By the evening of 6 May 2007, the French presidential election to replace Jacques Chirac was over and the right-wing candidate of the bourgeoisie, Nicolas Sarkozy, was victorious over the ‘socialist’ candidate of the bourgeoisie, Segolene Royal.
The policies of both candidates (and their respective parties) differ very little, both being anti-immigration, pro-imperialist enemies of the working classes. In fact, the only policy difference between them seems to be that the ‘socialist’ Royal is committed to helping small farmers more – but the small farmers apparently are far too conservative either to vote for a woman or to vote for a person who calls herself socialist.
So why was the candidate projected as ‘Thatcherite’ favoured by the French bourgeoisie over the ‘Blairite’? One can only imagine that they want someone to front a straightforward fight with the working class.
Despite their reputation for militancy, the French working class are no better led than their British counterparts. Both are still tied to the misleading ideology of social democracy (a tie that revisionists posing in both countries as communists are eager to defend and strengthen) and, like their fellow workers across the English Channel, are still hostile to genuine Marxist-Leninist ideology (perhaps not quite to the same extent, since the study of politics is not so repugnant to them as it seems to be to many British workers).
In both countries, workers allow themselves to be duped into believing that foreign/immigrant workers are a major cause of their problems, for example. However, the French worker is still prepared to take to the streets to defend jobs and civil rights, and it is this spirit of spontaneous militancy (which even extends into the ranks of the petty bourgeoisie in France) that the French bourgeoisie wishes to break.
How far they are successful will depend on whether or not the French workers can finally throw off their social-democratic leaders, combat the opportunism within their ranks, reject racism and learn that only through socialism can they, and indeed all, workers hope to free themselves from the wage slavery and exploitation that they presently endure.
There are some big battles looming and some interesting times ahead and we must hope that the proletariat of France, along with the proletariat of Britain and other nations, start to see who are their true enemies are and who their true allies, regardless of nationality, race or colour.
