French Elections: Workers Win Big Victory -Pages 2, 7
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MAY 22, 1981 75 CENTS VOLUME 45/NUMBER 19 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY/PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE FRENCH ELECTIONS: WORKERS WIN BIG VICTORY -PAGES 2, 7 '· The plan Solidarity to slash with miners' strike workers' wages -PAGE 5 -PAGE 4 Black party leaders denounce FBI disruption -PAGE 12 In Our Opinion VOLUME .45/NUMBER 19 MAY 22, 1981 CLOSING NEWS DATE-MAY 13 United States, and around the world will be work force and an incredibly expensive substi U.S. workers & encouraged by this victory, which shows it is tute for personal retirement savings." possible for the workers to throw out right This reflects the bosses' mentality in a French elections wing capitalist governments. nutshell. As long as we produce profits for The May 10 election of Fran~;ois Mitterrand Mitterrand's election will give encourage them, they recognize that it is unfortunately as president of France is a victory for working ment to workers and peasants in the colonial necessary to provide us with some kind of people. and semi-colonial world, too. The French So wage-as long as we don't win "excessive" The Socialist Party candidate defeated in cialist Party is a member of the Socialist Increases. cumbent President Valery Giscard d'Estaing International, which opposes the brutal junta If we can't work any more, however, they by 52 to 48 percent. in El Salvador. Mitterrand is a member of the think we should be thrown on the scrap heap The French franc immediately plummeted. Committee for the Defense of the Revolution in like· a used-up machine. As the Times editorial The stock market was in chaos. And no Nicaragua, initiated by the Socialist Interna shows, they are now beginning to present wonder. For the first time since General tional. The new president will be under pres social security for retirees as a boondoggle. Charles De Gaulle came to power in 1958, sure to take his distance from Washington's They portray the elderly as lazy "cheats," just the workers of France finally elected a .caridi war drive. as they have always portrayeq recipients of date of one of their own parties. The French workers' action in tossing out welfare and unemployment compensation. The White House and Wall Street were Giscard points the way forward for American Nothing more clearly demonstrates the need shocked. The State Department said the Uni workers. to replace the capitalist system with a social ted States will be "watching carefully" the We face the same problems: high inflation, order where production will be for the needs of situation in France. unemployment, social cuts, racist attacks, the great majority and not the private profits Reagan's belated congratulatory statement attacks on women's rights, and the soaring of a tiny handful. was cautious. war budget. Major capitalist dailies like the New York Unlike our brothers and sisters in France, Times and Washington Post also expressed we have no mass workers party. We have concern. powerful trade unions-but the policy of the Israeli war threats The Israeli regime is pushing the Middle The Post observed, "His (Mitterrand's) vic union leadership is t<;> support the capitalists' East to the brink of war. tory adds another element of uncertainty to . parties. The crisis began in early April when fight the task the Reagan administration has set We need to build a labor party based on this ing broke out in Lebanon between Israeli for itself of restoring the strength and unity of potential power of our unions. backed rightists and Syrian troops stationed the West." The French people have shown what can be there. The response of French workers was quite done. The Zionists used the outbreak of fighting as different. According to ABC's "Nightline," 70 Let's follow their example. percent of French industrial workers voted for the pretext to step up their raids on Palesti Mitterrand. More than 100,000 people gathered nian refugees and Lebanese Moslem villages at the Place de la Bastille in Paris the night of in southern Lebanon. the victory. The scrap heap On April 28, Israeli warplanes flew into One rail worker interviewed said he backed Despite his campaign promises to the con central Lebanon and shot down two Syrian Mitterrand as a way to push for the 35-hour · trary, President Reagan moved on May 12 to helicopters, killing four Syrian soldiers. work week. slash social security benefits. In response, the Syrian government-moved A bakery owner said he supported Mitter Workers who retire at sixty-two currently get antiaircraft missiles into eastern Lebanon to rand because he was feeling the squeeze from 80 percent of the benefits they would receive if defend against further attacks. inflation and Giscard's austerity drive. they retired at sixty-five. Reagan is proposing Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin Intercontinental Press correspondent Claude that this be reduced to 55 percent. He also warned repeatedly last week that Israel would Rodier reports (see Militant page 7): "To show wants to eliminate the benefits that children of resort to "military action" if Syria did not the bosses that the relationship of forces had workers who retire at sixty-two are now en withdraw its missiles from Lebanon. Currently changed, workers used company time to drink titled to. Israeli troops, armor, a nd heavy artillery are toasts to their victory and discuss the results The administration is also taking aim at the reported to be massing along the border with among themselves." way the cost-of-living formula is calculated. Lebanon. The new hope and high expectations among The intention is to slow down or eliminate Although the Reagan administration is cur French workers is what the ruling circles in increases in the income that retirees now rently acting as a mediator, Washington's Paris and the capitalist world fear. The capi receive from social security. policy is directly responsible for th e Israeli talists are stepping up attacks on working The cuts that Reagan is proposing reflect provocation. people, not granting them concessions. Mitter not only his reactionary personal views. They When Secretary of State Haig was in the rand's victory throws a monkey-wrench into are being urged on the administration by Middle East in April, he gave his approval to their austerity drive. Republicans and Democrats alike. Some Dem the Israeli attacks against Syrian forces. He Seven years of Giscard's austerity combined ocrats, for example, want to raise the retire presented Syrian resistance to the right with an aggressive imperialist foreign policy is ment age to sixty-eight-going even further wingers as a danger to peace. what French workers want to alter. They want than Reagan. Reagan's security adviser, Richard Allen , jobs, not war. In a May 13 editorial, the New York Times declared Israeli raids into southern Lebanon Imperialism understands this well. This is hailed the actions of Reagan, the House, and as "hot pursuit of a sort and therefore justi why Washington, London and Bonn are so the Senate to slash social security. The Times fied." concerned about the Socialist Party victory. wrote, "Social Security h as become both an Israel h as no business in Lebanon. Stop the Workers in Western Europe, J apan, the inducement for the productive to leave the raids! Militant Highlights This Week The Militant Editors: CINDY JAQUITH · ANDY ROSE Business Manager: NANCY ROSENSTOCK Editorial Staff: Nan Bailey, Nelson Blackstock, Steve Bride, Fred Feldman, Nelson Gonzalez, Wil· liam Gottlieb, Sue Hagen, Suzanne Haig. Diane 3 ·Atlanta candidates· debate Jacobs, Margaret Jayko, Malik Miah, Harry Ring, 5 Miners solidarity Vivian Sahner, Priscilla Schenk, Stu Singer. Published weekly except two weeks in Au · 6 Socialist vs. KKKer gust, the last week of December, and the first 7 Protest waste dumping week of January by the Militant (ISSN 0026- 8 Sales team reports May 3 and fight against.war 3885), 14 Charles Lane, New York, NY 16 Vietnam-Salvador rally Washington is on a drive toward 10014. Telephone: Editorial Office, (212) 22 Testimony of George Breitman militarization and war, in an effort to stem 243-6392; Business Office, (212) 929-3486. the tide of liberation struggles in Latin Correspondence concerning subscrip 10 DaybyDay America, Asia and Africa. The May 3 tions or changes of address should be 17 Solidarity with Central America Pentagon march showed the depth of addressed to The Militant Business Of and Caribbean fice, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. popular opposition to that drive. Page 16. 18-21 World news and analysis 10014. 29 Our Revolutionary Heritage Second-class postage paid at New York, 30 The Great Society NY Subscriptions: U.S. $24.00 a year, out American Way of Life side U.S. $30.00. By first-class mail: U.S., What's Going On Canada, and Mexico: $60.00. Write for air 31 Letters mail rates to all other countries. If You Like This Paper. .. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials. 2 THE MILITANT MAY 22,1981 Atlanta mothers expect massive May 25 ·rally By Carlos Williams show their solidarity with Atlanta's ATLANTA-I spent April 22 in the Black community and to protest the offices of the Committee to Stop Child continued killings. Mine locals back action ren's Murders. The committee is organ Obviously, this is an expression of With the-discovery ofthe body of endorsed May 25. The Coalition of izing a raliy in Washington, D.C., on race solidarity-not race war. Moore seventeen-year-old William ·Barrett Black Trade Unionists and the May 25 to protest the unsolved said she's also frequently been asked if in Atlanta on May 12, bringing the Coalition to Stop the Children's murders of Black youth in Atlanta.