Velvet Counter Revolution Begins

France... FN breakthrough...

centre cannot hold...

'Velvet Counter Revolution Begins'

'Something has changed, changed utterly, a terrible nightmare is threatened. These elections have been a deck clearing exercise for a tougher, clearer, political conflict in France. If there is no centre, all that remains is the Left united with the far-Left and the Right refusing to deal with an extreme-Right. Jean Marie Le Pen and Bruno Megret have done well with their 15 per cent' was how an article in the Sunday Telegraph interpreted Front National (FN) political potency following the French regional elections.

These regional and county elections represent the second and third tier of government in France. In the elections held in mid -March, the Front increased its share of the vote by 2 % from 1992, giving it an extra 36 seats, which now come to 275 in total. This compares favourably with the governing Socialist Party's 396. The FN got over 30 % in some areas and is now the biggest overall party in Marseille. However the real crisis was provoked by the implosion of the constitutional right following a pact between them and the FN to deny the Socialists control in five regional assemblies. "For the first time since the war, the unspoken rule, against making any pact with the successors of the collaboration taboo has been broken" thundered the left-wing paper Liberation.

Former Foreign Minister Herve Le Charette said the alliances were as important as the May 1968 student riots, and added "those who have saved their seats by joining with the FN have done it by sacrificing the republic." However, 'the rule' against collaboration with the Front, has for some time, been far from 'unspoken'. And, precisely because of the open nature of the controversy, 'a deal' between the fascists and the constitutional Right has since then, been largely a matter of when, rather than if. Three years ago former Gaullist PM Alain Juppe warned off the constitutional Right against deals with the FN which he described as 'viscerally racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic'. But as Red Action (issue 75) predicted "the dilemma" faced by the French Right "is exactly the same as faced by the parliamentary parties under political challenge from the Nazis in the Weimar republic in Germany in 1931. To compromise or not that will be the question. The significance is not in the answer but in the question posed. That will be the signal that the velvet counter revolution has begun." Of course the situation is not directly comparable, but as former Tory Cabinet Minister Peter Bottomley observed recently 'the arithmetic is the same.'

Prior to this electoral watershed, the division was between the Front and the democrats. Now it lies simply between the Right and the Left. Or, if the trend of Right-wing constitutional emasculation continues; between the Front and the government. According to key FN strategist Bruno Megret this is already the case. "The right has exploded. Whenever the RPR and UDF play their strategy of aligning with neither the left nor the National Front, the left wins and the right disappears. The Front is now the true opposition.'

While the press here heralded the latest FN breakthrough as a "threat to French democracy', the British Left's response was smugly serene . 'France moves Left' in reference to the ruling Socialist Party 'victory' was a Socialist Worker headline. The significance of the capitulation of the constitutional right to the FN, barely rated a mention. While The Socialist (formerly Militant ) felt the "most significant event" was the 700,000 votes for the Trotskyist Lutte Ouevrie. A comparable logic would be a headline that ran: 'Titanic sinks - 400 survive!' neglecting the fact that four times that number actually drowned. The following week the full extent of the "electoral breakthrough" of French Trotskyism's was breathlessly revealed: "The electoral breakthrough means that the LO has over 20 regional councillors in France and the LCR has two". Two!? Putting both the LO and the LCR together, the twin beacons of hope, are a mere 253 councillors shy of the FN total. "The FN need not be so cocky" according to the CPGB's Weekly Worker.

Overall the left press eulogy, is a diagnosis worthy of any self respecting ostrich. Less than twelve months ago, Socialist Worker was calling for mass confrontations against Le Pen. "It is important to demoralise the Nazis so that they can only meet behind police lines." As the FN are the biggest working class party in France "hide from who precisely?" was the question RA posed. Woeful as the SWP is, it, unlike its French counterpart, is prepared to pin the Nazi tail on the FN donkey. In contrast Lutte Ouevrie over the last 15 years have consistently refused to honestly address the threat from the far-right. The line is the FN are not fascists, but ordinary conservatives, so to confront them would be counter to democracy. 'Live and let live' is the real Lutte Ouevrie motto and it loses nothing in the translation. If being yellow wasn't bad enough they are also hopeless syndicalists. Strikes will solve everything. It is hardly much of a gamble then, to say bluntly, that whatever the nature of France's next crisis, Trotskyism will have no answers.

For at least a quarter of a century the Left in Western Europe has been on the defensive. Constantly redrawing new lines of defence and adapting to the new realities. All the time hoping to consolidate and failing. Following every rout, comes the false confidence that the downward spiral has now bottomed out. That from now on the only way is up. Then after each false dawn, a fresh crisis. And a new map. Then a fresh bout of activism. A type of activism that pays no heed to previous strategical cul-de-sacs merely serves to make a compound muddle. For the party leadership, the bustle of activity serves the purpose of disguising a fatally flawed mindset; and the absence of any plan. Frenetic striving in pursuit of a diminishing return staves off the question of a diagnosis, which in turn conceals an absolute lack of ambition. And so increasingly over the years the Trotskyist Left has been forced to come to terms with its vocation which is, when boiled down all about defending, ineptly of course, the political and social status quo. With the result that in a present day European context, it is the far-right rather than the far-left who give the appearance of being the political radicals.

Fifteen years ago the FN had only recently acquired its first council seat. Now they have political control of five of France's 22 regional councils. Are they happy to conserve? No. Instead what they promise is revolution. The FN leader in Montpelier promises a crack-down on what he calls 'the cultural dictatorship of the Left'. 'We are the masters of the game in this region. They, the liberals, attack or try to undermine our ideas which encourage creative activity for French people by French people. Our opponents cannot be allowed to carry on working against a majority of the electorate with impunity. I will see to it that they can no longer spit in the soup'.

As Bruno Megret (RA issue 75) warned: "We aim not to protest but to govern." The emergence of extreme far-right parties across Europe display similar ambition. "People are coming to us because we go to them, we are there on the landings of the tower blocks . People see we don't have horns. They see their ideas are our ideas. And they don't see the other parties at all." A pattern where the main constitutional parties are ceding their grass roots organisation is a recognisable pattern in Britain as well as in mainland Europe.

What the FN transitional victory demonstrates, is that it is overwhelmingly a particular political modus operandi aligned with genuine revolutionary ambition, rather than a specific brand or message which is the key to a successful transformation from, if you like, mad dog to top dog. This is the vital lesson of France. In 1983 Sinn Fein as well, committed itself to a wide range of political activity at working class community level. "In the Thatcher era, with its emasculation of trade union movement, its sell off of public utilities and the demolition of the welfare state, for me these campaigns were the only significant working class victories of the period," is the frank assessment of SF president Gerry Adams. It is of course the working class community approach that laid the basis for Sinn Fein's subsequent electoral triumphs. From having not a single councillor in 1981, SF is now the biggest party in Belfast and is widely expected in the not too distant future to overhaul the SDLP as the main representative of nationalist opinion. In comparable terms it is a climb as spectacular as that of the FN.

Like all great ideas the tactic that have brought them their success is simple. It is a tactic with a universal truth and a universal application. The tactic is not about programmes, party structures, party building, party promotion, polemics with the competition or paper selling. It is about activists on a day to day basis fighting for the attainment of immediate results in the interests of their constituency, articulating the concerns, bringing to the fore and putting into effect the transitory demands of their electorate, while at the same time never once losing sight of the long term objective, which is the conquest of political power, as a means of reorganising society.

In 1997, as part of an IWCA experiment in Hertfordshire local activists adopted phase one of that strategy in contesting three different wards in successive elections, beginning with the district Council elections in May. This was followed by two successive by- elections shortly afterwards. In total, the IWCA experiment cost Labour two council seats with their vote almost totally collapsing in working class areas as a direct result of the IWCA campaign. From comfortable Labour majorities two out of the three seats went to the Tories without an increase in their vote. But despite taking almost 50% of the Labour vote in one ward, the IWCA campaign was on a single issue; and as such always vulnerable to Labour ploys and machinations. Nonetheless arterial blood was drawn. What the various studies prove is that confronted with sharply-focused campaigns at working class community level the centre cannot hold. This is now the weakest link in the establishment chain. And it does not matter whether the political challenge is fascist, republican or communist. Method is everything. There is a way - if - there is a will.

In this country the far-right are now fully committed to implementing the Euro Nationalist technique that has brought success to their counterparts on the continent. "The local elections are still two months away but already knives are being sharpened. And it comes as no surprise that the British National Party are first off the mark. The first election leaflets that drop through the local letterboxes are full of the usual bile, but it would be a grave mistake to dismiss them that lightly. The people who peddle this sick propaganda are not the average skinhead thickos you see ranting and raving at demonstrations. These are people who can write in highly seductive ways and who use words with great skill." (Editorial, Recorder 4.3.98)

In 1994 on the Isle of Dogs, in addition to heavy canvassing, the BNP, put four different leaflets through every door in the contested wards in the run up to the election, and, another congratulatory one through every door afterwards. It is primarily because of this attention to detail that they confidently expect to make a breakthrough at a ground level in the near future, and then like their FN counterparts will begin their attempt on the long climb to the summit. After a ritualistic bout of useless lamentations it can be anticipated that the conservative Left will react by accommodating them. So what do the rest of us do?

The choice is quite straightforward. We can follow the exhortations of the conservative Left and hide behind a comfort quilt of patchwork defences, mindlessly mouthing sectarian socialist mantras in a vain effort to protect the existing social and political order - or we can counter attack. But counter attack how? Its quite simple. Accept the far-right have hit on a winning formula; mimic it, and begin the climb to the summit ourselves. Once the commitment to the long haul is confirmed, and the mountain climbing begins the primary question is not: 'Do they have a head for heights - but do we'?

G O'Halloran

Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 1, June/July 1998