ECM 2012, Contribution of the PRCF, France [En.]

Contribution of the PRCF (pole for the renaissance of communism in France) to the European Communist meeting. 09/2012

Tales and truths about "French" politics

Reformists and opportunists spread tales: 1) The crisis is temporary and will spare "northern countries"; 2) A "left" government is the solution. (FCP newspaper 26-09-12: we witness the end of the ancient liberal regime). The truth is quite different:

Indeed, some lark pies have been cooked in France. You know the recipe of a lark pie? One lark, one horse. The lark: raising the minimum wage by 1,7%, raising some family allowances for school children, taxing (gently) some multimillionaires…

So, why has this government known a huge fall (- 11% in two months) in the surveys? Here are some clues:

- Bosses are waging an unprecedented offensive of plant reshufflings or closures (Peugeot-citroën, Air France, Alcatel-lucent, Arkema, Doux, Arcelor-mittal, Sanofi, Owen illinois, Petroplus, Unilever-fralib, Nestlé, Preventglass, Camiva : thousands and thousands of workers pay a heavy toll to the race for profit. The industry recovery (!) minister, whom the FCP newspaper (25/09) calls "comrade minister", has visited several places where workers are striking back. He used the old disbanding tactics: first: I'll never tolerate these share holders' plans (l'Humanité 25/9) ; then: many round tables on: how to improve "social dialogue" & "competitiveness"; in the end: a few grants to help the bosses finalise their "improved social reconversion plans".

- The previous governments, abiding by capitalist injunctions (and by the Barcelona treaty, co-signed by Chirac & Jospin), attacked pensions and retirement age; the present government confirmed these counter reforms, bravely exempting a small percentage of future pensioners. Now, for "deficit" reasons, it's planning new regressive measures, with a new participative approach: which sauce would you prefer to be eaten with?

- Sarkozy's government, abiding by capitalist injunctions and by European treaties, suppressed an average of 10 to 14.000 jobs every year in education; the present government claims a "creation" of 1.500 jobs, but these 1.500 are just cancelations of the planned suppressions, bringing to "only" 12.500 the number of suppressions. Now, this government is launching round tables about: "education is our top priority".

- Abiding by capitalist injunctions and by European treaties, all the previous ("left" and "right") governments have privatised or deregulated huge sectors of the public services (transports, energy, health…); 3 days ago, the prime minister vituperated on the need for more discipline in public expenses because of excessive "cost of labour" and called "the social partners" to more efforts.

- The police minister continues Sarkozy's policy of evicting the gypsies, thus helping the strengthening fascists to channel popular anger against scapegoats.

- Previous sentences against trade unionists are not yet been cancelled.

- Last but not least, the government adopted the Merkel-Sarkozy pact (adorned with a "growth" packaging) with full support of the reactionary MPs; This means not only toughened austerity, heavy financial sanctions if capital's injunctions are insufficiently carried out, but direct control by non elected European institutions. This is a real touchstone.

To sum up: On one hand, a few token measures and many round tables, on the other hand, real regressions.

The fake theory of "failure"

Pseudo communists have accompanied these regressions, by baptizing them "lesser evil", or even by participating in the Chirac-Jospin government. In order to cover up the reactionary content of social democrat policies, pseudo communists have invented the "failure" theory: they say that Gorbatchof, Mitterand, Blair, Socrates, Zapatero, Papandreou (and soon, Hollande), have "forgotten their promises", that they have "lacked ambition", "vacillated" in their policies; lies! All these politicians have not failed or been "impotent" or "incoherent"; they've done their job: by sternly preaching resignation to the masses, they've helped the ruling class in inflicting more sufferings; they've partly succeeded in channelling the class struggle into bogus "reformistic" or electoral deadlocks; they've temporarily succeeded in reprieving capitalism.

Capitalist crisis & prehistoric religions

The more real life calls for revolutionary answers, the more reformist and opportunist tribes pray some prehistoric gods for good harvests:

-Employment is better than unemployment…unfortunately, one is out of reach and the other unavoidable;

-Outsourcing is objectable…but what can we do against "anonymous markets"? (reformists can't name the outsourcers; we, communists, can);

-Stock-exchange driven redundancies are objectable…but competitiveness driven redundancies are acceptable;

-"Selfish speculators" who misunderstand "common interest" should be reprimanded, or even (gently) taxed… but good capitalists who "invest efficiently", who contribute to "growth", who "create jobs"…they should be helped (and indeed they are!);

- Cooperating with the "deciders" is more realistic than confronting them;

- Sacrifices are unavoidable… all we can do is "sharing them fairly";

-Peace is better than war… unfortunately wars are unavoidable; it's pointless to look for any culprit, certainly not our own government… all we can do is make wars a little "cleaner" and help "both sides" to discuss;

To sum up, the various reformist and opportunist religions all sing the same anthem: Capitalism is the unavoidable future of mankind; all we can do is try and regulate, moralize and humanize it.

Those "left" glorifications, justifications, loyal management and rescue of capitalism are nothing new: Crushing the German revolution and opposing the soviet union…handing Spain, Czechoslovakia to Hitler in order to "appease" him…waging colonial wars (not only in Indochina or Algeria but more recently in Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Syria…)

What's new is the rallying of pseudo communists to this rotten "third way" between capitalism and socialism.

Clarity, not confusion

Anyone acknowledging the monopolistic property of the main means of production and exchange, anyone acknowledging the class-based state apparatuses must bear responsibility for the unavoidable consequences: deadly economic warfare, brutal assaults on peoples' needs and rights, a growing risk for mankind's future.

Anyone propagating the fiction that the current crisis lies elsewhere than in the capitalist mode of production and power, anyone propagating the fiction that this crisis could be overcome within the very system that fosters it and thanks to its very tools and its policies…is either ignorant or accomplice.

Anyone propagating the fiction that the EU, its bank, its currency, its treaties, its daily diktats are mere technical or diplomatic issues and not weapons of the ruling class, is seriously misleading the masses.

A "reoriented" EU, a capitalist bank working for common good, diehard treaties repainted in a progressive colour, all these illusions on "vegetarian tigers" represent a real danger and should be unmasked.

Anyone seeking alibis for NATO's aggressions, (or other imperialist aggressions), anyone propagating the fiction that wars could be challenged by some UN "good resolutions", is, in fact, helping the wars mongers.

Prehistoric stances are irrelevant to real issues and real perspectives

- There's only one source of wealth: human labour; there's only one source of power: the joint machineries of corporate & states (though the different monopolies and their respective states battle more and more fiercely on how to share the loot); the issue is not "fair redistribution" ¹ after "normal" exploitation; the issue is the upside down process of production itself, which determines all economic choices.

-The bigger capitalist predators grow, the more voracious they become; this has nothing to do with so called liberal or social-liberal ideologies or with management styles ; it has to do with the basic laws of capitalist accumulation which imply the destruction of whatever hinders the monopolistic rate of profit and of whatever limits exploitation; Nowadays, the contradiction between monopolistic ownership of production on one hand and social needs on the other is acute as ever; nowadays, over accumulation of capital implies the systematic destruction of any remnants of national sovereignty and bourgeois limited democracy ; it implies genocide ² and another bloody reshuffling of the planet.

- History is neither the finger of god nor a mysterious chaos; it is the history of class struggle; today, in order to change their life, the peoples have only one way out: wrenching the power from the exploiters, achieving collective ownership of the means of production and exchange, planning society for the sake of the immense majority, under the control of a workers state.

One step ahead

The demoralising ideology of "lesser evil" is deeply rooted in the masses; not only by bourgeois media and by opportunist leaders, but also by their daily experience. Owning the means of production and controlling the states, the ruling classes do put workers in competition and this breeds reformist illusions. Ex: the "French" government allows the bosses to destroy industrial jobs, it also seriously weakens statutory employment in the public sector; but at the same time, its plans to create thousands of cheap, flexible "jobs" for the young unemployed may appear to them as an answer to their anguish; a distorted, a wicked answer, but an answer. That's why "with the masses" and "against the stream" are intimately linked.

That's why we suggest a few urgent claims to those who waver at the image they have of a revolution:

- No to privatisations, to factory reshufflings and closures…renationalisations under workers' control.

- Stop fuelling monopolies with public money; it's they who should refund all the gifts they've received.

- Banksters, we don't recognize your "debt". Not only we don't have to pay for your crisis, but you are the crisis, get out of our way!

- France, out of their strangling treaties, out of their vicious EU!

- France, out of Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Syria… France, out of their NATO!

If these claims get into the masses, the day will come when they will become: France, out of Capitalism!

Only a revolutionary party, closely linked to the masses and firmly relying on scientific socialism, can help the workers go beyond their immediate situations, challenge bourgeois power and build the future.

Do we have in France this communist vanguard recognized by the masses? Sorry, comrades, not yet.

Communists walk on both feet

- 1) Because we all act in quite different conditions and also because we trust our own world outlook, we are unreservedly open to exchanges with all forces which seek a more humane society, wherever they come from.

- 2) Because the Marxist-Leninist stance has led to historical steps forward and because its oblivion and betrayal has contributed to historical setbacks, we shall never discard or dilute it; in order to advance, renegades and opportunists who hinder revolutionary perspectives and pollute our cause must be ideologically beaten.

A new chapter

¹ Besides the principled standpoint that the mode of production is the basis of political superstructures, facts confirm that this so vaunted "redistribution" is a myth. Ex: French tax inputs structure: taxes on enterprises: 17%, taxes on incomes: 20% VAT (paid "equally!" by every citizen, rich of poor)…51%. These figures don't include: 1) state subventions to enterprises (50 billions a year). 2) General services (education & health of the labour force, transports & equipment) provided to the bosses at society's expense.

- Financial placements are practically tax-free and monopolies also have many tax evasion devices; but again, the key is not in the tax system but in the appropriation of surplus value by the owners of the means of production.

² 1 child dies every 4 seconds in countries often rich with material & human resources, but which are plundered by imperialism