Pressure and passion at union congress
THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A CGT CONGRESS like this one. Each session of the congress of the [Communist-led] Conféderation
Générale du Travail (General Labour
Confederation, CGT) was heavy in tension and suspense. While the leadership, under
General Secretary
Louis Viannet, never lost control, there were a number of moments when, following spirited interventions from the floor, congress became almost what it is supposed
JUS: EI be - the to confederation's sovereign leadership.
Viannet remains at the centre of the life of the CGT. The confederation needs its traditions, of which
Viannet is the incarnation. But dozens, sometimes hundreds of the 1,000 delegates demonstrated that they were no longer willing to follow blindly, without democratic control over the leadership.
Rouen, 11 December
Juppé must cede!
"Everyone on indefinite strike! Together we can win! We will get the withdrawal of the Juppé plan. And that will be a real springboard
• to re-appropriate social security, the essential social victory of the working population.
• for a retirement pension after 37.5 years of contributions, public and private sectors!
• to rebuild real public services in all sectors (education, health, mass transport) .
• for the withdrawal of the
Contract-Plan for the SNCF, and all the other privatisation plans (Telecom, hospital reforms) .
• for victories over salaries, the reduction of the working week without loss of earnings, and the abolition of unemployment!
More than ever, all together, general and indefinite interprofessional strike until we win! Withdraw the Juppé plan!
Drafted by the unitary assembly of railway workers, and signed by the majority of union branches and coordination bodies of sectors in
14 Dec. 1995.1 struggle. [Rouge,
6 International Viewpoint nº273
COT-FO-CFOT-FSU-NONSYNDIQUES SUDFFTE
SNCE SAIR LAPOSTE ENSETGNANTS IMPOTS HÔPITAUX
ER
RETRAIT DU PLAN JUPPÉ
TELECON
PUBLIC/PRIVE 37,5ans POUR TOUS
This counter-current was motivated and strengthened by the current social struggle. But it is also the fruit of a deep analysis of a significant minority, fed up with years of bureaucratic management of the movement. THE MAIN DEBATES The response the CGT should take to the ongoing social struggle came up four times during the congress, culminating in the Appeal approved on the last day. The basic question: is the CGT in favour of a general strike? If so, how to build for it? Delegates were forced to pay constant attention, and object each time the leadership attempted to pass resolutions on the current situation, composed and read at top speed from the platform, carefully omitting any mention of "generalisation" of the struggle. Each time, the congress floor protested. Each time, the leadership backed down. On the evening of Thursday 7 December, Viannet comes to the microphone, in a hall tangibly unhappy. The news from outside was that the strike had been larger, and more determined than before. But the CGT leadership was still unwilling to make a clear commitment to the struggle. Direct interventions by delegates during the evening obliged Viannet to modify his text on the spot, making it more radical. DEMOCRACY AND LEADERSHIP What kind of union do we want to build? Delegates knew that, outside, workers were spontaneously creating links of solidarity between different sectors, while militants of different unions and no union were working together in co-ordination committees. Natural trade union unity at the base, but a lack of project at the summit of the workers' movement. Trades unions can't just respond to the crisis, they have to participate in the formulation of alternatives. How should a union like the CGT struggle against capitalism? How can we create the conditions for a new breakthrough by the movement? WE NEED UNITY A number of delegates argued that the recent policy developments of the CGT have been insufficient. Sylvie SalmonThareau, Secretary of the Transport Federation, expressed her concern about "the capacity of the union movement, not just the CGT, to bring together, in solidarity, continents of wage-earners... we have no time to waste... nor do young people with precarious contracts, nor do women, struggling for equality, struggling to protect the right to choose." Salmon-Thareau expressed the view of a militant minority that "the trade union pluralism. we have in France is destructive... It is nothing more than a means of division. There is a difference between plurality of opinions, land multiplication of parallel organisations]. This is shaking the other confederations, and it is shaking us too," she said. "Like many other people here, I want to see a process of unification of the trade unions" MASS, CLASS...BUT CONFUSED After a long debate on the statutes of the confederation, 68% of delegates approved amendments confirming that "the CGT acts for a democratic society liberated from capitalist exploitation and other forms of exploitation an domination, against all kinds of discrimination, racism, xenophobia and exclusion of all kinds" Only 30% of delegates wanted do drop the traditional definition of the union as "mass, and class-based". The CGT is the most left-wing of France's three major confederations, and it has rediscussed its identity at all the key moments of struggle (1906, 1919-20, 1936, 1969). But years of Stalinist hegemony have confused and complicated the terms of debate. After years of assimilation and confusion between CGT identity, judgements on the policies of the French Communist Party, and the role of the East European Stalinist regimes, redefining the union is fraught with problems. Some refuse to change, others clearly want to "throw the baby out with the bath water". Let's hope that the leadership will finally agree to open a stable, pluralist framework for debate in front of the membership. * Reprinted from Rouge, 14 December 1995
France *