We deliver the content of the discussion that we had with a comrade from
the Partisan magazine published by the OCML-Voie-prolétarienne on the
subject of the workers' investigation in general and the publication of
"Before going around the world... " especially. This interview has just
been published in the latest issue of their magazine*. ---- This moment
of exchange, beyond our real and historical differences, was an
opportunity to share our respective points of view on the period without
any sectarianism and in a warm atmosphere. This is rare enough in
today's activist circles for us to highlight it. We thank these comrades
for contacting us and coming to meet us.
Before going around the world, take a tour of the workshop...
Workers' survey, 2017-2023
It's a truly atypical book in the activist world which has just been
published by Acratie. It is the work of the "Groupe Communiste
Anarchiste de Boulogne-sur-mer", which has published the newspaper "La
Mouette Enragée" since 1992. It can be found in some activist
bookstores, or order it at the following address La Mouette Enragée BP
403, 62206 Boulogne-sur-mer cedex.
It is an in-depth investigation, carried out over several years, in the
sectors of the working class and the proletariat, mainly in the
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. There we find the medical sector and its
growing integration into the business plan of global capitalism (EHPAD,
ambulances, midwives, etc.), Uber-Eats delivery people, logistics
(Amazon, La Redoute, Verbaudet), call centers , the agri-food industry,
SMEs and temporary employment, etc. These are field surveys, with
interviews, all very rich.
Such a book could not let us remain indifferent. On the one hand because
it reaffirms the centrality of workers in the political project, on the
other hand because it starts from the investigation, which is one of the
key points of our reference to Maoism: as Mao Zedong said, "that whoever
has not carried out the investigation has no right to speak." This is
the primary basis of the mass line, and therefore of the possibility of
communist political intervention among the masses and among the advanced
elements.
And this book is of great importance for understanding the developments
of the working class in an imperialist country like ours. And that's why
we went to meet them in Boulogne, to interview them, to better
understand their work and their project. The interview is below,
proofread by them.
Of course, we do not share the political orientation of these comrades
(and this is clear from reading the interview), in particular what we
can call the cult of revolutionary spontaneity, that is to say research
proletarian and worker sectors which will spontaneously be at the
forefront of a future social revolution. We are not going to repeat here
all the elements of our positions, let us recall in particular that if
we want to rely on all the embryos of revolutionary consciousness and
practice of the working class against its exploitation, we affirm
without hesitation that it is spontaneously reformist, consciousness
being also - and mainly - the reflection of the submission of labor
power to the capitalist market, competition between workers and search
for the "best price" of this particular exchange value described by Marx
a long time ago . We refer our readers to the documents of our
organization, and to our political platform.
Nevertheless, we have real convergences with "The Enraged Seagull",
beyond rage! This proletarian concern, this search for an understanding
of reality beyond clichés, and as we have said, working-class
centrality. A book to absolutely read, to discuss, to enrich, to criticize.
1- What is the importance for you of working-class centrality, how do
you see the difference between working class and proletariat?
Without of course going back to the restructurings of the end of the
1970s, it seemed necessary to us to take stock after years of repeated
and cumulative defeats around "the question of work" posed at the class
level: whether national mobilizations around the breakdown of pensions
or the "Labor Law", attacks against social rights, unemployment
insurance, etc.
We think that the reasons for these setbacks, suffered in the interval
between 1995 and today, are not only linked to questions of strategies
or union mobilizations, but also to a profound modification of class
composition: understand why certain sectors are mobilizing and others
not, or very little...
We have observed a profound change in the typology of jobs in recent
decades, with a fall in industrial employment and a massive transfer of
the workforce to services and a rise in precarious employment in
multiple forms...
Now, to answer your question simply and somewhat schematically, we place
in the "working class" category those individuals who carry out
productive work in the sense in which Marx defines it in the manuscripts
of 1861-63(1), i.e. that is to say exploited work which in the
capitalist sense of the term produces surplus value... and in "the
proletariat" those who sell their labor power but do not necessarily
exchange it for capital... A person who works in quality of AESH(2) in
the public sector, if we have to take a concrete example.
2- What is the approach of the investigation, how do you see the
contradictions within the class (men/women, French/immigrants, etc.)?
You are right, the specific problems of female workers are rarely
addressed! However, the survey feedback and testimonials that we have
collected in the healthcare sectors, call platforms, mail order sales,
and even in the food industry mainly come from women. As we stated in
the foreword, this book is a sketch that calls for getting back to work
on the profession, which we are certainly going to do. We have also been
criticized for not addressing the issue of housing or that of
consumption or lifestyle...
We deliberately chose to focus on places and times of exploitation and
not on those of reproduction. An assumed choice and which offers us the
opportunity in the times to come to open the projects which have not been...
You are also right about the place given to immigrant workers in the
survey. Do not think that we are avoiding the question, we were very
involved from 1999 to 2005 on this ground in the Calais region, on a
class position and always in relation to this question of work, but in
its international dimension, this time . We drew up an assessment which
was published in a collective book(3). The limitation that we highlight
also comes from the fact that in several sectors where we investigated,
immigrant workers are very little present, if not absent. In
Boulogne-sur-mer, for example, people who came from the Maghreb or
Portugal in the 1960s to work in the steelworks left en masse with
return plans associated with the restructuring and liquidation of the
sector... On the other hand, in the Lille region, we met a certain
number of immigrant workers, particularly at La Redoute, but questions
specific to immigration conditions were not addressed.
The rejection of the other, of the foreigner, like xenophobia are indeed
a reality as reported in the book by a testimony from the port sector of
Boulogne-sur-mer. Comrades endured it personally, but it is the result
of a particular identity and working culture which was built without
exogenous input, in small boxes, from generation to generation... A
survival from the day of Today. In the big companies in the port area,
the relationships are different and xenophobia more discreet or absent.
And to answer, finally, your question, of course we must fight racism if
it is expressed within the class, without concession of any kind and
specifically if necessary...
3- What contradictions with the intellectual petite bourgeoisie?
The question of bureaucratization and the place granted to members of
the petty bourgeoisie in the revolutionary movement, in itself, is not
new (4). It has been a problem from the start and will continue to be a
problem even for those who try to free themselves from it with will.
This is not inevitable, but from where we stand, we will answer, a
little easily you will no doubt say, that it is in the course of the
movement and the heart of the movement itself, its strength and from its
dynamics, that the essential elements of counter-power will emerge (or
not!). Spontaneity is an essential factor in our eyes, even if as we
like to add: "spontaneity can be worked on!"»
That said, this question arises in the conditions of the period, that is
to say that the 80s went through this... A cocktail based on industrial
restructuring, broader and longer influence of the school system and its
ideology bourgeoisie on larger strata of society, the rise of
intermediate categories necessary for the conditions of contemporary
exploitation, all this has favored and amplified the phenomenon that you
describe. This is why we chose to only give the floor to rank-and-file
women or men, most of whom did not have a union mandate, or who entered
into a fight against the bureaucracies as during the struggle led at the
time at the Redoute. by "Les Redoutables". Initially, a certain number
of them were in the CFDT, but faced with the collaboration of their
leader during the social plan, they seceded. Since then, it must still
be noted that certain leaders of this movement have integrated other
union structures to "continue the fight", with sometimes surprising
concessions made to co-management... This is also the case for the women
of Vertbaudet, in initially not unionized, but who mainly joined the CGT
which organized the strike and then the negotiations.
4- Marxism and communism how to investigate political consciousness, in
the broad sense?
Obviously the question is political and revolutionary. Several times we
refer to Tronti at the beginning of the book, even though as you know,
we are absolutely not Leninists. Tronti states in one of his latest
works that: "...without a working class, there is no politics!» We do
not interpret it in the same way as him, since he was a senator, but his
statement says it all, namely that without the presence and intervention
of the working class, nothing is fundamentally possible! Now, this
notion of "consciousness" has not remained in the background, but it is
the "jaw-breaking" question par excellence, all the more so when the
workers' movement is going through, as is currently the case, a deep
crisis. In our opinion, consciousness is a category to be handled with
caution because it involves a psychological dimension induced in the
relationship and the transition from the personal to the collective and
vice versa. And the investigation is carried out on a case-by-case
basis, which is one of its limitations. Except, in moments of strong
conflict where it then takes another turn...
5- What perspectives does this book and this investigation have?
We will continue our journey and the investigation at the same time, for
all the reasons and the inadequacies that you have rightly raised. We
are just starting to talk about our work around us, and want to discuss
it as widely as possible and thus encourage meetings. And in the state
of mind that you evoke in your introduction, that is to say outside of
any sectarianism! Also, this survey is an opportunity to make contacts
in key sectors where tomorrow, perhaps, issues will arise during a
social movement (strikes, blockades, etc.). We often lack time and space
when a conflict breaks out, as the proletarians are increasingly
fragmented. The survey, beyond being an analysis tool, also proves to be
a tool at the service of the class struggle, to organize at the
grassroots level.
Boulogne-sur-mer, Lille, Marseille.
04/20/2024.
----------
(1)Theories on surplus value. (Book IV of Capital).
(2)AESH: Supporting students with disabilities.
(3) From Sangatte to Coquelles. Situation and interventions (1999-2004).
https://lamouetteenragee.noblogs.org/files/2017/05/sangatte-coquelles.pdf
(4)Whether we agree or not with the conclusions he draws, J.W. Mahkaïski
had posed the problem in his own way at the end of the 19th century.
* To know more:
OCML-VP: contact@ocml-vp.org
BP 133 - 93213 Saint-Denis La Plaine cedex
The OCML-VP website: http://ocml-vp.org
The comrades of the OCML-VP also run the site "Where is the CGT going?"»
which we recommend consulting: http://ouvalacgt.over-blog.com
Published in Workers' survey, Class society
https://lamouetteenragee.noblogs.org/post/2024/06/05/discussion-avec-les-camarades-de-la-revue-partisan-a-propos-de-lenquete-ouvriere
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
the Partisan magazine published by the OCML-Voie-prolétarienne on the
subject of the workers' investigation in general and the publication of
"Before going around the world... " especially. This interview has just
been published in the latest issue of their magazine*. ---- This moment
of exchange, beyond our real and historical differences, was an
opportunity to share our respective points of view on the period without
any sectarianism and in a warm atmosphere. This is rare enough in
today's activist circles for us to highlight it. We thank these comrades
for contacting us and coming to meet us.
Before going around the world, take a tour of the workshop...
Workers' survey, 2017-2023
It's a truly atypical book in the activist world which has just been
published by Acratie. It is the work of the "Groupe Communiste
Anarchiste de Boulogne-sur-mer", which has published the newspaper "La
Mouette Enragée" since 1992. It can be found in some activist
bookstores, or order it at the following address La Mouette Enragée BP
403, 62206 Boulogne-sur-mer cedex.
It is an in-depth investigation, carried out over several years, in the
sectors of the working class and the proletariat, mainly in the
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. There we find the medical sector and its
growing integration into the business plan of global capitalism (EHPAD,
ambulances, midwives, etc.), Uber-Eats delivery people, logistics
(Amazon, La Redoute, Verbaudet), call centers , the agri-food industry,
SMEs and temporary employment, etc. These are field surveys, with
interviews, all very rich.
Such a book could not let us remain indifferent. On the one hand because
it reaffirms the centrality of workers in the political project, on the
other hand because it starts from the investigation, which is one of the
key points of our reference to Maoism: as Mao Zedong said, "that whoever
has not carried out the investigation has no right to speak." This is
the primary basis of the mass line, and therefore of the possibility of
communist political intervention among the masses and among the advanced
elements.
And this book is of great importance for understanding the developments
of the working class in an imperialist country like ours. And that's why
we went to meet them in Boulogne, to interview them, to better
understand their work and their project. The interview is below,
proofread by them.
Of course, we do not share the political orientation of these comrades
(and this is clear from reading the interview), in particular what we
can call the cult of revolutionary spontaneity, that is to say research
proletarian and worker sectors which will spontaneously be at the
forefront of a future social revolution. We are not going to repeat here
all the elements of our positions, let us recall in particular that if
we want to rely on all the embryos of revolutionary consciousness and
practice of the working class against its exploitation, we affirm
without hesitation that it is spontaneously reformist, consciousness
being also - and mainly - the reflection of the submission of labor
power to the capitalist market, competition between workers and search
for the "best price" of this particular exchange value described by Marx
a long time ago . We refer our readers to the documents of our
organization, and to our political platform.
Nevertheless, we have real convergences with "The Enraged Seagull",
beyond rage! This proletarian concern, this search for an understanding
of reality beyond clichés, and as we have said, working-class
centrality. A book to absolutely read, to discuss, to enrich, to criticize.
1- What is the importance for you of working-class centrality, how do
you see the difference between working class and proletariat?
Without of course going back to the restructurings of the end of the
1970s, it seemed necessary to us to take stock after years of repeated
and cumulative defeats around "the question of work" posed at the class
level: whether national mobilizations around the breakdown of pensions
or the "Labor Law", attacks against social rights, unemployment
insurance, etc.
We think that the reasons for these setbacks, suffered in the interval
between 1995 and today, are not only linked to questions of strategies
or union mobilizations, but also to a profound modification of class
composition: understand why certain sectors are mobilizing and others
not, or very little...
We have observed a profound change in the typology of jobs in recent
decades, with a fall in industrial employment and a massive transfer of
the workforce to services and a rise in precarious employment in
multiple forms...
Now, to answer your question simply and somewhat schematically, we place
in the "working class" category those individuals who carry out
productive work in the sense in which Marx defines it in the manuscripts
of 1861-63(1), i.e. that is to say exploited work which in the
capitalist sense of the term produces surplus value... and in "the
proletariat" those who sell their labor power but do not necessarily
exchange it for capital... A person who works in quality of AESH(2) in
the public sector, if we have to take a concrete example.
2- What is the approach of the investigation, how do you see the
contradictions within the class (men/women, French/immigrants, etc.)?
You are right, the specific problems of female workers are rarely
addressed! However, the survey feedback and testimonials that we have
collected in the healthcare sectors, call platforms, mail order sales,
and even in the food industry mainly come from women. As we stated in
the foreword, this book is a sketch that calls for getting back to work
on the profession, which we are certainly going to do. We have also been
criticized for not addressing the issue of housing or that of
consumption or lifestyle...
We deliberately chose to focus on places and times of exploitation and
not on those of reproduction. An assumed choice and which offers us the
opportunity in the times to come to open the projects which have not been...
You are also right about the place given to immigrant workers in the
survey. Do not think that we are avoiding the question, we were very
involved from 1999 to 2005 on this ground in the Calais region, on a
class position and always in relation to this question of work, but in
its international dimension, this time . We drew up an assessment which
was published in a collective book(3). The limitation that we highlight
also comes from the fact that in several sectors where we investigated,
immigrant workers are very little present, if not absent. In
Boulogne-sur-mer, for example, people who came from the Maghreb or
Portugal in the 1960s to work in the steelworks left en masse with
return plans associated with the restructuring and liquidation of the
sector... On the other hand, in the Lille region, we met a certain
number of immigrant workers, particularly at La Redoute, but questions
specific to immigration conditions were not addressed.
The rejection of the other, of the foreigner, like xenophobia are indeed
a reality as reported in the book by a testimony from the port sector of
Boulogne-sur-mer. Comrades endured it personally, but it is the result
of a particular identity and working culture which was built without
exogenous input, in small boxes, from generation to generation... A
survival from the day of Today. In the big companies in the port area,
the relationships are different and xenophobia more discreet or absent.
And to answer, finally, your question, of course we must fight racism if
it is expressed within the class, without concession of any kind and
specifically if necessary...
3- What contradictions with the intellectual petite bourgeoisie?
The question of bureaucratization and the place granted to members of
the petty bourgeoisie in the revolutionary movement, in itself, is not
new (4). It has been a problem from the start and will continue to be a
problem even for those who try to free themselves from it with will.
This is not inevitable, but from where we stand, we will answer, a
little easily you will no doubt say, that it is in the course of the
movement and the heart of the movement itself, its strength and from its
dynamics, that the essential elements of counter-power will emerge (or
not!). Spontaneity is an essential factor in our eyes, even if as we
like to add: "spontaneity can be worked on!"»
That said, this question arises in the conditions of the period, that is
to say that the 80s went through this... A cocktail based on industrial
restructuring, broader and longer influence of the school system and its
ideology bourgeoisie on larger strata of society, the rise of
intermediate categories necessary for the conditions of contemporary
exploitation, all this has favored and amplified the phenomenon that you
describe. This is why we chose to only give the floor to rank-and-file
women or men, most of whom did not have a union mandate, or who entered
into a fight against the bureaucracies as during the struggle led at the
time at the Redoute. by "Les Redoutables". Initially, a certain number
of them were in the CFDT, but faced with the collaboration of their
leader during the social plan, they seceded. Since then, it must still
be noted that certain leaders of this movement have integrated other
union structures to "continue the fight", with sometimes surprising
concessions made to co-management... This is also the case for the women
of Vertbaudet, in initially not unionized, but who mainly joined the CGT
which organized the strike and then the negotiations.
4- Marxism and communism how to investigate political consciousness, in
the broad sense?
Obviously the question is political and revolutionary. Several times we
refer to Tronti at the beginning of the book, even though as you know,
we are absolutely not Leninists. Tronti states in one of his latest
works that: "...without a working class, there is no politics!» We do
not interpret it in the same way as him, since he was a senator, but his
statement says it all, namely that without the presence and intervention
of the working class, nothing is fundamentally possible! Now, this
notion of "consciousness" has not remained in the background, but it is
the "jaw-breaking" question par excellence, all the more so when the
workers' movement is going through, as is currently the case, a deep
crisis. In our opinion, consciousness is a category to be handled with
caution because it involves a psychological dimension induced in the
relationship and the transition from the personal to the collective and
vice versa. And the investigation is carried out on a case-by-case
basis, which is one of its limitations. Except, in moments of strong
conflict where it then takes another turn...
5- What perspectives does this book and this investigation have?
We will continue our journey and the investigation at the same time, for
all the reasons and the inadequacies that you have rightly raised. We
are just starting to talk about our work around us, and want to discuss
it as widely as possible and thus encourage meetings. And in the state
of mind that you evoke in your introduction, that is to say outside of
any sectarianism! Also, this survey is an opportunity to make contacts
in key sectors where tomorrow, perhaps, issues will arise during a
social movement (strikes, blockades, etc.). We often lack time and space
when a conflict breaks out, as the proletarians are increasingly
fragmented. The survey, beyond being an analysis tool, also proves to be
a tool at the service of the class struggle, to organize at the
grassroots level.
Boulogne-sur-mer, Lille, Marseille.
04/20/2024.
----------
(1)Theories on surplus value. (Book IV of Capital).
(2)AESH: Supporting students with disabilities.
(3) From Sangatte to Coquelles. Situation and interventions (1999-2004).
https://lamouetteenragee.noblogs.org/files/2017/05/sangatte-coquelles.pdf
(4)Whether we agree or not with the conclusions he draws, J.W. Mahkaïski
had posed the problem in his own way at the end of the 19th century.
* To know more:
OCML-VP: contact@ocml-vp.org
BP 133 - 93213 Saint-Denis La Plaine cedex
The OCML-VP website: http://ocml-vp.org
The comrades of the OCML-VP also run the site "Where is the CGT going?"»
which we recommend consulting: http://ouvalacgt.over-blog.com
Published in Workers' survey, Class society
https://lamouetteenragee.noblogs.org/post/2024/06/05/discussion-avec-les-camarades-de-la-revue-partisan-a-propos-de-lenquete-ouvriere
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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