Workers' Struggle
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Workers' Struggle (Lutte Ouvrière) is the usual name under which the Communist Union (Trotskyist) (Union Communiste (Trotskyste)), a French Trotskyist political party, is known (technically, it is the name of the weekly paper edited by the party). Arlette Laguiller has been its spokeswoman since 1973 and has run in each presidential election, but Robert Barcia (Hardy) is its founder and considered as its real leader. It is a member of the Internationalist Communist Union.
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[edit] History
Its origins lie in a tiny group called the Trotskyist Group founded in 1939 by David Korner (Barta). This developed factory work throughout the war and was instrumental in the Renault strike of 1947, along with the anarcho-syndicalists. The group was exhausted by this effort and collapsed in 1952.
After various attempts to revive the Trotskyist Group, Voix Ouvrière was founded in 1956 by Robert Barcia, better known as Hardy and the group's preminent leader, and by Pierre Bois, a leading militant in the Renault plant. It would seem that some effort was made to involve Barta but disputes between him, Hardy and Bois prevented this from happening.
VO established itself through the 1960s by producing a series of factory bulletins on a regular, usually weekly, basis which were mass distributed. This activity could be dangerous as this was still a period when the Communist Party of France (PCF) retained its hegemonic position within the workers movement in France and they would at times make efforts to physically prevent the distribution by VO of its bulletins. In part this explains the continued use of a level of semi-clandestine operation within VO and in LO even today.
After being banned due to its support for the revolt of 1968, the group became Lutte Ouvrière.
[edit] Principles and activities
Lutte Ouvrière claims allegiance to the tradition of ideas which was represented successively by Marx and Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin and Trotsky. It considers therefore that capitalism belongs to the past of human society rather than to its future; that the capitalist organisation of society will have to be replaced, on a world scale, by a social organisation based on the collective property of the natural resources and means of production, and on a democratically planned economy which will provide equal access for all to all material and cultural resources.
While denouncing "real socialism" as it was incarned by the regimes of the former Eastern Bloc, Lutte Ouvrière advocates the replacement of the current political and economic regime of France (and the World) through a Communist revolution.
While taking part in workers' struggles, as far as their resources allow, the Lutte Ouvrière activists aim at defending among workers the general political interest of the working class and the idea of its irreplaceable role in the communist transformation of society. They organize workers around their political factory bulletins in a few hundred plants in France.
According to the revolutionary communist tradition, Lutte Ouvriere fields candidates in political elections, in order to popularize its ideas among the working class. Its main goal is public ownership of the means of production through the expropriation of the capitalist corporations.
An ongoing issue is the possibility and conditions of cooperation with fellow Trotskyist party the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, the French section of the reunified Fourth International. In 1970, LO inituated fusion discussions with the LC (as the LCR was then called). After extensive discussions, the two organisations had agreed the basis for a fused organisation. However, the fusion could be not completed. In 1976 discussions between the Ligue and Lutte Ouvrière progressed again. The two organisations started to produce a common weekly supplement to their newspapers, common electoral work and other common campaigning. Since then on occasions the two organizations have stood joint candidates at some elections.
LO has made great efforts to stand in elections either on its own or in an alliance with the LCR. Arlette Laguiller has, as a result, become well known to the public as LO's perennial Presidential candidate. Another very public activity of LO is their annual fete which is held in the grounds of a chateau which the organisation purchased for that purpose in 1981. The annual Fête de Lutte Ouvrière is probably the largest public gathering of the revolutionary left in Europe at this point in time.
Another more recent breakaway developed after Arlette Laguiller's relatively high electoral results in the 1990s and LO's statement that this meant that a new workers' party was a possibility. This statement, as well as a dispute over the personal code members were expected to abide by, led to the departure of over 100 members to form the Voix des Travailleurs grouping. This later fused with another smaller group but has more recently joined the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire as a recognised faction. Meanwhile a minority tendency continues to exist within LO and appears publicly, although its supporters are segregated in their own cells.
Believing that politics in the workplace must be the priority, Lutte Ouvrière has always been reluctant to support wider alliances such as those visible recently in the European Social Forums. L.O. has considered these events to be without interest (see issue of Lutte Ouvière for 14 novembre 2003) and has not participated.
Another burning question in France around which the positions of L.O. is well known is that of attitudes towards Islam. L.O. has enthusiastically supported the law which bans the wearing of muslim headscarves in schools (see the issue of their paper for 25 April 2003).
[edit] International relations
LO maintains relations with the following other Trotskyist groups (Internationalist Communist Union):
- Workers' Fight (UK)
- The Spark, a US group founded in 1971
- Antilles : Combat Ouvrier
- Haïti : Organisation Révolutionnaire des travailleurs
- Africa : Union Africaine des Travailleurs Communistes Internationalistes
- Turkey : Sinif Mucadelesi
- Spain: Lucha de Clase
