Earlier this year, the French president held snap elections in an attempt to rally support from voters fearing the advance of the Far Right in Europe. This move backfired, in large part due to the rapid emergence of a new electoral alliance between the left-wing parties like La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, and the New Anticapitalist Party, referred to as the New Popular Front. With the far-right National Rally party advancing and the New Popular Front entering the mix, no single party won a majority to govern (known as a hung parliament). Yet, in a great indictment to Macron, and a rejection of the Far Right led by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally which finished third, the New Popular Front emerged ahead of his Renaissance Party. 

　　Despite the results, Macron appointed Barnier, a conservative politician, as prime minister in September. Three months later, the crisis of the French government is once again in full swing. The recent no confidence vote came in response to Barnier’s attempt to force through a social security budget without a vote in parliament. Despite growing calls for his resignation, Macron has declared that he’ll choose a new prime minister soon, with the hope of passing a new budget swiftly. 

　　Following Barnier’s ouster, 200,000 people marched through France, according to the CGT, the country’s major federation of trade unions. This speaks to another key element of the political situation in France: the power of class struggle which began to emerge with the Yellow Vests movement and developed into a “pre-revolutionary” uprising in 2023 in response to Macron’s attacks on pensions. While the movement against the pension reform was defeated, in large part due to the pacifying role played by the union bureaucracies, the recent mobilization of workers shows that class struggle has not been resolved by the various electoral shifts in France this year. 

　　In the face of the deepening crises of French capitalism, the state is pushing for austerity to make workers pay. However, the workers’ movement in France showed a deep questioning of the regime and willingness to fight. Along with this, the country has seen important, youth-led struggles against racism, xenophobia, and Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Now too, in the face of calls for Macron’s resignation, and the advances of the National Rally, the New Popular Front is poised to channel the discontent of the masses into parliament, instead of fostering the independent action of the working class. Instead of fighting to unite the struggles of a working class on the move to deal a blow to French capitalism, the New Popular Front sows illusions that these struggles can be resolved through the electoral process and better administration of the imperialist state. 

　　As Left Voice’s French sister site, Révolution Permanente (RP) reports:The important mobilization testifies to the deep anger of public sector workers, which has continued to smolder in recent months in the face of the scale of the offensives [austerity from the state] in preparation… The fall of the government will not have been enough to calm this anger. Moreover, the desire not to stop at this successful day was heard in the processions but also in the assemblies of strikers who met throughout the day. 

　　At this time, it remains to be seen how the situation in France will develop. While the New Popular Front was successful at channeling the fight against the Far Right into the institutions of the regime earlier this year, their alliance is now fracturing, a point RP predicted would happen due to the opportunistic nature of the alliance. 

　　In an editorial for RP, Paul Morao argues:Rather than leaving the development of the crisis in the hands of the ruling classes, who will be able to arrange it according to their interests, the urgency should be to build a response from below. The working classes and the youth, who demonstrated by the millions against pension reform in 2023, have the strength to respond to the political crisis, around a program against austerity, layoffs, but also against the rotten institutions of the Fifth Republic… 

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  Wei Xiaoxue 

　　From:https://www.leftvoice.org/the-french-regime-is-imploding-but-it-will-take-class-struggle-to-deal-fatal-blows/（2024-12-6）