EARLY RESULTS from the first round of the The Union of the Left, towns of more than 30,000 inhabitants.
was standing.
There have been spectacular successes: in Orleans 12 per cent, St Ouen 9.5 per cent, Mombelliard 9.5 per cent, Nancy 8.3 per cent, Caen 8.3 per cent, Rouen 7.6 per cent. Even the relatively low Paris poll was uneven. In one industrial suburb, for example, revolutionaries gained 6.7 per cent of the The significance of this massive electoral gain becomes apparent when it is remembered that ine combined poll of the revolutionary candiceies in tne ast cresidentia cicctons nownere excecaca Inree per cent.
RESISTANCE Behind these gains, for revolutionaries and for the left as a whole, lies the rising militancy of the French working class in resistance to Government attacks on living standards. For the Union of the Left this must have enormous implications.
in ine second round voling on Sunday the revolutionary will iransier to tne cr and sr. probably accompanied by some of inc vales for tne ecology candicates. This could mean a poll for the workers partes or well over ou per When Giscard was elected he got less than 50 per cent of the vote. This underlines the bankruptey of the Union of the Left's insistence that the working class must wait for the legislative election year, which has served as an excuse for holding back workers' miliThe Union of the Left LaICy. leaders have made it clear that they will be happy to have a majority in the chamber denunes allow Giscard to continue President.
SIGNAL This massive display of working class strength in the ballot box must be the signal for a campaign to throw out the Government's austerity plan and the Government with it.
Il also snows now patnenc is tne block of the workers parties with nese Kades ame austs. These results have provided u er cemonsauon or tc acco to throw out these rump bourgeois parties and force elections now The gains for revolutionaries go tar beyond the electoral arena. The united slate of the LCR (French section of the Fourth InternationSubscribe municipal elections show a massive swing to the left.
the alliance between the Communist and Socialist Parties and the Left Radicals and Left Gaullists, has won 51.5 per cent of the vote in Just as striking are the gains made by the united siate of the revolutionary left, which has won six per cent of the votes in the provinces and three per cent in Paris - a national average of 5.5 per cent in those towns where the revolutionary left al), Lutte Ouvrière and the Organisation Communiste des Travailleurs has provided a lasting example of what revolutionary unity can achieve.
RESOLVED Early disputes over the character election resolved. The OCT was concerned not to 'impose" united slates on municipalities, while Lutte Ouvrière initially saw the agreement as requiring only joint electoral work. The LCR correctly insisted on need for national platform, though many independent workers' leaders in their localities stood on the basis of that programme. Dur comrades alsc arguea for Joint acuvity to extend beyond electoral arena, Dula une ImD anatOn revolutionary corrccuness or unis Doley nas ocen spectacularly demonstrated.
IMPLICATIONS
votes The implications of this success for our electoral tactics in Britain hardly need to be spelled out. it would be foolish to sugest that the French experience could be exactly and immediately reproduced -In- BriTaIn. but whar demonstrated is united power of the revolutionary parties, beyond the simple sum of their memberships.
The sectarian attitude of British organisations like the SWP is a sad comparison. On the spurious basis of nartv-building the SWP ha consistently refused united action and wih une omer organisauions or Ene as far left. It has ignored approaches from the IMG for a joint candidate in the Stechford by-election and a united platform in the next general CICCUIOll A letter from the IMG to the SWP proposing a joint siate for the elections to the Greater London Council in May has received HU LCDLY.
IGNORED The SWP has even ignored Tecuess io sponsor a mccane on the French electoral platform to be neie in concon mis traay. fortunately the IMG has had to BrOCCCO wILn Doln Inc mecune and GLC campaign united front with the SWP and murder ot Continua, during the clashes with IS DOCOmES Luciano Lama off the campus.
Lalas vouyouaruo exunouisners wnen mey amved.
ALCS TOr Lnese CICCLIOns than sectarianism.
Britain. oluucrio nave balneo win police in home tor davs torowine student leader Francesco Lorussa, last Friday.
Government and the Communist Party have cemented an alliance which onry too tammuar to stop me stvgen demonstratroms We must also correct some remarks we have made in the past weeks Rome students driving Communist Party A correspondent in Italy informs VYCIC EUITCIHOGEYCO other organisations. The meeting on Friday will be the opportunity for the IMG to present its candidTo the SWP we can only say: we will continue to fight for electora unity among revolutionaries as one of the steps towards building a united revolutionary organisation. 'Party-building' is no excuse since the French campaign has shown that unity builds a far bigger party Revolutionaries are now a force to be reckoned with in the French workers movement. United action could bear the same fruits in -Ine member of Lotta bars entering Pope, [PC/] leader Wnorking cass armed with paint and fireWEEKLY ALAIN KRIVINE [left] of the LCR and Socialist Party leader Francois walteran e wa ower wore we socicws cary wne cweceon wiotr wa.bcdr embarassment of riches. How can it continue to explain its reluctance to topple the Government?
One Italian paper carried a photograph of PCI members armed with iron but it is clear that the PCI arrived looking for trouble. Whose side do they mmmn mey dre on ne students dictured above are cressec as hec indians' ine onrase 'Metropolitan Indians' has been coined to describe all those student and INOVCHTCHETICAL WCCA
STATO
Turin University. We do not know who struck the first blow , with the aspirations of the American Weekly will carry a full report on the Italian student
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t0 French joint the tremendous