This meeting today is a direct response to the scandalous action of the French bourgeois police and the French government in expelling Comrade Tariq All from France.
We made the decision to return his visit in front of 12,000 workers and students at the Sports Palace in Paris. In fact, we also wanted to provoke the French bourgenis police, to see if they would allow me to leave for England. At the moment I am not allowed to leave France for two reasons: first, because I am a soldier, and second, because I have a suspended sentence. And if the police have not been able to prevent my departure, 1 think it is a result of the important impact of our revolutionary campaign throughout the country.
First of all, in order to explain the meaning of our candidature, I must say something about the situation in France after the revolutionary days of May and June 1968. As you all know, the workers" movement during May and June was not a simple reformist, trade unionist movement, but was a very real revolutionary movement over ten million workers and students, and at that time could have overturned the power of the bourgeoisie for good. And if the working class was not able to take power in May and June last year, the responsibilities are well known: the fault lies only and essentially in the total capitulation of the French Communist Party and in the direction of their trade unions, who made great efforts to put a stop to the movement, and to limit it to one of simple economic demands and to prevent the working class from taking power from the bourgeoisie, who at that time were entered into a period of extreme crisis, And that what took place in France can perfectly well recur tomorrow, not only in France, but in Italy, Germany and in Great Britain. Moreover and for revolutionary militants this is extremely important - the situation of the workers is the stay in Creditin as in Be ium, in Germany as Presiding from the events last year. was that cach time a revolutionary movement develops in the faculties and in the factories, the CP does its best to turn that movement towards clectoral ends. And in June we saw what that led to: an electoral victory for the bourgeoisie, while it could have been the victory of the working class in their factories, In May and June last year the bourgoaisie was forced to retreat. Its most notable concossion was wage increases of up to 15% but, at the same time, and this is what is fundamental, it succeeded in political power. Eight months since the elections, once the bourgeoisic succeeded in stabilising its system once again, ail the working-class gains of May and June have been lost: wage rises now amount to only 3 to 4%, given he tact of rising prices and speed-ups in the factories SOCIALISM FOR NOW Having lived through this period, we decided on the neing these elepenise deed that the bat mign bre our rovolutionary campaign fought today on two essential fronts: on the one hand, the denunciation of electoralism, the denunciation of arliamentary conceptions of power (as preached by th P): and on the other hand, the demystification of th tactic known in France as "Union of the Leit" recognised by the CP, and wch implies an alliance between the parlies which claim to speak for the working class, and the organisations which represent the bourgeoisie - whose leader in France was Francois Mitterand, ( Through the struggles in May-June we have shown the workers that socialism is not a Utopia. socialism is for now, and that they could take power period: that is rous set up by themselves during chat sommitlees, which were organised in the factodies, e That is say, sinke committoes, action regroupment of the unionised workers and non-unionised workers. We have shown that it was possible to co-ordinate these committees on the regional scale and on the national scale, to stop the veneral strike moment when the In fact. and this will be oday. reicoting the Party. These currents are housands of workers and students throughou onfused. The Party STICKS AND FASCISTS results of this campaign.
with very working class attendance.
the tricolor.
of between 500 and 1000 people. The second point, the first time in France, — and I think the situation is undersland, that before the revolutionary group which appeared in front of a factory was met with sticks und cries of Fascists from the Communist Party militants. situation before the May-June events. We held the very fist meeting of our campaign in front of the largest retaining its factory in France. the very stronghold of the Communist Party - the Renaule factories. And we were able to hold this meeting despite the cries of the CP militants who for the first time didn't dare to jump on our revolutionary militants, factory meetings best symbolises the evolution which has taken place in our campaign. factory meeting. "Jacques Duclos to power, Jacques Duclos to power" -something they never said in May June 68. a time when that would have bean possible! But even so, they did manage was held at the Renault-Cleon plant in Normandy. The CP militants arrived shouting Jacques Duclos lu power". militants from this factory who threw the CP militants out, to stay with us for two hours. For the first time we have seen what workers' democracy really means, and this is one of the most important things we have learnes but that clection results. They Firstly, hundreds mest militant on the barricades in May-Jane 68, do not fave the right to vote. Because the immigrant workers who certainly have the right to be exploited by French capitalist society and who also were on the front line of the barricades, do not have the right to vote. And because we have called on the workers in the so-called French enionies to havent the overtown. But, this perative didn*T exist in May and bourgeoisic was June, which explains the stoppage of the general strike the last point on this theme, if we decided to lead this campaign, it is because of the vas revolutionary currents which exist in France much as the policy of caper lation of lac Comany a wringing together ler of the country. But up till now, they were not organised, they son fuse do The l perpetrate mere scatter, i te crystallise these currents, to organise, to educate, and to present, for the first time in France, a political and organisational alternative on the left of the Communist Now I would like to say a few words on the concrete I think that all revolutionary militants might be able to draw from them perspectives for the struggles to come. In the first place. and for the first time, millions and millions of workers Jave been affocted hy revolutionary propaganda. Before. there were only thoussnds, or a few tens of thousands. who came into contact with what are known as the groupuscules. We have succeeded in orgunising, during this campaign, meetings in all the big cities in Frunce. including those towns where we had no militants. In fact, we have organised several hundred meetings, and attendance, particularly three meetings in Paris, two of four to five thousand people, and the meeting of 12,000 at the Sports Palace that's to say, almost as many as for Ducios, except that the hall was decorated with red flags and not with cities like Toulouse, five thousand several workers and students were present. And in all the middie-size and small French towns, we had attendances which is perhaps one of the most important, is that for is that events any That was normal bourgeoisie, I think that the example of our first and last Throughout the first • at Renault, the CP militants shouted to shout us down. The last meeting, yesterda Jacques Duclos to powe After IS minutes it was th Tomorrow wo will be able to see the deformed are deformed for several reasons of thousands of young people, the wIeN the 'anti-colonialism' of the French CP.
INTERNATIONALISTS UNITE I don't know exactly how many votes we te going to get It's evident that it will be several hundred thousand, perhaps 200.000. perhaps 300,000. But the fact which is it extreme importance for the revolutionary vanguard, 1S32013032306038BO SERIOUSL vote for the first time for a Trotskyist cundidate, despite the position of the CP, thus creating a new balance of forces which can only itensify, and I believe that this is a positive encouragement on the French level just as it is on the world level.
To conclude, 1 think there are two other things which should be pointed out. We have seen, through the May events, and through this campaign, that without a on its political perspectives - though that is not to say without internal differences, for we're no Stalinists such an organisation, it would have been impossible for us to capitalise on the results of the struggles in May and June, it would have been impossible for us to fight this campaign on the national scale as we have been doing it here in France. For 15 days now, night and day, almost 2000 militants have covered the whole country, even to the smallest peasant villages, have set up peasants" cells, have even set up workers cells, something which is new for us, but is absolutely essential. And that without this thoroughness and devotion, day and night, it would have been impossible for individuals, however politicised they might be, to create such a political force in France. And that this again points to the absolute necessity of an organisation for all revolutionary militants.
And today there exists in France a Trotskyist organisation whose membership. although it changes every day, numbers over 2000 militants, and above that, thousand sympathisers organised around the CERCLES ROUGES ie. groups of sympathisers, and whin publises enrise wrong one througlout the country. I think that this is an extremely important gain for the revolutionary vanguard in France. The last point for the first time well in France, an organisation has grown up with a real understanding of proletarian internationalism: that is to say, we strongly oppose the stalinist and sentimentalist conceptions of Soviet Union. No - on the contrary, we have taken up the traditions of Lenin and Trotsky, and their ideas as which weakens the also the international апо плететог helps cach revolutionary struggle to a considerable exlent.
One of the points we emphasize, and this has been the aim of the international meetings we are holding, is that if tomorrow the revolution triumphs in France victory will only be assured, will only be guaranteed against economic suicide, and against isolation if othes revolationary mosements develop in Western Europ We all know that there is a clause in NATO whic stipulates the possibility of armed intervention in th event of a revolutionary movement developing in one of the member states. And we think that the only way to really prevent an armed intervention by NATO is fol revolutionary movement to develop in all Europear countries, su that this international capitalist army can be smashed trom within, and to come to the aid of developing revolutionary movements or to a revolution believe that the bureaucrals of al nations, whether they are Labour party or stalinists, are perfectly right to tremble, we perfectly right, from thei point of view, to crush us, because there exists now a new revolutionary farco — not only in Latin America, in Africa, or in Asia, or in the workers states, but that this revolut nary doree is gaining ground in Western Europe
secuons or me movement nave scopteu themselves They advocate the confinement of the struggle to the Palestinian front alone and its limitation without political general and of Israel: reality in particular. It is true that the Jews living in Israel came to settle influence and leadership of Zionism, and that they as a community