Chris Strafford on “Red November”

After last years victory against the CPE the French students movement gathers its strength again to smash Sarkozy’s Thatcherite reforms. In the last two weeks alone 48 general assemblies have been held in universities across France.

The battle is over privatisation, something we know all too well in Britain. The Pécresse law will introduce selection , this will mean that those who have a baccalaureat or have worked for more than three years will not be able to freely enrol as is the case today. The law will also allow universities to charge fees. The university system would be based on competition which has led many students and workers unions to fear that there will be cuts in funding for some courses especially the social sciences and the humanities.

Other demands relate to bursaries, funding, accommodation and amnesties for militants who are being prosecuted for being involved in the anti-CPE movement.

The method of action for the students thus far has been the strike often coupled with a blockade or semi blockade which worked well during the fight against the CPE. With the strikes in the railways already underway we can expect to see a return to the blockades of the railways, roads and even airports. University students have called on secondary school students to join the strike. School students who took part in last years anti-CPE movement were amongst the most militant and innovative, if we see the spreading of the students strikes out of the universities and into the schools we can expect to see similar scenes as last year.

The strikes against Sarkozy’s reforms are not just confined to the students movement. Across the country strikes have taken place; mainly on the 18th October. In the railways the CGT, SUD-Rail, FO, CFTC and CFE-CGC formed an inter union grouping calling for strike actions against proposed changes in retirement schemes. Strike have also being taken against reforms and mergers in the state run energy companies – FO and CGT are planning to strike against the reforms. Renewed strikes against the changes are under way now. SUD- Rail have called an indefinite strike. The CGT leadership, who have been holding out against an all-out strike, have capitulated to the rank and file and supported SUD-Rail’s  brave actions. SUD seems to be leading the revolt on the railways and has received support from Rail passengers in calling for a fare strike. Everyday on strike or fare-strike the state-run company SNCF is losing 150 million euros! It is only a matter of time before the government will act against the strikers. Sarkozy is not in the same position as Thatcher was when she crushed the miners; the capitalists will not want to see France crippled under a strike wave for long.

The French working class has a long history of rebellion. In recent history it has shown its combativeness. in 1995 proposed changes in social security sent Juppè and his government tumbling down. Last years inner city riots and the anti-CPE movement showed the youth how to fight, and showed Sarkozy that the working class will fight.
The French working class is showing its will to fight. The general assemblies are glimpses of how the working class can build its own power and its own public authority. The question is whether it can win, and whether the fractured French left can begin to show serious leadership in the struggle. The French left is all over the place, much like our own movement here in Britain. If the working class is to move forward the most advanced sections of the movement have to get serious and begin to organise and unite into a revolutionary communist party – not the pathetic French Communist Party of today, hoping against all hope and reality to become a junior partner with the socialist party again. What is needed is a vibrant democratic organisation where the way forward for the French workers movement can be thrashed out and eventually realised.