Fighting austerity: French workers mobilise

Fighting austerity: French workers mobilise

Over the last week, the strikes in France to stop the Chirac government's plans to raise taxes and cut welfare spending have consolidated in the public sector, and extended to some sections of the private sector — notably the banks, Renault, Peugeot and the miners. Alongside the workers, tens of thousands of students struck, closing more than half of France's 90 public universities. The demonstrations — up to 800,000 on December 5 and 1.5 million on December 7 — were the largest since 1968. In some cities, such as Marseille, the demonstrations on December 5 were larger than in 1968. On December 9, SAM STATHAM reported from France that government and media attempts to pit workers with their employers against the strikers (daily broadcasts of angry commuters and small business people), to divide the strikers (negotiations via mediators), and to intimidate protesters (violent attacks on students and miners) have been unsuccessful. Not since 1968 has there been such widespread and united opposition to the French government's austerity measures. On December 7, Green Left Weekly's LISA MACDONALD spoke to ALAIN KRIVINE, a leader of the Revolutionary Communist League, about the significance of the strikes. Question: How extensive are the mobilisations and the French people's support for them? Nearly all of the public sector is on strike; there are no trains and 80% of the post offices have closed. This is exceptional because usually during train strikes 10-20% of the trains still run. The strike is also developing in some sectors which have not previously been involved. For example, today, there is a national teachers' strike in universities and high schools. There is also a strike beginning in Air France and internal airlines, and among the truck drivers. Some workers from the private sector are participating in the street demonstrations, but they are afraid to be sacked as many do not have a full time contract. The lack of strikes in the private sector is also due to economic problems and repression. Although they are not all joining the strikes, workers in the private sector support it — the polls show that 62% of the population are in solidarity with the strikes. This is very important because in Paris people are having to walk two or three hours to work. A poll conducted today found that only 33% of French people now have confidence in Chirac as president. That compares with him being elected with over 50% of the vote only eight months ago. His decline in popularity began with the decision to restart nuclear testing in the Pacific and now has extended with his attacks on the social system. Question: Are the trade union leaderships that cover the private sector discussing possibilities for generalising the strikes further? Officially, the two main trade unions leading this strike, the CFDT (French Democratic Confederation of Labour) and the CGT (General Confederation of Labour), have officially asked the private sector to enter the strike. However, these union leaderships are not pushing hard for this because they are a little afraid of the combativeness and radicalisation produced by the strikes. We are in crucial days. We have the feeling that the trade union leaders are beginning to negotiate with the government behind the backs of the workers. The government, with the perspective of dividing the forces, will probably make some concessions to one or two sectors. Question: What are the differences between the peak trade union organisations, the CFDT and the CGT? The "united front" between the leaderships of the unions is divided today. The main trade union, the CGT is more or less led by the French Communist Party. The teachers' union, one of the main unions in the CGT, is totally on strike. The CFDT is very divided. The leadership is more or less supporting the government and it has decided to pull out of the strike. But the left opposition in the CFDT — half of this organisation — is participating totally in the strike. For example, in the federation of railway workers which is participating in the strike, there was a big break in discipline among half of the union members a few days ago. The differences resulted in a physical fight and the removal of that union's general secretary from a demonstration by his membership. Question: Do you think that there will be a continuity of this rank and file militancy in the future which might lead to a shake up in the trade union leaderships? At the last congress of these unions, half of the delegates were against the leadership. The opposition had a majority, but was unable to take the leadership. Now I don't know what will happen; there may be a split, but in any case there is a total division. The strike has been joined by a new trade union, FUD, which is made up of people expelled from the CFDT. FUD very quickly became a big trade union among office workers; at the general election of the post office union it received about 20% of the 300,000 votes. FUD is very combative, fighting for class unity. In a certain sense it has played a leading role in these strikes. There are a lot of Revolutionary Communist League comrades in FUD. Question: To what extent has this mobilisation been spontaneous? The strike has been led and initiated by the trade unions. But the opposition to the government's laws was so strong that there was a kind of dialectic between the decision by the trade unions to strike and a spontaneity of the rank and file. The reason the trade union leadership hesitates to negotiate with the government is because the radicalisation is so great — the leadership is afraid to be by-passed. The opposition is being expressed in many ways. In many cities, electricity workers decided to charge lower prices for electricity. In other cities, the workers literally built a wall to block a deputy member from the right majority from leaving his residence. There have been a lot of very radical initiatives in the demonstrations and thou­sands of people are demanding that the Prime Minister be dismissed. Workers are really being politicised. Question: The Chirac government is arguing that the cuts are necessary to reduce France's budget deficit enough to qualify for a single European currency from 1999. Does the French ruling class have a united position on how to deal with the crisis that has resulted? Cracks are beginning to appear. For example some bosses and even the bourgeois parties are saying that the government made a mistake bringing in too many austerity measures at the same time. Some are calling for more negotiation. Today the ex-minister of police officially criticised the Prime Minister saying that he is leading France downhill. There is the beginning of division, especially among administration people, Gaulists, who are against Maastricht [European Union]. For a big proportion of the population it is clear that the strike is a response to the application of the Maastricht accords which are behind the privatisation of the postal and telecommunications services, and the railways; and the attacks on the welfare system. The division among the ruling class comes from that. Yesterday one of the members of the Socialist Party said he voted for Maastricht, but today he would vote against it.