called out in the first place on certain compromise
terms: terms which cannot be maintained under capitalism without causing
inflation, crisis and (particularly in view of the rising working
population) unemployment.
The ‘Communist’ leaders put forward the idea of a
Popular Front government. Far from being, as the CP leaders claim, an
"alliance with the middle class" it is in reality a bloc against them.
By linking up with the leaders of the CFDT it is forming in reality a
bloc with the political exploiters of the middle class who habitually
sell out the interests of the small farmer, the shopkeeper, etc, to
those of big capital. Only in action can these intermediate layers of
society be torn away from allegiance to their traditional parties.
It is not in a Popular Front but in a United Front
of struggle for power that these workers who retain allegiance to the
other parties would be affected. If they agreed to a common struggle
against capitalism, all the better; the Marxists would be able, in
action, to demonstrate the superiority of their programme and methods.
Road to world socialism
MEANWHILE THE POPULAR Front will mean something
different to the bosses. They will use the time to prepare the forces of
reaction: the disillusioned poor farmers, students and middle class who
will suffer from the inevitable devastating inflation and run-down in
the economy. These sections will come to the conclusion that the working
class has let them down and they will rally to any pseudo-radical force
that seems to offer actions and an actual alternative. This is the basis
of ultra-reaction. They are only able to do this because of the
pusillanimity of the official labour leaders.
For the time being, they are prepared to eat into
the enormous $6,000 million reserves they have piled up over the last
ten years. Not the least of the effects of such a deal will be the
undermining of the competitive position of French capitalism in the
world market. What a crushing indictment of the anarchy of capitalism
that it can be ‘competitive’, ie continue to accumulate profits for the
bosses, only so long as the working class are prepared to exist on the
paltry amounts described above! What the bosses will be forced to give
with the left hand – and they will have to do this or face the
possibility of explosions which, despite the CP’s role, could end their
days – they will attempt to take back with the right hand tomorrow.
Resulting inflation will be used in order to inflame the middle classes
against the ‘excesses’ of the workers.
Vague promises of ‘participation’ will not, as all
the capitalist commentators agree, satisfy the French workers. One thing
is certain: the Gaullist ‘invincible’ regime is finished. Whenever its
demise comes, within weeks or months, its position has been
irretrievably damaged. The French workers will not only have succeeded
in bringing about its downfall, but also in beginning to undermine all
the honeycombed theories of ‘social peace’ which have proliferated in
the Western labour movement in the last twenty years.
Not by accident did the Times mournfully comment:
"When Louis Philippe was driven from his throne in 1848 after a few
brisk days of rioting in Paris and took refuge in London, there were
revolutions all over Europe. Italy, West Germany, Belgium and Spain are
in trouble enough without the Mother of Revolutions once again setting a
bad example". (22 May 1968) How well do the ideologues of capitalism,
with devastating realism, understand the threat that faces them! And how
timid and treacherous do the labour leaders’ vague and pious hopes sound
in comparison! The diseased state of British capitalism too is preparing
an explosion. The traditional parties in all the countries of Europe
will be shaken from top to bottom.
Even if the CP manages to sell the deal with De
Gaulle to its own rank and file, this will not be without internal
rumblings. No longer do the CP leaders exercise the mesmeric effect or
hold the fanatical devotion of the rank and file as in the 1930s.
Already this is reflected in the resignation from the CGT of one of its
leaders, a prominent CP member, because he considers that the CGT is
"not taking full advantage of the situation to overthrow the Gaullist
regime". In the event of a Popular Front the CP will precipitate a
massive movement of opposition which could end in a split with the
majority going over to the genuine programme of Marxism. The enormous
sense of power, the gigantic steps forward in understanding, the
combativity and ability to fight of many workers who have viewed
politics as the preserve of lawyers and doctors in the past, will still
be there. The French workers have unleashed a force that will yet end
the rule of rent, interest and profit in Europe and throughout the
world.
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