RE: [Marxism] Re: French Elections

["Joaquin Bustelo" <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greg writes: "True enough, Fred. But there are trade unions, and then there
are trade unions."

        Amen brother. And perhaps one of the distinctions that ought to be
kept in mind is that there are trade unions and then there are trade unions
with actual members.

        I don't know if it is out of solidarity with their American
counterparts, but the French workers have the distinction of being as little
organized as the ones here, with a single-digit rate rivaled only by the one
in the private sector in the United States, and actually, in terms of how
the bourgeoisie does the numbers, significantly LOWER than the U.S. overall
when the government sector is included.

        As for the elections, I think the French left blew it. Presented
with the opportunity after the victory in the EU constitution fight of
presenting a strong common challenge in the name of the working people and
the social and protest movements, several of them preferred instead to keep
to the same old LaSallean sect-building instead of embracing an approach
that might help lay the foundation for the emergence of a real party of the
working people. 

        I haven't tried to follow all the ins and outs of the campaign and
the programmatic statements and so on, just a little bit that's been on TV.
And the impression I've gathered from that is simply that of the far left
candidates, Bove has gone out of his way to identify himself with the rebel
youth in the slums immigrants are confined to. And unlike several others,
the axis of his campaign isn't sect-building. So I like him.

        I'm sure a bunch of the comrades here are going to argue for the
postman or whoever on the basis of their "program," i.e., their preaching.
If preaching could make a difference in politics, it would have by now,
especially in France, where there are several large, substantial,
long-established far-left organizations that have been doing this sort of
thing since the famous May of long ago. Is any of them even one flea-hop
closer to constituting a real PARTY?

        On the contrary, we saw in the EU referendum that THE party can be
brought together, but ONLY by the liquidation of the sects. So I would urge
people to cast a conscious vote AGAINST the preachers and FOR the unity of
social and protest movements and all working people, FOR a party of the
dispossessed.

Joaquín


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