[The following statement on the kidnapping of Renault official Robert Nogrette was issued jointly March 9 by the following organizations: Ligue Communiste, French section of the Fourth International; PSU (Parti Socialiste Unifié -- United Socialist party); CIC (Centre d'Initiative Communiste -- Center for Communist Initiative); AJS (Alliance des Jeunes pour le Socialisme -- Alliance of Youth for Socialism); ORA (Organisation Révolutionnaire Anarchiste -- Revolutionary Anarchist Organization); AMR (Alliance Marxiste Révolutionnaire -- Revolutionary Marxist Alliance); and Lutte Ouvrière. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
Robert Nogrette, head of personnel at the Renault plant, has been kidnapped. The undersigned organizations would like to make the following observations:
1. For these organizations, violence is a daily reality of capitalism (loss of employment, hellish speed-ups, armed militia, plant guards). In the recent period, the Renault management has heightened this violence with the murder of Overney and the firing of the workers who witnessed the killing.
2. They condemn this kidnapping as an act that stands in contradiction to the mass unity movement initiated around Pierre Overney's funeral; that enables the bourgeoisie to step up its policy of repression; and that enables the leadership of the PCF [Parti Communiste Français -- French Communist party] to try to justify its exclusionary and divisive methods.
3. They call attention to the attitude of the leaders of the PCF and the CGT [Confédération Générale du Travail -- General Confederation of Labor] who, by refusing to participate in the funeral for Pierre Overney and to join in organizing the proposed fight against the firing and imprisonment of the worker activists at Renault, encouraged the carrying out of such an act.
4. They are determined to go ahead with a mass campaign against repression, in particular against the bosses' militia, and for the release of the imprisoned Renault workers. They call upon the workers and their political and trade-union organizations to join in this struggle. They alert them to the efforts of the ruling powers to create a poisoned atmosphere against revolutionary activists by exploiting this incident.
5. They pledge themselves to defend all activists who are or who may become victims of repression in the wake of the Renault events.