The massive wave of protests in France on Saturday was a militant escalation of a movement that has swept the country and is striking fear in the heart of the Macron government. Despite brutal repression, workers and youth have continued to mobilize in increasing numbers. With a bold, revolutionary program, these protests have the potential to bring down not only the hated government, but the entire rotten system.

Much has been made in the capitalist press internationally of the “violent riots” engulfing France. The same press fails to mention the day-to-day violence of the French ruling class, or of the violent repression with which peaceful youth have been met when coming out to protest the country’s crumbling education system and deteriorating living conditions.

On Saturday, a 17-year-old boy lost his right hand after a police officer shot him with a “crowd-control” grenade. This is the second protester within two weeks to lose a hand. This is on top of countless brutal injuries including blindings, shattered jaws, etc.

Nor does the right-wing press mention the provocations: eye witnesses have reported tear gas and water cannons being unexpectedly unleashed as protesters peacefully gathered on Saturday morning. Footage is circulating of clear police provocateurs being set upon by protesters for throwing rocks at emergency vehicles. The French state deliberately manufactured the scenes we saw on Saturday.

The French ruling class is now gripped with anxiety. Last night, Macron used a televised address to cynically acknowledge the “legitimate grievances” of some demonstrators, whilst condemning “insurrectionists from fringe far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals.” This is a panicked attempt to divide the movement, and justify an intensification of police repression.

We publish below the most recent analysis from Jérôme Métellus of the Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire, which details Saturday’s events and explains the tasks ahead.

[Originally published in French at marxiste.org]

The demonstration on October 17 marks a major milestone in the development of a movement which is clearly far from having exhausted its reserves of energy, determination, and fighting spirit.

Gen Z—school students, university students, young workers, and the unemployed—dominated the marches and infused them with a contagious radical mood. Older workers also turned out in large numbers. Every sector of the economy and every vital force in the country was represented.

The figures reported by the press—between 500,000 and 800,000 people nationwide—underestimate the scale of the mobilization. In Paris, in particular, even the streets adjacent to the official route of the demonstration were teeming with people. Entire neighborhoods were buzzing with slogans and chants. Local residents came out of their homes or shops to join in the electric atmosphere of a people in revolt. We would be curious to know the method used—apart from making a rough guess—to accurately count such a seething mass of people!

Many demonstrators—some of them wearing yellow vests—held up placards brimming with humor and imagination. Their demands, puns and humour all converged in a radical rejection of the government, the ultrarich, their state, their police, and their system. Many placards referred to the great revolutionary traditions of the French people, in particular May ’68 and the Great French Revolution of 1789–94.

The police brutality of recent weeks was on everyone’s minds. Young people from the poorest neighborhoods were prepared to take on the police force from whom they have suffered racism, harassment, and brutality on a daily basis—and for far too long.

As soon as it was shouted out, the slogan “ACAB” was taken up by hundreds of demonstrators, a number of whom had been unaware of its existence or meaning just a few weeks earlier.

“Violence”: the government’s double standards

Having absolutely no intention of responding to the people’s basic demands, the government is sinking deeper into its ritual condemnation of “urban violence”—described as “extreme,” “unprecedented,” and so on. By contrast, Macron, Lecornu, Nuñez, and their ilk consider police violence to be wonderfully “proportionate.” As for the economic and social violence that lies at the root of the popular uprising, they say nothing about it and have no intention of addressing it.

On October 12, a report by Action Against Hunger revealed that in mainland France, seven million adults face food insecurity. This affects 25% of 18–24 year olds. This “unprecedented,” “extreme” social violence leaves the rich and powerful utterly unmoved—indeed, they are preparing further drastic cuts to public spending and social benefits.

With their hands on their hearts, those in power swear that they are defending the right to demonstrate “peacefully.” Yet at the same time, Macron, Lecornu, and their entire clique are organising brutal police repression and announcing that they cannot meet any demands.

In other words, the people must “peacefully” accept being despised, exploited, impoverished, and repressed. Isn’t that what usually happens? Yes, but this time the masses will no longer accept it and are demanding concrete answers—or, failing that, the downfall of the “government of the rich.” That is the essence of the current situation.

What now?

Just as during the 24-hour general strike of May 13, 1968, the mobilized youth and workers sent a powerful message to the entire working class. In 1968, the show of force on May 13 marked the starting point of a wave of indefinite strikes which, within the space of a week, had completely paralyzed the economy and left all the institutions of the bourgeois state hanging in the balance.

The mobilized youth and workers sent a powerful message to the entire working class. / Image: fair use

In the coming days and weeks, the movement could set out on the same revolutionary path as in the spring of 1968. October 17 marked a very clear step in that direction. In a country brimming with anger and fighting spirit, it might be enough for workers in large companies to set an example and take the initiative to ignite the fire of a powerful movement of indefinite strikes.

One thing is certain: when the exploited and oppressed masses set themselves in motion, as they did yesterday, they are not satisfied with harmless marches—at the rate of one or two a month. This is the usual “strategy” of the leaders of the trade union federations. Moreover, these leaders were not involved in organizing the October 17 demonstration, which they deliberately ignored for many weeks.

These same trade union leaders issued a call for action on November 5. Originally, this was intended to defuse the explosive power of October 17. Now, however, the events of November 5 could spiral out of the organizers’ control. In the meantime, other initiatives will no doubt be taken, and further demonstrations organized. This outburst of anger and militancy will not conform to the “strategy” of the trade union leaders, whose sole ambition is to channel and contain the movement.

The most militant political and trade union activists must take stock of the situation and the enormous opportunities it presents for the development of the class struggle. We must capitalise on the momentum generated by the youth, to put a broad movement of rolling strikes on the agenda.

As we wrote on Tuesday, October 13, the organizations of the labor movement must build a strike movement:

… based on a militant program that incorporates all the demands of the mobilized youth—and adds to them demands such as a substantial wage increase, wage indexation to inflation, the expropriation of TotalEnergies, and the repeal of all the counterreforms of the last ten years.

 

Under increasing pressure from the financial markets, the Lecornu government would rather hang itself than meet a single one of these demands. Consequently, the movement’s program must culminate in a demand that is both general and, fundamentally, very concrete: “Down with the government of the rich! For a government of the workers!”

 

If a powerful movement of rolling strikes develops across the country in the coming weeks, it will demonstrate concretely to the working class that it creates all wealth. The working class is the decisive force in modern society—and it is therefore up to the working class to lead it, that is, to expropriate the big bourgeoisie, repudiate the public debt, and reorganize the economy on socialist principles.