PAME: Long Live the Struggle of the Workers of France

PAME, expresses its solidarity with the working class of France and the new General Strike on March 23 and the big daily mobilisations of the workers.

The working class, the youth and the people of France, with the militant trade unions in the front line, flood the streets of all French cities every day and carry out massive, militant strikes and multiform actions to prevent the imposition of the anti-workers pension reform of the Macron government. They clearly state that they do not accept to work til death.

France vs Macron: The struggle against the pension reform from a communist perspective

On March 7, millions of people took to the streets throughout France participating in a nationwide strike against the anti-popular pension reform by Emmanuel Macrons' government that plans to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. 

 

That was the sixth strike against the reform this year, following large mobilizations in January and February. Over 260 demonstrations were reported in the country, with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) talking about 700,000 protesters in Paris. 

France: Workers protest against government's pension reform in the largest mobilizations of the last 20 years

Huge crowds marched across France on Tuesday to say "non" to President Emmanuel Macron's plan to make people work longer before retirement. 

According to the estimations of Trade Unions, yesterday's mobilization in Paris is the largest since 2000. 

The French Interior ministry said that a total of 1.272 million people took part in the protests nationwide, up slightly from the first nationwide demonstration on Jan 19. In Paris, a total of 87,000 people marched, compared to 80,000 on Jan. 19, it added.

PAME’s greeting at the 58th Congress of the UD CGT13 in Marseilles: "Our future is not to become slaves of the 21st century"

A delegation of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) Secretariat and the Union of Piraeus' Port Dockers of COSCO arrived in France to participate in the Congress of UD CGT 13 and express solidarity with the strike actions of the working class of France. The following greeting speech was delivered by George Perros, member of the Secretariat of PAME:

"Comrades,

Workers of UD CGT13 Bouches duRhones, of the historic Marseille.

WFTU-PAME: Solidarity with the big strike of the workers in the French Refineries #SoutienRaffineurs

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 105 million workers in 130 countries around the world, expresses its support for the strikers in the refineries of France and for the FNIC CGT, affiliated to the WFTU, which has been leading this heroic struggle for 3 weeks against the big monopolies Total and Exxon mobile.

Refinery workers in France are waging a powerful and exemplary struggle, at a time when these big oil monopolies are paying billions of Euros in dividends to their shareholders, while refusing to raise wages: refiners are showing that only the way of the strike and the struggle can force the employers to satisfy the demands of the workers.

Gustavo Petro, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the fairytale of “left governments”

By Nikos Mottas.

The same old fairytale of “left-progressive governments” is back in the news following the electoral victory of social democrat Gustavo Petro in Colombia, as well as the performance of leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon in French parliamentary elections.

As it happened last December with Gabriel Boric' victory in Chile, a number of left-wing, opportunist forces in Greece and abroad celebrate the recent results, presenting them as a “triumph of the left” which can allegedly bring positive developments for the working people. 

KKE on French election: Popular discontent for Macron — Mélenchon and Le Pen are capital's reserves

“The actual, pro-people way out, in France, in Greece and in every country, is the intensification of the struggle against capitalist barbarism and its- every time- governmental administrator”, underlines a comment by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on the results of the French legislative elections.

More specifically, the statement (here in Greek) issued by the Press Office of the CC of the KKE reads:

KKE: Comment on Macron's re-election in France

REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes.

Emmanuel Macron has won France's presidential election, fending off a historic challenge from far-right candidate Marine Le Pen during Sunday's runoff vote.

Macron took 58.5% of Sunday's vote, making him the first French leader to be reelected in 20 years. He and Le Pen advanced to the runoff after finishing in first and second place, respectively, among 12 candidates who ran in the first round on April 10.

Commenting on the outcome of the election and the victory of Emmanuel Macron, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) points out (here in Greek):

Is the French communist movement dead?

By Nikos Mottas

Macron vs Le Pen and Le Pen vs Macron. Once again the French people are called to choose between “Scylla” and “Charybdis”, being entrapped in the notion of the “less evil”. 

We've seen this play in the past: In 2017, when Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen were again the two contestants in the second round of the presidential elections, as well as in 2002 when Jacques Chirac faced Jean-Marie Le Pen who came second leaving behind social democrat Lionel Jospin. 

KKE: Statement on the French elections' result

Commenting on the result of the first round of the French presidential elections, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) stresses out (read here in Greek):

“The result of the French elections, with the once again high percentage of far-right Le Pen, is the tragic consequence on the one hand of the timeless anti-people policy implemented by all governments in the name of “democracy” and “progress” and, on the other, of the compromise and degeneration that has prevailed in the labor and communist movement in France. 

PRCF on French elections: Neither Macron, nor Le Pen in the second round

Following the result of the first round of the French Presidential Election on Sunday, the Pole for Communist Revival in France (Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France, PRCF) and its youth wing, JRCF (Jeunes pour la Renaissance Communiste en France), call for a mass turnout on the second round of what they consider as an “electoral masquarade which has been locked up for months by the oligarchy”.

In a statement (here in French), the  PRCF calls the working class to abstain from voting on April 24th in order to de-legitimize the political power of the future president as much as possible. 

Fadi Kassem, the communist alternative in French elections

Numerous candidates will participate in the French presidential election which will take place on 10 April 2022. From current President Macron to Paris' mayor Anne Hidalgo and from leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon to far-right demagogues Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, all presidential candidates share a common characteristic: They are all committed to serve the bourgeois political system and protect the capitalist order in France. 

But there is an interesting exception: The candidacy of Fadi Kassem on behalf of the Pole of Communist Revival in France (Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France, PRCF), who expresses the "Red and Tricolor Alternative" in the presidential race, proposing a "frankly communist" political programme. 

KKE: Statement on government's celebrations for Rafale jets

The first six of 24 Rafale fighter aircraft acquired by the Hellenic Air Force from France arrived in Greece on Wednesday, landing at the Tanagra air base where the government organized a celebration attended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

They took off from Istres in France and landed in Tanagra, where they joined the 332nd Squadron, after first flying over central Athens, escorted by two Mirage 2000-5 aircraft.

KKE and French communists honored the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune

Photo: 902.gr

“We are here in Paris to culminate the rich program of tributes, events, publications and other activities through which our Party honors the heroic Paris Commune, 150 years since the first “storming of dream” by the working class. We are here, we walked in the footsteps of the Commune and drawing strength and knowledge from its teachings, we continue the beautiful but difficult struggle. So that dreams will be vindicated”, said Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, during a speech in Paris, France.

Visite du Secrétaire général du KKE Koutsoumbas à Paris

Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), will visit Paris on December 2-4, 2021. 

According to "Rizospastis" Koutsoumbas will pay a visit to Louvre museum on Thursday 2 December, while on Friday he will participate in a guided walk "on the footsteps of the Commune". On the same day he will lay a wreath at the Communards' Wall at the Père Lachaise cemetery where, on May 28, 1871, one-hundred and forty-seven fédérés, combatants of the Paris Commune, were shot and thrown in an open trench at the foot of the wall.

KKE: Statement on Greece-France defense agreement

The Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement on the strategic partnership between Greece and France as well as Mitsotakis and Macron’s statements:

“The people need to understand the essence behind the government’s celebrations, namely the fierce geopolitical competition and negotiations in which Greece is dangerously involved. An integral part of the above is the excessive —and never-ending— expenditure on armament programmes, which mainly serve other objectives and not the country’s defence, while the Greek people are called upon to pay for them with heavy sacrifices.

Pierre Komorov elected General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of France

Following the death of Maurice Cukierman on July, the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party of France (PCRF) unanimously elected Pierre Komorov as the Party's new General Secretary. In a statement, the CC of the PCRF points out:

In view of the death of comrade Secretary General Maurice Cukierman on July 22, 2020, the PCRF Central Committee on August 29, 2020, unanimously elected Pierre Komorov (PK) Secretary General of the Party.

French communist Maurice Cukierman dies

Maurice Cukierman, leader of the Communist Revolutionary Party of France (PCRF), has died at 71 after a long battle with a serious illness. 

Cukierman was born in 1949. A politically active person, he joined the Communist Youth in 1963 and the French Communist Party (PCF) in 1968.

Maurice Cukierman had active participation in numerous solidarity movements in France, such as the one for the Vietnamese people. 

During the 1970s he opposed the revisionist and eurocommunist trend within the French Communist Party. In 1982 he was among the editors of the so-called "Letter to the Central Committee", alongside Jeannette Vermeersch, Georges Bouvard, Marcel Fryedman, Jean Mérot, Jean Salem.

France: Thousands of healthcare workers in the streets said "applause is not enough"!

“Applause is not enough” said yesterday hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers throughout France, demonstrating for their jobs, their rights and the country’s public healthcare system. 

At least 250,000 protesters in Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Lille and other French cities participated in protests against Macron government’s neoliberal policies which lead to more cuts in public healthcare sector. To date, the government hasn’t responded to the major urgent demands of healthcare and hospital workers who ask for increased wages, for an end to bed and hospital closures and for an increase of healthcare workers in public hospitals with sufficient medical equipment. 

European Communist Initiative: Solidarity with the workers' strikes in France

The Secretariat of the European Communist Initiative expresses its internationalist solidarity with the workers' strikes in France and calls on the workers to express their support for the new strikes organized on 22 and 24 January in defense of labor, social insurance and pension rights, that are being trampled by the policy of the Macron government.

Workers in France, with strikes and diverse mobilizations, clash with the antilabor measures of the Macron government, of business groups and the EU, that raise pensionable ages, convert pensions into allowances and hand social security contributions and insurance fund reserves to gambling and to the business groups.