Europe

The withdrawal of the CPE is a humiliating defeat for Chirac and the de Villepin government. They came out of this ordeal completely discredited. After the struggle against pension reforms in 2003, against the referendum on the European Constitution, and the revolt of the estates in November last year, the massive mobilisation of youth and workers against the CPE constitutes new evidence that France has entered an era of great social and political instability.

Representatives of the Sindicato de Estudiantes (Students' Union) and the Marxist tendency El Militante, together with several trade unionists, gathered in front of the French embassy in Madrid last week to express their rejection of the serious attack of the Chirac-Villepin-Sarkozy government, which is attempting to impose the CPE on the French youth and workers. See also the Spanish version.

We publish this report on the week of anti-CPE activities in Toulouse. The report explains the methods of the students and workers in their struggle and highlights the need for decisive action on the part of the trade unions to guarantee victory.

The In Defence of Marxism website interviewed Stephen Bouquin, professor of sociology at Amiens university and member of the SNES-Sup union (Syndicat National des Enseignements de Second degré) about the recent events in France.

The movement in France has been building up momentum. There have now been five very successful days of action, each being bigger than the preceding one. The danger now is that the union leaders fall into the trap being prepared by the right-wing government, opening up pointless negotiations aimed at tiring out the workers and youth. There should be no dithering. Organise a 24-hour general strike now!

A massive demonstration marched through the streets of Paris today, April 4, on the national day of action against the hated First Employment Contract introduced by the right-wing government of de Villepin. According to the CGT, more than 700,000 people participated in the demonstration, making it bigger than the one on March 28.

After President Chirac’s intervention and the refusal of the government to back down, the only way to defeat the CPE is for an all out mobilisation of the working class for a 24-hour general strike to bring down the government.

As we reported,French workers and students took to the streets on Tuesday, March 28, in a massive way. The only way the workers and youth can move forward to victory and avoid falling into tiredness and disappointment, is by declaring a proper and effective general strike aimed not only at the withdrawal of the Contrat Première Embauche but also at the unseating of the current government, which has by far overrun its mandate.

When Blair was first elected he promised his government would be ‘whiter than white’, a phrase meant to distance himself from the sleaze of the Major years. Now Blair is immersed in sleaze himself. From the lies over the Iraq war we now have the scandal of selling peerages to the biggest bidder. Blair has done his utmost to destroy the Labour Party. It will be up to the trade unions and the ranks of the party to rebuild it as a fighting workers’ organisation.

We have just been informed that yesterday the Greek government has withdrawn from its plans to close the plant in Thessaloniki. They say it will reopen "partially". This is a big victory for the workers after two months of determined struggle. For now the solidarity appeal is suspended as we await the outcome.

In the biggest strike since the historic general strike of 1926, over a million local government workers struck in defence of their pensions yesterday, March 28th. The mood on the picket lines was cheerful, buoyant and confident in what was undoubtedly the largest and most solid public sector strike ever in Britain.

Today’s strikes and demonstrations brought over three million workers onto the streets of France, with 700,000 marchers in Paris and 250,000 in Marseille. In the last 60 years, this movement has only been equalled by those of the revolutionary events of May and June 1968. It is provoking serious divisions right at the top of the ruling class, a clear symptom of revolutionary developments.

Representatives of the Editorial Board of “Marxistiki Foni” met the workers of the fertilizer factory in Thessaloniki, who had once again come down to Athens (a 6-hour train journey), to protest in front of the Ministry of Labour against the closure of their factory. We publish the announcement of their union. We should all support their struggle!

Another massive general strike rocked Greek society on March 15. This came about in a situation of growing class conflict. The result has been a big fall in support for the present right wing New Democracy government. The Greek bosses are now openly discussing the possibility of French contagion in Greece.

Hands off Venezuela in Germany played a decisively role in some successful public meetings with Che Guevara's daughter, Aleida Guevara, last week. 450 workers, youth and Latin American immigrants attended the Frankfurt meeting on Saturday, 25 March, and 250 were packed into the hall in Wiesbaden two days earlier.