Click on the links to read the first and second parts . --- On the left, there is frequent lament over a "rightward shift in French society," attributing it to the growing success of the National Rally (RN) among the "working classes." But for us anarchists, who still yearn for a social revolution, this expression, coined from France's parliamentary left-right divide, is far from reflecting the enormous social regression underway for the past half-century, a regression not attributable to the "working classes." In the absence of a credible alternative to globalized capitalism, the balance of power remains in favor of the bourgeoisie. This encourages resignation-or it leads to electoral and activist choices that are utterly aberrant in their counterproductive nature. Thus, we see a large segment of the "working classes" voting for the RN as if this party could improve their working or living conditions; and we see a large segment of the far left and the "radicals" supporting, in order to "block" the RN, a republican front that restores virtues to representative democracy.
Social mobilizations in France have all, in recent decades, aimed to preserve gains in the face of attacks from employers and the government; and, apart from the anti-CPE movement (1), they have appeared as defeats because they have not succeeded in stopping the reforms of pensions, social security, the labor code... For about fifteen years we have observed both a reduction in conflict in companies, an increase in police and judicial repression against any challenge to the established order, and, as the presidential elections approach, an increase in social tensions which leads to the "sacred union" against the far right which has become commonplace.
Toulouse poster from the 2020s
The great ideological victory of capitalism
In the immediate aftermath of 1968, putting an end to wage exploitation and all forms of oppression (as well as to commodities, money, advertising, the prison system, etc.) seemed entirely conceivable; experiments in self-management and other forms of relationships besides heterosexuality, couples, and families were therefore attempted. Now, the dream is over: capitalist propaganda, capitalizing on the collapse of the USSR, has succeeded in convincing people that any revolutionary project inevitably leads to totalitarianism and that "liberalism" is insurmountable. The consumer society and its surveillance are widely accepted-it is the limitation of access to commodities (such as gasoline shortages) that provokes indignation, if not panic, and calls for government intervention. Governments and the media advise resilience in the face of future, supposedly "natural" disasters (the idea is to prepare for them, and above all, to rely on decision-makers). Small campaigns against video surveillance have disappeared, while a voluntary "cooperation" in self-surveillance has developed in order to fully "benefit" from digital technology (geolocation is authorized, personal information is posted on "social networks," etc.). The social hierarchy has been reinforced, with the rich getting ever richer and the poor ever poorer (2). Conversely, denunciations of a technobureaucracy at work worldwide have greatly diminished.
Despite the undeniable persistence of social reproduction, the "middle classes" are still presented as potentially accessible to the "working classes" through education or employment. Are these "middle classes" therefore infinitely expandable? In fact, this term encompasses very different realities in terms of income, values, and references; And it is their "lower" strata that are drawing closer to the "working classes," not the other way around.
The evolution of work and the pervasive influence of digital tools are reducing direct confrontations of viewpoints throughout society-discussions are happening less and less around the office coffee machine, on public transport, or at home. The proclaimed "globalization of trade" masks the increased isolation of individuals, which fosters demands for assistance from the authorities.
Finally, all parties are operating within an electoral logic that pushes them onto their competitors' turf: the National Rally (RN) focuses its discourse on so-called "left-wing" themes (such as feminism and environmentalism), while both the right and the left have adopted those of security and immigration. And, to win the favor of rural "working classes," many politicians claim to have some peasant ancestry and a desire to "connect with the people."
The high rate of abstention in many "democratic" states highlights a growing distrust among citizens towards institutions and political leaders; it renders them as illegitimate as regimes established through electoral fraud or a coup d'état. But proponents of the parliamentary system strive to mask this lack of representativeness: after an election, one often has to search for the number of abstentions because the media now only report on votes cast. Claiming, as they did, that Jordan Bardella was supported by "54% of workers" in the 2024 European elections is false, since one in two workers did not vote then - not to mention workers not registered to vote, or without the right to vote because they are considered "foreigners." Abstention is now the primary option for the "working classes."
Left-wing, purely bourgeois policies
While the left is largely discredited among the working class for having failed to meet their expectations, its leaders cannot be said to have "betrayed" them, as their political orientations reflect those of the bourgeois strata to which they generally belong.
In the bourgeoisie, not pursuing higher education is synonymous with social failure-not so in the working class. And since members of this working class value work and individual autonomy, they have no desire to be "victims" to be "saved," but rather to be agents of their own lives. For the workers in declining rural areas presented in the first part of this text, what marks social success is being able to support oneself by entering the job market early, knowing how to do odd jobs and helping each other out with friends, acquiring a house, and having children-a viewpoint shared by other manual laborers (farmers or fishermen). This valorization of work reinforces a reactionary, right-wing, even far-right ideology that vilifies those considered "welfare recipients"-that is, living off the backs of "the France that gets up early," in the words of President Sarkozy in 2007.
Left-wing leaders are predominantly republican, nationalist, militaristic, security-focused, and pro-nuclear... just like those on the right or in the center, but to varying degrees that distinguish them from one another. Their eagerness to convince us that the "rightward shift of French society" is solely due to the National Rally vote certainly reflects the importance they place on managing representative institutions.
As the Arctic Flowers collective writes (3), the left denounces only the evils of "neoliberalism", "by criticizing reactionary big bosses (Bolloré, Stérin, Musk or Soros) to divert the fundamental critique of capitalism and leave the nice left-wing bosses, small or large, in peace"; it defends "the democratic bourgeois order which, if it is less spectacular and less violent than fascism, is often more effective in preserving the existing order and reproducing daily life"; it demands "a more humane management of Capital: community policing, capitalism with a human face, better-equipped detention centers, more prison places to address "prison overcrowding"".
The left, in effect, wants nothing more than "equal opportunities" for "deserving" disadvantaged youth, a reduction in inequalities between "minorities" and the majority, and better support from public authorities for people suffering discrimination or violence. It advocates a "responsible" and "ethical" approach to the conditions of production, in order to save the planet or future generations. It launches campaigns against the "fascistization" of the media and publishing industries, which perpetuate the illusion of objective information or the idea that the situation is unprecedented (4), etc.
Such choices have suited the capitalist system since the Mitterrand years, and they are not out of place in a political field teeming with managers, civil servants, and members of the liberal and intellectual professions (including the winning trio of lawyers, doctors, and teachers). For institutions are made for the dominant classes: like schools, they serve to maintain their privileges, and therefore to preserve the established order. This is why the quotas established to ensure gender parity are not intended for the "working class."
Left-wing leaders take an interest in the "working class" in a demagogic and opportunistic way. We saw their timidity towards the Yellow Vest movement, which constituted a moment of massive politicization, expressed a desire for direct democracy, and remained popular until its demise. The CGT and La France Insoumise (LFI) only adopted the "We are here!" slogan in demonstrations, to appease their base, once they no longer feared this competition.
Sign against pension reform, in Poitiers in 2023
Revolutionaries in trouble
The "good people of the left" present at union "days of action" are experiencing little generational renewal, as evidenced by the number of older people in their marches - young people (especially the "educated" ones) tend to frequent environmental and feminist gatherings.
Union membership has declined sharply in France: the most vulnerable don't join unions; union members find themselves defending gig workers who are sometimes reluctant to enter the workforce; and while there are still employees and blue-collar workers in the leadership of major unions, they are primarily people with permanent contracts or "guaranteed" status, working for large companies. The participation of union members in "social dialogue" with employers, moreover, encourages their colleagues to view them as service providers...
Since the decline of the Communist Party, the CGT (General Confederation of Labour) no longer so much emphasizes the working class and class struggle as drivers of social and political change - it now addresses itself more to salaried employees (its general secretary, Sophie Binet, previously headed the CGT Union of Engineers, Managers, and Technicians...).
Political and union activists readily call themselves "anti-capitalist," but this label reflects less a desire to eliminate ownership of the means of production and the state than a wish to see the profits of big business limited or shareholder dividends reduced. Commitment is frequently confined to "anti-fascist," "decolonial," or anti-patriarchal stances - as if one could get rid of the far right, racism, or male domination without eliminating economic exploitation and social hierarchy. The loss of ideological bearings is visible even in demonstrations, when the slogan "Down with the State, the cops, and the fascists!" replaces "Down with the State, the cops, and the bosses!" (5)... or when groups proudly display the hammer and sickle while claiming to be Maoists or Leninists-so Soviet totalitarianism was an invention of Stalin?
Revolutionary movements are unable to launch independent campaigns, their numbers having dwindled dramatically, which inevitably leads them to follow the agenda of the unions or the elections. Capitalist land development, however, has opened new fronts in the struggle against the appropriation of land and water (projects for mega-reservoirs, "wind farms," factory farms, etc.), particularly in declining areas. And others are expected to emerge, in line with the yellow vests, in reaction to the growing difficulties of daily life in these areas.
But while there were attempts in 2023 to link the mobilization against pension reform with that against megareservoirs, as well as with the riots sparked by Nahel's death, the violence of the repression against them demonstrated the government's determination to prevent the convergence of struggles.
In such a context, the feeling of powerlessness experienced by activists "on the far left" undoubtedly explains, in part, their frequent focus on the "fascist threat": containing the far right seems a less unattainable goal than abolishing wage labor. After each presidential election, Le Pen's defeat is thus celebrated almost as a victory (proof that activism can be effective?), but a temporary one: the watch must remain vigilant, otherwise "next time the National Rally will win."
However, in these circles as well, class affiliation plays a role. This sense of belonging, as we know, is not solely determined by income and social origin: qualifications, type of work (manual or intellectual, skilled or unskilled...) or unemployment, and social circles also play a role. Many activists come from the "middle classes" and are highly educated, living on "odd jobs" or part-time work in sectors other than industry, or even on welfare. They therefore have a distant connection to the "working classes"-hence a tendency to fantasize about the "rioter" rather than the "worker" as a revolutionary subject.
Portrait of Christophe Dettinger wearing a yellow vest, February 17, 2019 in Paris
How long will Capital
continue to consider us mere cattle?
Some telling statistics on the increasing precariousness of work:
A "career path" now most often includes periods of unemployment, training or retraining, and short-term contracts: nine out of ten hires are on fixed-term or temporary contracts.
Manual labor is far from having disappeared, but it has shifted to sectors such as logistics and transportation, and is scattered across small production units. In 2022, INSEE (the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) counted 19.1% manual workers and 26.2% clerical workers in France, representing 45.3% of the total working population.
Nearly half of this working population holds low-paying "subordinate positions," as the service sector is gradually becoming proletarianized.
More than one in four workers experiences some form of job insecurity - a phenomenon that delays young people's independence (in 2021, according to a report by the think tank Terra Nova, nearly 57% of those under 25 in salaried employment were on short-term contracts, temporary work, or apprenticeships, compared to 19% in 1982).
Labor law is circumvented by the transformation of employees into "self-employed workers" - that is, micro-entrepreneurs, 90% of whom earn less than the minimum wage, according to INSEE (the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). Those who register on digital platforms are reminiscent of those who, in the 19th century, were "hired by the day" and "paid by the task." Other forms of work are hidden under the labels of volunteering, civic service, internships, and workfare (a social welfare system conditional on beneficiaries performing work or training in exchange for their benefits - the latest reform of the RSA[French minimum income benefit]imposed 15 hours of work per week on recipients).
Precariousness particularly affects women. One in four families is now a single-parent family, compared to 10% in the 1970s; in 82% of these cases, it is the mother who raises her children alone, and poverty is frequent in these households (40% of their children live in social housing).
Against the far right, class struggle!
In conclusion, what lessons can be drawn from this rather bleak picture?
First, the certainty that weakening the National Rally (RN) would not be enough to "move French society to the right," since its evolution does not stem from a recent shift in ideology towards the right. The immigration measures taken over decades (to tighten the constraints imposed on migrants, their repression, their detention, their deportation, etc.) or the constant strengthening of social control serve the economic objectives pursued by governments of all stripes.
The social anger that currently benefits the RN is, on the one hand, due to the deterioration of employment (see box) and of work (its "loss of meaning") in many economic sectors (6), particularly as a result of technological innovations. The feeling of downward mobility brought about by the loss of the prospect of social mobility through work or education breeds bitterness; However, the RN's discourse provides those who feel such a way to overcome it: denouncing "welfare recipients" ("welfare recipients", immigrants) allows one to mark one's "pride", one's "social position", therefore not to be "degraded" in one's own eyes and those of one's loved ones.
Social anger, on the other hand, stems from the discrediting of a political system (its institutions and personnel) rightly held responsible for this situation, since it defends the interests of the wealthy. The "things were better before" mentality fosters reactionary values (nationalist, racist, etc.) and a retreat into small, protective circles (family, friends) - especially since the constant stream of disinformation and self-centered networks fuel fear, either subtly or by overwhelming people's minds, depending on the circumstances (7).
Furthermore, although opinion-based voting still exists, presidential elections primarily involve either a vote of rejection (benefiting the opponent of the candidate) or a vote of protest (to denounce what is being endured). The vote of rejection benefits either Macron (chosen to ensure the unpopular Le Pen loses) or Le Pen (chosen to ensure the unpopular Macron loses); the vote of protest benefits Le Pen.
Another lesson: the importance given to work, for both material and psychological reasons, makes it a powerful tool for maintaining order - or for creating disorder. Many, of course, expect good pay, social recognition, and personal fulfillment from their work... But for many others, work is primarily a crutch that allows them to stay upright in a precarious environment (regardless of its scale). And the omnipresent propaganda in society about "a job well done," "professional conscience," etc., obviously serves to mask the alienation of the wage-earning condition. However, this propaganda is becoming less and less convincing today, because the feeling of being robots manipulating machines is no longer just the lot of assembly line workers: a mechanic can experience it because he or she must now rely on the diagnosis of an electronic diagnostic tool; A social worker might be leaving because they spend all day ticking boxes on forms without any human contact... The belief that the worst is yet to come is widespread. This has led to job abandonment in sectors such as healthcare and education, where people previously clung to the social value of their work despite constant staff and resource cuts.
Current discontent, however, remains at the level of this individual malaise that leads to depression, disengagement, abstention... or a vote for the National Rally. Contrary to the selfish withdrawal often described as characterizing "modern societies," solidarity between individuals is still present, but it manifests itself primarily at the family level-which facilitates social reproduction-and within the circles one frequents (including activist groups). In rural areas, mutual aid has never disappeared (poverty certainly exists, but people don't sleep on the streets or get stranded for long), and it will once again become a condition for survival in daily life, given the scarcity of healthcare services. And then, solidarity also emerges when repression strikes protesters - the two crowdfunding campaigns created to help the Yellow Vest boxer Christophe Dettinger were a perfect example (the first raised EUR145,000 in two days), but the Paris Judicial Court reacted to this real slap in the face for "justice" by shutting them down (8).
Finally, regarding the charade of the upcoming presidential election, what we wrote after the death of the "neo-fascist" activist Deranque in Lyon on February 21st remains valid (9): "It is in our places of work or living that we must collectively self-organize to resist the far right as well as the proponents of the established order. It is within the framework of social struggles that the response - not anti-fascist, but anti-capitalist - against the bourgeoisie can become widespread, and that we can get rid of the monstrous beast, which is but one of the faces of capitalist barbarity."
Vanina
Notes
1. This movement led, in 2006, to the withdrawal of the "First Employment Contract" which had been passed by Parliament and upheld by the Constitutional Council.
2. According to the INSEE 2025 report, the wealthiest 0.1% of French people earn on average 167 times more than the poorest quarter of households.
3. See, on his blog, "Fascinations - 'Fascist Threat,' 'Fascization,' Antifascism, and Other Democratic Traps to Prevent Revolution" (March 2026).
4. School textbooks on the Paris Commune, or on the Algerian War, and the media empire built by the industrialist Dassault in the 1970s demonstrate the contrary.
5. The slogan "Down with the police state!" suggesting that a state could be non-police, is nevertheless a product of the 1960s and 1970s.
6. The AntiTaff forum (born on Reddit in 2021) reports this "even for highly educated and highly paid Gen Zers" who work, for example, in banking or pharmaceuticals (Le Monde, May 3, 2026).
7. Listen to the podcast "How to Confront Our Collective Fears?" on France Inter (June 16, 2026), with Robert Charvin (Fear, a Political Weapon, Plon, 2019) and Antoine Bristielle (The Entrepreneurs of Fear - When Emotions Govern Us, JC Lattès, 2026).
8. On the government's persistent persecution of him, read "Christophe Dettinger, Yellow Vest on Conditional Freedom," Politis, January 5, 2024.
9. "Down with the monstrous beast and capitalist barbarity!" OCL press release, February 23, 2026 (see oclibertaire.lautre.net).
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4756
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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