(The following article appeared in the September 6 issue of Rouge.
Under the headline, "In Reply to an LCR Statement to the Press," Lutte Ouvrière published the following item in the most recent issue of its weekly [September 4]:
In a communiqué published the day after the governmental crisis, the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire denounced the Giscard regime and its austerity measures, and then continued: "In this situation the CP and SP should, without waiting for 1978, present themselves as an alternative to the government. The majority of the workers are calling for this."
To be sure, we do not know how much the communiqué was shortened, nor even if it was. In particular, we do not know if the Ligue also warned the workers about the role the left will be brought into the government to play.
But is there a clearer way of backing. in advance, the policy of the reformist left, which will not be called to power, especially before the legislative elections, except to take anti-workingclass measures the right is less capable of carrying through? The role of a revolutionary organization is not to sow illusions about a left alternative for the bourgeoisie, but to unmask it before the eyes of the workers.
The LCR is in complete agreement with the comrades of Lutte Ouvrière that "the role of a revolutionary organization is not to sow illusions about a left alternative for the bourgeoisie, but to unmask it before the
" The question is, eyes of the workers.
How?
By limiting oneself to denouncing the policy of the reformist leaderships, and by calling for the construction of a revolutionary party? That is certainly necessary, but to remain there is to forget that the great majority of workers learn only by experience.
Why do the majority of workers still place their confidence in the historically bankrupt parties of the SP and CP? Because they have illusions in winning a change in policy without overturning society, and hope for a peaceful, progressufficient to give tactical support to the Union of the Left. The dilemma must be broken. One must do more and better. What does that amount to, if not support today to the Union of the Left, which is the current form of the popular front?
It is in this way that Krivine extends a hand to Leduc, who himself extends a hand to..., etc.
"Lutte Ouvrière'
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GEORGE MARCHAIS
sive transformation of society. Accordingly, they view the SP and CP as being, to all appearances, the most effective tool for this. But while the workers genuinely want a change of policy and a transformation of society, the SP and CP leaderships want only to carry through a similar policy with "a social consensus" and to "democratize" the bourgeois state, in collaboration with the bourgeoisie itself.
Two Parallel Dangers
So, for revolutionists there are two parallel dangers. An opportunist danger that consists in seeing only the illusions and aspirations the masses have in SP-CP unity, despite the open policy of collaboration and the differences between the leaderships (a danger illustrated by the present orientation of the PSU). And a sectarian danger that consists in seeing only the policy of the reformist leaderships without taking into account the genuine aspirations of the masses, who still have confidence in these leaderships (a danger that Lutte Ouvrière seems to illustrate).
To break out of this double impasse, revolutionists must help the masses to fight and organize by pushing their traditional parties forward, while at the same time exposing concretely the collaborationist policy of their leaderships. Revolutionists must show how an SP-CP government can provide a political opening for struggles if, in face of the government's austerity policy, the trade-union and political organizations together open an offensive for unifying demands (such as the thirty-five hour week, a minimum monthly wage of 2,300 francs [about US$460], a 300 franc wage increase for all workers, sliding scale of hours and wages, nationalization of factories that shut down, with maintenance of previous gains, etc.).
An SP-CP Government Under What Conditions?
In doing that, we answer workers who know both that isolated struggles are not sufficient and that united struggles mean a confrontation with the government. We must make clear the conditions under which an SP-CP government can open the road to workers power:
• By breaking with the bourgeois parties, beginning with the so-called left parties, the Radicals and the UDR.
• By breaking with bourgeois institutions, beginning with the 1958 constitu tion, which legitimizes Giscard's remaining in power and enables him to dissolve parliament at will.
• By basing itself on the mass movement, and in particular by supporting workers control.
• By opposing the economic and military conspiracy of the French and international bourgeoisie.
In that way we translate explicitly the thoughts of millions of workers who give their votes to the SP and CP, not for the application of the Common Program or the program of François Mitterand, but to bring about real change.
Break With the Bourgeoisie
Although they certainly have not adopted the whole of the revolutionary program, the workers in effect expect that once in power the SP and CP will radically break with the bourgeoisie and base themselves on the mass movement. It is by fighting alongside them on this road that revolutionists will demonstrate concretely the reformist impasse that leads to a Chile or Portugal, and build a credible revolutionary solution. That is why we must begin today to show the workers that even if the SP and CP are forced by a greater pressure to go further than they would like, they are in no way ready to commit themselves to workers power.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
What better lesson can there be for the workers than to see the SP and CP renounce their stated goals as the days pass? To see the SP and CP yesterday, after the cantonal elections, tomorrow, after a similar victory in the municipal elections,° refuse to organize struggles for economic demands and refuse to demand the coming [legislative] elections, out of
8. In regional elections held March 7 and 14 to fill posts on local government councils, Union of the Left candidates won 51.7 percent of the vote in the first round and 50.9 percent in the secondround runoff.
9. Scheduled for 1977.
[The following letter, signed by R. Yvetot, was sent August 20 from the Political Bureau of the LCR to the Political Bureau of the OCI.]
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Comrades,
Under the headline "Playing Pattycake," Informations Ouvrières No. 763 [August 11-25] accuses the LCR of extending its hand to Nungesser via Leduc- Marchais-Chevènement-Fabre. To do that,
[Along with the above letter, the following editorial note appeared in the September 8-15 issue of Informations Ouurières.]
In this issue of Informations Ourières we are reprinting an article by R. Yvetot, a member of the LCR Political Bureau, that appeared in the August 6 issue of Rouge. The article was referred to in the August
Notes
7. On August 25 the Chirac cabinet resigned, largely over a dispute on strategy for the 1978 parliamentary elections. Chirac favors a head-on attack against the Union of the Left.