When the October 15 demonstration for the victory of the Indochinese peoples was over, four Trotskyist activists belonging to the Ligue Communiste ended up in the hospital. They were not clubbed by Ordre Nouveau [New Order, a fascist group], nor by the defense guard of the JC [Jeunesse Communiste - Communist Youth], but by members of the AJS, an organization that claims to be Trotskyist and to observe the norms of workers' democracy.
For us, the seriousness of these events is unprecedented, all the more so in that they were planned in advance. On the eve of the demonstration, the AdS spread a rumor everywhere that it was going to be attacked by the JC. Your national leader, Claude Chisseray, even telephoned the headquarters of the Ligue to warn us and to ask us where the FSI contingent would be located.
For our part, we had received no hint of any provocation by the JC's SO [service d'ordre-defense guard], aside from its usual attitude of preventing revolutionary groups from joining the main body of the official demonstration.
On the morning of the march, the AJS distributed a statement signed by a few fellow travelers in the FEN [Fédération de l'Education Nationale - National Education Federation]and Pontillon of the PS [Parti Socialiste — Socialist party] in which, in advance, it voiced its indignation at any physieal attacks against the AJS. For more than an hour, beginning at 2:30 p.m., FSI activists were able to witness a state of permanent friction continue, without leading to any serious clash, between the defense guards of the AJS and the JC. It was in order to lift this blockade that was preventing the FSI contingent, which was behind it, from moving ahead, that we decided November 20, 1972
to head into the tail end of the UEC [Union des Etudiants Communistes- Union of Communist Students] contingent. As soon as the AJS saw its path cleared by the JC's defense guard rushing to prevent us from going through, the AJs activists, clubs in hand, charged the FSI contingent twice, shouting "Pablistes assassins"
[Pabloites, Murderers].
Another, equally hysterical, charge occurred at the Place du Colonel Fabien, followed by beatings of isolated FSI activists in side streets.
Out of respect for the heroic struggle of the Indochinese freedom fighters for whom you care so little, we felt it was more constructive not to strike back and to let you pass. This kind of confrontation strikes us as wretched.
The methods you used against us, after having used them against the Maoists, the PSU [Parti Socialiste Unifié — United Socialist party] and the PS, are on a par with the worst examples of Stalinist violence; they have nothing in common with the workers' movement and the Fourth International-even if they do seem to provide a temporary solution to the problems facing an organization that is at a standstill (as your skeletal contingent showed is the case with your group).
In the interests of all revolutionists, it must be clear that we will not stand for this type of behavior, even though its effect can only be to further discredit you within the workers' movement.
Since it appears to be your intention to pursue this kind of "political struggle" within the university, we feel we should warn you against the consequences of such acts: They would not fail to be answered by all those who remain committed to workers' democracy.
As far as we are concerned, if this kind of thing should continue, we would be forced to break off all relations with an organization that did not realize that it is against the bourgeoisie that all revolutionary militants must deal their blows. Communist Greetings.
Political Bureau
Ligue Communiste (French Section of the Fourth International)
Letter From an FSI Activist
Comrades, An active sympathizer of the Ligue
Communiste and an activist in the FSI, I took part in the October 15 demonstration along with the other comrades of the Versailles committee. I witnessed the charge by the AJS defense guard in its attempt to cut off the FSI contingent.
I can state, without exaggeration and without trying to make any facile comparisons, that the AJS's defense guard showed itself to be every bit as brutal as any charge by the CRS [Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité — Companies to Protect the Security of the Republic, the special riot police] (and I know what I'm talking about).
In previous demonstrations we have had run-ins with the defense guard of the CGT [Confédération Générale du Travail-General Confederation of Labor]. Revolutionary militants have suffered serious blows in them, but today, comrades, the AJS topped all previous records: They went after militants in adjoining streets who were trying to discuss the situation and beat them with wooden bars....
But tomorrow, comrades, this unleashed defense guard will perhaps attack strike pickets. Today they struck while shouting "Unity for Indochina"; what unity will they invoke when they strike tomorrow?
In any case, there is a very wellknown name for such practices -fascism. It's not "just a little fascist," as a salesman for Solidarité Indochine said; it is fascist pure and simple.