French Tensions
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The French have a saying to describe a choice between two evils — it’s a choice between cholera and the plague.
I remember seeing a Trotskyist march in Lille during the second round of the French presidential election in 2002 when the two contenders were Jacques Chirac, the outgoing conservative president, and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front (the father of Marine). One of the banners proclaimed “Cholera or the Plague? Vote Cholera”. I imagine this slogan will be brought out by the far left to justify voting for candidates of Macron’s party in the second round on Sunday.
I see the RN (as the FN has since renamed itself) are in effect arguing that, faced with a choice between their candidate and a candidate of France Debout or the Communist party, they are cholera. But I don’t think they will be so explicit as to say “Vote for us. We are only cholera”.
Thomas Piketty chimes in with some left reformism:
“The NFP [New Popular Front] is following a similar path today [as the 1936 Popular Front], with ambitious policies to improve the purchasing power of poor and lower-middle-class people. These reforms include a substantial increase in the minimum wage, wages indexed to prices and free school lunches. Most importantly the NFP wants to prioritise investment in the future by increasing public spending on infrastructure – throughout the country, including in isolated rural areas – as well as in health, education and research.”
Oh dear! Clearly the French left has yet to realise that this type of reformism can’t work. For a start, where’s the money going to come from to increase the purchasing power of the lowest paid and to increase spending on public services and amenities? There is only one source — the profits of capitalist businesses. But profit is what drives the capitalist economy, so this would just slow down accumulation and make things worse. Mitterrand tried this in 1981 and it was a complete flop.
It’s a recipe for disaster which risks further fuelling the advance of the far right. Mind you, if that lot come into office they will of course fail too to make capitalism work in the interest of the majority class made up of those excluded from ownership and control of the means of living. That just can’t be done.
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