• the greater and greater role of television;
• the re-legitimating of certain repressive state bodies (humanitarian missions for the army, the judiciary against corruption in the political sphere, the police/army against drugs and organised crime;
• the appearance of modern Bonapartes (on the right and the left)optimist, careerist, media friendlyfilling the political vacuum like saviours from political impotency and despair.
The fundamental weakness of this authoritarian "solution" -beside the
TELECOM continued strength of the working class and youth- is that, should there be a major social and political confrontation surpassing the established framework of the political regime, the bourgeoisie has only greatly weakened political instruments (party or movement) at its disposal to mobilise and organise its social base. The repressive state apparatus and the anaesthesia induced by television do not give sufficient guarantees. The evolution towards such an authoritarian regime will not be gradual and painless all the way. Hence the attempts in several countries at reactivating or reorganising a militant and active (bourgeois-democratic) party. With the appearance at their heart of more active personalities, incarnating the perspective ot a strong state (l'asqua in France, Berlusconi and Fini in Italy, personalities in the CDU and CSU in Germany etc.). 2.2.3. THE RISE OF FASCIST AND EXTREME RIGHT PARTIES
In most European countries, the Fascist right has achieved its electoral breakthrough and managed to form parties with a consolidated organisation, programme, and party-building tactic. This success is above all the result of reactionary anti-immigrant sentiments, which have developed to a massive extent in society. The most underprivileged and weakest layers of the masses (impoverished, excluded, personally isolated, desperate) and certain middle layers -property owners or salaried workers- afraid for their future, have all seized on these parties to show their dissatisfaction with "the system". Some of them undoubtedly share the central idea of the current
* The political situation in imperialist Europe platform of the extreme right: the expulsion of the "immigrant" population.
But this electoral breakthrough has not resulted, for the moment, in the construction of an extra-parliamentary movement adopting Fascist agitation against the workers and movement, social struggles, exercise of democratic freedoms and so on, with the aim of seizing political activity is really the occupation of nazi groupuscules which float around the periphery of the extreme right. On the contrary, the option chosen by these parties is that of a democratic, parliamentary detour, of a presence in the elected state assemblies, the search for a united front with (the right of) the right, and legal participation in political power even in a junior position.
This "democratic" detour and low profile correspond to the objective political situation, to their weakness at the activist level, and to the project of the big bourgeoisie.
The latter seeks to impose its policy, to stabilise society and to preserve social cohesion by collaboration with the summit of the traditional labour movement combined with a measured reinforcement of the state apparatus. This policy is manifestly incompatible for the time being with the inclusion of Fascist parties in its political line-up.
But this orientation of bourgeoisie could radically change under the impact of two factors:
• a sharp aggravation of the social crisis and the rise of new social conflicts exceeding the capacity of the parliamentary system and the control of the reformist structures;
• the tactic of imposing the massive counter-reform through the gradual and measured weakening of the working class and its organisations could reach its limits.
In this case, the installation of an authoritarian state would become a concrete perspective. This would be a major political turning point. probably taking place in a single country first, it would certainly provoke a major jolt in the whole of Europe and would have big consequences for the EU. 25 maratora i ensor:
Such a turning point would naturally enlarge the political space for the Fascist parties and the conditions for their agitation. And that independently of whether the bourgeoisie appealed directly for their collaboration in building a strong state and supporting it in a systematic confrontation with the workers and social movement.
In the mean time, the Fascist parties have an important but contradictory impact on bourgeois policy: on the one hand, they help build on the discredit and instability of the political system (this is the dominant aspect at the moment); but in doing this, on the other hand, they already play a useful role for the bourgeoisie:
• they have taken a part of the social base of the reformist workers parties, thus contributing to the weakening and division working class;
• they contribute to sharpening competition between workers, and to destroy feelings of class solidarity in favour of a national identity consciousness;
• they have drawn to the far right the elementary radicalisation and dissidence of a sector of the population regarding the political regime, including youth — which particularly affects the revolutionary left;
• they exert an ideological and politico-electoral pressure on all the traditional parties (bourgeois and reformist).
The existence of Fascist parties — already recognised by a section of society, including youth, legitimised by universal suffrage and present in the wheels of the state apparatus - is particularly dangerous because they are ready should the bourgeoisie need to save its system through repression. 3. RETREAT, DESTRUCTURING/BREAK-UP AND MUTATION OF THE WORKERS MOVEMENT
3.1, The "really existing" workers movement is in an unprecedented historic crisis, from which their is no visible exit.
This crisis weakens the reformist currents leading it, but just as much the working class in the respect that an alternative left leadership (with programme, political line, cadres, and organisation) is late in breaking away.
The Crisis is due to three factors:
• mass unemployment undermines the social foundation of the political and trade union wings of the workers movement;
• changes to the very structures of the working class - in the concrete conditions of the bosses offensive -penetrating its "natural" social cohesion and reducing its intrinsic weight in society;
• the crisis of the organised workers movement is fed by the end of three political cycles:
* that opened by 1968, which has hit head-on the revolutionary left;
* that opened by 1917, which has certainly destroyed the Stalinist world model, but also sowed a generalised doubt as to the
"feasibility" of an alternative society to capitalism;
* that opened by the last quarter of the 19th century with the creation of a mass proletariat, the starting point for the roots of Social Democracy, trade unions and a "Socialist counter-culture", now all
These sociological and historical considerations would not be able to conjure away the decisive political reason which has guided these social mutations towards a change in the balance of forces: the policy of the reformist apparatuses of jointly managing the crisis, implying precisely the stifling of working class response and counter-offensive.
The overall effect is no less a menace directly to the social cohesion of the working class, its living conditions, and the activity of the workers movement — i.e. to the accumulated gains of more than a century of very hard struggle for the working class.
The retreat of the reformist currents- notwithstanding their electoral scores hereafter in "permanent flux" with sometimes catastrophic fallsis important in terms of ideological influence, of the allegiance of their traditional bases and capacity to socially order labour.
The "communist" satellite movement, in decomposition for fifteen years, has broken up and is taking various routes to recycle itself. This threatens politically and organisationally the union movement wherever they have significant weight. Quite as spectacular is the decline of
The Political situation in imperialist Europe *
14th World Congress of the Fourth International 27
Social Democracy, which had in the south of Europe successfully fed off the decline of the communist parties to strengthen its electoral and union audience.
This is a mutation of historic proportions. Because these two currents have in their own manner (the one tied to "its" imperialist bourgeoisie, the other to the Stalinist bureaucracy), from the beginning of the 20th Century, played a decisive role in the rescuing of capitalism, through their capacity to channel struggles and demands towards objectives and forms compatible with the capitalist system, and through their readiness to smash obstacle to the emergence of a new political force.
3.3. The traditional trade union organisations are themselves stalling, indeed in sometimes dramatic organisational decline, through
• the intrinsic crisis of union activity due to massive and longlasting unemployment, and to the harsh offensive of the bourgeoisie
("'counter-reform"). This is a major difficulty, including for the anticapitalist and anti-bureaucratic left.
• the particular crisis of reformist trade unionism without reforms to the workers in work (to the detriment of the unemployed and youth who have never worked)
to wages (of those who have a job), giving way to the massive destruction of jobs and neglecting working conditions (rhythms, hours, intensity...)
The trade union leaders have proved themselves incapable of taking responsibility for all the social effects of the crisis. They are therefore unable to fully address the demands of women, youth and immigrants. In some sectors however, e.g. health workers, these groups join the unions and force some of their concerns on reluctant union any attempt to construct a revolutionary-Socialist alternative.
This mutation is taking place in a situation of great political disarray, of ederation decline in mass political consciousness syndicate and of decline in the politicalorganisational involvement of the broad vanguard.
A new period has opened in the history of the workers and social movement.
However, it is no longer a question of replacing one (reformist) leadership with another (revolutionary and anticapitalist) at the heart of a stable traditional workers movement which is active and getting stronger, but of bringing about this political reorientation through a mutation of the whole of the workers movement in a historic crisis.
This will not come about without a radical upturn in the activity of the masses and the explosion of new forces. And immediately, through the adoption of tactics adapted to the start of the current recomposition. 3.2. THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE TRADITIONAL WORKERS MOVEMENT IS CHANGING.
Through the loss of representativity and allegiance of the reformist parties (Social democrat, Christian democrat, post-Stalinist), the union movement (in the broad sense) is becoming the centre of gravity of the overall workers movement. It is not only the principal instrument of defence against the bosses offensive, but also the principal place of activity for the great majority of conscious workers. This distance arisen between the union activity of the practical vanguard of the workers and the "political sphere" constitutes a big
SANTE, FA MILLE, RETRAITES, LA SSU POUR - LES SOLIDARITES the absence of an overall political perspective.
All trade union orientations are simultaneously in crisis, although for different reasons: the (social democrat) union apparatuses associated with austerity politics; those preferring protest without follow-up (French CGT type); and those prepared to fight in terms of partial struggles or widespread mobilisations deprived for programmatic meaning.