VICTORY IN UNITED ACTION

Strike movement in France


The mass protest movement in France began with the appearance on the streets of November 17, 2018 of transport workers who opposed the increase in prices for gasoline (by 15%) and diesel fuel (by 23%). In France, public transport is underdeveloped and therefore private personal transport and commercial transportation are very important for ordinary citizens of France. (Today, the price of 1 liter of gasoline in France is about 112 rubles.)

     The protesters were in uniform - traveling yellow vests, so the movement was called the protest of the yellow vests. Before the mass street protests, the protest was formed on social networks, on the Internet ...

     Protests all this time took place on Saturdays. These actions are organized by the country's largest trade unions, including the General Confederation of Labor, with the support of the Yellow Vests movement. The strikers also receive material assistance from the “funds to protect the strikers” created by citizens. The initial mass demonstrations of “yellow vests” against the increase in automobile fuel prices and the “defeat” caused by the radical protesters on the Champs Elysees and vandalism against the symbol of France, the Arc de Triomphe, forced Macron to declare a six-month moratorium on raising the price of automobile fuel. Note that, having come to power, Macron first reduced the taxes on their big fortunes to the oligarchs. (Note that Emmanuel Macron, an investment banker, is one of the richest people in France.) At the same time, for the French living on minimal incomes, taxes increased - in particular, on gasoline. Therefore, the protesters, represented by their leaders, said that a six-month moratorium on rising gas prices is only minor concessions to the authorities and insufficient to improve the living standards of the working people. A € 100 salary increase at a high price level in France was also a mockery.

A List appeared (of 25 items in 4 sections) of the demands of the "yellow vests" to the French Government in order to overcome the socio-political crisis, namely:

I. Economics and labor.

1.Convocation of a popular meeting for tax reform. Legislative ban on taxes exceeding 25% of a citizen’s condition.

    Immediate increase of 40% of the minimum wage, pensions and living wage.
    Immediately create new jobs in the field of healthcare, education, public transport, law and order, etc., to ensure the proper functioning of all infrastructures.
    4. Immediately begin construction of 5 million units of affordable housing, thereby ensuring a reduction in rents, mortgages and job creation in the construction industry. Strictly punish city halls and regional administrations, leaving the homeless in the open.
    Reduce the size of banks and break up banking monopolies, thereby protecting the financial sector from crisis. To prohibit banks with investors to engage in exchange speculation. To prohibit “saving” illiquid banks by taxpayer money.
    6. To annul the internal (state) debt as a fiction. Such a debt does not exist, it has already been paid many times in a row.
    With popular support, rewrite the Constitution in the interests of the sovereignty of the people. To legitimize general referenda on a popular initiative.
    8. Prohibit lobbying and influence schemes. To prohibit persons with a criminal record for life holding elected office. Prohibit holding several concurrently elected posts.

II.Frexit (Brexit).

(Brexit - for –Britain,

Frexit for France)

    To leave the EU and regain our political, financial and economic sovereignty (such was the will of the people in the 2005 referendum). Resume the circulation of its own currency, exiting the Lisbon Treaty. Even this one measure will already save us 50 billion euros per year.
    10. Stop the practice of tax evasion. Return the 80 billion euros that the largest 40 companies owe to the state, which is in no hurry to claim them.
    Immediately stop further privatization and return to the state the already privatized property: airports, railways and motorways, parking lots ...
    12. Immediately remove radars and stop cameras from the road. They are useless in preventing traffic accidents and are nothing more than a veiled tax.
    The national education system is to exclude ideology from education and critically review destructive and discredited teaching methods.
    In the field of justice - increase the budget four times. Prescribe in law the maximum permitted waiting time for legal procedures. Simplify the judicial system. Make justice free and accessible.
    MEDIA. Break media monopolies, eradicate nepotism between the media and politicians. Make the media publicly available and guarantee diversity. Prohibit editorial propaganda. Stop media subsidies - 2 billion a year. Stop tax breaks for reporters.
    16. Guarantee civil liberties. To register in the Constitution a complete ban on government interference in education, health care and the institution of the family.

III. Environment and health.

17. The law obliges equipment manufacturers to extend the shelf life to at least 10 years.

Oblige them to have spare parts available.

    As soon as possible, prohibit the production and handling of plastic containers and other packaging that clogs the environment.
    Limit the impact of pharmaceutical companies on the healthcare system.

Hold a popular health care reform congress.

    Agriculture. Prohibit GMOs, pesticides suspected of developing cancer and endocrine system pathology. Prohibit the use of agricultural land without rotation of crops.
    21. To re-carry out the industrialization of the country, in order to abandon imports, as causing the greatest harm to the environment.
    Foreign policy.
    Quit NATO immediately. Legally prohibit the use of French troops in wars of aggression.
    Relations between France and Africa. Stop the policy of robbery, stop military and political interference. To give the money and property of dictators, acquired by dishonest means, to the people of Africa. Immediately return the French troops home.

Put an end to the CFA franc system (note - the colonial system obliges African countries to keep foreign exchange reserves "in the Central Bank of France and pay for this" pleasure "of France) a system that keeps Africa in poverty. Negotiate as equals with equals.

    To stop the flow of immigrants is a stream that we have neither the means to accept nor integrate, and which plunged our country into a deep crisis that endangers our survival.
    In foreign policy, exclusive respect for international law and signed agreements.

At the end of the List, note:

“Let these 25 measures not change our daily lives instantly. But even points 9 and 10 will bring 130 billion to the treasury. France is a country rich in courageous and hardworking people. We do not deserve to live in poverty. ”

     This List of requirements of the people of France to their Government for overcoming the socio-political crisis, is almost 100% (if we exclude, which specifically concerns France only) is identical to the requirements of the Russian (Soviet) people to the Russian government. Indeed, the socio-political and demographic situation (thanks to the liberals who are now in power) in our country is much worse than in France. (According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the population decline only in 2019 amounted to 260 thousand people - that is, the highest over the past 11 years. The influx of migrants does not compensate for this.)

       It seems that in preparing his appeal to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (January 15, 2020), President V.V. Putin kept this List before his eyes and on the basis of it formulated what was necessary and should be done for the people of Russia in the first place. After all, the requirements of the mendicant people to their rulers in European countries and in Russia are one and the same. And the reasons for the plight of the people in Europe and in Russia are also the same - political and material support (even more?) By the rulers of their oligarchy (so that they, oligarchs, God forbid, do not reduce their planned profits in case price fluctuations in the world market, i.e. full insurance of profits of the super-rich due to robbery and infringement of social rights and guarantees of the population)

     The only difference between Europe and us is that the foreign class of the super-rich has become such, to a greater extent due to their labors, and our oligarchs are sheer criminals who robbed and stripped naked the Soviet people during the Gorbachev "perestroika" that stole from the people the basis of welfare is public property. And in addition - those who destroyed our socialist Fatherland.

       The essence of V. Putin’s reform regarding resolving the issue of demography and, partially, finance, on his appeal to the Federal Assembly, is reflected in the article “The Debt Pit Will Grow”.

       I would also hope that the Russian president will finally abandon the moronic education system in the secondary school based on the Unified State Examination, following which Russia is completely losing its future generations.

       In other words, by preserving the USE system, the destruction of Russia as a state is programmed through the debilitation of young generations. (“Spread the youth and the nation destroyed.”) This is also facilitated by modern Russian culture, especially in the form of pop music, which has turned into a demonstration of characters of the House of Tolerance in the “House-2” pattern created by Ksyusha Sobchak.

       We, the AUCPB, welcome, of course, the displacement of a completely mediocre, failed everything and everyone, in its composition completely liberal Government of D. Medvedev. The only strange thing is that V.V.V., who went bankrupt as a leader, (his close friend in every respect) Putin warmed again on a bread post, beside himself. You can be horrified by thinking WHAT D. Medvedev can do with the liberal-cosmopolitan torture of the Russian defense industry and its scientific potential that suddenly breathed after 30 years of torture tsiala ...

     It follows from V. Putin’s Appeal to the Federal Assembly that the liberal structure of the economy remains, therefore, there is no need to wait for changes for the better ...

     After President Macron announced the introduction of the pension reform in 2019, the movement of yellow vests was transformed into a mass protest strike movement and took on a tough confrontation between the ruling authorities. Starting December 5, 2019, a series of mass strikes initiated by trade unions took place throughout France.

In December 2019, stocks became radical. Posters appeared demanding the resignation of President Macron, such as “Macron, Run! The people are coming! ” In other words, the demonstrators are demanding the resignation of Macron as president. In the crowds of protesters you can find the slogan "We are here, but Macron does not want to see us." The president continues to persevere in his decision on pension reform. In his New Year’s speech on TV, President Macron said:

“I will carry out reforms no matter what!”

       The vast majority of demonstrators are employees of the French National Railways Society (SNCF) and the Paris Autonomous Transport Authority (RATP). Recently, teachers of schools, lyceums and universities, and even students, as well as lawyers and even workers of the Paris Opera joined the protesters - everyone who believes that their situation with the introduction of new pension rules will worsen.

       If the cancellation of opera performances can be endured, it is difficult to endure the transport collapse resulting from the demonstrations: the metro and railways work half-heartedly, high-speed train flights are cut by a quarter, out of every five suburban trains, only two go on the line. In addition, unions with red flags replaced the yellow vest unions on the streets of cities. In the crowd of protesters you can see Cuban flags with a portrait of Che Guevara. French citizens do not express serious indignation against the inconvenience caused by transport, realizing that the protesters are fighting for their pension rights.

     From the very beginning, radicals (as previously mentioned) entered the ranks of the strikers - strong young people in black clothes and masks. They trash shops, set fire to parked cars, cripple sculptural and park symbols of France. Among the radicals there is a slogan - "Destroy the foundations of capitalism." The prefecture of the Paris Police issued a decree according to which "any gathering of people calling themselves" yellow vests "is prohibited on the Champs Elysees, in the sector of the National Assembly, in the Senate, at Notre Dame and at several points. The Louvre is currently closed.

       Vandalism and the seizure of state institutions necessitates the introduction of an emergency economic and social situation. Police use rubber bullets, tear gas, water guns, sonic grenades and other measures to disperse protesters. During the protests in 2019, according to available information, 11 people were killed, and 2.5 thousand people were wounded. About 1.8 thousand security personnel were injured. During the manifestations of the "yellow vests" material damage amounted to about 3 billion euros, in Paris alone - up to 4 million euros. Strikes take place regardless of the Christmas holidays. According to the largest French trade union, on January 9, 1.5 million people went on strike in more than 250 demonstrations across the country. (According to the French Ministry of the Interior, 800,000 people took part in the strike, including 65,000 in Paris, The Local). Protests swept the French provinces. Strikes took place in Rouen, Bordeaux, Marseille and Toulouse.

     Over 60 percent of the French people approve of the strike and consider it justified.

The strike of the "yellow vests" has been going on longer than the most violent protests of 2003 against the pension reform, which forced the government of Jean-Pierre Raffaren to retreat.

     Under the influence of the mass strike movement on Saturday, January 11, 2020, the government of Emmanuel Macron made the first concession, announcing the possibility of canceling (or postponing for a longer term) raising the retirement age. Then, gradual changes in pension legislation should begin in 2022 (and not in 2020) and end in 2027, with an increase in the age of retirement from 62 to 64 years. The French government is also discussing in the penultimate week of January that, given the combination of positive circumstances in the second reading of the law, the retirement age may not be raised. Is the government urgently looking for money to “finance new steps of social progress”? ...

       Our friends, the French Communists (with whom we have long-standing constant relations, publish the magazine - INTERVENTIONCOMMUNISTE) sent us a magazine and a special issue on the strike movement called "Communist Coordination", "Communist Solidarity" (RASSEMBLEMENTCOMMUNISTE.FR) with a leaflet in support of the strikers.

We give the text of the leaflet.

“AS IN BELGIUM, WE CAN AND WE SHOULD  WE WILL WIN!

         In Belgium, the government wanted to carry out the same reform. Only with a single call did the trade unions and left-wing political parties manage to mobilize the workers and force the government to retreat under our single slogan: there is no such reform! It was a clear message, created and implemented in unity, which brought victory.

In France, victory is near. The government shows the muscles, but their unity is already falling apart. We need to strengthen the strike movement and paralyze the economy. Capitalists think only of one thing - only of their wallets. The strike and demonstrations, the cessation of production - that’s how we make them cede.

     And, above all, we will not let ourselves be deceived. Our time is a time of illusions and deception for the separation of workers. Let's not let ourselves be trapped and, like our Belgian comrades, let's say NO TO THIS REFORM together! This is the only reasonable requirement if we want victory. And she is in our hands!

Pension is a right, not a lottery!

Unite everything in a single strike and a single demonstration against the Macron project! ”

       Mass protests of the "yellow vests" are already taking place not only in France, but also in Belgium, Germany, Poland, Greece, Israel. The reason is the growing demand of society for social justice with the widening inequality between the super-rich and the growing army of beggars. This request in a very aggravated form is in Russia ...

       Speeches by citizens of the Russian Federation against the pension reform of V. Putin are in every possible way suppressed by the authorities and are not widespread due to intimidation and attraction of opposing speakers to various kinds of administrative prosecutions (judging by the media).

       We, the AUCPB, support the economic struggle of the working people, but we stand for the complete destruction of the exploitation system, against the appropriation of other people's labor by the owners of the means of production. We advocate scrapping the entire system of exploitation of other people's labor.



       In his work “What is to be done?” V.I. Lenin showed that “distracting the working class from the general political struggle against tsarism and restricting its tasks to an economic struggle with the masters and the government, leaving the masters and the government intact, means dooming the workers to eternal slavery. The economic struggle of the workers with the owners and the government is a trade union struggle for the best conditions for selling labor to the capitalists, but the workers want to fight not only for the best conditions for selling labor to the capitalists, but also for the destruction of the capitalist system itself, which dooms them to the necessity of selling their labor capitalists and be exploited. ”

N.A. Andreeva

January 17, 2020



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