Organize the High School Revolt!

OCTOBER 10—For three weeks, France has been rocked by protests pitting high school students against the Macron government and its police thugs. Originating in the minority, working-class quartiers outside of Paris, the protests have demanded massive funding for the miserable, crumbling schools, winning sympathy from teachers, parents and growing numbers of unionized workers.

Facing a mounting financial crisis, the government is determined to put a stop to the struggle, particularly the school blockades. Thousands have been arrested and scores wounded by police, while the media chimes in with a scare campaign against casseurs (rioters). Echoing the government and media is the far-right Rassemblement National, currently in lead position for next year’s presidential election.

Up against a determined enemy, students must prepare for a long struggle and develop a strategy that can tap into the power of the organized working class. As a contribution to that effort, we print below the translation of an October 8 leaflet issued by the Ligue trotskyste de France.

On October 6, the high school student revolt demonstrated its power. The government’s strategy—as it continues to unleash the cops—is to ride out the unrest until the school break, hoping the movement will fizzle out of its own accord. If the movement remains confined to high school students, it will indeed eventually peter out in the face of repression. However, if it broadens until it mobilizes the full power of the working class, it can win, as was the case in 1986 against the Devaquet Law on university reforms and in 2006 against the CPE (First Employment Contract). The whole question is how to broaden the movement.

Révolution Permanente (RP, affiliated with Left Voice in the U.S.) is moving in this direction with its October 7 editorial. They seek ways to organize the struggle by calling for a union action plan and for the high school student movement to adopt an organizational framework: “assemblies, mandated delegates, coordination between high schools and universities.” The movement’s main weakness does indeed lie in its spontaneous nature. But it is necessary to go further. It must establish a unified national structure to sustain the struggle over time. At present, building such a unified high school student organization must be central to the intervention of revolutionaries. We must call on all organizations that support the movement to work together toward this goal!

In the unions, RP calls on members to “demand [from union leaders] a plan to unify the anger and allow it to continue despite the school holidays.” They rightly denounce the bureaucratic sabotage by the inter-union coalition, which has called for a demonstration—but not until November 5. We need a concrete call that resonates with workers and enables them to put pressure on their leaders, especially since a significant portion of the working class is receptive to the government’s propaganda about casseurs and even about the national debt. We must therefore identify which sector is most likely to take the initiative to set the movement in motion in a context where the far right is on the rise and the labor movement is clearly on its knees.

In this case, that sector is clearly the teachers, many of whom took to the streets on October 6. The high school students are literally fighting for their interests. We must fight for an indefinite strike in the education sector. The government fears this prospect and is pre-empting it by closing high schools. To counter this maneuver, strikers must occupy the buildings alongside the high school students.

Ultimately, the reactionary political climate poses serious dangers for high school students. The struggle promises to be long and fierce as it seeks to gradually mobilize broader layers of workers. We must avoid exaggerated optimism that a “Red October” is about to emerge spontaneously from the movement. Dashed hopes can quickly lead to demoralization while further isolating revolutionaries. Instead, we must prepare to sustain the struggle over the long term, which will be possible only if it is unified and centralized and a broad political perspective is adopted.

To achieve this, we need to overcome the obstacle of sectarianism, where each organization tries to hog the spotlight, leading high school students to turn their backs on all of them. A victory for the struggle requires unity against Education Minister Geffray and Macron! And the success of each of our organizations will be measured by our ability to advance the common movement.

• For a unified national organization to lead the revolt!
• For an indefinite education strike!
• High school students: Prepare for a long-term struggle!