The three-month extension of the State of emergency is proof that the long march to people’s power has begun

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The three-month extension of the State of emergency is proof that the long march to people’s power has begun.

It is also proof that those who did not dare open their mouths prior to the State of Emergency do not want a protracted people’s rebellion, a revolutionary long march.

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Three months more. That which was supposed to be temporary has become permanent. That which was supposed to be an exceptional situation had become the norm.

The nightmare of the petit bourgeoisie has become reality. The capitalist crisis has is at the point of no return, the point where the clash of class against class begins.

The State, which was overwhelmed from the very start, takes on class the class struggle in the same way that it always has in the past: with greater and more militarized violence.

This in does not bother the French bourgeoisie in the least, for it has been used to popular uprisings since the Paris Commune of 1871.

But for those parties which represent the interests of the petit bourgeoisie, this represents a complete break down.

An initial proof of this break down was that these parties did not open their mouths until the curfew was imposed.

From the Greens to the Trotskyist and anarchist paper revolutionaries [please see translators note below], nobody dared to say a thing so long as the rebellion looked like it was still growing.

This shows the class nature of this position – like Alain Krivine of the LCR [translators note : Ligue Revolutionnaire Communiste  - Revolutionary Communist League – an important Trotskyist organization] who talks to the social-chauvinist Marianne magazine; he does not talk about fighting the police or the necessity of one day moving towards an insurrection, but rather how he went on “rounds” with his neighbours to protect his building from the violence in Saint-Denis.

For in any case, as he said, “no political organization can be seen amongst these young people.”

The second proof of this break down is that these parties all threw themselves into a big movement against the State of Emergency, trying to bring about another holy union, just like for the “No” vote against the constitution.

Not only was nobody fooled into following their lead, but the State even extended the State of Emergency, showing that what they represented socially did not even exist.

All of the illusions of the petit bourgeoisie about reforming “neo-liberalism,” about “another world,” etc. have all flown out the window.

At a time when the popular rebellion is at the point of confronting the State :

• should we carry out more agitation and propaganda to overthrow capitalism, or else should we criticize a State of Emergency that aims to “camouflage the social blight caused by years of neo-liberal policies in the service of the MEDEF” (LCR) [translator’s note: the MEDEF is an important French employers’ association]

• should we explain the nature of the state, its COMPLETE submission to the bourgeoisie, or else should we organize “a big demonstration during the coming days against the escalation of security and repression by Chirac/de Villepin/Sarkozy.” (LCR)?

The truth is that the petit bourgeoisie sees its dreams of having some role going up in smoke. From now on, in order to exist it will have to ally with the bourgeoisie, tilting towards fascism. The rebellion has swept aside any “conciliatory” or “reformist” option to deflate the class struggle.

They hoped to manipulate the masses by leading them into a “citizen’s” “republican” initiative against the State of Emergency, all trade union demands.

This deception was met with indifference, showing the high level of mass consciousness in regards to these miserable proposals that would betray the people’s rebellion.

A people’s rebellion that has been welcomed by the most conscious elements in all of the capitalist countries, from Athens to Montreal, and even in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

A people’s rebellion that has made the European Union tremble, the head of the commission José Manuel Barroso proposing that the EU immediately donate “50 million Euros right away” to France, a sum which could eventually be increased to as much as one billion Euros, to show how concerned it is.

A people’s rebellion that is set to last, because the quiet that is descending is merely the calm before tomorrow’s storm.

The masses are doing a good job of applying the principal of people’s struggle: “the enemy advances, we withdraw; the enemy stops, we harass him; he retreats, we pursue him.”

The rebellion has drawn a clear line of demarcation.
There are those like Lutte Ouvrier [translators note: a Trotskyist organization] who believe that “This explosion of violence is sterile. Setting fire to cars that belong to your parents or neighbours, setting fire to buses which serve the people’s neighbourhoods, looting schools, these just show that those who are carry out these acts are lacking a social conscience and sense of solidarity.” (Arlette Laguiller).
And there are those who believe that this is the long-awaited start of the long march to destroy the State – for communism!
Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist Maoist) November 2005


Translator’s note: When the CP(MLM) refer to “Trotskyist and anarchist paper revolutionaries,” the wording makes it unclear if they mean “those Trotskyists and anarchists who are paper revolutionaries” or that all anarchists and Trotskyists are “paper revolutionaries.” One can only note, in this regard, that different anarchist organizations have held different points of view, some more similar to those describes as petit bourgeois, and some more similar to the very perspective put forward by the CP(MLM). To give just one example: the Montreal demonstration in support of the rioters alluded to later in this text was in fact organized by anarchists.

Please note that the above text about the past weeks’ riots in France comes from the website of the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist Maoist) in France and translated by yours truly. I have a “fast and loose” translation philosophy, meaning that when there is a choice between readability and the original phraseology i tend to favour the former, provided that the meaning stays the same. The original document can be seen in French.

Please also note that i am translating this as i have not been able to find any radical accounts of the riots or the police racism that provoked them in English… i do not necessarily agree with the PCMLM’s point of view, nor do they necessarily agree with mine. Si quelqu’un a un meilleur texte à suggérer, svp envoyez-moi le!

For background to the riots, including a timeline, check out the Wikipedia entry.


Categories: france, maoism, repression, revisionism, revolution, riot, translation