Organise, mobilise, strike! Push the left-wing parties and trade unions to fight against austerity, repression and racism!

Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), jointly issued by the RCIT France and the International Bureau of the RCIT, 07.10.2025, www.thecommunists.net

1.           Like most of the rest of Europe, French capitalism is in deep crisis. In fact, a touch of pre-revolutionary situation is in the air. Industrial production is stagnating, the ruling class is deeply divided, dissatisfaction is widespread among the masses, and the political regime is a lame duck. Nothing could better demonstrate the agony of the Macron regime than the resignation of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, only 14 hours after appointing his cabinet – already the fifth government in two years which has collapsed. In all this chaos and crisis, the regime tries to impose harsh austerity attacks, to repress left-wing and pro-Palestine activists and to incite Islamophobia (of the type of the reactionary "Je suis Charlie" campaign).

2.           The bourgeois camp is deeply divided between liberals, the conservative Republicans and the right-wing populist RN. While they agree on their eagerness to attack social achievements of the working class, they have deep differences among each other about the nature of the political regime as well as France’s foreign policy. Macron wants to basically keep the institutions of the Fifth Republic and to deepen the unification of the EU in order to create a strong European imperialism which could compete with its rivals in East and West. In contrast, Le Pen wants to create a more authoritarian, bonapartist regime and strives for the transformation of the EU into a loose federation so that France can act as an independent imperialist power.

3.           The so-called left-wing parties are in deep crisis too. The Socialists and the Greens agree with Macron on many issues of his liberal agenda and desperately hope that he would integrate them into the government. Mélenchon’s LFI and the PCF take more left-wing positions, but nevertheless they are indirectly integrated into the Fifth Republic. They have always been focused on bourgeois elections and parliamentary work as their political power (and money) rests, first and foremost, on thousands of positions in national, regional and municipal institutions of parliamentarism. This does not mean that they ignore social mobilisations. In fact, both parties are rooted in the working class and have close relations with trade unions and, particularly the LFI, is involved in the pro-Palestine solidarity movement. But for the LFI and PCF leaders, trade union struggles and social mobilisations are subordinated to electoral work as they want to reform capitalism via parliamentary work instead of overthrowing it via mass mobilisations and uprisings. Consequently, they have a strategic orientation to build cross-class popular fronts with bourgeois forces. Hence, they are part of the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) with the Socialist Party and the Greens. And, for the same reason, they supported bourgeois candidates from the Macron camp at the last elections in order to stop the RN. For all these reasons, many workers and youth consider “the left” as part of the “the system” and they are not wrong in this.

4.           Things are no better when it comes to the trade unions. These are dominated by a bureaucratic caste which is linked with the capitalist system via various institutions of class collaboration (e.g. the sécurité sociale system). Consequently, the trade unions are usually reluctant to go beyond symbolic protests against government and bosses. Only under massive pressure from below are trade unions – particularly those which represent the more militant vanguard like the CGT, to a certain degree also the FO – prepared to organise more serious strike actions (like in 1995 or in 2023). Exceptions to this are only the smaller left-wing SUD as well as Unité CGT, the left-wing opposition in the CGT.

5.           The workers and oppressed are facing huge and complex challenges. They are confronted with the dual threat of the Macron regime and the right-wing opposition of Le Pen. In fighting these threats, they are restrained by the popular front policy of the NFP parties and the symbolic protest policy of the trade union bureaucracy. The task of communist activists is to provide a perspective to the vanguard so that it can organise and mobilise the masses. This requires, among others, to take into account the strengths and weaknesses of the current composition of the workers and social movements.

6.           The answer to the bourgeois attacks and the attempts to divide us along the lines of race, religion or gender must be the unity of the working class. Such unity must be created in struggle from below – not via electoralism and political alliances between “progressive” and not-so-progressive parties or via deals behind closed doors with the government. The starting point of a strategy against the bourgeois offensive must be the organisation and mobilisation of the workers, migrants and youth. We need action committees in workplaces, neighbourhoods, schools and universities. Such committees should first unite the activists, irrespective of their party and union affiliation, and as soon as possible also the masses. Linking such committees – via a system of elected and revocable delegates – on a local, regional and national level could ensure a democratic organisation of the struggle. At the same time, communists need to push left-wing parties and trade unions to support the creation of such committees and to provide material resources for it.

7.           The immediate goal must be the preparation of mass struggles against the capitalist offensive. We can defeat them only with the means of mass demonstrations, strikes and general strikes. Communists in left-wing parties and trade unions must push for such a strategy. Furthermore, it is crucial to unite the different sectors of struggle. The anti-austerity protests should be united with the pro-Palestine movement as well as anti-racist initiatives. Such a perspective of mass struggle is all the more relevant as we have globally entered a new phase where the masses are increasingly rebelling against the oppressors – from Palestine to Indonesia, Nepal, Madagascar, Paraguy and Morocco!

8.           The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) and its comrades in France strongly reject the electoralist policy which focuses on parliamentary work instead of mass struggles in workplaces and on the streets. We denounce the popular front policy which means (and can only mean) the subordination of the working class to the interests of the bourgeoise. Hence, we call the LFI and the PCF, which are bourgeois workers respectively populist parties, to break with the NFP. They must not vote for any new Prime Minister proposed by Macron (even if it is from the Socialist Party).

9.           This does not mean that communists should ignore the question of government. We oppose all forms of bourgeois government – be it led by Macron, the RN or the PSF. A government which could be useful for the working class must not be dependent on parliament (where bourgeois parties dominate) but on the fighting masses. This is why we call for a workers government based on action committees of the masses. Under the current conditions, where many militant workers, migrants and youth still have illusions in the LFI and the PCF respectively militant trade unions, we advocate a government of the LFI-PCF and trade unions (such as the CGT, SUD and FO) as a transitional step towards an authentic workers government. Such a government will not be appointed by Macron nor can it rely on a parliamentary majority. It must be based on the mobilisations of the masses. Sure, such a government would be a reformist workers government but as it would have to rely on mobilisations in workplaces and on the streets, it could be put under the pressure of the masses. Furthermore, it could help the masses to overcome illusions in reformist and bureaucratic leaderships. Communists would call such a government to take decisive steps towards rupture with the capitalist system. This means it should, among others, move towards the abolition of the presidency, the expropriation of the big corporations and financial institutions under workers control, the replacement of the repressive state apparatus by armed popular forces, a program of public works to abolish unemployment, an end of discrimination because of race, religion or gender, as well as the unconditional support for national liberation struggles like those in Palestine and Ukraine.

10.         The key task is to build a revolutionary party which fights for such a strategy and which is independent of all sectors of the bourgeoisie and the reformist bureaucracy. As bourgeois as well as working-class politics is international in essence – political and economic developments in France are inextricably related to European and global developments – such a party must be part of a new International, a new World Party of Socialist Revolution. The RCIT France calls all communists who agree with such a perspective to join forces and advance the construction of a revolutionary party!