Karyn Pomerantz, 7-3-2023, KP
French teens, mostly black Algerian and Moroccan, have exploded with rage over the police murder of Nahel M., a 17-year-old teen killed by police after a traffic stop in the northern city of Nanterre on June 27, 2023.
Throughout France, young people have burned property and fought the police, disrupting business as usual from Paris to Marseille. The police arrested over 800 people by July1st; the government has deployed over 40,000 police. This rebellion results from decades of poverty and discrimination against the children of immigrants. Over the years, uprisings have occurred when police interventions killed other young people. It is heartening to see these young militants’ bold response. We should cheer them on and encourage widespread support.
While these rebellions may win some police reforms on paper, they are unlikely to provide the quality education, jobs, and housing needed to mitigate the deadly conditions embedded in these neighborhoods. The young people provide a cheap source of labor for French business while serving as scapegoats for French anger at increasing unemployment and inflation.
Thousands of white workers have also been in the streets protesting the law that increases the age of retirement, fighting the police and destroying property. No matter how widespread and militant these frequent demonstrations are, all the groups need a revolutionary organization with a broader multiracial base to plan actions and positions. Can you imagine how much stronger these groups would be rebelling together, rejecting the politicians, and building a movement against capitalism in France?! It is imperative to reject racism to achieve this goal.
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A Brief History of French Racism and Imperialism
French racism has a long history culminating in today’s oppression of black workers. As a capitalist country, France has practiced racism to increase profits, divide workers, and colonize other countries. France is revered for the French Revolution of 1789 that promoted equality and ended the monarchy (“off with their heads!”) It was fought by thousands of workers, but the French capitalists took power to enrich their pocketbooks. They accomplished this in many other countries as well. Here is a brief run down:
Haiti
The French Revolution emboldened the enslaved people of Haiti to rebel. Plantation conditions brutalized Haitians who worked in the dangerous sugar industry. The owners worked them to death, regularly buying replacements. From 1793 to 1804, Haitian plantation workers and middle-class mulattos led by Toussaint Louverture and General Dessalines fought to end slavery. In 1804, they won their liberation and kicked out the French and British invaders. In response, the French charged them with reparations of billions of dollars (with interest) finally paid 17 decades later! The dire poverty and chaos of Haiti today is a direct result of the imperialist policies of the French and US governments, never forgiving them for their victory.
The French and British also controlled many other Caribbean countries, creating enormous wealth in European countries where the aristocrats enjoyed sugared tea and other luxuries derived from colonial holdings. Yet, black plantation workers also revolted, and in Jamaica, these maroons expelled the British.
African Colonialization
France colonized many countries in Africa: Algeria, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Morocco, and Madagascar. The French imperialists justified their land grabs by arguing that they were “civilizing” the inhabitants. Instead, they were ripping off markets, cheap labor, and minerals. The industrialists exported materials to use in manufacturing in France. From the early 1800s to the early 1900s, the “Scramble for Africa” among France, England, and Germany laid the basis for WWI. In the 1950s, Algerian workers rose up in a brutal war against French colonialism and kicked out France. The Algerian immigrants in France suffered discrimination and racial abuse. This legacy continues today; their grandchildren are today’s rebels.
French Collaboration with Fascists during the Spanish Civil War and WWII
During the Spanish Civil War (1933-1936), tens of thousands of communist and antifascist volunteers entered Spain to support Spanish workers fighting the fascist General Franco. The US government under FDR denied the American volunteers passage to Spain and arrested many when they returned. (US companies like Texaco also collaborated with Spanish fascists by selling fuel to Franco). France actively blocked the volunteers from entering through France, forcing these unprepared civilians to climb over the freezing Pyrenees Mountains. Hundreds died. Despite Soviet support of the volunteers with money, ammunition, and fighter planes, Franco’s forces won and ruled until the 1970s.
During WWII, the French government capitulated quickly to fascism when the Nazi Army invaded France. It established the Vichy government in northern France to cooperate with the Nazis, even using the French police to arrest and turn over resistance members and Jewish people. Southern France remained “free” but endured roundups of anti-fascists. The resistance movement, mostly led by communists, played a significant role opposing the German army. Yet, after the war, the new French government led by Thorez disarmed the French Communist Party members. Following the Soviet policy of the United Front (joining liberal coalitions), many of them joined the government instead of building a revolutionary movement. These heroic leaders joined social democratic (liberal) governments instead of building an anti-capitalist communist movement.
Asian Wars
The French capitalists took control of countries in Indochina (Southeast Asia) including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, claiming again their need to “civilize” Asians. Their occupation provoked resistance from the citizens, eventually erupting in war. The well-known battle at Dien Bien Phu between French and communist Vietnamese armies in 1954 ended with the French defeat and departure. The US was eager to establish control of Vietnam’s cheap labor (less than $2 per day), abundant resources, and pivotal geographic position near China. It fought for a decade to establish power. However, the Vietnamese also crushed the US and is now a loyal capitalist trading partner of US business.
An Injury to One Is an Injury to All! Unite ALL Workers
Can you imagine how powerful the French working class would be fighting together for common needs? If French immigrants, their children, retirement age protestors, and families would demand shelter, fuel, economic security at all ages, and other essentials? If rebels across the world would erupt against state violence in any country? If the soldiers in Russia and Ukraine refused to fight each other? If we fought the violence of climate catastrophes, homelessness, migrant abuse, and denial of health care, including Covid protection practices?
We can if we reject the racism, nationalism, and patriotism that the bosses use to rally us behind their imperialist goals. Elections will not defeat capitalism, but a united revolutionary working class can.
Workers instituted the early socialist states in China and the USSR, abolished US slavery, ended discrimination, won Medicare, Medicaid, and the New Deal, established unions, and the 8-hour day. Elections did not secure any of these reforms. Instead, organized militant general strikes and urban rebellions forced the government to placate the people with substantial improvements. For example, the US ruling class under FDR created Social Security, though not for black and Mexican residents, when workers rebelled against the Depression. The US and other governments feared the recent Russian Revolution would stimulate a movement in their own countries. However, as long as the rich have power, such victories end. US workers now work longer hours than any other country, have no universal health care, and have the largest wealth gaps in the world.
Let’s learn from our mistakes and create the bonds now to change our lives.
The Multiracial Unity Blog 