The defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy in the
presidential elections opens a new phase of the class struggle in
France. The socialist candidate, François Hollande, won 51.62 % of the
vote. However, this overall score tends to conceal the social basis of
the election result. Practically all the major towns and cities voted
massively for Hollande – or, to be closer to the truth, to get rid of
Sarkozy.
The defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy in the
presidential elections opens a new phase of the class struggle in
France. The socialist candidate, François Hollande, won 51.62 % of the
vote. However, this overall score tends to conceal the social basis of
the election result. Practically all the major towns and cities voted
massively for Hollande – or, to be closer to the truth, to get rid of
Sarkozy.
This is true even of towns within traditionally conservative départments.
Such is the case, for example, with Strasbourg (55 %), Reims (53 %),
Chartres (52 %) and Cherbourg (60 %). In all these cities, the vote for
Hollande is higher than the national figure.
Francois Hollande. Photo: Francois Hollande/ Benjamin Boccas
A clear majority of wage-workers voted for the left, and this is true
of the entire voting population between 18 and 55 years old. The social
reserves of reaction are among the rich, among all those who earn their
living by exploiting others in one way or another (small businessmen,
etc.), among old people, in rural areas and more generally in all the
“stagnant waters” of society – and the stagnant minds that thrive within
them. The urban centres, the youth, the workers – in short, the living
forces of the country – rejected Sarkozy and his reactionary policies.
Legislative elections will now be held, the result of which is a
foregone conclusion. On the basis of voting patterns in the presidential
election, the right parties will be reduced to a minority. However, the
election of a Socialist president and of a left majority in the
National Assembly will solve nothing in and of itself. Sarkozy was only
the figurehead of a class and of a system. As long as the power of that
class and the capitalist system remain intact, it will prove impossible
to prevent declining living standards and put an end to mass
unemployment, whatever government is in power.
The mass celebrations involving hundreds of thousands of people on Place de la Bastille
and throughout the country are understandable. We are all delighted to
have gotten rid of such a vicious reactionary as Sarkozy. But what will
be the policy of the new government? On the night of his election, and
with accordionists playing La Vie en Rose in the background,
Hollande assured us that he will be a president of “equality and
justice”. During the campaign, he even spoke of “abolishing privilege”.
But at the same time he told the foreign press that the capitalists, or,
as he put it, the “markets”, would have nothing to fear from his
government. These statements are contradictory to say the least, and it
is impossible to serve two masters.
The victory of Hollande has been compared – by journalists and by
Hollande himself – to that of François Mitterrand in 1981. But if the
experience of that government teaches us anything, it is that any left
government that confines itself to operating within the capitalist
system will be forced sooner or later to adopt policies in the interests
of that system. Hollande has a much more “moderate” programme than
Mitterrand. But even Mitterrand, who carried out a whole series of
measures in the interests of workers, was forced to abandon his
programme within just 18 months of coming to power. This paved the way
for the defeat of the left in the 1986 legislative elections.
The hopes placed in Hollande will be rapidly dissipated. However much
he tries to appease the capitalists, they will maintain their hostility
towards the government, which, at the same time, will undermine its own
basis of support within society. This will lead to a strengthening of
the reactionary parties on the electoral plane, including the racist Front National. But it will also open the way for a new wave of strikes and demonstrations by the working class. The Front de Gauche, which is an alliance between the Communist Party and the Left Party (Parti de Gauche),
which won 11.1% of the vote in the first round of the elections, is in a
position to become a political rallying point for the mass opposition
to austerity policies and capitalism in the next period.
Source: La Riposte (France)
