Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Left Voice Special Edition: France’s Historic National Strike

Everything you need to know about the strike in France and the revolutionary socialist intervention.

Left Voice

January 22, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share

Today in France the working class is fighting one of its biggest battles in recent history. The current period of struggle began in 2018 with the rebellion of the Yellow Vests and continues today with almost 50 days of strikes, picket lines, and mobilizations against Macron’s proposed neoliberal pension reform. This is the longest strike since May 1968 and the longest railway strike in France’s history. 

The class struggle in France, once again, is marking a new moment for the labor movement, and its significance goes far beyond its borders, as is evidenced by the yellow vests that have appeared in crowds of protesters around the world. What are the main characteristics of this newest phase in France’s uprising? What contradictions and crossroads are appearing in the movement? And what is the role of socialists in this process? In this special edition—which we are publishing simultaneously with similar supplements in the international network La Izquierda Diario in Spanish, Portuguese, and German—we aim to answer these and other questions and characterize the prospects of the movement as it enters a pivotal phase.

This special edition includes:

France: The Strike Is Here to Stay!

This article describes the current political situation in France and how the strike has unfolded since the new year began.

How Does the Revolutionary Left in France Intervene in the Strike? 

What the Revolutionary Communist Current—Left Voice’s sister organization in France—is and how it is intervening in the struggle. 

Anasse Kazib: The Socialist Worker Captivating the French Media

Read about the prominent intervention of the union rank and file in the strike, and the new workers’ and socialist leaders like Anasse Kazib who have emerged in the heat of this struggle.

Rank-and-File Workers in France Organize to Continue the Strike — Interview with Daniela Cobet 

An interview with one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Communist Current about the intervention of the socialists in the strike. 

Prospects of the General Strike in France

An analysis concerning the current situation in France written by Juan Chingo, editor in chief of the French website Révolution Permanent.

The Yellow Vests: Rumblings of a Coming Storm

This article, written by Madeleine Freeman, Left Voice’s editorial board member, explores the Yellow Vest movement and it’s connection with the current strike. 

The Prerevolutionary Elements of the Yellow Vest Uprising

The piece explains why the yellow vest movement opened a new period of class struggle in France and internationally.

Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice

Militant journalism, revolutionary politics.

Europe

The French Union Bureaucracy Walks Back Demand for Complete Withdrawal of Pension Reform

After calling to put the pension reform “on hold,” the Inter-Union has requested “mediation,” even though the French government has rejected outright the proposal, showing that compromise is impossible. This proposition symbolizes the Inter-Union’s strategy of defeat. We urgently need to organize the rank and file to broaden our demands and generalize the strike.

Damien Bernard

March 30, 2023
A group of protesters, in the front of whom are a line of protesters wearing red vests. In the front right corner, a white sign reds "vive la retraite," with a skeleton wearing a red hat in the middle of the sign on a black background with a text bubble on its left that reads, "oiv a bosse, c'est pas pour en crever!"

“French March”: The Right to Revolutionary Optimism

Evoking memories of '68, the students enter the fight against Macron. In our chaotic world, the future can only be built in the streets.

Eduardo Castilla

March 26, 2023

On Monday, Germany Will Experience a “Mega-Strike”

On March 27, German railway workers and public sector employees will shut down the whole country. All trains are being canceled. Airports, freeways, hospitals, and daycare centers will all be affected.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 25, 2023

France: On the Frontlines of the War Against Austerity

The French masses have raised the banner of class struggle in what is becoming the first major battle against austerity after the pandemic. Working people across the world should pay attention.

James Dennis Hoff

March 25, 2023

MOST RECENT

“We Deserve a Living Wage:” on the Limits of the New Temple Grad Worker Contract 

A graduate worker at Temple reflects on the limits and strengths of the new contract won in the recent strike.

Femicide: The Face of a Patriarchal Capitalist Society

On March 8, the feminist movement flooded the streets of Mexico as part of a global day of mobilization. Among these thousands of women and dissidents, the main demand was an end to femicide and sexist violence.

Yara Villaseñor

March 31, 2023

Biden’s Proposed Budget Nothing but Empty Promises 

Earlier this month, Joe Biden announced his budget proposal, with a lot of promises. But the only thing we know he’ll deliver is that “nothing will fundamentally change.”

Molly Rosenzweig

March 31, 2023

At Least 39 Migrants Die in Fire at Detention Center in Mexico. The State Is Responsible.

The events of March 27 marked one of the darkest chapters in the Mexican State’s anti-immigrant policy, a policy that is increasingly subordinated to the interests of U.S. imperialism.