On the streets against Le Pen

Submitted by AWL on 14 May, 2002 - 11:56

Jill Mountford reports from the huge May Day demonstration in Paris against Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Of course it was very exciting to be on a huge demonstration of over a million people, many of whom you could truthfully describe as comrades, expressing their abhorrence for Jean-Marie Le Pen.
However, the vast majority of these people would vote for Chirac, through gritted teeth to be sure, because they could see no other way to defeat Le Pen. That is a great pity.

We talked to a lot of people on the demonstration and got a good response to our leaflets which said: "Neither Chirac, nor Le Pen, the labour movement should take up the fight on the streets." We called for an abstention or a spoilt ballot paper in the second round.

People understood what Chirac was about, that he was the heir of Charles de Gaulle, an enemy of the working class. They were very critical of the seven years of his presidency. Still, most could see no other way of defeating Le Pen other than through the ballot box.

We did find common ground with many people on the key issues. We spoke about how a labour movement campaign is the key to stemming the growth of fascist ideas in France and elsewhere in Europe. How we need to fight for jobs, benefits and an end to racist immigration policies. And we talked to people about the need to set up a new workers' party, an organisation that can fight for the demands of the working class.

To our surprise, many agreed with us on the abstention issue. I wonder if some of the people who agreed with us still went to vote for Chirac. I do not believe that everyone on that demonstration had decided there was no other way to try to defeat Le Pen except through the ballot box.

One guy we met put it well: "If Chirac is elected with a huge majority the reactionary programme he has put forward will be given a boost. Chirac will feel no responsibility to recognise where his support came from. He will move further to the right to get some of Le Pen's vote."

I think that is what will happen.

We must remember the important facts here. Le Pen got five million votes. The Front National has a large stable vote. France has seen some of the worst social decay in Europe. There is a political vacuum because the bourgeois workers' parties have moved to the right.

Twenty-six percent of blue collar workers voted for Le Pen. We cannot relax and think we have seen the fascists off. Unless the concerns that made people vote for Le Pen are addressed, support for fascism will grow.
On the other hand three million people voted for the Trotskyist candidates and what they stood for - making the rich pay for the economic crisis. This can only be helped by the increased class struggle in Europe. That is why it was it was so irresponsible for the left to call for the weight of the anti-Le Pen movement to get behind a vote for Chirac - to give credibility to him and his corrupt system. It is not the job of socialists to back lesser evils or to pretend the bourgeoisie have a way to fight the fascists. We need an alternative way to fight the fascists, to help the dispossessed and marginalised. The left has the basis of such an alternative in France, but it must be built on.

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