Lutte Ouvrière
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Workers' Struggle (Lutte Ouvrière) is the usual name under which the Communist Union (Union Communiste ) (Trotskyist), 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 central leader. It is a member of the Internationalist Communist Union.
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 activist 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 of the Students Revolt of May' 68, the group became Lutte Ouvrière.
1970s until today
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 initiated 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 was 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.
The early 1970s also saw two breakways from Lutte Ouvriere. The first such split in 1974 was centered on Bordeaux and took the name l'Union Ouvriere but rapidly disintegrated. So much so that when another small split group that developed a year later expected to be able to fuse with l'Union Ouvriere, it found it had already disappeared and were forced to form their own organisation as a consequence. This new group, Combat Communiste, was to evolve into the affiliate of the International Socialist Tendency.
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.
LO has supported the 2004 French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools. It considers that the hijab s are a "visible sign of women's submission to their husbands and brothers". While considering the law as hypocrite, L.O. stated that it could "help women who try to resist ambient sexism in their familial or social environment" 25 April 2003).
Following the very low score of Arlette Laguiller at the first round of the April-May 2007 presidential election (1,33%, compared to 5,72% in 2002), the party was left with a debt of 1,4 millions Euros. According to Michel Rodinson, a responsible of the party, the campaign cost was in total of 2 millions Euros (800,000 of which are paid by the state). The rent of the Zenith for meetings in Paris, as well as the December political poster campaign, account for most of the expenses.[1]
Leadership
For long, the internal organisations of the party were largely unknown to the general public, the spokeswoman and regular presidential candidate Arlette Laguiller being the only party leader appearing in public. Even to party members, some leaders were known only by cadre names. Such measures of secrecy were justified by the possibility that the party may have to enter clandestinity, should there be opportunities for a Communist revolution. For the same reason, marriages and children were (and still are) discouraged. Lutte Ouvrière has thus often been criticised as being a political cult, for example by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, his older brother Gabriel Cohn-Bendit, L'Humanité and Libération.[2]
In part this strict disciplinary attitude has enabled LO to be a very stable organisation in contrast to the instability that they allege characterises so many other left groups. In fact LO is a difficult organisation to actually join and after becoming a member individuals are expected to conform to a code of conduct which is considered old fashioned by some critics.
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
References
- ^ Dépenses de campagne: énorme ardoise pour LO, la LCR s'en tire sans déficit, Metro, 24 April 2007 Template:Fr icon
- ^ Template:Fr icon "Arlette Laguiller n'aime pas le débat". L'Humanité. April 11, 2002.