OCCUPY FACTORIES, BUSINESSES AND HOSPITALS ! OCCUPY UNIVERSITIES AND HIGH SCHOOLS! GENERAL STRIKE !

In the collective and historical imagination, the Popular Front echoes two events that occurred in the summer of 1936, in France by one hand and in Spain by the other. In France, in June 1936, a wave of spontaneous strikes ignited France following the victory of the coalition of different political parties ranging from far left (Communist Party, PCF), social democrats (Socialist Party, SFIO) and center left (Radical Party). And in Spain, on July 19, 1936, a popular insurrection, initiated by the popular class and the anarchists of the CNT-AIT, defeated the fascist coup of General Franco in reaction to the election of a coalition of far-left, left-wing and Republican political parties.

In France, these millions of strikers, by occupying their factories, without waiting for the instructions of the political parties and even often AGAINST the instructions of moderation of these political parties, have created such a balance of power against the Employers and the Bourgeoisie that the latter had rushed to make concessions like never before in the social history of this country, for fear that the strikers become radicalized and the revolt transforms into revolution. And it was the left-wing parties of the Popular Front which broke the dynamic of the strikers, asking them to stop their movement (the communist leader Maurice Thorez proclaiming his famous phrase “you have to know how to end a strike”.) This first betrayal of the left was the beginning of a long series which ended tragically: the French Popular Front abandoned the Spanish Popular Front which ended up being crushed by the Francoists, which by its side had the support of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. In 1938, the radical socialist Daladier signed the laws on “undesirable foreigners”, a foreshadowing of the current French Minister of Police Darmanin’s laws against migrants. And in 1940, the deputies of the Popular Front Chamber voted (1) 569 for and 80 against giving full powers to Marshal Pétain.

The Spanish Popular Front also experienced a disastrous destiny: while the Libertarian Revolution initiated by the anarchists on July 19, 1936 tried, in extremely difficult conditions, to invent another future, freed from the State and Capitalism, the Republican Government kept putting obstacles in their way. He was unfortunately helped by certain anarchists who believed in the sincerity of the Republicans to block fascism. Unfortunately, many Republicans, starting with the Communists, still preferred fascism rather than Anarchism and in May 1937, the Spanish Popular Front stabbed in the back the anarchist revolutionaries of the CNT-AIT and the heterodox communists of the POUM. This was the end of the revolution and shortly after the defeat of the Popular Front against the fascists.

Let History serve as a lesson to us: when workers are united, when they act directly on their own, without obeying the instructions of political parties who will always end up betraying, then workers and more generally the popular class can do things magnificent and grandiose, it can even conquer the sky. If workers abandon their autonomy and their capacity for initiative to representatives, whether political or trade unionists, they will sooner or later be promised to serve as cannon fodder, for the State, for Capital, or for a political faction against another.

Poverty, climate change, racism and the rise of identity or religious ideas, inequalities of all kinds… Yes, it’s true, we need a radical change in society, a break with the dominant order. To those who dream of a Popular Front through the ballot box, we warn them against the disappointments to come: how these left-wing politicians, of whom Mélenchon is the caricature, who have been all failures since 1981 (2), can represent any hope of a break with a System which – literally – feeds them, whether in the form of their remuneration as elected officials or in the form of state subsidies to their political party or their union?

Our only hope can only come from our self-organization, autonomously and horizontally, without a leader, without a spokesperson, without anyone who speaks in our name. So yes, as at the time of the Popular Front, rather than passively waiting for some savior to come out of the polls (especially since the result risks being that of the far-right), now and without waiting anymore:

LET’S OCCUPY OUR FACTORIES, LET’S OCCUPY OUR BUSINESSES, LET’S OCCUPY OUR HOSPITALS,
LET’S OCCUPY OUR UNIVERSITIE AND OUR HIGH SCHOOLS!

AGAINST FASCISM AND FOR LIFE!

GENERAL STRIKE !

CNT-AIT Anarchosyndicalism!

contact@cnt-ait.info https://cnt-ait.info

Original text in French : FRONT POPULAIRE ? CHICHE ! OCCUPATION DES USINES, DES ENTREPRISES, DES HOPITAUX, DES FAC ET DES LYCEES ! GREVE GENERALE ! https://cnt-ait.info/2024/06/14/front-populaire-chiche