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Contribution of the Revolutionaty Party Communistes (France)

Brussels December 7, 2015

Statement by Michel Gruselle on behalf of the Revolutionary Party Communistes (France)

 

 

First of all I would like to thank the Communist Party of Greece, which is organizing this important Conference at a time when the crisis of capitalism is deepening and when clashes within imperialism are becoming exacerbated.

 

In 2002 Communistes was created as a party. Last June was held the unification congress with the Union of Revolutionary Communists in France, created in 2004. This has led to the formation of the Revolutionary Party Communistes which I represent today, and which is the only revolutionary party in France.

 

On behalf of our party I wish pay tribute to the victims of the cowardly attack on November 13 in Paris. We share the grief of the families so sorely bereaved and that of their relatives. We condemn this attack against the people. The perpetrators must be quickly identified, tried and convicted.

 

Once again Hollande calls on all political parties for a "National Union". Our Party denounces this "Sacred Union" that claims to bring together the workers and the people, with the exploiters, the big industrial and financial corporations, the government, and the parties serving them. There can be no union between exploiters and exploited. This "sacred union" is conceived as a way to further restrict democratic freedoms.

 

From the Socialist Party, to the National Front, the Greens and the Left Front, all agree to the strengthening of France's involvement in the military operations in Syria, Africa and the Middle East alongside the United States and the European Union. In this war, the US, France, the European Union, Russia and regional powers such as Israel, Turkey, Iran, Qatar, the Gulf countries, are competing for domination of the region. In these inter-imperialist conflicts, there is no place for the emancipation of peoples.

 

Multinational companies are primarily responsible for the situation in France and in the countries attacked, owing to their frantic race for profits and the conquest of new wealth, by means of imperialist wars, assisted in this task by their successive governments.

 

To search for another origin of these conflicts is to hide the fact that the cause of wars, that are becoming more widespread, is rooted in the capitalist system itself.

 

The defeat of the socialist camp abruptly changed the balance of power. The countries of Central Europe and the Republics of the former USSR have wiped out social property and social advances. They have engaged in a frantic development of capitalism. Russia, the most powerful of them, has reverted to an imperialist state which covers both its military capacity and its large public or private capitalist monopolies, which have "invited themselves" into the arena of global economic competition. China's choice of a capitalist development has helped to establish, with other emerging countries, alongside and against the old capitalist powers, a group that aims to take its place in the re-division of the world for the benefit of their new monopolistic champions.

 

The converging of financial and industrial capital has increased. It has become the rule throughout the planet. These monopolies impose rules to eradicate democratic and social achievements. In this respect the most striking example is indeed that of the European Union.

 

The re-division of the World and of zones of influence is more than ever on the agenda. The current wars are only the first signs of the potential dangers of widespread confrontation.

 

 

It is therefore urgent, in the battle to overthrow capitalism, to call on the workers and the people to build up a substantial struggle in order to impose peace and defend democratic freedoms.

 

In France regional elections are being held now. No effort is spared to reduce these elections to a simple reorganization of the territory. Everything is done to mask the issues.

 

In fact, these elections will be a very significant political act nationwide. They will assess the evolution of the political social and economic balance of power at this particular time in our country. The capitalist groups leading the country are actively preparing new political constructions that should enable them to continue current policies and to rapidly worsen them. Central to this strategy is their goal to bring down the cost of labor. This will therefore exacerbate class struggle in the coming period, which makes even more necessary the activity of the revolutionary party. These elections fall strictly within the framework of the European Union, within the framework of the capitalist Europe that we are fighting. These large regions were designed to fully integrate capitalist Europe by eliminating the Nation. To this end they have three political parties at their disposal: the Republicans, the Socialist Party and the National Front, the third political force in the service of capital. Owing to the ever worsening situation of the people, discontent is deep, exasperation extreme. Many, who voted Hollande to oust Sarkozy now wonder. Millions of workers are in search of a new policy for a way out of this situation.

 

. The forces of capital have a succession plan. In order to capture the rejection of the current regime by millions of workers, they put forward the National Front. Today in France, capital has three irons in the fire: The Republicans, the Socialist Party, the National Front.

 

The class issue is fundamental. We must build an alternative to the anti-democratic and anti-social war policy implemented by the government and the advocates of the National Union. This is our goal in the national political battle, where, it must be stressed our party will present a list of candidates in one of the regions

Mélenchon, the PCF, the Left Front, call on the workers "to more than ever raise the issue of a left alternative to the austerity policies". What alternative? It is even less of an alternative considering that the PCF has already called for “a rallying of the entire left for the 2nd round of the election."

We are also seeing where organizations such as "Syriza" in Greece, "Podemos" in Spain, "Die Linke" in Germany, take us. They are all supported by the Left Front and all are on the “left”, the spare wheel of capital.

 

Employers and their organization MEDEF are in absolute need of “partner” unions at their disposal. They forcefully combat any attempt at rebuilding a trade union movement of both a class and mass nature. They know they can always rely on the conduct of the CFDT, the servile partner of the MEDEF and the government.

 

The CGT leadership long ago abandoned any reference to the class struggle. But today a demand emerges. It is growing stronger. It comes from union members in companies and from some officials who want the CGT to defend the workers' claims. More and more of them demand that the CGT encourages a broader class struggle everywhere, an inter-professional struggle, for the benefit of the workers.

 

 

Part of the stated objectives of the employers is to break up the Labor Laws and eradicate national guaranties. They intend to implement them soon after the regional elections. 

Many, union members, union officials, employees who are not willing to accept this attack speak their mind openly. They should be the basis of a growing demand for a class oriented trade unionism.

 

What does our party propose?

We are against capitalism in France and for the same reasons we are against capitalist Europe. In our view the fight against the European Union is inseparable from the struggle to bring down capitalism.

Each nation must decide its future for itself, which implies respect for national independence.

Our people must develop relationships corresponding to our time, closer exchanges with other nations in Europe and in the world, on equal terms.

Our party's NO to capitalist Europe is fully related to our vision of the policy that needs to be pursued in our country, related to the prospect of the policy change that we are proposing to the French people.

We need to develop the action of the French people to defend peace throughout the world and on our continent. We must break NATO instrument of imperialism dominated by the USA.

We are the only party to:

- Denounce current policies, to make them known for what they are and their consequences. We alone make it clear that it is capitalism, its objectives, its very nature, which is the cause of them.

- Call unambiguously for the struggle against capitalism, to gain ground against it, to fight the battle to bring it down and change society.

 

Only we clearly state what policies we intend to pursue. Policies of industrial, economic, social, development benefiting the people. Policies which can only be driven by the power of the working class and workers on the basis of collective ownership of the major means of production and exchange: which means socialism, the only alternative to capitalism.