IS FRANCE BECOMING UNGOVERNABLE AGAIN?
In England only 1066 rings a bell in our collective consciousness as
a date of historical consequence. The French have umpteen dates to
recall - 1789, 1848, 1870 and 1968 - historical earthquakes all of
which impacted upon Europe as a whole. Is 1995 about to join
them?
To date the industrial unrest is impressive: railwaymen, electricity
and gas workers and postal workers are already out on strike. Soon
airline staff and teachers will join the stoppage which has disabled
France for two weeks. The major unions, Force Ouvriere and the
CGT, are calling for a continuation of the conflict and the strikes
have wide public support.
Government proposals to cut pensions, welfare benefits, branch
lines in the rail network, to sacrifice jobs and meet the demands
required by Maastricht have united diverse elements of French
public opinion in outright opposition. Now there is serious social
discontent. The misery inflicted by the government's austerity
programme to fit the Maastricht design and get France on board in
time for the single European currency launch by 1999 looks like
being a costly exercise.
Terrible revenge to come ...
As we write, French miners are flghting with the police, who are
using tear-gas, and vast crowds not seen since 1968 are
demonstrating in Paris and several dozen other French cities. France
seems to have got itself a gung-ho government together with the
blustering President Chirac. Ever since he was elected, Chirac
seems to have performed like a demented Asterix the Gaul, and it
must have taken a special skill to unite the French against the
government.
One obvious tactical mistake was to force through such a wide
range of major measures all in one go. Most governments adopt a
more piecemeal approach when attempting to bring in sweeping
changes, but the French government is arrogant and remains remote
from the people. It employed a parliamentary 'edict' to get the
measures through in a rush rather than go through the cosmetic of a
slow series of parliamentary debates. Reports suggest that the trade
unions and the Socialist Party (who tabled a belated motion of
censure last week) have been forced to act by the people in the
streets. A wide spectrum of French society, from the unemployed to
workers and students, are now being mobilised.
This kind of semi-detached government by what one journalist has
called "a smug political elite" is not unique to France, but this
rightwing regime seems to have got seriously out of touch with
public feeling this time. It is not the first time this has happened in
France. As George Orwell remarked in his review of Dickens' A
Tale of Two Cities: "We are constantly being reminded that while
'my lord' is lolling in bed, with four liveried footmen sending his
chocolate and peasants starving outside, somewhere in the forest a
tree is growing which will presently be sawn into planks for the
platform of the guillotine ..."
People can take a terrible revenge against government insensitivity.
... or business as usual
Some people like to credit the Latins with a certain 'revolutionary
vitamin' not available to Anglo-Saxons. A few would see France as
the home of 'revolutionary syndicalism', but we must not get carried
away Union density in France is the lowest of all the 25 countries in
the OECD, at around 10% or lower. Private sector membership of
unions in France is almost non-existent. Union membership in the
public sector is higher, but concentrated in areas like transport and
the postal sector.
The private sector has been slower to get involved in the dispute.
French strikes often run out of steam and dissolve as quickly as they
arise. Their disputes often don't have the staying power which has
been characteristic of strikes in England. French strikers often lack
the discipline displayed by industrial workers in this country,
something which some of the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists used to
admire.
Even in the so-called 'golden age' of revolutionary syndicalism in
France at the start of the twentieth century, there is some doubt
about its grip on the average French worker. The syndicalist
historian Bob Holton suggests: "The CGT revolutionary
syndicalists only covered a half of organised labour, while the vast
majority of French workers (about 90%) remained completely
unorganised." He points out that the low rate of union membership
in France "indicates the limited hold of trade unionism, let alone
revolutionary syndicalism, on French workers".
It might be better to see the French crisis as part of their recurring
habit of insurrection. As Peter Kropotkin argued in The Great
French Revolution: "Without the peasant insurrection, which began
in winter (1789) and went on, ever growing, until 1793, the
overthrow of royal despotism would never have been effected so
completely, nor would it have been accompanied by so enormous a
change, political, economic and social."
By the time you read this we may know if significant changes will
follow the current social unrest. During the French troubles in
1968, General de Gaulle went to Germany to seek military support
from the French army stationed there. Last week, President Chirac
went to Baden-Baden to consult with Chancellor Kohl. The
suspicion is that he went there to get German backing. In the City it
is believed the Germans are involved in a sweetheart deal to protect
the French franc and help Monsieur Chirac keep his bottle and crush
the French revolt.
FREEDOM PRESS
http://www.lglobal.com/TAO/Freedom