We reprint below a slightly shortened version of a statement issued by the United Secretariat of the Fourth International on 10 July.
The 'dissolution' of the Communist League, the arrests of Alain Krivine and Pierre Rousset, the police raids, and the sacking of the League's headquarters, should not be seen as extraordinary events, mere interruptions in a 'normal' situation. They are well-thought-out actions of the capitalist order, taken in response to the rising tempo of the class struggle both in France and throughout the other countries of Western Europe...
The machinations of the government had two main aims. Firstly, to strike a blow at the Communist League. Secondly, to strengthen an 'independent' trade union within the police force, which is favourable to fascism, at the expense of the autonomous union, which organises the majority of the police force and has increasingly come into conflict with the present Minister of the Interior's ideas on law and order.
The call put out by the Communist League for an anti-fascist counter-demonstration was not aimed at sparking off street fighting, or 'urban guerrilla warfare', in which the revolutionary vanguard would substitute itself for a mass demonstration of the working class. Quite the contrary. The Communist League's initiative was aimed at drawing the attention of workers to the growing threat of the fascist groups, developing under the cover of government cooperation. The purpose was to show that the only way to defeat fascism is through organised and effective self-defence of the working class, rather than futile appeals to the capitalist state.
The Ordre Nouveau organisation is only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath it lie more ominous dangers, such as the so-called 'trade unions' of the French Confederation of Workers, supported by the bosses in order to sow terror in certain factories. Moreover, the present decomposition of the UDR [the governing Gaullist party—eds.] is giving rise to a series of dangerous developments, notably displays of racism and anti-semitism. From these fascist currents are beginning to emerge, which at a later stage could become a threat on a mass scale. The Government set up by Messmer [Gaullist Prime Minister of France—eds.] is now straining to gather together the energies of a decrepit capitalist class. At the same time it is confronted by a powerful upsurge of the mass of the working class, who are moving towards a socialist solution to the crisis of the capitalist political order.
In the course of less than six months, a series of mass movements have shown that the elections were a hollow victory for the Gaullists. Hundreds of thousands of secondary school and college students poured into the streets, challenging the purpose of the capitalist army. Tens of thousands of women, supported by the vast majority of the population, defied the oppressive anti-abortion laws. Intellectuals and artists have gone into struggle against the 'moral order' proclaimed by the Minister of Culture. Most importantly, in every region of France, the working class—including unskilled workers, immigrant workers, and the most highly skilled—are fighting not only for better conditions of work and a better standard of living, but against the capitalist system itself. This mass upsurge was for a brief period bottled up by the hope of an electoral victory for the 'Union of the Left', but is now breaking out again with even greater force...
It was in these conditions that the Government, worried about the growth of the League (limited as it was), decided to launch its operation. The idea was to crack down on the strongest organisation of the far left, in what could be described as a 'preventative' operation. The success of the operation was to be assured by the isolation of this group from the masses.
The French Government's calculations failed all along the line ... the entire working class movement and alongside it broad democratic forces denounced the Government's manoeuvre and took up the defence of the Communist League and its militants...
The French labour movement and the mass of French workers have responded with a unanimity that has rarely been seen in the past. Internationally, demonstrations of solidarity have taken place, particularly in those European countries close to France, where the example of May '68 had the greatest impact, and where it was most clearly understood what was at stake in this situation.
The Communist League remains 'dissolved', Alain Krivine and Pierre Rousset are still in prison, and many Trotskyist militants are still being harassed. Solidarity must therefore be stepped up both in France and internationally, to obtain the lifting of the ban, the release of those in jail, full freedom of expression, organisation and action for revolutionary organisations (in particular the right of the Trotskyist press to appear without hindrance), and the ending of all anti-democratic measures taken by the French Government since May '68.
But the struggle will not reach its conclusion in the restoration of the rights torn up by the arbitrary actions of the Government. The class struggle in France is moving towards decisive trials of strength. For the international revolutionary vanguard the fight to drive back the Government's repressive offensive will be just a first step in preparing for the great struggles to come, in which the working class will face capitalist forces defending their profits and privileges by every means at their disposal, and fighting more ferociously than ever because their backs are to the wall.
The United Secretariat of the Fourth International pledges its full solidarity with the French militants who have been subjected to this repression. The French Trotskyist movement, born in 1929, has known many set-backs. It met the bloody trials of the Nazi occupation and the Petain regime [pro-Nazi wartime government—eds.] with courage. Dissolved after May '68, it bounced back stronger than ever with the creation of the Communist League in the following year.
We have every confidence that this latest test will undoubtedly likewise end in the further strengthening of the Fourth International in France.
10 July 1973 — United Secretariat of the Fourth International.