July 1, 2024 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French
No solution will come from the ballot box: the future lies in our struggles!
The first round of legislative elections brought the expected result, in fact prepared by [President] Macron’s decision to dissolve the Assembly for an express (special) election campaign: 33.9% for the Rassemblement National (RN—far-right National Rally party) and Ciotti’s Républicains (center-right Republicans) (nearly 10.6 million votes, no more than in the first round of the presidential elections in 2022). No surprise there, but a nasty smell all the same… Because Le Pen-Bardella (leaders of the RN), and their clique of billionaires, represent Macron’s racist boss policies, only worse. No matter what the voters who have been misled by their rage against Macron think. Never mind those who forget that the rich can find several presidents to serve them!
Extreme right… extremely pro-bosses
Bardella’s veneer of social demagogy quickly cracked: no salary or pension will be increased, no VAT (value-added tax, like a sales tax) will be lowered, and as for retirement, it will rather be at 66 (than the current 64)! On the agenda, nothing more and nothing less than the continuation and reinforcement of Macron’s policies, with even more racist blinkers: among others, against those born of foreign parents. All things that don’t cost the bosses a penny, and can, on the contrary, benefit them if workers allow themselves to be caught up in this rotten game of division along lines of origin, skin color or gender. But workers, let’s unite!
Fighting the far right with Macron and Attal (the current Prime Minister)?
These elections sound the death knell for the Macronists, who came in third with 23% of the vote. Well-deserved for those yellow-vest blinders. But then (reformist political leaders) Mélenchon, Hollande, Glucksmann, Tondelier and all the leaders of this left-wing electoral alliance (which won nearly 30% of the vote) immediately withdrew to support the Macronist candidates. Even calling for a vote for Élisabeth Borne (Macron’s former Prime Minister)! To “change everything,” as the NFP (New Popular Front) program puts it? But the Macronists aren’t returning the favor. And the smear campaign continues, in unison with the right and far right, against France Insoumise (France Unbowed—reformist party) and all those who are called anti-Semitic for supporting the Palestinian people against the colonialist, Zionist policies of Israel’s far-right government. Unprincipled political alliances are in full swing, and whoever the future Prime Minister is, it will be against us!
Not one vote for Macron or Bardella!
For this second (election) round on July 7, we say “Not a vote for the RN or Macronism,” but not the slightest confidence in the electoral promises of the institutional left (NFP) either. Wherever, nevertheless, an LFI (France Unbowed) or PCF (Communist Party) candidacy would face the RN, or where exceptionally a candidacy from other left-wing parties would justify it, we’ll call to vote for these candidacies. We have no confidence in the policies of the electoral alliance represented by the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), but we stand in solidarity with voters whose choice it is, and who are often comrades in the struggle.
The future lies in our struggles and revolutionary ideas.
The far left garnered 367,158 votes, which went to our candidacies and those of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers’ Struggle) – present everywhere. This vote is at once small and essential. It’s important to have voices indicating how to overcome the electoral and institutional impasse, and affirming that the working class can only count on its struggles! Over and above our votes in these legislative elections, the urgent need is for us to organize to fight back against anti-social and racist policies, with a strong, united response in the workplaces and on the streets. To live and not just to survive, French workers or immigrants, members of the same class. We all work, we all decide! Revolutionary emergency!
