Two recent events: the release of three soldiers charged with political activity in the army, and the charging of three persons for pasting up posters as part of a campaign for soldiers rights illustrate the current situation in France.
At the same time that the working class is becoming more and more combative and increasing numbers of people are joining movements such as the soldiers' campaign and turning to revolutionary socialism, the bourgeoisie in its fear is turning towards escalating measures of repression.
This repression, directed mainly against the revolutionary vanguard, takes numerous forms varying from harassment of newspaper sellers to the attempted banning of revolutionary organisations, and is being met by an increasingly broad movement of defence.
The case of the three French soldiers in Landau, Germany, reflects this situation. The three, whose names are Banet, Divet and Fauthoux, were charged with activities which would lead to inciting acts contrary to duty or discipline. The brass were unable even to formulate a reasonable-sounding accusation; the soldiers' activities were limited to political discussion with other soldiers, using an essay written by Divet.
Fauthoux's case was dismissed March 3. The trial of the two others, held in secret March 13 in Landau, resulted in sentences of 18 months for Banet and 14 months for Divet, both with probation. Taking place just five weeks after the Rennes trial, which sentenced three soldiers charged similarly to a year, eight months and four months respectively, the semi-victory at Landau is significant.
The April 6 issue of Rouge (weekly paper of the Ligue Communiste, French section of the Fourth International) commented that "As to the 18 and 14 months, it was the movement of May which was judged... the probation, on the other hand, is the embarrassment in which the tribunal found itself, faced with the growth of the campaign for the release of the imprisoned soldiers.
TRADE-UNIONISTS ARRESTED In close connection with the soldiers' campaign and the just-released news of the Landau verdict is the case of three trade unionists charged on April 3 with pasting up posters of the campaign on January 28 at St. Marcel, in the north of France. A citation has ordered the three to appear April 30 at the Correctional Tribunal at Evreux.
They are: Jack Houdet, 45, former secretary of his local of the CGT (Confederation Generale de Travail, largest union federation in France); Dominique Rousseau, 19, and Florial OrdonezAurioles, 19. They are all machinists at the L.R.B.A., a factory of atomic research under the responsibility of the Minister of Defence. The parents of Rousseau and Ordonez-Aurioles were also ordered to appear. All the defendants are from Vernon, in Normandy.
The enormous significance of this case, which is by no means merely a normal harassment of political postering, can be seen in the charges. While such harassment is usually disguised under "non-political" charges, the indictment this time is overtly political.
The three are charged with "the offence of a provocation directed at soldiers with the aim of turning them away from their military duty and obedience.. repeatedly from the posters, which describe the were being tried for protesting against the useless regimentation and harassment of the bourgeois, strike-breaking army.
Thus it is plain that this case is not an ordinary incident but one with the most far-reaching implications. It is felt that the government in Paris may very well have planned this case as a test to see if it can get away with banning posters of the army campaign as such.
If people can be imprisoned just for putting up a poster defending soldiers' rights, there is no reason why those in positions of responsibility in the campaign (such as JeanPaul Sartre, Alain Krivine of the Ligue Communiste, and Michel Rocard of the Parti Socialiste Unifie) might not be put on trial. By narrowing down the issue to that of the content of the posters, the government is challenging the very right to wage a campaign for the soldiers.
Thus it is important that individuals and groups in Britain, especially trade unionists, defend these three CT members. Statements of support should be sent to: Dr. Marcel-Francis Kahn, 15 rue Cler, Paris 7e, France.
BANNING OF LEFT GROUPS?
There are other examples of the government's campaign of repression of political rights. A prime aim of the Pompidou regime is to illegalise a number of revolutionary groups on the pretext of "reconstituting leagues" banned following the May-June events of 1968.
"Investigations" have already been launched against the Ligue Communiste, the A.J.S (Alliance des Jeunes pour la Socialisme, the French Healyite group) and the Communist Party of France (Marxist-Leninist), a Maoist tendency. Minister of the Interior Marcellin, generally known as France's top cop, has also requested that the State Security Court investigate the Ligue Communiste for attempting to demoralise the army. The Ligue Communiste has been the main political group supporting the soldiers' campaign. MAO-SPONTEX In addition, about ten members of the Gauche Proletarienne (Proletarian Left, another Maoist group) have been arrested, including Dantec editor of their paper Cause du People.
Some Maoist-Spontaneist groups, notably Gauche Proletarienne, have unwittingly aided the repression by praising various individual acts of terrorist violence which have been used by the regime as one pretext for the repression. This attitude of the "Mao-Spontex" groups similar to that of the U.S. Weathermen, has been coupled with a refusal to join with other tendencies in a united defence effort.
Vendors of socialist newspapers have been systematically approached and taken to the police stations for questioning, in the last few months. To dramatise this completely illegal form of repression, Alain Krivine and Michel Rocard sold their respective papers Rouge and Tribune Socialiste in the public market on March 22, and were taken for questioning. They were quickly released when their identity was learnt.
CENSORSHIP Various books and magazines have been banned outright, notably Tricontinental, published in Havana; the left-wing review Le Point; and a book written by the Brazilian revolutionary Carlos Marighela, who was assassinated by the military regime there.
Some victories have been scored against the French regime's repression, victories always based on mass action against the threat to democratic rights. The Landau verdict has already been mentioned. The Nanterre meeting of March 6, with 5,000 present, was also such a victory. Marcellin himself had to permit the meeting, and the same day withdrew the police that had occupied the Nanterre campus despite the physical resistance of the mass of students. In addition, the fascists, who have played a complementary role to that of the police on many campuses, were unable to hold a provocative mass meeting on February 26 because of protests and the mobilisation of thousands of anti-fascists in Paris. Here the bourgeoisie showed that the character of its repression is not fascist, that fascism is not on the agenda: the fascists meeting was itself banned by the state, of course only under mass pressure.
As part of the soldiers campaign, many mass meetings and demonstrations have been held The bourgeoisie has been unable to ban these nor the large demonstrations in Rouen during February in defence of seven militants politically charged with various offences. And although the government banned a public meeting of the Committee for the Release of the Imprisoned Soldiers to have been held on March 17, a mass meeting on March 18 in defence of the right of expression was successful.
The respectable Paris daily Le Monde has begun protesting. The April 1 issue pointed out that 886 persons have been taken tor questioning in Paris between November 1969 and March 1970, for selling papers, putting up posters, leafletting, etc. This is double the number in a comparable period a year earlier.
In a front-page editorial the same day; J.-M Mercier criticised these moves against liberty of expression, but made it clear that his criticism was on the basis that the measures give the "law" and its enforcers a bad name. In addition the bourgeois commentator tried to dole out the responsibility to victim and criminal equally. Mercier stated, "The violence that has occurred between the antagonists is the result of a complete misunderstanding.
In actuality the regime understands very well that the extreme left groups are a constant and immediate danger to it in the present turbulent period, and that repressing them can be a step towards a repression of the workers' mass organisations as well.
WORKERS' STRUGGLE CONTINUES The workers' struggle in France has not yet been noticeably affected, however, by the regime's moves at repression of political groups. Strikes have recently occurred at Renault and the SNCF (the nationalised railway system), to mention only two of the most important. There will soon be national strike weeks in the postal service (April 15-18) and among high school and technical school teachers (April 20-25) Workers across France strike on almost any issue, and whether or not a contract has expired Furthermore, artisans and tradesmen have recently shown their combativity against the government by blocking roadways across France in support of their demands.
The political struggle for democratic rights remains a central one for the vanguard organisations, as Rouge has repeatedly pointed out. The most important struggles in this area have been related in one way or another to the soldiers' rights campaign of the Committee for the Release of the Imprisoned Soldiers. This is a broad united front-type group which intends to continue its fight and will soon publish a "White Paper" on conditions in barracks and in army stockades. The extreme sensitivity of the ruling class to any democratic threat to its authoritarian military system is shown by the reaction of the regime to the soldiers campaign. Here the regime is demonstrating its big weakness. But the repression will undoubtedly continue, although it has had its limits already revealed. It can be safely said that it will not succeed in stamping out either the soldiers' campaign or the revolutionary left organisations. nor its ultimate targets, the workers' ruggle and their class organisation.
Daniel Elkan