lenin opposes French working people
lenin has jumped on the French strike bandwagon. This is the same country he was condemning as white supremacist last year during the Islamist uprising, but now we are told that "France is amazing. I don't want to eulogize, but..."
The strikes in France are the normal state of affairs, of course. The question for Sarkozy and the left forces in favour of progress is whether they can break the habit of French government's going back decades and not cave in to the fascistic minority who are once against holding the country to ransom. And that's an important point; the majority of the French people support reforms, including the working class, who have suffered terribly from unemployment, so this really is a question of who runs France; the democratic government backed by the majority of the people, or the vested interest groups fighting to leave the EU, retain protectionist measures that hurt the third world, and generally impose their backward agenda on the country - whether they voted for it or not.
There was the amazing statistic on BBC Newsnight last night that only 8% of the work force in France are members of a union. Put in that light you can see how unjust it is for any government to surrender to people who have nothing to do with even the majority of working people.
6 comments:
No they are not "holding the country to ransom".
This phrase is meaningless - define it if you can.
What is actually happening is that people are exercising the long fought-for right to withdraw their labor.
It is the only weapon that the working class has against the wealth and privilege of the ruling class.
Nobody uses the phrase "holding the country to ransom" when the rich cash in their shares on the merest rumor of a fall in prices, throwing millions out of work.
But in such a situation the phrase might have some basis in reality.
The French have a higher quality of life and higher happiness quotient than the British and Americans. This is surely at least in part due to the fact that they don't let their bosses kick them around so easily and they work to live, rather than living to work.
Less than 8% of the country overuling the democrat mandate of the government by bringing services to a halt is holding the country to ransom by anyone's definition. Enough is enough.
I don't think those rioting last year and the masses of unemployed people do have a higher standard of living. It's all an illusion.
They are not holding anything to ransom (by anybody's definition) they are exercising their right to strike.
Are you saying that workers should be denied this right?
The government obeys the requirements of the market. The idea that governments carry out the will of the people is an illusion. Both conservative and social democratic/liberal parties will do what is demanded by the rich, who are far less than 8% of the population. If they don't, the rich put pressure on the government, for example by withdrawing their capital and investing it in other countries. Of course, nobody calls this holding the country to ransom.
The French have a better quality of life, unquestionably, because they have a more sensible attitude to work, having fought hard to win reasonable working hours, pension rights etc.
Sarkozy wants to take this away and make French society as empty and materialistic as American.
Just about every independent study on the subject says that excessive working hours and poor work/life balance leads to unhappiness, stress and poor health.
Yet all that is forgotten when a group of workers actually do something to resist capital's increasingly unreasonable demands on our time. When that happens all the meaningless cliches like "holding the country to ransom" get trotted out.
If anything it is capitalism that holds us to ransom, forcing us to work longer than we want to or risk losing our livelihood.
Bravo to anyone who has the guts to resist - and that includes German as well as French rail workers.
If they win it will do everybody a favor except the idle rich.
Are you saying that workers should be denied this right?
No, but they bring the country to a halt every couple of years. At some point somebody has to stand up for the country as a whole and take some tough decisions for the future. The unions can't be allowed to dictate everything.
We'd all like to have shorter hours and generous benefits, but that will send the country backwards in the long term. France has to keep up with the world economy or they will go bust. Unemployed people also want to get jobs.
Any sensible person should protest in favour of these reforms. Join us!
"At some point somebody has to stand up for the country as a whole"
There is no such thing as "the country as a whole" Mike, except when it comes to football - where the French seem to do rather better than us.
People have conflicting interests. Sarkozy's interests, and those of the French elite, are clearly different from those of train drivers. A defeat for the French workers will mean more money lining the pockets of the already rich. We saw it under Thatcher and Blair and this is what Sarkozy wants for his class in France.
Also, far from "dictating", the instinct of union bureaucrats is always to reach a compromise.
It is the workers themselves who want to defend their past gains, with a determination that the unions cannot ignore.
"We'd all like to have shorter hours and generous benefits"
Indeed - surely that is what human progress is about?
But whereas once upon a time "reform" meant making things better for working people, today it seems to mean making things worse.
"France has to keep up with the world economy or they will go bust."
The world is going bust, Mike, burning up resources and overheating the planet. Another good reason to support rail workers - unless you think the French should follow the British example of destroying the rail network and forcing freight and public onto the roads?
I don't see the unemployed protesting against the strikes, so that is simply a red herring. Attacks on workers and on unemployment benefits usually go hand in hand.
Hats off to the the French workers for resisting Sarkozy.
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