[The following article appeared in the October 30 issue of the French-language fortnightly Inprecor, published in Paris. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
On August 2, eighty-four people were killed in a bombing at a Bologna train station. On September 26 a bomb exploded at Munich's Oktoberfest-twelve people were killed. On October 3, a synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris was the target— four people died.
Bologna, Munich, Paris: three bombing attacks all with similar characteristics.
In all three cases, the terrorists aimed their attacks against large crowds. The perpetrators have all openly affirmed their allegiance to Hitlerism: the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei in Italy; the Military Sport Group Hoffmann in West Germany; and the European Nationalist Fascists in France.
And if the regularly perpetrated murders ions" or the ATE (Anti-ETA Terrorism) commandos are added to these, the similarities cannot be missed.
Network of Rightist Terrorism
This network of right-wing terrorism has been spoken about for a long time. In 1974 when fascism was overthrown in Portugal and the files of the Portuguese political police (PIDE) were examined, it was discovered that there is a real coordinating center of fascist subversion-Aginter Press.
The trail of this network can be seen in connection with other upsurges of the mass workers movement in Europe: "the creeping May" in Italy; post-Franco Spain; and revolutionary Portugal.
In November, 1968 an Aginter Press document written to some members of the Ordine Nuovo group laid out the basis for what would become their strategy for tension in Italy:
We think that the first part of our political action must be to bring about chaos in all the regime's structures. ... In our opinion, the first activity we must launch is to destroy the government structures, using the cover of communist and pro-Chinese actions. This will create a feeling of aversion towards these forces who are threatening the peace of each individual and of the nation.
Taking off from this state of things, we must operate inside the courts and the church in order to influence public opinion, propose solutions and demonstrate the deficiencies and incompetence of the legally constituted apparatus. This will then make us appear as the only ones who can provide a social, political, and economic solution that is applicable to the situation...
In December 1969 a bomb explosion at the Piazza Fontana in Milan caused a number of deaths. This led to a gigantic roundup of the far left, including the anarchists Pinelli and Valpreda.
Another quote from Aginter Press provides the connection with the recent wave of terrorist attacks. Here is their theory of terrorism:
Terrorism: terrorism breaks all resistance, results in submission, and provokes a rupture between the population and the government. ... Blind terrorism breaks the masses' confidence, disorganizing them so as to better manipulate them.
An international network of the far right certainly exists, no matter what they call themselves (European New Order, World Union of Nationalist Socialists, World Anti-Communist League, Aginter Press), and whether or not they have a centralized structure. On numerous occasions the heads of these fascist terrorists have met to coordinate their actions.
The Italian press recently revealed that a meeting of this type was held in Paris in August 1978. In attendance were Stefano Della Chiaie (one of the originators of the strategy of tension in Italy and the mastermind behind the bombings by the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei); Ernesto Milà (who founded the Anti-ETA Death Batallions in Spain); and a number of French fascists, including Mare Fredriksen, the head of the European Nationalist Fascists. This meeting was said to have drawn up a plan for European-wide terrorism.
Ties with the State Apparatus
These men are especially dangerous since they have the benefit of total impunity. In the three cases where the bombings resulted in massacres, it was clearly shown that the fascists had helpers within various state apparatuses.
The inquiry into the Bologna bombing put the secret service under cross examination once again, but only some flunkies ended up being arrested. But what is so surprising about that? In 1969 the Italian secret service also knew who was responsible for the bombing attacks but deliberately oriented its investigation towards a phony "Red Path" group. The "Compass plot" in 1974 brought to light that the farright activists were manipulated from inside the secret service itself.
The Christian Democratic leadersespecially Giulio Andreotti and Mario
Rumor, consciously covered up these activities, utilizing the strategy of tension to strengthen the Italian state apparatus. All the judicial inquiries were buried. The fascists continue to kill and to hide behind the mass neofascist party-the Italian Social Movement (MSI).
In the final analysis, actions like those at Bologna benefit the Christian Democrats. The August 2 crime served to create a feeling of national unity around the present government and strengthened the bourgeoisie's repressive arsenal. This was the card that Francesco Cossiga, then president of the Council, tried to play. But the workers' anger-extremely strong in this period of austerity-was powerfully expressed at the victims' funeral. This and the "hard line" tactics adopted by the Italian Communist Party overturned this maneuver.
In the Munich crime, ties of another kind were seen. The only reason a far-right group was implicated in this crime was because a member of the paramilitary Hoffmann group was killed by his own bomb blast. Over the years, members of this group have been able to freely organize uniformed parades in Bavaria, marching with weapons, thanks to the indulgence of the Christian Democratic Union— Christian Social Union party of Franz Josef Strauss, which is in power in that state.
In response to demands that the Hoffmann group be dissolved, the Christian Democrats answered that this group "was not dangerous." It was only much later that Helmut Schmidt's federal government finally banned the Hoffmann group. Previously, the federal government had been too busy blacklisting the left and far-left groups.
When the Munich massacre took place, Franz Josef Strauss was in the midst of his election campaign, supported by a large section of West German big business. He tried very hard to exploit this crime, preaching about the need for a "strong government." But this maneuver failed- Strauss' responsibility for allowing the Hoffmann group free reign was totally evident. The unforeseen death of the bomber prevented Strauss from using this incident as he would have if the crime had remained anonymous and if he had been able to blame it on a far-left terrorist group.
In Giscard D'Estaing's Service
For three years, fascist attacks have been on the rise in France. Between June
1977 and September 1979 some 159 attacks were recorded. The perpetrators have never been arrested. Moreover, from the murder of the Association of Algerians in Europe employee, Laid Sebai, to the murder of Pierre Goldman and Henri Curiel, these actions have caused numerous deaths. Most of the victims have been immigrant workers.
Seventy Algerians were victims of racist crimes in a period of six years. Even when the perpetrators of these racist attacks are caught practically red-handed, all they get are an assortment of suspended prison sentences. This was the case in May and June of this year when young North Africans from Bondy, in the northeast suburbs of Paris, were the victims of Nazi attacks for a period of several weeks.
Altogether the right-wing grouplets in France involve barely a few hundred members. The most active ones (such as the Federation of European National Action, which was disbanded and then reconstituted as the European Nationalist Fascists, and which claimed responsibility for the Rue Copernic bombing, and the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement) openly proclaim their pro-Hitler views. Other groups-the largest ones-try to take on a respectable veneer. This is the case with the National Front and the New Forces Party (PFN). But there are close ties between all these groups. This has been proven on many occasions.
The impunity with which these Nazi groups function was shown by the speed with which the Federation of European National Action, which was forcibly dissolved in September, reconstituted itself. It has continued to function without the slightest trouble.
During the seven-year term of French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing there has been a methodical penetration by fascists into the state apparatus. The French president's party has made use of their services on numerous occasions. Members of the New Forces Party provided protection for Giscard during the 1974 presidential campaign. And during the 1977 municipal elections, fascists appeared on Giscard's slate in a dozen cities. Several were even elected.
Among Giscard's own entourage, there are those who have a long record of farright activity. This is the case with at least three Giscardian parliamentary deputies: Alain Madelin and Gerard Longuet were trained in fascist groups in the 1960s; and Hubert Bassot, a former Secret Army Organization (OAS) member, was implicated in the disappearance of OAS treasurer Raymond Gorel, alias "Scimitar." And these are not isolated cases. Several fascist skeletons are hidden in the closets of various political figures in the Giscardian right wing.
This state of affairs flows from the tactics adopted following Giscard's 1974 victory. In order for the Giscardians to
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Anti-fascist demonstrators march in Paris October 7.
accomplish their political aims they had to find replacements for the members of the Gaullist apparatus in the cogs of the Fifth Republic. Since they did not have the same kind of political apparatus as the Gaullists, they relied largely on the remnants of the OAS and the fascist groups of the 1960s. And the Giscardians freely use members of these far-right groups as thugs, in place of the Gaullist's parallel police network-the Civic Action Service.
But this infiltration is not just limited to political figures. The repressive apparatus has also been affected. Just before the Rue Copernic bombing two police unions-the Autonomous Federation of Police Unions and the National Autonomous Union of Plainclothes Police-pointed out that police officers made up 20 percent of the membership of the Federation of European National Action and the European Nationalist Fascists. Some of them even hold key positions in the police command structure.
This collusion in high places that aids the fascists was documented in a letter from one of the special prosecutors, Judge Guy Joly, which was made public by the weekly Le Canard Enchainé. In this letter to the head of the Criminal Brigade, the judge exposed an investigation that was conducted so that it could not succeed, since the top police hierarchy had refused to carry out judicial orders for strict surveillance of far-right elements.
In addition, lists discovered at the headquarters of fascist organizations were not turned over to the prosecutor. For example, the judge only learned about the role of policeman Paul-Louis Durand-a member of the Federation of European National Action and of French police intelligencethrough the international media, which widely publicized this after the Bologna events.
Interior Minister Christian Bonnet had long denied these facts. But he finally had to acknowledge before the senate the truth he had always refused to admit: that the police knew about the policemen whose names were in the files of far-right organizations. It is clear that Bonnet had hidden and covered up the inaction of these services in face of the fascists.
During the investigation of the Rue Copernic bombing, some of the French press gave big play to a new lead in the investigation that could point to the Middle East. What was this all about? The police had identified the owner of a motorcycle that was found at the scene. He was from Cyprus and had purchased the Suzuki with U.S. dollars. He was traced to a hotel in Paris, from which he disappeared September 22. That's all there was to it.
The emphasis given to this "Cyprus lead" by certain newspapers seems to have been intended to divert attention from the responsibility of Nazi groups for the growing number of attacks over the last two years and the obvious impunity with which they function.
The new outbreak of attacks and racist and anti-Semitic propaganda is tied to the ideological opening that has been provided for it for several years now by the New Right, whose adherents have become the Giscardian regime's official intelligentsia. These people were all members of Europe Action-the fascist group of the 1960s. Today they present themselves as nothing more than rightist intellectuals. But their theories take up the same old trilogy of fascism-order, elite, and race-only with a less conspicuous form and a more modern appearance.
One of the avowed aims of this New Right is to infiltrate the "centers of decision-making." And, in fact, these men hold a number of ministerial positions. So, these fascist and Nazi groups are especially dangerous since there are those in high levels of the government who profess sympathy for their ideas.
The current situation cannot be likened to an upsurge of fascism. Despite the deep economic crisis, in the short run there is no section of the petty bourgeoisie or lumpenproletariat that is likely to be drawn in by a fascist party. Thus, the explanation for this situation must be sought elsewhere.
A Strategy of Tension?
We have seen how various sections of the bourgeoisie have used these far-right formations. In certain cases and on certain questions it is striking how governmental policy and the actions of the fascists have complemented one another. This is the case with the immigration issue. The government has undertaken to block immigration and expel certain foreign workers.
The Secretary of State for Immigration raised a traditional battle cry of the far right when he declared October 14 in Metz, "We can no longer welcome a single foreigner in France. When there are 1.4 million unemployed in our national territory, one must be intransigent." Does not the fascists' propaganda also say, "One million immigrants means one million too many unemployed"? And while this policy was being implemented, Nazi groups were sowing terror in Bondy, a district that has a large immigrant population.
The more "hard line" groups have grown during the last period because they were able to carry out their violent actions with full impunity. This is how the Federation of European National Action was able to grow from a dozen members to several dozen in the space of a few months. The media pushed this grouplet forward.
But the main danger with all these fascist groups is their infiltration of the government apparatus and the regime's benevolence towards them. With the presidential elections coming up in several months, focusing the spotlight on this farright formation means trying to cover up a situation that threatens the entire team in the government.
The bombing attack on the Rue Copernic synagogue created problems for the regime, provoking the rage of France's Jewish community. Whereas the interior minister didn't utter a word about the rise in the murders of immigrants, on the evening of the massacre he declared he felt like "a young Jew." In the present pre-election context, the bombing attack worries the regime. From their point of view it is like a "stain." Certain groups, encouraged by the impunity they enjoy, wanted to go beyond the framework that the government would tacitly tolerate, and they came into conflict with its electoral interests.
But today the government cannot come down very hard on the far right because any really serious investigation would bring to the surface things that would embarrass the regime. This explains the government's seeming impotence, its excuses, and its inability to respond except by subterfuge and lies in a situation that in the long run could cost it hundreds of thousands of votes particularly in the
Jewish community.
Following the news of the October 3 bombing attack, massive demonstrations were organized throughout France. In Paris, more than 200,000 people marched for several hours on October 7. But these demonstrations did not make it possible to take a leap forward in mobilizing the workers against racism. There won't be many more such demonstrations in the future. Once again the disputes between the Communist and Socialist parties and the refusal of the largest trade union federations to work together, limited the impact of the popular response. While the police unions were denouncing the regime and a majority of the media was questioning the interior minister about the police force's tolerance of the fascist groups, the divisions within the workers'
ranks prevented the massive anger at the government's complicity from being expressed with all its might.
Within the Jewish community, anger was at its peak. The slogan, "A passive government is a complicit government" was taken up by large numbers of demonstrators. One Zionist organization, Renouveau Juif (Jewish Revival) channeled this anger into another direction in order to draw the ranks of the community around the state of Israel and to try to bring pressure to bear on Giscard's policies in the Middle East.
The Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), French section of the Fourth International, played an active role in the response. The very evening of the Rue Copernic bombing attack, the LCR initiated a demonstration that began at the synagogue and wound through the streets of Paris until late in the night. The LCR took party in all the antifascist actions that followed. Outside of Paris, the LCR was often the initiator of the mobilizations. The LCR's slogans emphasized the need for a broad and united response to the racist crimes and for self-defense against the fascists.
Time and again, the LCR not only denounced the police and the minister of the interior for their responsibility in the attacks, but also all the high officials in the government. The LCR called for a united and coordinated mobilization to get rid of Giscard and his regime.
After the October 7 demonstrations members of the LCR put forward the idea of a mutual self-defense pact among all workers organizations, the only effective way to reduce the Hitlerite vermin to impotence. The LCR calls for the creation of a commission of inquiry by these workers organizations, together with all groups that support democratic rights, to expose the government's responsibility.
In the final analysis, the Rue Copernic bombing will become part of the long list of scandals that have sullied the reputation of the Fifth Republic and the Giscardian regime for many years.