France: far left make gains in municipal elections
Pouvoir Ouvrier, France
For the world’s press the key result of the first round of the French municipal elections, on 11 March, was the fact that the Socialist Party and its allies could take control fo three of France’s biggest cities (Paris, Lyon, Toulouse).
This situation - brought about in large part because of in-fighting between the open reprentatives of the bourgeoisie - went against the trend of much of the voting, which tended to see voters supporting the parties already in power in their town which, in most cases, was the right.
However, the most decisive lesson of the first round was probably the confirmation of the collapse of the Communist Party (PCF) and the growth in support for far-left candidates, principally Lutte Ouvrière (31 councilors elected), but also the LCR (25 councilors) and even the Lambertist PT (12 councilors).
In some towns such as Toulouse, new radical reformist currents (‘Motivé-e-s’) appeared and were able to gather up to 12% of the electorat and have an important influence in the outcome of the second round (18 March).
This new situation is the result of two factors. First, the PCF, which was already declining following its participation in the first Mitterrand government (1981-84), was dealt a body blow by the collapse of Stalinism. The party which declared the balance sheet of Stalinist power in Eastern Europe to be “globally positive” was left uncertain and rudderless.
Participation in the Jospin government since 1997 has merely reinforced the PCF’s existential crisis: is it a party of government, with all the systematic compromises with capital that implies, or is it a party defending working class interests?
There can be very few French militants who have any doubts as to the answer. The massive decline in the PCF’s membership and influence are an inevitable consequence of this.
Second, there has been a slow cumulative effect of electoral work by Lutte Ouvrière in particular, focused around their perpetual presidential candidate, Arlette Laguiller, who got 1.5 million votes in the 1995 election. In next year’s Presidential election, it seems probable she will get more votes that the PCF’s candidate.
At the same time, the success of the joint LO-LCR slate in the 1999 Euro-elections (3 EuroMPs) and separate successes in the regional elections have increased public awareness of these two tendencies in the electoral arena.
However, it should be noted that this wave of electoral support has not yet been translated into an increase in the size or day-to-day influence of any of these groups. That may be about to change, however.
LO appear to have decided that they can directly step into the space left vacant by the PCF. They have declared that they are ‘the only party of the workers’ and have pledged that their members will be working on the estates, giving working class children extra schooling, seeking to re-create the kind of working class culture they argue used to characterise the French proletariat, and fighting for better budgets for working class areas.
Whether or not this actually happens remains to be seen: on the night of the first round the 1995 Presidential elections, Aguiller announced that LO were launching a mass party of the working class, only to backtrack a few weeks later by explaining that “this was, of course, merely propaganda”.
Furthermore, it is possible that working class voters will be less keen on LO’s brand of abstract and often sectarian propagandism when it has practical consequences: in two towns, LO got past the 10% barrier and will be present in the second round.
In both cases, by splitting the left vote, they will probably lead to the victory of the right. The contradiction with LO’s apparent new-found taste for municipal reformism may escape LO’s members, but it will surely become increasingly obvious to their supporters.
