The revolutionary currents.
Despite its growing electoral success, this radical left movement is still very clearly a counter-current, in a general climate of working class defensiveness. vote in France
The challenge for these parties is to address the actually-existing society, recognising its centres of resistance, organisation, and militant vitality. And not to continue talking and acting in terms of what they think society and the working class should be.
Traditional "labour and organisations are still very important, but they have lost their monopoly as mediators between society and govern-
Civil society is more active, and more agile. But it has not yet built instruments for collective, constant intervention. Nor is there the necessary accumulation and coagulation of forces.
To take one example: there is little enduring organised expression after the enormous mobilisations of Belgium's "white marches" against corruption, government arrogance, and child abusedespite the fact that this movement continues to exist and have electoral conse-
Other social movements have had a more "protagonist" profile-the European Marches against Unemployment, the ATTAC movement for taxation of financial speculation, and the Campaign for the Abolition of Third World Debt.
The base of these new movements is still very small. But they have played a very valuable role in forcing media coverage, and public debate.
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
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
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 certainly not shifted the balance of forces towards the left. And there is no guarantee that we will repeat this record score in future elections.
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
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
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 structural problem: whatever he does, the party loses votes. As in other parts of Europe, the "transformation" 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 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 coverage-though much less than other currents with similar support among the
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 Europrogramme of measures that would help working people break with the capitalist logic, and start to establish the contours of a socialist
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
The LCR is obviously happy with the results. But party leaders are well aware of the campaign's shortcomings.
Portugal
The LO-LCR list fell into the trap of a duel with the Communist Party. This was partly the result of simplistic media treatment, but also the result of LO insistence on "the urgent need to rebuild a real communism... a revolutionary communist party." LCR leaders are convinced that few left-wing voters can be attracted to the revolutionary pole of politics through any discourse on "real" communism. Certainly few young people will be won over in this way. It would be better to find other ways to articulate and make credible our anti-capitalist alternative.
The campaign was too often presented as a single slogan: "Vote farlef! Vote revolutionarv!" It would have been better to identify our candidates with the four or five key measures that we propose as a European emergency plan against unemployment and social
The Kosovo war also reduced the popularity of the LO-LCR list. Debate on social questions was very subdued during the campaign, as a direct result of the war. And the campaign failed to convince potential voters of the need to oppose NATO bombing. It seems that 60% of potential LO-LCR voters were in favour of an intervention against Milosevic...* *The author is a leading member of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), 4" International. We will be keeping a close watch on the LO-LCR deputies parliamentary work in future issues.
recomposition of the trade union move- Left Bloc, blocked left ment, 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
"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,
Portugal and Greece are the only two EU countries where a majority opposed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, writes Luis Branco. Antiwar sentiments gave a welcome boost to the newly formed Left Bloc. But anti-war mobilisation was hindered by hardline Communist Party (PCP), which refused to criticise Yugoslav president Slobodan
In any case, the election results confirmed the slow decline of the PCP, which lost one of its two MEPs (the vote declined from 11.2% in 1994 to 10.3%). In the party's heartlands, most disgruntled voters switched to the ruling Socialist
The three-month old Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) did surprisingly well, winning 3% in the main urban areas, and 4% in the capital, Lisbon. The alliance of ex-Communist and "Trotskyist" groups won 60,000 votes-more than its component parts attracted in the previous election. If this success continues, the Bloc may win one or more seats in the September 99 parliamentary elections. Though, as in other countries, abstention was noticeably higher in poorer districts. According to the Bloc's spokesman Miguel
"in Lisbon, we are about 3,000 votes short of a second seat in parliament."