Intervention of the French Communist Party by Denis Duvot

Dear friends, dear comrades,

First of all, I would like to thank you on behalf of the French Communist Party (FCP) for your invitation and the warm welcome you have accorded us. These relations are an integral part of our life, as contacts between all the communist and progressive parties in Europe and throughout the world make it possible to discuss, exchange experiences, and take joint initiatives. We have already done this and must go on doing so.

This meeting is being held within the framework of the year 1998, in which we mark the 80th anniversary of the foundation of your Party and the 150th anniversary of the Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx and Engels.

This brilliant text was and still is today for millions of men and women, a guide to building a society different from what they are, unfortunately, living in today.

The twentieth century will soon come to an end. Various ideologues are developing the idea that, together with this century, communist ideals will also die. This is not the feeling of those of us who are living in France. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Of course the failure (from which we must go on drawing lessons) of the experiments that were taking place in the countries of Eastern Europe and in some other countries might be used to support this opinion.

But the reality is different.

In France, the country of the Revolution in 1789, the idea profoundly held by the majority of our population is that capitalism, ultra-liberalism, should be rejected and that it has no future.

A recent poll indicates this phenomenon. It was published in our newspaper, l’Humanite.

When French men and women were asked what they felt about the capitalist economic system and the way it operates today, 53% replied that they felt fear and rebellion.

Another question was also asked about the capitalist system. "What opinion is closest to yours?" to which 46% of the population, i.e. almost a majority, replied that they hoped that it would either change radically or be profoundly reformed.

Yes, today in a country like France, the search for a prospect other than capitalism and ultra-liberalism is high on the agenda as the 21st century dawns.

We French communists are not surprised by this. If we were, we would find it hard to understand what has been going on here in our country for the past year.

In June 1997, it was the majority’s rejection of the ultra-liberalism extolled by the right-wing that brought to power the plural left, among which was the FCP after a broad consultation with its members.

Our presence in this left-wing majority government has not been constituted as a supplementary force but as a relay between the citizens and the authorities. And this relay is heading in the right direction, i.e. expressing aspirations and putting forward proposals and solutions for discussion.

A year later we need to take a good look at what we’ve done. In our opinion, the left can and must succeed. It can succeed because it has the support of millions of men and women who do not want a right-wing policy of social regression and the dispute of their social gains. Also, it must certainly succeed because otherwise the door will be open to any extremist adventures, such as from the far right.

Please permit me a few remarks on this subject.

After the great struggles of November and December of 1995, we could see great social movements coming into the limelight of French life. The characteristic of these movements, apart from the legitimate rebellion against the reversal of social gains, against unemployment and exclusion, was to raise the issue dynamically of the need for capital to loosen its stranglehold, as manifested in the criteria of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe.

We believe that the social movement on which the left relied in its victory against the right-wing provides the opportunity for an experiment by the joint forces of the left in our country today. It has stimulated action by the government, such as the important law to reduce working time to 35 hours a week, a demand that the French Communist Party has been upholding for many years now. This law was recently passed in Parliament, but will constitute the object of a real fight between workers and management.

We believe that the government must go ahead further and must reach a new stage in progressive reforms. This is a condition necessary to achieve a change favourable to our people. And this is why it must hit at the very heart of the system, at financial capitalism. We also believe that the structural reforms that we would like for France will help foster an in-depth reorientation of European policy in the direction of real social progress and a policy of peace and security for the entire continent.

Within this context, after the regional and cantonal elections last March, we initiated initiatives along three lines aiming to build a majority dynamic for change.

First, there was reflection on ten key points in a political plan that will make it possible for the Left to succeed. These essential points start from the fight for jobs and include questions related to education and to Europe.

The second was to develop the citizens’ intervention in politics, helping to ensure that this is not a matter for just a few, but for all. This is the meaning of our campaign on what we call the citizen’s places.

And the third was the need for a communist perspective which will include better understanding of the role, weight and utility of the Communist Party in such social stakes.

I repeat. If there is a spectre that haunts ruling circles today it is that something may stand in the way of ultra-liberalism. For us, communism is something profoundly new, even after the fall of the Berlin wall. It is preserving intact our will to be the vehicle of the rebellion against the injustice, violence, and sufferings in the society, and at the same time being absolutely convinced that we can and must change the world and the society.

These are questions that are challenging but interesting, and that attract people whenever we organise initiatives around this theme.

Last week in Paris we experienced an intense moment on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Manifesto, when we participated in an international colloquium on the occasion of this anniversary at Marx Place. More than 1500 people, intellectuals, researchers, political leaders, trade unionists, and representatives of mass organisations took part in it, representing more than 60 countries.

The quality of the discussions was acknowledged by all. We are proud to have contributed particularly and strongly to this, because links were established and will be developed, we believe, in the weeks and months to come.

Another source of appreciation was the planning of an initiative on the 6th of June in Paris which will rally many thousands of people.

What we propose is very broad.

Communism: What history? What timeliness? What prospects? These are three questions which we hope to raise before 5000 people.

Historians, witnesses of previous periods will contrast their knowledge and evaluations on the origins, the raison d’etre, the developments of the French Communist Party together with its great moments and its failures.

Those who contributed to the social and citizens movement, personalities from the world of creation, culture, and of course politics, will bring us their views about reality and what’s happening in society and give us their opinion about the timeliness, about the goal of human emancipation, and about the real surpassing of capitalism which communism constitutes.

You can see, after 150 years, that the flame of the Manifesto lives deeply inside us. Not looking at the past, but starting from the past, we propel it rapidly into the future incorporating reality, experience, the history of each man and woman.

What is the reason for the fact that this text still moves us and resonates in us like an call to change the world and to reject the inevitable?

Even though many things have certainly changed since the Manifesto and our world is characterised by the growing globalisation of production and the technological and information revolution, it nonetheless continues to come up against the tendency of the capitalist system to perpetuate its relations of exploitation and dominance which makes working manpower a commodity which can be thrown out and crushed at will. It is the progressive surpassing of this contradiction that is becoming the real world threat to civilisation.

To deal with this we need a multiform intervention, a resolute opening out toward all the forces of resistance which are searching for progressive alternatives, in the broad sense, in the world: communists, socialists, ecologists, believers, pacifists, feminists…

Today’s meeting in Athens on the initiative of the CPG is making its own contribution.

The twentieth century is coming to a close with a strong demand: Capitalism must be overthrown and, to repeat the words of Karl Marx – who was speaking about the proletarians then – today humanity has "a world to win".

Thank you for your attention, and allow me to thank the CPG once more for having invited us to this international Conference.