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
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
Feb 28, 2022
Translated from Lutte Ouvrière (Workers’ Struggle), the newspaper of the revolutionary workers’ group active in France.
By February 15, Lutte Ouvrière’s presidential candidate Nathalie Arthaud had collected 509 endorsements from mayors, more than required. The Constitutional Council validated them. So, she will run in the presidential election, even if that bothers some people!
Especially in small towns, many mayors support political pluralism even while not necessarily sharing our ideas. As staff, workers, technicians, small farmers, teachers, or retirees, in general they are working people. They know about the problems of low wages, unemployment, and precariousness, and they find it legitimate that Nathalie Arthaud will talk about these problems in her campaign. They do not want political discourse to be monopolized by professional politicians who are selected by big business clans like Bolloré or Bouygues. These politicians have nothing to do with the interests and feelings of working people….
Lutte Ouvrière and Nathalie Arthaud did not invent the law requiring mayoral endorsements. The requirement of 100 and more recently 500 endorsements was enacted in theory to filter out fanciful candidacies. But in fact, it is an attempt to close the system and prevent political currents which are not from the political in-crowd from expressing themselves.
Unlike the major parties, Lutte Ouvrière does not have any elected representatives authorized to endorse its candidates, like national or European legislators, regional councilors, mayors, etc. But Lutte Ouvrière managed to overcome this obstacle thanks to the determination of its militants, who traveled to meet thousands of mayors across the country. This may surprise some journalists who only see the world from their cocoon. But this surprises no one from the world of work, in which many know Lutte Ouvrière to be a stubborn organization that is very present on a daily basis. In the working population, we know from everyday experience that when we want to defend our interests as exploited people, we can expect nothing from the leaders of this system, and we have to fight.
Thanks to this militant energy, and also thanks to the democratic sensibility of small town mayors, Nathalie Arthaud will be very present in the presidential campaign, to make the workers’ side heard.