23.03.2006

Fight for state power

Students and youth in France are protesting against the government's attempts to impose its 'first employment contract' (CPE) on young workers, which would deprive them of employment rights for the first two years. Emile Fabrol of the communist journal La Lettre de Prométhée looks at the situation thrown up by the current mass protests.

While his revolutionary spirit is beyond question, the call he makes for a direct assault on the citadels of power through a general strike is quite clearly incorrect. The working class has no mass revolutionary party. Nor does it have fighting units. What present circumstances demand is a political strategy designed to massively extend democracy. The quasi-democratic Fifth Republic must go. In its place must come the Sixth Republic.

One million demonstrators on March 7 - without any real mobilisation by the national leadership of the big trade unions (only Force Ouvrière put out a simple appeal). This was achieved despite the unending succession of days of action in 2004 and 2005 and despite a series of defeats since 2003 - pensions, health insurance, privatisation of gas, electricity, etc.

This speaks volumes about the mass rejection of government policies - which was also expressed in the 'no' vote in May 29 2005 referendum on the European constitution, while in a touching display of unity the right, Socialist Party leadership, Medef (French CBI) and the media appealed for a 'yes'.

Since March 7 the movement has spread rapidly in the schools and universities. The intransigence of prime minister Dominique de Villepin - just like the SP's Alain Juppé at the start of the winter 1995 mass strike - will only reinforce the determination of the youth to resist the new 'first employment contract' law, the CPE, which deprives young people of many rights for the first two years of work. Opinion polls show that a large majority of the population is against the CPE and Villepin's popularity has plummeted.

There have been innumerable plans and measures relating to youth employment since 1977, when Barre (for the right) invented the 'national pact for work'. In 1983 there was the 'staged introduction to professional life' from Mauroy (SP) and the following year Fabius (SP) dreamt up the 'collective service' scheme. Then Rocard (SP) introduced 'solidarity employment contracts' in 1988. In 1993 Balladur (right) thought he had found the miracle cure with his 'introduction to work contracts', only to withdraw his bill in the face of a powerful movement uniting youth and workers. In 1997 Jospin (SP) created 'jobs for youth' - replaced by Raffarin (right) by 'youth contracts at work' and 'apprenticeships to social life' in 2002-03.

The constant factor in all these schemes was job insecurity, combined with tax exemptions and other perks for the bosses. The results have hardly been attractive: in 1977 youth employment stood at 11.3%; today it is 23%. The CPE will be no exception - it will not 'generate jobs', for that is not the nature of such contracts in the interest of capital, which will be used to cut jobs today. Tomorrow the bosses will use the CPE to replace permanent contracts and will be more than happy to accept the latest exemptions and avail themselves of the divine right to dismiss workers without having to give a reason.

Villepin's intentions are clear: to help the bosses destroy employment protection in general. If this iniquitous bill, unilaterally favouring employers, sees the light of day, the government will soon be proposing a new CPE - a bosses' charter for exploiting everybody. It would mean lifelong insecurity for those with jobs and charity for the rest. Thatcherism pure and simple.  The struggle against the CPE is, therefore, a real test of class strength - which is why it is indispensable to unite youth and workers in a fight against the government.

Regime crisis

Beyond this attempt to destroy the social conquests forced on the bourgeoisie by the class struggle, the country has been plunged into a profound crisis of regime. The decadent Fifth Republic appears by the day more and more evidently the natural servant of capital's domination. Barely re-elected in 2002, Chirac has been finished politically since the May 29 2005 referendum. However, in the presidential election the mainstream left was ousted from the second round by the Front National. This partly disguised the weakness of the right and its candidate, and also obscured the 10% of votes won by candidates of the far left in the first round.

In 2004 the right suffered setbacks in both the regional and European elections. Faced with the obvious inability of the far left to build on their 2002 electoral success, and ignoring the PS's neoliberal social programme, workers voted left to punish the right.

In 2005 the establishment, in alliance with the SP leadership, lost the referendum. Now the election of the president by universal suffrage is one of the pillars of the Fifth Republic - the republican monarch asks the people to confirm him in his functions. On May 29 2005 the people told him where to go.

While the clear meaning of the workers' and people's 'no' was the rejection of the undisguised free market - the basis of the European Union since 1957, which the bourgeoisie of old Europe wanted to enshrine in their constitution - the new prime minister decided to pursue and intensify the policy of his predecessor. Acting as if he knew his days were numbered, he engaged in a frenzy of deregulation. No doubt he was reassured by the understanding that, in the event of the classic turnaround in the 2007 elections, experience shows that the left never repeals measures imposed by the right.

In order to progress quickly - very quickly even - Villepin and his UMP party have made the most of every possibility offered by the constitution: decrees, emergency procedures and the infamous article 49.3, which allows for a law to be adopted without a vote - there is no chance that a motion of censure would succeed, even if it were supported by the other rightwing party, the UDF, which has been making a point of keeping its distance from the government.

The establishment likes to say that matters such as the CPE must not be decided on the street, but since 2004 they are not even decided by universal suffrage. And apologists for the established order never miss an opportunity to invoke 'the republic' and 'democracy', just as they did so forcefully during the revolt of the inner-city youth at the end of 2005.

Wait for 2007?

Aware of the gravity of the situation, Villepin recently told his UMP deputies: "The presidential election depends on the CPE" (Le Monde March 9). This is hardly the best way of characterising what is at stake during the current phase of the class struggle. It is not the outcome of the 2007 presidential election which depends on the fight to defeat the CPE and the measures imposed during the summer of 2005. What is definitely at stake is what government, what policy, in the here and now.

That is why there is no reason to place limits on the aims of the struggle. To be content with forcing the government to retreat is, in the last analysis, to allow the bourgeoisie to regain its breath so as to be able to prepare for 2007 in favourable conditions. If the struggle were to force the withdrawal of the CPE, then the president, the government and their parliamentary 'majority' would have suffered such a defeat that they would no longer be in any position to govern the country. So let us be realistic: fight to overturn the power!

Everything is possible. Either 2007 will duly arrive or the working class will impose its own politics. The first hypothesis seems to suit those who are marking time today. The PS leadership, fearing it will be unable to regain power in 2007, makes responsible appeals to the government to prevent the situation getting out of hand.

As in 2003, the trade union tops rule out working for a general strike. On the eve of March 7 Jean-Claude Mailly, general secretary of Force Ouvrière, implored Chirac to "let wisdom and reason prevail". Just as, on the eve of the powerful October 4 2005 day of action, he launched an 'ultimatum' to the government, giving it two weeks to open 'meaningful negotiations'.

Presidential "wisdom and reason" is being demonstrated - for the moment Chirac supports Villepin. But all is not simple in the corridors of power. The government's number two, Nicolas Sarkozy, worried at the turn of events, menacingly calls for "clear thinking on the current political situation" (Le Monde March 16).

In any case, the due arrival of 2007 will be unfavourable to the working class. A victory for the right would represent a defeat, but the return of the mainstream left would only modify the conditions of life and work at the margins. The decadence of state institutions and of the regime itself could open the way for a French variation on German or Italian solutions. Not much to look forward to there.

Only one progressive perspective is possible: that the working class comes together to impose its will without worrying about the election timetable. That means the building of a movement against capitalism whose clearly declared aim will be to launch a real attack on the system of exploitation itself and open the way to socialism.