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 23, 2009
Faced with a massive and still growing general strike in its overseas department of Guadeloupe, the French government responded to some of the strike demands. The strike in this Caribbean island of 450,000 had just spread to the island of Martinique, another French department with 400,000 people.
The strikers had demanded a 200 Euro ($260) a month raise for everyone. Instead the government seems to be proposing differing amounts of a raise depending on family size and income level, trying to cool down the strike. Up until now, the strike has not only held firm, it has intensified, and heated up, as the following articles show.
Negotiations between the strike organizers, the LKP or Collective Against Profiteering, and the bosses backed up by the French government will pick up again on February 23.
The following articles are translated from the February 20th issue of Lutte Ouvri re (Workers Struggle) in France, based on reports from Combat Ouvrier (Workers Fight) comrades active in the struggle in Guadeloupe and Martinique.