The fall of Bayrou – which no worker will regret – has put Macron back in control. Will he appoint yet another prime minister or dissolve the National Assembly?¹ This has sent the political world into a frenzy, but for workers, it won’t change anything fundamental.

Even if it leads to new elections – as both the National Rally (RN) and Unsubmissive France (LFI) demand – and to the formation of a left-wing or far-right government, workers will remain under attack.

Bardella and the RN make no secret of this: they side with the bosses, to whom they have promised to cut the state budget by 100 billion euros. Who will pay for this, if not the workers, through brutal cuts in public services? The RN has already planned to impose three days without pay in the event of sick leave on civil servants, instead of the current one day. And it will attack immigrant workers, who already serve as its scapegoats.

We shouldn’t harbor any illusions about the return of a left-wing government either. The left has never been capable of standing up to big business. Today, it talks about tax justice and claims to want to make the richest pay a little more. But let's not forget that, when Hollande² was in power, he showered them with gifts. And behind the grand statements about “shared efforts” and the symbolic taxation of a handful of rich people, how many more bitter pills will millions of workers have to swallow?

Neither the RN nor the left want to take on big business and force it to return the money it has siphoned off from the state coffers. Neither wants to force them to loosen their grip on workers, to raise wages or hire more people. So let's leave the political posturing in Parliament to the politicians!

The most important thing is what will happen in the workplace and on the streets. Many initiatives will be taken on Wednesday, September 10, expressing the widespread anger against the sacrifices imposed on the working class.

But for this to really start to change the balance of power, workers have to play a central role, and their mobilization must target not only Macron but also those who are behind all these attacks and who profit most from them, that is big business, CAC40 shareholders and the big bourgeoisie.

There is one thing and one thing only that would really worry Macron and the capitalist class he so well represents and that is a growing mobilization in workplaces through discussions, rallies, general assemblies, walkouts and strikes. Because what makes workers strong is how indispensable they are to the big bourgeoisie, in producing its profits and keeping stock prices up.

Through strikes, workers have the ability to hit the bourgeoisie where it hurts most, i.e. in its wallet, and this gives them a weapon more powerful than any online petitions, boycotts or blockades. Workers, millions of whom share the same anger and desire for change, must regain confidence in their own strength.

This is all the more difficult as the trade union confederations are complacent in their inaction, even sabotaging grassroots mobilizations. In fact, they waited more than a month and a half after Bayrou's declaration of war against workers to address them! In the meantime, calls for action on September 10 appeared on social media and all that the big union leaders did was bash them. While some trade union federations and local branches rallied behind the 10th, on the national level the trade union confederations got together to campaign for another date: September 18.

Let this be a lesson for all: to fight back against the bosses’ and government’s attacks we can't rely on union leaders. We have to rise above their attempts to divide us and their desire to control everything.

Workers who want to mobilize don't need anyone's permission. To prevent any union or political takeover, they must organize and lead their own struggle by creating their own action committees.

Yes, it’s high time to hold big business accountable! And not only for the debt – for which it is responsible – but for its anti-worker attacks in general and for its filthy system, that is dragging us into crisis and war.

Nathalie Arthaud