Above Photo: From Socialistorganizer.org
The government’s obstinacy leaves no other choice but to impose the withdrawal of the Macron-Philippe Plan:
Prepare the general strike!
Editorial
More than a daily newspaper, Le Monde is an institution of the Fifth Republic. In this capacity, the paper is always on the look-out for the slightest signal that indicates the re-establishing of capitalism’s “order”…in other words, an end to the strike action. So it was delighted to feature this headline today, 20 December: “Pensions reform: the government causes a crack in the trade union front before Christmas”.
Looking at this more closely, there is actually nothing surprising in it. The fact that the UNSA (1) leadership, which from the very beginning was won over to the principle or points-based pensions, is pretending to see openings in the government’s statements, or that the CFDT (2) leadership wants to detect positive signs in them, is a predictable scenario. However, there is also nothing surprising in the fact that in the enterprises that have shut down or are running idle, or in the administrative services and schools that have closed for the holidays, the situation is less conducive to extending the strike action.
For all that, is the regime’s major social and political crisis, which has been ongoing since 5 December, on the verge of ending? Le Monde would like to think so, but it remains cautious and is concerned to “know how these announcements will be received by the strikers, especially those who are members” of the CFDT and UNSA. In the same article, Raymond Soubie, former social policy adviser to Sarkozy, warned: “The issue is the grassroots. We have to see how they will react.”
This is indeed the whole issue. Since the massive RATP (3) strike on 13 September, the push towards 5 December came from the grassroots. It is at the grassroots that there has been a huge growth in sovereign mass meetings and delegate meetings, and the election of strike committees on the basis of a mandate. It is from the grassroots, working its way to the top, that “Withdrawal!” [of the pensions reform draft law] was imposed as a slogan that is common to all. And today, it is at the grassroots that the SNCF [state railway] and RATP workers – whatever their trade union affiliation – have decided to continue the fight.
Should we conclude from this that the position adopted at the top is of secondary importance? Obviously not! The workers at the grassroots who are deciding on the forms and means of fighting back have every right to expect their leaderships to take on their own responsibilities. Yesterday, the Force Ouvriere, CGT, FSU and Solidaires confederal inter-union committee reaffirmed the demand for withdrawal and convened a new day of action. A contradictory decision: the succession of leapfrogging days of action risks exhausting and dispersing the workers’ forces. Faced with the government’s obstinacy, the shortest route to imposing withdrawal is the call to declare everywhere a state of preparedness for a general strike.
Endnotes
(1) National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions.
(2) French Confederation of Christian Workers.
(3) The Paris region transport network.
