By Don Samantha - Le Marx France

The CGT (General Confederation of Trade Unions) reported that more than one million people marched across France on 18 of september during the mobilization against the Macron-Lecornu austerity plan called by the eight major unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, FSU, and Solidaires). Despite intimidation and repression unleashed by the government with 80,000 police and gendarmes, drones, armored vehicles, and water cannons, thousands of people mobilized across the country. InLyon, the demonstration drew between 14,000 and 20,000 people, against whom the government used tear gas and some riot grenades to disperse protesters, who launched projectiles and mortars at the police.

Thousands of public employees went on strike. Public transport in Île-de-France suffered severe disruptions, with the metro operating with only a limited number of trains on most non-automatic lines, and up to ten stations closed all day. In Paris, line 9 ran at an average of one train out of every two, and lines 10 and 13 at one out of every three. The Student Union mobilized 110,000 young people, and 14 universities were blocked. The main secondary school teachers' union reported that 45% of French middle and high school teachers are on strike, while 18,000 pharmacies were closed out of 20,000 nationwide, according to Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France, the main union in the sector.

Against the imperialist France of the bankers and corporations

EDF reported a load reduction of about 4,000 MW at its power plants due to the strike, the equivalent of four nuclear reactors. The strike places France at the center of the struggle against European capitalism embodied in the European Union, and the European Central Bank, or the IMF, the "troika" that works at the service of the euro aristocracy and European capital, the oligarchy of bankers who dominate and concentrate wealth in a few hands. Precisely, the Macron-Lecornu austerity plan, which involves cuts of 44 billion euros, represents a plan serving the bankers and corporations who demand that France pay the debt bonds issued by European corporations such as BNP Pàribas, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, or Barclays.

The Fifth Republic regime in our country serves the aristocracy of Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Christian Dargnat, Bernard Mourad , Jean-Paul Chifflet, Frederic Oudea, Philippe Citerne, the CEOs of corporations, and billionaire bankers. The parliamentarians, the civil servants, the judges, the government of the Fifth Republic serves the aristocrats of the ruling classes, the palace butlers graduated from theNational School of Administration (ENA)who work for Cac40, Bernard Arnault of Louis Vuitton, Vincent Bolloré of Canal + and Vivendi or Xavier Niel de Free.

The inter-union body met on Friday, September 19, to decide on the next steps following the previous day's mobilization, which had drawn between 500,000 and over a million people. It issued an ultimatum to Sébastien Lecornu: "If he has not responded to their demands by [Wednesday] September 24, the unions will meet to quickly decide on a new day of strikes and demonstrations," the eight unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, FSU, and Solidaires) wrote in a joint statement.

The union bureaucracy and the reformist left betray the people

For his part, Sébastien Lecornu announced Thursday evening that he would meet again with the union forces. Union bureocracy demand the withdrawal of the budget cuts projected for 2026, a correct demand. But they then demand "fairer budgets." "The world of work cannot be the only one contributing to the efforts," stressed Marilyse Léon, general secretary of the country's main trade union federation, the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), in an interview with BFMTV.

The union bureaucrats' position implies a betrayal of the struggle by the leaders: "We cannot demand fairer budgets" from the imperialist government of Macron-Lecornu; it's like demanding that a cow fly. Imperialist governments will never make fairer budgets; it is simply necessary to launch the struggle to end the government, but the union bureaucrats do not want to do so because they fear that popular mobilization will mean the end of their privileges as public officials. Limiting the struggle to a "fairer budget" means that they are a leadership incapable of carrying it forward consistently. We need to put an end to these public officials and place a truly revolutionary leadership at the head of our struggle.

On the other hand, the stance of the French reformist left also constitutes an obstacle to the struggle. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure emphasized "the need to create a new balance of power." Meanwhile, Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise demanded that Minister Sébastien Lecornu submit to a vote of confidence, "as François Bayrou did before him." "Either he faces the vote of confidence, or we will present a motion of no confidence. The ideal would be for the vote to take place as soon as possible ." Leaders like Faure and Mélenchon support the Fifth Republic of the rich and millionaires and call for trust in the imperialist Parliament, the den of bandits that defends the interests of France's 1% aristocracy. We need to advance in building a revolutionary left in our country and put an end to reformism once and for all.

Continue the struggle until a government of the workers and the people is imposed

The people no longer believe in the old organizations of the French left, like the Socialist Workers' Party (PS) and the Communist Party (PC), which were the pillars of the Fifth Republic. That's why this regime is collapsing, and millions are abstaining from elections because they no longer believe in these traitorous parties or their leaders. Nor do the people believe in the old union leaderships anymore; they have used all kinds of maneuvers to prevent the September 10th protests, fearing this movement. At Le Marx in France, we support and promote, more than ever, the continuation of the struggle against the Macron-Lecornu government.

Let's strengthen the mobilization now, let's boost the movement to impose a working-class and popular solution to the crisis of capitalist France. Let's put France back in the orbit of the revolutionary wave sweeping the world with mass mobilizations in Nepal, Greece, Serbia, Turkey, South Korea, Georgia, Indonesia, the Palestinian resistance in the Third Intifada, and the military victories of the Ukrainian National Liberation Army in the Donbas. This is the path to the struggle for socialism in Europe and around the world. We invite you to join La Marx France to carry this struggle forward.