Re: [Marxism] Re: French elections

["Lüko Willms" <lueko.willms@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 08:24:25 -0400, Fred Feldman wrote:

> Lueko Willms replied:
>    When follow the search for the lesser evil, you will get the worst. 
> We should not look for the slave master who would be less bad than 
> another, but should strive to become our own masters.
>  
> Fred Feldman comments:
> Neither of these generalities seems useful to me as a guideline for 
this
> situation. 

  I didn't and don't limit myself to a warning against lesser-evilism. 

>  The LCR is certainly the best of the far-left campaigns, as far
> as I can see, and my instinct is to support them in the first round.
>  
> But I wonder: How much headway has the LCR made in the banlieues?  How
> central have they made campaigning there to their campaign. 

  I think they are lacking in that respect. That's what came out in 
their non-statement on the riots in the Gare du Nord which I mentioned 
in my first contribution in this debate. There is certainly no reason to 
hail the actions of ransacking various shops, and plundering them, but I 
would point to the resistance which swell up against the cops there as 
something very revealing, showing how young people are losing their fear 
of the authorities, a trend which can be seen also in Germany. 

> Have they changed their position on requiring Muslim 
> women to remove their scarfs in order to get a public-school 
> education?  

  I don't think so. 

> In my opinion, from afar I admit, if there is a strong trend 
> in the second round in the banlieues to vote for Royal  

  one should note -- I think I didn't mention it yet -- that out of the 
struggles in the "banlieues" came a strong movement to register as 
voters, and that has be going even stronger in the weeks leading to this 
presidential election. 

> as a way to deal a blow to Sarkozy's proclaimed enmity, 
> I think the left - and especially the LCR, which is 
> the most promising component - should support Segoulene 
> in the second round and seek to root their organization 
> more in the banlieues by campaigning around their 
> Marxist approach to doing so, as a preparation for
> future defensive struggles, whoever is elected.

  I would do that, but not as the "lesser evil" but by explaining that 
when working people, and the youth especially (Royal seems to rally a 
lot of young people) want to use that rotten instrument as their means 
to put their hands on the reins of political power, we do not want to 
stay in the way, on the contrary, we would want to be the best 
campaigners, after it came out that we are not yet in the position to 
take power by ourselves. Maybe not in these words, but to this effect 
should a campaign go. 
  
  And I am quite sure that the LCR and all other "leftist" candidates 
will call for S. Royal in the second round, if she is to stand as one of 
the two best placed candidates. And reject out of hand the proposals of 
old farts like Michel Rocard (yes, the same former prime minister who 
had been the leader of the "leftist" PSU) for an alliance with Bayrou 
even before the first round. 


Yours, 


Lüko Willms
Frankfurt, Germany
--------------------------------
visit http://www.mlwerke.de Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotzki in German

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