THE French Socialist Party-led local elections held last weekend. tions last May.
and a victory for the right.
Why has the election of Communist Party govery- Socialist Partyment, naleu will sucil cuthusiasm last year, begun sour? The answer is simple. In the face of a particularly vigorous electoral campaign waged by the right wing, the left suffered from a large number of abstentions supporters.
Many those who voted for the Socialist ParCommunist Party last year cannot see how they have benefitted from the election of Mitterrand. Far from being too quick, change has been all but non-existent.
After the Presidential and Assembly (parliament) year, when two million the workers expected quick action to help them.
It was widely expected that the minimum national wage would be increased bv 2s per cent to keep pace with inflation. In fact an increase of only 5 per cent was introduced - the first big compromise of the OHN ROS:
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Sociafist Challenge 1 April 1982 page 14 government suffered a major setback in the nationwide Half of France's cantons (departments) held elections for councillors, and the right of centre parties - the Gaullist and Giscardian UDF - won 1154 out of the 2029 seats at stake. The left won only 781. As a result the left lost control of six departments. Overall its vote went down to around 49 per cent, as opposed to the 54 per cent gained at the time of the presidential elecThe results are being interpreted as a considerable political reverse for the government the bosses.
Ine government's promise of a 35-hour week has collapsed in a muddle of compromises the bosses.
When the bosses' federation, CNPF, said a definitive 'no' to the 35-hour week, the govern ment, instead of imposing a law. and mobilsing the workers to defend it, compromised. A 39-hour week was introduced immediately, and the 35-hour week would be brought in during negotiations on an industry-by-industry, plalll vy-plan vasis over a five-year period.
The introduction of the week however been paid for by the worKers. terms of reduced wages -despite mises to the contrary in terms of more 'flexible working hours.
The conditions of the 39-hour week, hidden away in the small print of the agreement, came as a surprise to many workers.
The result has been a wave of strikes in hundreds of March '82 issue now out!
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These strikes have led to bitter confrontations, Incidang me death or onc worker in a fight with bosses' squad the use of riot police to clear strikers out of the Leleu factory Lyon.
Riot police were also used to replace customs officers faced with wage cuts and more difficult hours. all in exchange for one hour less a week.
The disappointments 35-hour week tion of increased national Bodies of Palestinian shops during general strike. insurance contributions, amounting to one per cent of every worker's wage to pay for the increasing costs of social security.
The attitude of the government ochiiay. best highlighted by the fate or s bans five industrial groups. The Constitutional Court ruled that the compensation being offered inadequate, and therefore the nationalisations couldn't go through.
Mitterrand then
cepted that the nationalisations should be youths killed by soldiers. Top, Israeli soldiers tried to forcibly open delayed and billions more francs be paid out to the DOSSCS Once again, the option of compromise was adopted rather than changing mobilising the workers to defend government which claimed to defend the workers interests.
The lesson week's election is that the Socialist PartyCommunist Party government, far from going too quickly, is going far too slowly.
Mitterrand and his Prime Minister, Mauroy, point to the fact that the assembly is elected for five-year term and president for seven years to maintain that they can 'go slowly.
But things will go from to worse, and posses will bie on more and more pressure both in ly, unless they can mobilise through anti-capitalist measures Although the government has carried through legislation allacking right-wing control of TV, abolishing the death sentence and abolishing the anti-working class State Security Court - for the mass of the working Cas. Wild matters whether the government which claims to be 'theirs' improves their position at the expense of the bosses.
So far there is little progress on this front, and this lack of progress will ac- continue undermine support for the ment. the the fidence being the push tack on Lebanon.
PLO would land in the north. resources and a 'more secure into Israel. 0I a strong local longer give a lead.
the Israelis. order to surround Palestinian resistance is made near impossible tional leve world today and Guatemala.
perialist oppression as the US Salvador. BEGIN'S 'iron fist' policy of repression Israeli-occupied territories resulted last week in a vote of no conpassed against the government in the Knesset. An early election in Israel now seems likely.
It is possible that an early election will increase the likelihood of an atThe war drive in Israel has been building up for the past few months with the purpose of smashing the Lebanese stronghold of Palestinian refugee resistance and the A defeat of the Palestinians in Lebanon apart trom giving the israels more control of the Litani water tessm a much freer hard in the already ongoing border process of merging the occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights The recent wave of Palestinian resistance in the Occupied Territories to the Milson Civil Administration farce is not a new development 1980 saw a long rebellion in the Occupied Territories against what was then military rule.
Nor does it come as a shock to Palestinians that Israeli civilian settlers were opening fire on them with the tacit approval of the Israeli army. A weekly occurence in the occupied areas!
What is qualitively different is the absence leadership. The National Guidance Committee and the pro-PLO mayors led by Shak'a, which played a significant role in Today, the growth of the pro-Isracli village leagues led by Mustafa Dudin in Dura near Hebron, the open arming of his supporters by the growth of the Islamic fun. damentalism is leading to a polarisation ber ween the left and right in the Palestinian camp. It is coupled with the stepping up of settlement building and the pronouncements by the Israeli government that it is a race against time -increase the numbers of Israeli settlers 25,000 to 1 million in the next few years. This is and isolate centres of occupation reality that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are providing a massive cheap labour reserve and a market for the Israeli capitalist econom!
La defeat Palestinians will be a serious setback for the socialist revolution in the Middle East.
It will also have repercussions on an internaAl srael's aggressive policies wir then this will prolong the influence it has with some of the most repressive regimes in the Israel is one of the main suppliers of arms to bloody regimes like the junta in El Salvador The time has come for the labour movement in Britain to recognise that Israel's war against the Palestinians is just as much a part of im war in
which the 'Fares Fair' the depot gates fronted.
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March 1982 DOES THATCHERISM HAVE A FUTURE
Sir Freddie's Crash on Harrison THE LAURENCE SCOTT STORY