[The following article appeared in the June 25 issue of Rouge, the weekly newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), French section of the Fourth International. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
Tens of thousands of people (250,000 according to the organizers) demonstrated for disarmament on June 20 in Paris. This was clearly the largest action on this theme seen in France in years.
In the first place, this march reflects the growing consciousness of how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's nuclear policy poses the dangers of war and destruction in Europe. It reveals a growing nervousness regarding the warlike policies of imperialism, as seen daily in Central America and as has just been expressed through the Malvinas conflict and in Lebanon.
But it is also clear that the antiwar movement here still has a long way to go to achieve the same scope as in the United States, West Germany, or Britain. There is at least one reason for this lag: the attitude of the Socialist Party and of the government, in which the SP is the majority.
Its unconditional support for the U.S. arms buildup has deeply divided the workers movement. The June 20 march was in fact basically supported by the Communist Party, the CP-led General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and the Movement for Peace. And it was largely made up of the CP's organizations, although numerous pacifist and immigrant-worker organizations also participated.
There is another difference with the situation in other Western countries. In those countries, although the movement includes very diverse currents, the mobilizations tend to aim their fire at the main aspects of the policies followed by the key Western countries: the "eurostrategic" missiles in Western Europe, the U.S. military budget. The idea of unilateral disarmament is slowly gaining ground.
The organizers of June 20 took quite a different approach. Asserting that they want to exert pressure on the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament, they carefully avoided any denunciation of imperialism's new course. The final call stated: "We say: negotiate in the East and the West for the security of nations and so that disarmament can finally become a reality. We say that the arms race is a race to ruin and that we should spend on life what is squandered for death."
The fuzzy character of the call allowed the Communist Party to respond to the anti-imperialist sentiment of its ranks (who were not able to express themselves during Reagan's visit to Paris because the CP opposed the June 5 demonstration), and make a show of strength, without breaking with the policies of the government, in which there are CP ministers.
Socialist Party Leader Lionel Jospin could say a short time before the march: "We would have been able to sign the text of this call. Its content does not bother us at all."
Moreover, in this way the Communist leaders were able to back up the Kremlin's diplomatic battle, the aim of which is not so much to build mass action - since it fears there could be fallout on the other side of the iron curtain - as to relaunch negotiations with Washington.
The LCR took part in the march to assert the need for unity of all the working-class forces against imperialism, including French imperialism. The LCR contingent stood out because Talism. Ine Lek contingent Stood out because of its dynamism and its slogans: "French or American, no to the neutron bomb"; "From Europe to El Salvador Reagan wants war — down with imperialism"; "French troops out of Africa and the overseas territories and departments"; and Reagan-Begin are murderers — we support the PLO."
Despite its limitations, the June 20 action shows that in France, too, we are witnessing the birth of a deepgoing movement. We must now contribute to its rise and its clarification.