Revenge of the right
LA DROITE REVIENT.
The Mitterrand years! Fenne
illustrate the dilemma of social
democracy in the eightirs NICK
WOLFE cutlines the choices for
the European labour movement
socialist democracy or capitalist austerity? WHAt: eR tHe results of the preene leon due in March chas year it is tear deat thre is Do hope of the Sociali Port. reapeating it. 1981 tory. it in rand is hoping dor 3e pri end which will crable to Poor i a parhatentary condion rih de elfing et C tast that these dtecd 1 he Assembly and to Mate a "ville! ante to be President until 1988 | 1x1 che If had : champing overall m jori mew while the P'S dreams of under one chae' at the vote, and the Commune Perry (Ped, ta. the very re: danger, ander the ned poem of proportions: "presentation. will tall below the ten per cent threshold. The dever money is still on a victory for the Right.
For socialists in Bream, with two date. governments in the last 20 years do lock lik on. the story of the Socialist P'are •pone. depressingly familiar for che or.. the Mitterrand exprenise:.. with the predates of te ly: who broughe it to posed and aded da pro International. No 2. MarchiA:.
Au SECOURS! 1. 1: Kindne' atar. 19071-%! 1 0:18 real! ii"mnpred... - fens n!. wind nore than de c.baiin the dril we leine to to the 1%) "litie: i.1:1 • I.. • .!• i.nsh ip Righ Vg: DIne recordte acn of a maase Socadist Party sach ax hacf e •d beter to aat ai.rs.. l goreanni p•g: 1. i ti. iS resi M....d •il: e (ring. Mancha: made the prosals let: ict:-fie smarmed Social 1 of con credible. aud mn the e alv 1! •'n pars of sex, fise. dees.i.1: m0ng"08 t le a.r..tois nde sor !.!
16.! in Pee 1 1 1= ..... • 1:: :... practing i Footerk •11 10 1). • lii !! politics *r i: t (whod oal clone. :at of this. vote) netsc ererof the larest : adde dama con «thance ail: he Cinemanis was pary of the ith the Sori lists reined!!! .*• Darag the pre soresationare erdlo opt of luis 1t? the is Deserted it it sertors of the lo P'$ deeg** !.. iocktie the aruggk dividual!.: trAnscess solar not doing the saw that de bad to the •i was to ally his of major . d. soresis in an overall donce the I'nion .trg tas alliance lc:.iit :o.mumsts, led be ectorms The alliance Here cones of the made In addition . ..h arng ihe and !. Ps recruited if P ard po ics dustil mi withled a private !and .fa.h woukd ix of
French Socialist Party elerton ;* vie < . .. !hr senor By •hr Atuerrand had made this an angrate This dead prent raber than phpadaticnoe Karl. the point e! tap!s (ie.p.: Man:.. "'.. The pr tirr l0 •t.t• Igh fr poeem let persiss hit :: tornady rosca mobilised deed: cointed made •!.g ..soment dore was so »..s 'he trap. Ma let ds sotte: hirn.. ps pay de ln . mone the !i erne l. ta ei.n:s •iro.! Even in eke 1:r .e .!ali hi! hotels desert in he irits! The rices, i the be i did bone ii. opener up bage weihre is rapes 4N C1 h. Prt brought sir. come mee li br..es de-s de gove! e:! o er men s lin.a •r! trai imprent ar. tonden e! le.idenar e d oac hour m de vorkn.: r.:k.che monatos of a fifth work - pard holiday, madar in the minimum: wage and recion •f.1. :.1 retrain l.n ..i soveremt: soed ed: pomad post notable do ebones of the dead!; "il: The was in ee! ag ment of thi .!! the nationade of those smal! tonk whach sell end in But withm one yet, on is June 108: 20
Mitterrand's prime minister Mauroy introduced the plan de rigeur - the austerity plan. The first year's expansion of the economy was abandoned. Why? Mitterrand had utilised state-led Keynesian pump-priming techniques to reflate the economy, but did so at a time of world economic recession. Inevitably the result was a jump in inflation and balance of payments problems. Lacking any overall socialist strategy, the government turned to deflation and austerity. With the PCF in the government, the feelings of betrayal engendered among the workers resulted in demoralisation and a strengthening of the right. Right-wing mobilisation Out of government, the bourgeois parties -most notably the Gaullist RPR led by Jacques Chirac - turned to street mobilisations against the government in 1982-83, bringing on to the streets tens of thousands against the proposal to integrate church schools with the state school system. There were also right-wing led mobilisations of students and the medical profession which led to clashes in the streets. Most dangerously, the right took up the themes of immigration, aimed against the large immigrant and especially North African population in France.
The main beneficiary of this however the Gaullists or their allies, but the newly emerged National Front, led by exparatrooper and long-time fascist thug Jean-Marie Le Pen. The National Front won a sensational 10 per cent of the vote - nearly as many as the PCF - in the 1984 European elections. It was clear that among these voters were not only the kind of petty-bourgeois enragées, mobilised by the over issues like state schools and abortion, but also a considerable number of former adherents of the PS and even the PCF
Both the working class parties crumpled under the racist upsurge, indeed in some PCF-controlled municipalities mayors were at the forefront of the antiimmigrant hysteria. This was all the more criminal in that immigrant workers were beginning to play an important role in many workers struggles, most notably the Talbot car factory occupation in 1984. Many black workers in France are second generation and born in France - there are more young black workers than there were students in 1968. Both the PCF and the PS showed themselves totally incapable and unwilling to launch any counter-offensive against the racist upsurge. It was only after a series of particularly brutal racist murders that the organisation SOS-Racisme, a broad coalition involving many members and ex-members of the extreme left, began to mount a counter-offensive in 1985. Many of its activitities, especially its ubiquitous badge 'ne touche pas mon pot (hands off my mate) resemble those of the British Anti-Nazi League.
Meanwhile the right wing parties began to debate the possibility of a more-or-less formal alliance with the National Front. Both in the 1983 local elections and the 1984 European elections the left did badly, with hundreds of thousands of working class 3O abstentions.
...And confusion on the Left... The turn of the government towards austerity cast the French left into confusion and even despair. The Socialist Party leadership has always been a hotbed of factional warfare, but no grouping has been able to pur foward any coherent left-wing alternative to Mitterrand. In fact the most dynamic force to emerge inside the PS has been the rightwing faction headed by Michel Rocard, formerly leader of the far-left PSU. Rocard represents the view that the PS shold transform itself into a French version of the German SPD - extreme right-wing social democracy. He argues that the market and capitalism should be openly embraced ()n the 'left' of the party the CERES grouping, has itself moved perceptibly to the right day it puts forward a project of protechonist state capitalism, based on prioritising di. 'independence' of French capitalism againsi
'Both the PCF and the SP
showed themselves totally
incapable and unwilling to
counter- the racist upsurge'
Doubtless there are thousands of dissident
members who want a left alternative, but given the weak structures of the PS and its domination by the pronouncements of the party 'tops' there is none on offer. The PCP is a party which does not know which way to turn. In 1984 it left the government reluctantly, no longer wishing to take sibility for Mitterrand's policies, but neither does it want to take the responsibility for an all-out mobilisation against austerity, and apart from demagogic staternents and a few adventurist actions to show its 'militant' face, the CP-led CGT union federation has held its members in check. PCF leader Marchais has talked openly of the advantages for the working class in having the Right back in
which only adds to the mood of demoralisation and defeat.
To the left of the major parties, revolutionary groups like the Ligue Commeeniste Revolutionaire, with widespread demoralisation and an ebbing class struggle, are fighting against the stream to construn; an alternative to the betrayals of the P'$ and PCF. Until there is a turn in the political situation there seems little hope of any major France under Mitterrand has been a stalwart of the Western alliance and has, Gorbachev's visit notwithstanding, been a pillar
anti-Communism in world politics. France is not formally a member of the military structure of NATO, and has attempted to utilise its 'independent ' position to increase its weight inside the Western alliance - trying to construct a bloc with West Germany (a bloc which the Americans are trying to disrupt) and using its powerful role in Africa. Despite surrounding himself with 'anti-imperialist' advisors like Regis Debray, Mitterrand has played the strong man in Africa, sending troops to Chad, and
giving backing to a whole number of reactonary regimes.
Alas, arnong the major political forces in France theres is a broad consensus on international questions. Virtually alone among Western European countries there is no major peace movement, despite the (iP's feeble attempt to create one on the basis of support for international detente, and around such militant slogans as 'J'aime la Paix' (1 love peace). Neither the PCF nor any other major political force has challenged the French nucleas deterrent - the 'force de frappe' nor the alignment with the Western alliance. Thatcherism with a vengeance The betayals of Mitterrand of course do nor
absence of an broad left-wing sevelt among the working class and its par-
Any illusions that Mitterrand would be rapidly outflanked to the left, was the Popular Front guvernment in 1936, have been dispelled. Two things need to be brought out here. First, the government came to power at a time of relative working-class retreat, and not in the
Cof a major workers upsurge. But central has been the absence of any authoritative challenge from the left from within the working class parties and unions. The main explanation for this lies with the idle of the PCF which, basing itself on a reformist perspective, has gone along with
P$ and the PCF between them have: diser dited socialism in the eyes of millions of French workers. Such conflict as there has been between the PS and the PCF has not been on fundamentals, but has consisted of transparently manuttering for position and infuence. organisations, despite their much larger size than in Britain and their better implantation in some key factories, have lacked the strength to provide any alternative governmental perspective
Nonetheless, recent opinion polls have shown a small increase of support for the P'S in the run-up to the election This represents a basic class instinct to rally to defeat the right. Certainly, if Mitterrand represents the misery of austerity, the right wing wants to overturn all the gains made by the working class in the carly period of the Socialist government. A new right-wing government
will be Thatcherismn with a
The failure of the Mitterrand experiment poses a basie political challenge to socialists and one which needs much debate in the European labour movement. CP-PS government opted for austerity as the 'only alternative once its expansion of ihe economy had led to cconomic instability. Acceptance of this false choice - rither inflacionary expansion or deflationary austerity puts the labour movement in a vise - cuber a capitalist devil or a capitalist deep blue sea. The comon wisdom on much of the left thai Mitterrand failed because he was too radical has to be challenged. Tony Benn ones said that capitalism's crisis was socialisan's opportunity Mitterrand has proved that the crisis of the labour movement gives every opportunity to the most reactionary forces in society.
international. No. 3. March/April 1936
British peculiarities JOBS NOT BOMBSO
CHRIS BERTRAM Ben Fine and Laurence Harris, The