the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jul 22, 2019
Translated from Lutte Ouvrière (Workers’ Struggle), the newspaper of the French revolutionary workers’ group of that name.
France’s Minister of the Environment resigned on July 16. He had been known for dining on lobster on the public dollar while president of the legislature. As minister, he ordered a 70,000 dollar make-over of his official apartment, including 19,000 dollars for the dressing room. He also reserved an apartment in another city without ever occupying it. And his wife bought a gold plated hairdryer for 560 dollars!
Perfectly normal for him, all these showy expenses shocked ordinary working people who can hardly pay for housing, clothes, and food.
But this lifestyle of the powerful is only a pale imitation of the much more luxurious life of the ultra rich on whose behalf they govern. It stings when the bosses lecture working people about pinching pennies. But the minister’s tab is actually paltry compared to the billions that the government gives big business through subsidies and incentives.
While throwing fortunes at big capitalists, politicians take a small cut for themselves.