Despite proclamations by western imperialist governments and their experts of an economic revival, world capitalism has not recovered from the shocks of the financial crisis of 2008. The economic recovery is nowhere to be seen and social discontent is visibly erupting relentlessly. The economic equilibrium that was disrupted by the financial crash inevitably has dislocated the political and social equilibrium. The ongoing strikes and protests in France are part of this protracted process and are now beginning to spread to other countries like Belgium. The relative social and political stability of the post-war Europe may have been lost forever within the confines of the capitalist system. Political swings to the right and left are a reflection of the turmoil this crisis elicited, and instability can become a norm as in the ex-colonial world during the last century.
Just nine days before the Euro 2016 football tournament, railway workers went on a strike in the latest upsurge of a months-long battle between government and unions in France, resulting in cancellation of half of France’s train network. More than two thirds of inter-city trains and nearly half of high-speed TGV services were cancelled till Wednesday evening. Several international services including majority of trains to Spain and Italy were likely to be cancelled.
The strike has intensified pressure on the Socialist Party’s (SP) government that has betrayed the French electorate that primarily voted for SP to end austerity. Paradoxically, this regime has put forward anti-workers ‘labour reform bill’, which has infuriated large sections of the French proletariat. France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls speaking in parliament decried the strikes. “This conflict is weighing on our economy at a time when the actions of the government are allowing a rebound, growth and a fall in unemployment.” Hollande’s socialist party government says its new labour law is aimed at reducing stubbornly high unemployment and making the struggling economy more ‘business-friendly’.
These austerity policies and measures by the so-called left government have given the right wing politicians an excuse to wash their dirty linen. Right wing opposition leader and former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, slammed the government’s handling of the crisis, describing it as “shambles and anarchy on the streets of France…Weakness, cowardice, a total loss of authority: this is the spectacle we are witnessing…The bill is far too weak to solve the problems, but stinging enough to arouse the passions of the left. The government has proven its weakness faced with the protests.” He is quoted to have said in an interview with the magazine Valeurs Actuelles.
However, with the pressures from below unions are furious that government rammed the reforms through the lower house of parliament without a vote, and have called for another national day of strikes in two weeks when the bill goes before the senate. They say the law favours bosses by letting them set their own working conditions for new employees, rather than being bound to industry-wide agreements, allowing companies to cut jobs during hard times and go beyond the 35-hour work week.
An AFP report shows the strength and the vastness of the strike movement, “Subway workers in the capital went on strike on Thursday to be followed by Paris’s Charles De Gaulle airport workers over the weekend. Philippe Martinez, head of the powerful CGT union, said Tuesday that this week would see ‘the strongest mobilisation in three months of strikes’.” Adding to this movement the Air France pilots’ union threatened to hold a two or four-day strike from the day after Euro 2016 kicks off on June 10. Since March, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in demonstrations that have frequently turned violent, while about a fifth of France`s petrol pumps ran dry last week as CGT activists blockaded refineries and depots. Energy group Total faces losses of “tens of millions of dollars per week” from blockades at its five refineries, according to an internal report. Although most have been cleared, workers at an oil terminal in the northern port of Le Havre, which supplies kerosene to Paris’s two main airports extended their blockade into Wednesday.
These strikes and protests have also cast a shadow over preparations for the month-long Euro football championship, which is expected to attract over a million international visitors. The serious strategists of the bourgeois are worried. Just days ago The Economist wrote, “Neither side looks ready to back down… Mr Hollande, with approval ratings of just 13 percent, is already weak… The CGT has been weakened in recent years, and badly needs a muscular demonstration of force… The outcome could be decisive for the future of the French left… France is a volatile place, with a romantic sympathy for resistance and long tradition of street theatre. Not, in short, a country easy to steer in one direction when, like Mr Hollande, you are elected to go in another.”
Amplifying the needs of the capitalist system The Economist writes, “Caving in once again in 2016 would be a mistake. The government should resist even the sort of messy compromise that seems to be tempting it as a means of avoiding disruption at Euro 2016 — making concessions to the CGT on restructuring efforts for the national railways, say, in exchange for its acquiescence on the labour laws. Such a compromise would be against the spirit of the reforms, which aim to dilute the role of national law and branch agreements. Disruption of the coming football tournament would be a shame. But for the sake of France’s future, it is the political game that the government has to win.”
In the last period the French politics has seen swings to the right and left. The bourgeois media portrayed the electoral gains of the extreme right wing National Front in local and regional elections as right wing turn in France. However, this strike movement clearly demonstrates the strength and resilience of the French proletariat. Marx and Engels called France, “the mother of revolutions.” From the first ever workers revolution known historically as the Paris Commune in which the workers took and retained power for 70 days from March 18 to May 28, 1871. The events of May 1968 were nothing but a revolution. De Gaulle, the then French president declared, “It’s all over”, and was on the verge of leaving the country, but was saved by criminal betrayal of the revolution by leadership of the left parties.
However, the new generation of French workers and youth is entering the arena of history to transform their destiny by achieving a socialist victory. It would only be possible with a Marxist leadership and party. Such an event will not only transform Europe but also have an impact far and wide, triggering revolutionary revolts across the planet to overthrow this diseased capitalism that is pulverising humanity.
The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and international secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at [email protected]