Since\nNovember 17 a broad movement has developed of tens of thousands of\npeople, dressed in yellow vests, who are occupying highway junctions,\nblocking access roads and demonstrating every Saturday in Paris and\nother cities. This movement is also developing in the island of\nReunion, one of the colonies of French imperialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Motivated\nby the rejection of a new increase in the tax on fuels imposed by the\nState, the movement has spread rapidly through social networks with\nstrong media coverage, specifically in 24-hour news services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nimages of violent clashes of hundreds of “yellow vests,”\nwithout flags or banners of organizations (except the flag of France)\nattacking warehouses in the wealthy neighborhoods of Paris and\nshouting “Macron resign!” have been seen around the world.\nIn several countries, particularly in Europe, many people identified\nthemselves in this outbreak of anger, in radical denunciation,\nspeeches and acts of the demonstrators. The movement of the “yellow\nvests” has gained sympathy both in France and in other European\ncountries and has also raised questions of its nature, objectives and\nprospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nmovement of the yellow vests in France means the entry into the\nsocial struggle of new sectors of the popular masses, those coming\nfrom the rural areas and from the outskirts of the cities. These are\nsectors of the petty bourgeoisie, of workers mainly from small\ncompanies, those with little union organization, poor workers,\nartisans, professionals, small employers, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All\nare victims of the consequences of neoliberal policies developed for\nyears by right-wing and social democratic governments, policies that\nMacron has aggravated and expanded. They are demonstrating against\nelimination of neighborhood public services, especially public\ntransport, the elimination of social protection, etc., and against\nthe continuous increase in taxes, in prices of basic necessities,\nsuch as electricity, gas, etc. Moreover, Macron and his government\nhave transferred billions to the rich, to the big companies in the\nform of public aid, and the reduction of taxes and social\ncontributions on big companies, on large wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\nis why Macron is widely considered the president of the rich and the\nbig employers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When\nthat movement tried to demonstrate in the wealthy neighborhoods of\nParis, Macron and his government responded with repression. Every\nSaturday, thousands of police and gendarmes arrested hundreds of\nprotesters. This has radicalized the most consistent sectors of the\nyellow vests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until\nnow, the yellow vests have remained outside the organized workers,\ntrade union and popular movement that has been fighting for years\nagainst the neoliberal policies of the government in office. This is\ndue in large part to its heterogeneous social composition and is\nexpressed in a so-called “apoliticism” and rejection of\ntrade union organizations. This attitude is also encouraged by\nreactionary forces within the movement. But among the yellow vests,\nat least in the workers and popular sectors that are involved, they\nare open to the demands of the workers and popular movement that is\nfighting. That is why there are demands on the positions of the\npicket lines of the yellow jackets that are close to the demands of\nthe workers and popular movement. These are essentially the demands:\nincrease in the minimum wage (SMIC), pensions and social assistance\nand higher taxes on large companies and others, for social justice.\nOf course, there are other demands that correspond to the interests\nof the small bosses, and some of a reactionary nature, especially on\nthe issue of immigrants and refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\nmovement has created sympathy in France and internationally, because\nit has attacked one of the representatives of the oligarchy, Macron,\nan arrogant president who gives lessons to the whole world. This\nmovement also comes after major demonstrations, strikes that have\nbeen going on for years in France and that show the vitality of the\nclass struggle, the militancy of the working class, of the laboring\nmasses, of working women, of youth of the popular sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe context of this movement there took place the mobilization of\nsecondary students for their own demands, against Macron\u2019s\neducation reforms and in defense of public education, to which the\ngovernment responded very violently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macron\nwas forced to retreat on the increase in the taxes on gasoline that\nwas at the beginning of the protest; but he has not responded to the\nother demands, especially the demand for a real increase in the\nminimum wage. That is why the struggle continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nmovement of the yellow vests is creating fear in the bourgeoisie, due\nto the economic and social chaos, in the context of the sharpening of\nthe crisis and Macron\u2019s growing unpopularity. This will force the\ngovernment to make some concessions in order to stop the struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For\nthe moment, the response of Macron and his ministers is very far from\nthe demands of the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nmobilization of the workers must grow, especially in the companies,\nthrough strikes and demonstrations in the streets, for an increase in\nwages, pensions and social benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nmovement shows the importance for the workers and union movement, for\nthe organizations that are fighting against neoliberalism, for the\nrevolutionary organizations, for the Marxist-Leninist parties and\norganizations, to take up the demands of all the popular strata, the\nvictims of neoliberal policies, in order to promote and lead the\nfight against capitalism, for the revolution and socialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\nis why it is necessary to promote the political struggle to unite the\nworking class around its class interests, so that the working class\ntakes the leadership of the fight of the broad popular strata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\nis necessary, as our sister party in France, PCOF (Communist Party of\nthe Workers of France), stated, to develop the workers and popular\nopposition against the policies that serve the rich, the bosses and\nthe arms sellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coordination Committee of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations, ICMLPO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n December 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since November 17 a broad movement has developed of tens of thousands of people, dressed in yellow vests, who are occupying highway junctions, blocking access roads and demonstrating every Saturday in Paris and other cities. This movement is also developing in the island of Reunion, one of the colonies of French imperialism. Motivated by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-declarations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148,"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions\/148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cipoml.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}