Whatever the political differences of analysis, it is disappointing that Louis Proyect can see no occasion to celebrate the massive May Day demonstrations in France.
At 02/05/02 08:26 -0400, you wrote: > >The battle of principle however must also be won > >against those who distort marxism to argue that > >it would be "class teachery" to vote for Chirac > >in the present circumstances. > > > >IMHO of course. > > > >Chris Burford > >It makes no sense to vote for Chirac since his policies as Prime >Minister in the past were exactly those that created openings for the >far right in the first place. True by no means all of the demonstrators will vote for Chirac against Le Pen. We will not know until Sunday how many do. But the point is not the point that Louis suggests. The issue is not Chirac's policies: it is a choice between a candidate with openly fascist leanings and one without. The presidential election is now symbolic. If the left, and presumably most of the demonstrators on May Day were from the left, maintain this momentum, they will move on after the presidential election to mobilise for the election of socialist and other progressive deputies on policy grounds. > In any case, Chirac's return to power will only boost >the ranks of the far left and the far right in much the same way that >centrist, do-nothing governments did in Germany in the 1920s. I do not understand this muddled assertion at all. For the political battle the assembly elections are much more important. >Ultimately, there will be a battle between socialists and fascists >just as there was in the past. For success in such a battle, we need >to build the ranks of the left while sharpening its understanding of >class principles. The same sort of attempts to dull this >understanding that took place during the 1920s and 30s are obviously >at work today. There seems to be unanimity that the Socialist Party of France did not run an authoritative campaign that led the agenda. The problem with Louis's formulations is that they are stuck in a time warp which appears not to be able to learn from history. While would-be marxists may have a low opinion of bourgeois elections, it was something of a problem that the German Nazi Party did come first in the elections in 1933 and their leader was chosen as chancellor. I find Louis's comments here confused about how a repeat of the historic battle "between socialists and fascists" will avoid making the same mistakes as in Germany of splitting the vote between social democrats and revolutionary socialists. The question he seems to not answer is the need on occasions for a united front against fascism, which includes dubious capitalists. While I think Romaine Kroes has some interesting points about international finance and while I agree that imposing a neo-liberal agenda to keep Europe competitive, places hard burdens on working people, I cannot accept that it is desirable for working people in France to regard the difference between Chirac and Le Pen as the same as that between cholera and the plague. The consequences are frightening. By contrast the million demonstrators are an encouraging sign of a determination to resist Le Pen, while knowing that the alternatives are far from perfect. Chris Burford
