By ISL France
On March 16, by order of President Macron, in order to avoid the debate in the lower house, Prime Minister Borne appealed to constitutional article 49.3 and decreed the anti-worker pension reform that raises the retirement age to 64 years and the years of contribution to 43 to be eligible for the minimum pension. If a parliamentary motion of no confidence in the government does not prosper, the reform would be implemented towards the end of the year. However, while this is happening at an institutional level, the streets of all France confirm that, despite the police repression, the workers’ and people’s struggle continues. We are facing a major political crisis that far exceeds the retirement issue.
The official excuse for imposing this reform is the alleged budget deficit that would affect France’s pension funds in the year 2030. Of course, Macron’s capitalist government in no way dares to increase employer contributions: its adjustment is directed against the working class.
Moreover, in addition to raising the retirement age by two years and the amount of contributions necessary to be able to access the minimum pension of just 1,200 euros per month by one year, this reform annuls several special pension segments for hazardous or intense labor tasks. That is, it is an attack along the entire line.
If today a quarter of the most precarious workers die before reaching the age of 62, which is the current retirement age, for millions more, this reform would specifically imply working until they die or to die working. Hence, it has the firm rejection of almost 75% of the general population and more than 90% of wage earners.
Macron-Borne pour gasoline on the fire
When the reform debate began, two months ago, the government had guaranteed favorable votes in the Senate and also in the Assembly. As often happens around the world, the most reactionary senators approved it. But as the days went by, and especially the strikes and the massive marches, the government found it difficult to calculate the vote in the lower house. That is why it appealed to approving it by decree, through Article 49.3.
But this was like pouring gasoline on the fire, because if this reform was already illegitimate in the eyes of popular opinion, now it also lacks the tricky parliamentary “legitimacy” of bourgeois democracy. The motion of no confidence in the government will be debated from Monday the 27th, but it is not likely to be approved, nor is a possible appeal of the reform before the Constitutional Council. A hypothetical referendum, very difficult to call, promoted by right-wing Le Pen (RN) and center-leftist Mélenchon (FI) seeking to divert the street struggle to the institutional-electoral plane is also unlikely to materialize. The streets have already given, and continue to give, their verdict. No the reform.
As soon as the news of Borne’s decree was known, with the youth at the forefront, thousands and thousands of people spontaneously came out to express their repudiation in Paris and numerous cities in the interior of France. Yellow vests and radical groups participated. Trash containers were burned, windows were broken and other incidents occurred. There were harsh clashes with the police forces – who used gas and rubber bullets – many injuries and dozens of arrests. In the days that followed, the number of detainees rose to a thousand, according to Amnesty International.
From the 23rd to the 28th… and after? For an indefinite general strike!
On the 22nd, Macron spoke on TV and reaffirmed his reform, which further ignited the ninth national day of struggle on the 23rd, called by the Intersindical. The strike was partial, stronger among railway and other transportation workers, garbage collectors (with a high-impact effect), oil refineries (despite the threats), dock workers (who blocked ports), energy workers (who implemented light outs) and education sectors. Once again, the streets were overflowing even in small towns. More than a million people mobilized according to the Ministry of the Interior and more than 3.5 million according to the organizers. Just in case, the British king had to cancel his visit to France…
In France, there is not only a lot of anger against the reform, but also because of the inflation that does not stop, the low salaries and pensions, as well as the lack of personnel in public services and the constant precariousness of working conditions. In short, we are witnessing the general illegitimacy of the Macron government and his austerity plan, which means a major political crisis. That is why it is no coincidence that people begin to chant “Macron Out!” at the marches.
It is this powerful working class and popular pressure from below that obliges the bureaucracies of the eight union federations to continue calling for actions. In addition, there is the growing youth pressure of the student movement, which is coordinated in high schools and inter-faculty assemblies. As an alert to consider, an extreme right group attacked one of the student rallies in Paris.
In this context, the next national strike with mobilization, the tenth round, is called for Tuesday the 28th. But the Intersindical, while supporting the referendum trap, continues to refuse to call a general strike for an indefinite period of time, ignoring the demands of some trade unions and all militant trade union activists, in order to defeat the reform and put the government itself against the ropes.
“Today in the streets, tomorrow we continue”
As the March 24 statement of the revolutionary wing of the NPA, the party in which we are active, rightly points out: “In the coming days, many will fight hard for the momentum given by this new action of the 23rd to be transformed into renewable strikes, hopefully into a general strike whose slogan is widely chanted in the marches. Workers, activists and the youth are already debating, in their organizational structures of the movement (strike assemblies, mobilization committees, ‘interpros,’ secondary student committees and ‘interfacs’ -such as the national student coordination that will meet this weekend in Grenoble)… To involve everyone, together. There is no shortage of proposals for collective action to bring new sectors into the struggle, to coordinate, to go into action and above all to jointly decide on the continuity of the movement, arm ourselves to react together against Macron and his police, as well as against the Intersindical – if necessary. What is surely still missing in this movement is more organization among those who are its protagonists, more decision-making bodies through which they we coordinate… to win.
“Today in the street, tomorrow we continue… What is on the agenda are the best means of this struggle and collective organization. Until we win!”
