Interview with Michel Gruselle of the French organization, “Communistes”

[Dhalgren]

Interview with Michel Gruselle of the French organization, “Communistes”
(Eng.; Fr.)

This interview was done by MLToday in Paris, France in October 2013. Michel Gruselle is a Researcher Emeritus at CNRS [National Center for Scientific Research), Secretary of Cellular Research at the University of Jussieu, member of the National Committee and the National Bureau of the “Communistes,” President of the University Circle of Marxist Studies, and a member of the Trade Union of Scientific Research Workers of Jussieu University (SNTRS-CGT)

MLT: The party, the “Communistes,” has existed since 2002. What is the origin of the “Communistes”? Who created this political party and why?

G: For several years, a revolutionary party no longer existed in France. The leaders of the Communist Party of France (PCF) had abandoned this orientation. It was urgent and essential to recreate a revolutionary party in our country that would play a vanguard role. This is what we did in 2002, the date of our founding congress. Many of those who created “Communistes” had been members of the PCF, some for a long time. Several had occupied important positions, positions of responsibility. From its foundation, our party has counted among its number trade union militants engaged in the CGT [the Confédération Général de Travail, the trade union connected to the PCF]. These and others have a rich experience in class struggle.

MLT: On your website, you describe the “Communistes” as a revolutionary party. Why did you not use the word “party,” in your name?

G: Quite simply because the term “Communist Party,” legally belongs to the Communist Party of France (PCF). The distinction is all the more important as our politics and those of the PCF have nothing in common. In elections our candidates run under the name, “Communistes.”

MLT: How do you view the PCF and your relations to it?

G: For a number of years, the PCF has abandoned Marxism. Its unprincipled alliance with social-democracy has transformed the PCF from a party of the “left” to a party that subscribes to the idea that capitalism constitutes an unsurpassable horizon. Pro-European Union, it has no analysis of the role of the Europe Union as the edifice of capital and for capital, which says a lot about its social-democratic drift.

MLT: Can you explain the organization of the “Communistes”?

G: Our organization is that of a party of class struggle aiming to bring together a revolutionary vanguard. We are organized in clubs [celles], and our work is first of all oriented toward work places. The direction of the Party is the responsibility of the National Committee elected by the congress, a national office [national bureau], and a secretariat.

MLT: You have a weekly on-line publication “Communistes Hebdo” [Communist Weekly]. Do you have printed publications?

G: Our website takes the form of a weekly. We call it “Communistes Hebdo.” It has nearly 10,000 readers. We also have a printed information bulletin that appears five times a year. We see it as an educational [propaganda] tool for workers and the unemployed. We develop two ideas: The only effective way to satisfy the demands of workers is by attacking capital. Real change must occur through class struggle to fight capitalism and ultimately build a socialist society. In this we underline a strong commitment to internationalism.

MLT: Can you say something of the work of “Communistes” in the trade unions?

G: In France there is no longer a trade union confederation based on class struggle. The CGT has renounced this orientation in favor of promoting social dialogue. Our members in the CGT in particular call for struggle and help the unions organize and give class content to their actions. At the same time, we refuse to organize ourselves as a fraction in the unions. It is by discussion with all unionists, all workers, and the unemployed that political progress happens and not by fractional activity. Some of us have trade union responsibilities that the workers have entrusted with us.

MLT: Since 2002, what have been your most important successes? And what is now your greatest challenge?

G: To have brought to life for eleven years a revolutionary party in the context of the weakening of the workers’ movement and the defeat of the Soviet Union represents a great success. Our objective is to strengthen the party in terms of its political quality and its capacity for militant struggle.

I would like to end by saluting American communists who fight under difficult conditions to rebuild the basis for a class movement in your country.

http://mltoday.com/interview-with-mi...on-communistes

Reposted from 2014

[blindpig]

Reposted from 2014

So, how has that worked out?

there ain't a lot in English out there:

REVOLUTIONARY PARTY COMMUNISTES (FRANCE)
by Michel Gruselle

Firstly, on behalf of our party, I would like to thank the Communist Party of Greece, which is organizing this important conference at a time when the general crisis of the capitalist system and imperialism is deepening and when we are celebrating this year the hundredth anniversary of the great socialist revolution of October and the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Marx’s Capital.

As John Reed wrote in”Ten Days that Shook the World”, the socialist revolution that led to the formation of the USSR was the major event of the twentieth century.

Despite the defeat of the USSR, this event is leaving its mark, even to this day, as the class
confrontation so forcefully demands a revolutionary change to bring down the capitalist and imperialist system. A system whose crisis of over-accumulation of profit and exacerbated competition, generates an unprecedented strengthening of wage labor exploitation and conflicts for the domination of resources, conflicts that jeopardize world peace.

The defeat of the USSR, the counter-revolution related to it, the transformations of Russia into a state dominated by capitalist relations of production and its integration into the imperialist system, the changes in China, all this has considerably altered the balance of power to the benefit of imperialism. It has intensified the fierce competition between monopolies and states serving them, for the conquest of natural resources, markets, means of communication and the exploitation of peoples. In this context many Communist parties abandoned being revolutionary vanguards rejecting internationalism and transforming themselves into Social Democratic parties.

This orientation leads them to reject the class struggle as the basis of social relations in capitalism. In Greece with “Syriza”, in Spain with “Podemos”, in Germany with “Die Linke” as well as in France with the reconstruction of the “left of the left” around Mélenchon. All these organizations are the “ace up the sleeve” of capitalism. Their actions and their orientation must be fought resolutely. That is why our party is presenting a Communist candidate in the presidential election, a steelworker Secretary General of our party, and candidates in the legislative elections. They will be the only candidates presenting themselves as Communist.

Millions of workers have had enough, as demonstrated by their fight against the El Khomri law that aims to eliminate the social conquests of the working class. They are in search of a fundamental change of policy. But change what, how and with whom are three questions that we must answer!

In this class struggle, we will make clear the root causes of the situation in France and in the world. We will show that there can be no arrangement with capitalism. We will emphasize that the means exist: the wealth produced by labor and confiscated by capital, must return to the people to meet the essential needs of the workers. We will highlight the ways to move forward in the class struggle to conquer economic and political power. We assert firmly that the 2017 presidential and legislative elections are a class issue.

The evolution of the political situation confirms that we were right to create COMMUNISTES in 2002. It is the only party which, based on Marxism Leninism, provides a prospect of revolutionary change: to bring down capitalism and build socialism. But it would be a hollow slogan if it did not draw from the daily class conflict. That is why we pay special attention to the workers’ struggles. Our organizations are active among them and our press popularizes them by emphasizing the political dimension of the fight. At Renault, Goodyear, La Poste, in the hospital, Alstom, in the food industry, in the university, in demonstrations, our party cells and our comrades support the struggles and highlight the responsibility of capitalist monopolies and of the State for the situation. This work allows us to broaden our influence in the working class.

To conclude, in the short time I have, I want to say a few words about the international situation. It is characterized by a rise in contradictions within the imperialist system. While the defeat of the USSR opened up new spaces to capitalism, it has at the same time created a situation of increased competition between the former imperialist poles and the developing ones, in particular with Russia and China. These tensions are marked, among other things, by numerous direct or by proxy military confrontations aimed at conquering sources of raw materials, markets and means of communication. From our point of view, today is needed a correct analysis of what imperialism is. Lenin gives an operational definition, however we must take into account the emergence of new poles, the constitution of imperialist groups such as the European Union and the magnitude of the industrial and financial monopolies that dominate the world economy. This work is necessary to give the communist parties the means of a clear understanding of these phenomena and of the correlative need for a common internationalist action. We are ready, however modestly, to participate in such collective work drawing on our own experience.

This work must not, of course, prevent the immediate struggle to stop imperialist aggressions against Nations and Peoples. For example, revealing the imperialist character of the European Union, its responsibility in today’s conflicts and the increasingly aggressive role of NATO, requires an uncompromising struggle against the policy of monopoly capital.

https://ecm2017.wordpress.com/ecm-2017/ ... es-france/

I'm a little bothered that it's the same guy. I'ts gonna be a slow slog but I get the impression that there hasn't been much progress.