West European society is increasingly agitated. Can the anti-capitalist left parties overcome the inadequacies of their past, and find the organisational forms, activities and ideas to capture the radical spirit? * The author is a member of the United Secretariat of the 4* International. This article first appeared in the July-August issue of our French sister-magazine Inprecor 4 International Viewpoint #314 September 1999 uiguon1 довл Maittood on biuo: DAE S1E The revolu 9TB0SD B vote in Fra The far left now has five representatives in the European parliament. Alain Mathieu reports The revolutionary socialist LO-LCR list scored a record 5.2% 915,000 votes). The list won 7-10% support in most working class areas, including the "red belt" of Communist-controlled towns around Paris. In Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lille and Clement-Ferrand, it did better than the Communist Party.
A significant number of left voters are clearly to the left of the socialistcommunist-green government. Their support for the "Trotskyist" LO-LCR is a clear sign to the employers and the right, as well as to those left parties which would rather manage the crisis than oppose it.
Almost one million left voters said "No!" to the policies that have led to mass unemployment and poverty. They want an alternative to the diktats of the employers and capitalist "logic."
Future social struggles will be able to build on this electoral force. Struggles like the movement for a 35 hour week, the regularisation of the "sans-papiers" (undocumented immigrants), and opposition to pension cuts, privatisation, and the poisoning of the European food supply by the agro-industrial complex. These and other themes of the LO-LCR campaign are sure to provoke popular unrest in the coming months. They will make more and more people aware of the gap between the "plural left" government, and the aspirations of working people.
Despite this good score, we have
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Only 47% of voters participated in these elections, but abstentionism was a bigger problem for the divided right and far right parties. The 18-25 age group participated more than usual. The Socialist Party won 21% of the youth vote, the Greens won 19%, LO-LCR 8%, and the Communist Party 4%.
The far left vote has been growing steadily. In 1994, they scored 3.7%. In the 1998 regional elections, LO and LCR scored about 4.5%though they only stood candidates in areas where they had militants.
Of course, the LO-LCR list is still a small movement. More frustrated left voters opted for the Greens (9.7%) or the Communist Party's "Let's Move Europe" list (6.8%). Both these parties? campaigns distanced themselves from the coalition government in which they still participate. Greens join the establishment
Although Green leader Daniel CohnBendit was pro-war and pro-neoliberal, many voters saw the Greens as a "more European" party, a more ecological choice, and a less bellicose participant in the Kosovo war. Others voted Green to protest the government's refusal to give residence permits to the sans-papiers.
Although the Greens have moved to the right, they managed to project an image of radicalism, and distance themselves from the coalition government. In the medium and long term, however, Cohn-Bendit's fanatical support for the European social-liberal integration project will oblige the Greens
to distance themselves more clearly from their traditional pro-social and antineoliberal image.
Those who voted for the Cohn-Bendit list were certainly not stating their support for neoliberalism or the NATO bombing campaign. The opportunist Green leader was careful to play down these elements in his campaign discourse. Communist Party in crisis
The steady decline of the Communist Party continues. This was its worse result ever. Half the party's candidates were non-members including Socialist Party member Fode Sylla, the former head of SOS Racisme). Party leader Robert Hue desperately tried to bridge the gap between his determination to stay in government, and the growing frustration of the Communist rank and file. The resulting eclectic list of candidates were both for and against the NATO bombing, and both for and against the Maastricht treaty on European economic convergence.
Not surprisingly, many CP militants boycotted the campaign, or even voted for the LO-LCR list. Others abstained. Robert Hue increasingly faces a structural problem: whatever he does, the party loses votes. As in other parts of Europe, the "transformation" of the Communist parties looks more and more like a dead end.
The growing electoral popularity of France's two main "Trotskyist" groups is one result of the radicalisation that followed the massive 1995 public sector strike. This period has also seen a recomposition of the trade union movement, which seems increasingly weak and divided (though this could change if mass struggles develop around the 35 hour week, or against pension reforms).
Of course, the main effect of the 1995 public sector strike was played on the main stage of French politics: the triumphalist right-wing parties were blocked by the strike, and have still not reorganised themselves. Their vote has steadily declined, and both conservative and far right parties have suffered damaging splits.
Opposition to neoliberalism continues to gain ground in the French political sphere. To the great distress of Green leader Cohn-Bendit, incidentally. "In France, one thing complicates everything," he complained when the results were announced. "The heritage of the 1995 strikes. We need to go beyond that moment... to refuse neoliberalism, but without falling into neotraditionalism." The LCR/LO success...
The revolutionary campaign reinforced propaganda and agitation for an emergency programme against unemployment and the social crisis. Although they only have about 4,000 members, and few financial resources, the two parties organised 62 major meetings with party leaders Arlette Laguiller and Alain Krivine, attracting over 32,000 participants. The LCR also organised 150 smaller meetings.
Despite clear media hostility, the campaign did get press and TV coverage-though much less than other currents with similar support among the population.
Old and new supporters flocked to the LCR, boosting membership back to its early 80s level almost double the 1994 low point). The party established branches in a number of small and medium towns. As well as the joint campaign with LO, the LCR also improved its own profile, mainly through its European 'transitional' programme of measures that would help working people break with the capitalist logic, and start to establish the contours of a socialist system...
Both LO and LCR respected the agreement that underpinned the common campaign. There were even some signs of dialogue and influence-LO gradually began to understand the national questions, and joined the LCR in calling for "No to NATO! No to ethnic cleansing! Yes to Kosovo self-determination!" ...and shortcomings