"Revolution, comrades!" THE CRISIS of the French Communist Party has recently erupted into the centre of the political stage with the publication of an alternative manifesto by oppositionists led by Pierre Juquin.
The manifesto, "La revolution, camarades!", is the most public expression of the renovateurs [renewers], who have taken the unprecedented step of organizing national and local coordinations. Both internal and public discussion meetings around the document are being held all over the country.
Alain Krivine, a leading member of the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire (LCR), the French section of the Fourth International, explains the impact of this extraordinary new development and its potential ramifications. ATAIN KRIVINA
FRANCE Over the last seven to eight years, the CP has lost half of its voters. From an average of 20 per cent of the total vote in 1979, for example, they have declined to 10 per cent or even less today. It is a terrible blow for them, and has caused the members of the Party to think about why there is such a terrible collapse in support. It meant that at the last general election in 1986, when the Socialist Party government was replaced by a right-wing coalition under Jacques Chirac, the CP's vote equalled that of the extreme rightwing National Front - an unprecedented result in the history of France.
The third motorforce of disagreement in the Party has been the policy of the CP's leadership in relation to Eastern Europe: the fact that they support Jaruzelski's regime in Poland and refuse to support Solidarnosc; the fact that they totally backed the invasion of Afghanistan. These subjects are very sensitive ones, particularly among workers, but also among the population at large.
The final contributory factor to the Party's crisis, which is linked to the other three, is the beginnings of an understanding among CP militants that the general functioning of the Party is bureaucratic, and that there is no internal democracy. They are calling into question the bureaucratic nature of their organization. Crisis erupts in the Communist Party
These four themes have converged in the last few years and have sent shockwaves through the whole organization. This crisis erupted in a public way a year ago when a petition was published, signed by around 3,000 members of the CP, calling for an exceptional national congress to draw up a balance sheet of the CP's electoral collapse.
The opposition in the Party made their own assessment, explaining that it was impossible to keep a leadership that had failed so drastically, and that a thorough and open internal discussion was needed. Of course, the call for a congress was immediately condemned by party leaders as factional. Among the signatories to the appeal were well-known members of the CP, people in the apparatus, trade union-
1. See "The spectacular decline of the French Communist Party" by Jean Lantier, 'International Viewpoint' No. 69, February 11, 1985.
See "What does the new government hold in store?" by Philomena O' Malley, 'IV' No. 58, July 30, 1984.
5
ALAIN KRIVINE
A centrepoint of the situation in France today is the crisis of the Communist Party (CP), which is a major, daily topic for the press and the rest of the media. The CP has now been in a truly historical crisis for the last two years. In the past the CP has had many lesser crises, involving only small groups centred around intellectuals who opposed the leadership. This was the case, for example, after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 and the 1968 uprisings in Czechoslovakia. (1)
Today, the main difference is that all the sectors of the CP are affected by this crisis. First, what we can call the electoral apparatus - those CP members in publically elected positions - who have represented the main forces of the Communist Party. In France until now the CP have had approximately 20,000 people in elected positions in councils and so on. The majority of them, even if they are not organized in the new opposition, are globally politically in opposition to the present CP leadership. The second historical force in the CP is the trade-union apparatus, and the third component is the CP's own apparatus - members of its Central Committee, leaders of the regional federations and so on. All these sections of the Party have been affected by the crisis.
The main reasons for the upsurge of this crisis can be summed up in tour points. First, because of the us- four points. First, because of the dis-
International Viewpoint 23 March 1987 appointment of many of the CP's militants with the policy of the Party during the experience of the Union of the Left - the coalition of the CP with the Socialist Party (SP).
The policy of the leadership zigzagged for years. At first they had a policy of fighting for the Union of the Left, and then they split with it before the general election, in 1978. Following this, they unconditionally supported the policies of the Socialist Party government after they won the 1981 election, in spite of all their attacks upon the working class. Then, when Laurent Fabius became prime minister after Pierre Mauroy in a governmental reshuffle, the CP again changed its position to attack the Socialist Party. (2) Now, in a situation of a big division between the CP and the SP, they are attacking the Socialist Party once again.
All these zigzags, and the fact that the Communist Party supported the SP government's austerity policy for three years, led to discontent among many of the members, especially the workers in the CP.
The second main contributor to the CP's crisis was their disastrously declining election results, which were due to these vacillations. For a long time they have given their cadres an electoralist education, and consequently their militants are very sensitive to the Party's electoral results.
ists and also a lot of Communist mayors [elected officials of towns and villages.
But at this time the appeal was solely around the fight for internal democracy. The leadership of the Party, of course, refused to accept the appeal and no emergency congress was held. After this initial experience of fighting for internal democracy, many of the leading signatories to the appeal began to understand that a fight simply around democratic questions was totally insufficient and that it was necessary to tackle the political problems, to initiate a new fight in the CP around political analysis and demands.
It has taken a long time for this discussion, because the one thing that gave the opposition some homogeneity was around the question of democracy. On the political questions there were a lot of differences between them. After a great deal of internal discussion, finally the oppositionists decided to start work on a political document that could present an alternative to the official policies of the CP's leadership.
After months of working on it, finally this document appeared as a draft for discussion in February this year. It is in the form of a manifesto, with a very significant name: "La revolution, camarades!" - "Revolution, comrades!" It is a very long manifesto, a total alternative to the official policies of the leadership, and has been identified closely with one of the leading authors and organizers of the opposition, Pierre Juquin.
It is very interesting for many reasons. Outside of any political differences we may have with it, the capacity of the opposition to write such a political document is worth noting. While it is a compromise, it is nevertheless at a very high political level. Also, it is the first time in France that an opposition inside the CP has been able, and has dared, to write an alternative document. The last time it was done was in 1965, during the time of a split in the CP's student organization, but this was only among students. (3) Now the situation is totally different.
The document contains a series of points that are raised as subjects for discussion, where the authors do not take a set position. The other part of it is a series of affirmations, which are very political. The main positive point is that these people identify themselves as communists, they say that they are for socialism and that we need the revolution. Even if it is only words, this is very important because there is a lot of political and ideological disarray in France today among the working class.
They emphasize in the manifesto 6
Opposition leader Pierre Juquin (DR) that they are fighting for revolution, socialism and class struggle, and that they support all the main struggles going on today in the country. They want to reaffirm what they call their "communist identity" , explaining that this is very important for them in a movement where many people are putting into question communism and Marxism.
They also say that to reclaim this communist identity, they have to separate themselves totally from the social-democratic and Stalinist experiences, and they place themselves clearly outside the framework of both - a section of the manifesto polemicises against the capitulation of social democracy. This is important because there are some people in the CP who have been attracted by the Socialist Party. Manifesto unclear on some central questions
They claim to be internationalist, giving total support to the struggles of the Nicaraguan and South African peoples, and what they describe as all the fights for democracy in the so-called socialist countries. These are the main positive points of the document. Finally, they say at the end that it is necessary to build a real revolutionary current in France.
There are many points in this document that need to be discussed further because they are not at all clear. The main area that is not clearly explained is around "what is a revolution?" - this is fairly normal for people coming from a Communist Party. They raise the questions of what a rupture with capitalism means in our country today, and what are the links between reforms and revolution. In a sense, there is a certain gradualist feeling in the document, even if everthing that is written is followed by a question mark. But it is obvious that on the question of the state, they are not very precise. This is the main area of debate.
Another aspect that is very unclear, as a result of a compromise between the authors, is on the question of Eastern Europe and the so-called socialist countries. They refuse to give open support to Solidarnose in Poland. While they explain that they support all struggles for more democracy in these countries, in a certain sense they put Gorbachev and Solidarose on the same level.
The manifesto finally does not outline precisely what the next steps should be. This is most probably for tactical reasons, because they are conducting an internal debate to try to reform the Party from within, even though a lot of them do not think that this is still a possibility. On the question of the nature of a revolutionary organization they are yet again unclear, and do not really discuss it in the document. While they are totally disgusted by bureaucratic centralism, many of them confuse bureaucratic centralism and Leninism.
As well as the document itself causing a big stir in France, because it is something unprecedented, the opposition also decided to organize. This decision also attracted a lot of attention, and is also a first for any CP opposition. Publically they explain that they have set up a national coordination of communist renovateurs, with representatives from 30 departments [counties] in France. They now have regular meetings of the national coordination, they are establishing regional coordinations and are operating increasingly like an organization within an organization.
The opposition's manifesto being discussed both inside the CP, in internal meetings, and also outside, because they say they want to discuss with revolutionaries outside the CP. They want everyone to read the document, to discuss it and to amend it. They have even established a channel on the Minitel home computer system to centralize all the amendments so that they can redraft the manifesto. (4) The coordinations
1965, several hundred members of the Union des Etudiants Communistes were expelled for refusing "to support Francois Mitterrand's candidacy for president. (At the time, Mitterrand was not a member of the Socialist Party.) Many of the expellees went on to form the Jeunesses Communistes Revolutionnaires.
4. Printed telephone directories are being replaced by Minitel computers, which are linked through the phone system to varies databanks. International Viewpoint 23 March 1987
will organize public debates and meetings in all the main towns of France, as well as internal discussions open only to CP members.
Until now, all the people who identify with the opponents of the leadership - a leadership that is totally discredited today - are not yet organized in the opposition. Some of them say that it is too early for an organized coordination, that it is too dangerous. Others are in sympathy, but hesitate to join it. So, we cannot say that all the potential oppositionists in the CP are members, but as time goes on more and more of them are identifying with it.
It is difficult to define political tendencies at the moment in the coordination, because there is no homogeneity. This is one of the aspects of this crisis in the CP, which is usual in Stalinist organizations.
Comparative results of the SP and CP
9
000
8
000
•. Socialist Party
7
000
† (1986 31%)
6
000
5
000
O
4
000
3 000
•
- Communist Party
2 000
19869.8%)
000
1
+
0
1973
1978
1981
1986
Electoral results of the CP
(in tens of thousands of votes)
Very often, the same people have Verv often. the same neonle have revolutionary ideas on some things and rightist ideas on others - there is a lot of confusion.
The document is a progress in the evolution of political thinking of the oppositionists, and generally speaking the development of this coordination is going in a left direction. They do not consider the Socialist Party's politics or organization as an alternative, which is an important marker because the SP in France today is very attractive for a lot of people. This is a very big test, because between the SP and the Stalinists there is really no space to fall into. The second thing that could help this leftward development is the fact that in the manifesto they explain that they are in total support with the recent strikewaves of students, railworkers, electricity workers and so on. (5) Not only that, but they support the autogestion, that is, the self-management and self-organization of the strikers, which happened for the first time in France with the organization of local and national coordinations independently of official union structures. This is not a usual position for people coming from the Communist Party. If it is impossible to analyze the disparate political tendencies inside the opposition, we can talk about different social groupings whose reaction to new developments will depend to some extent on their material situation. There are bureaucrats at various levels of the Party -three or four members of the Central Committee plus other sympathizers who dare not join; a series of regional leaders; trade unionists, including even some leading members of the CGT (the main trade union in France); intellectuals; and a new development of various structures of the CP ioining the coordina- tures of the CP joining the coordina-
5039 4434 3907 4010 1958 1962 1967 1968 tion, some of which are workers' cells.
Finally, there are some whole towns in France who are totally linked to the coordination, Perpignan for example. And a big town in the north, Lille, where all the local leadership are affiliated to the coordination. Some other examples of the impact of this new coordination are the affiliation of workers' cells, such as that of the Peugot factory in the east of France. Seven cells in the shipyards at Brest are affiliated, as are post office workers' cells in the same area of Brittany and Communist workers on the railways. The workers' cell at Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand in the centre of the country, one of the biggest factories in France, are all in the opposition.
All these layers represent the various components that make up the Communist Party - elected officials, trade unionists, workers, bureaucrats and intellectuals. For the first time the crisis has really touched everybody.
The coordination has taken some initiatives recently and are more and more acting as though they were the leaders of the Party. Of course, they continue to debate with the leadership, but they consider themselves as an alternative leadership. For
5791 5085
4003 2663 1973 1978 1981 1986 example, the official leadership refused to sign the appeal for an antiracist demonstration taking place on March 15 against the new nationality laws until a few days before the march. Their turnaround only happened because of pressure from the coordination, who had declared their support for the demonstration two weeks earlier.
Two spectacular initiatives have now been taken by the coordination. The first will be that during a local by-election in the steelworking area of north-eastern France, Alain Amicabile has decided to present himself as a candidate openly as a member of the opposition with the support of the cells and the CP members locally. He was previously First Secretary of the departmental federation of the CP, and a worker who is well-known and respected for his leading role in the fight against redundancies and closures in the steel industry in 1979 and 1984.
Amicabile has been condemned publically by the leaders of the CP, who explained that he could not represent the Party - although he is
See 'IV' Nos. 111 and 112, Decemarticles ber 22, 1986 and January 26, 1987, for on the students' and workers' strikes.
7
International Viewpoint 23 March 1987
still a member - and that they would not call for a vote for him. But the relationship of forces has meant that now the official CP has decided not to present their own candidate against him. Next steps for the coordination
The second initiative is being taken in Brittany, where the crisis is very deep in the CP. Around 300 members of the Party, most of them workers and including two-thirds of the elected officials, have not yet received their membership cards. They have now split, and organized a more or less separate Communist Party in Brittany, with their own newspaper, dues and so on. They say that they need a real communist organization nationally, but until that happens they will construct their own organization locally on the basis of the renovateurs manifesto. They are officially members of the national coordination, an important step because it means that the national opposition is beginning to organize people who do not want to say, or cannot stay, in the CP.
It is difficult to prediet what the next steps will be for the coordination. One question will be their ability, or not, to structure their forces on a national scale and try to prevent losing potential supporters who individually walk out of the CP.
Another will be the question of political homogenization, and the development of the discussion around the manifesto. It is possible that some of the layer of elected officials who have until now supported the coordination will find even the present draft manifesto too much to swallow, concerned as they are with electoralism. They need the votes of the Socialist Party to get elected, which means that some of them will find the manifesto too leftwing and may be individually attracted to the SP.
The final unknown factor is what the coordination will do. On this question, they are also divided. Part of them think that it is necessary to stay in the CP with the illusion that it is possible to reform it from within. However, most of the leadership of the coordination now understand that this is an impossible perspective, but they have to take into account the fact that they have a number of supporters who are with them, but are not ready to split.
But to date, there have been no moves to make such an organizational break from the CP. For the opposition, a premature move in this direction would risk blowing it apart, with all the consequences of demobilization and demoralization.
The Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire is debating with these comrades at all levels, locally and nationally. We hope that in the coming months the coordination will develop a greater political clarity, and in a not too distant future take a decision to break with the CP. Many comrades of the opposition consi der that the Ligue is the most interesting and significant political force in France from the point of view of potential future allies. Of course, they are open to discussion with all currents, but they are impressed by the strength of the Ligue in the workers' movement, and with our role in the recent strikes.
Our public position towards the opposition is very clear, and it will of course be one of the elements of our internal debate running up to our national congress in May this year. The position of the Ligue's leadership until now has been to take the crisis in the CP very seriously, and to understand that it could totally change the political landscape in France - it will be a central feature of the decomposition and recomposition of the workers' movement.
We hope that these people will be able to build a revolutionary organization after an eventual split from the CP. There are as yet many unknown factors which will determine our future attitude to them: whether they will split; whether such a split will be on an acceptable basis - that is, on a class struggle, revolutionary and internationalist basis (although obviously it will not, of course, be on a fully-fledged Trotskyist programme); whether they will be able to build a real nationally structured organization, even if it is not a Leninist organization in our understanding of the term, but an organization able to fight and allowing a full internal democratic debate.
Finally, there is the question of how large they will be in terms of support. If they end up being just a few hundred people, of course we will discuss with them. But what is needed is the possibility of a qualitative change before the Ligue would consider plunging in any deeper.
If they split with thousands of people, people implanted in the working class - elected officials, trade unionists and so on - then it is a different ballgame. Then, and bearing in mind the qualifications mentioned before, the Ligue will be ready to discuss the possibilities of building an organization together. But for the moment these conditions have not been met, and the LCR has to concentrate on strengthening itself and building support in the broad labour movement.
The appearance of the opposition in the CP has created a new hope for thousands of people on the left who have become disenchanted with the CP - not only the thousands of individuals who have left the Party over the past years, but also many others who can now see some possibility for building a really credible revolutionary alternative. There is a real climate of attente, or waiting, in France today. L
CP leader George Marchais (centre) has plenty to worry about (DR)
International Viewpoint 23 March 1987