The bourgeois world is seeing red. Can you imagine, the idea of taxing the super-rich a little bit is gaining ground and the Zucman tax has reportedly been approved by 86% of respondents! And, to add insult to injury, one of these wealthy people’s loyal servants, former President Sarkozy, has just been sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy!
According to the Medef (the national confederation of French employers) and many bourgeois politicians, the country is under the thumb of red judges and “far-left” economists. How ridiculous and revolting!
Do you know of a single person sentenced to prison who’s been invited to speak out in the press like Sarkozy has done? Since his conviction, his lawyers have invested television sets claiming the decision is unfair and part of a conspiracy. Even better, some of the top politicians and media are rising up to save Private Sarkozy, as if this were a new Dreyfus affair!
Sarkozy and Le Pen have been at the forefront in demanding tougher justice. And whatever they're saying today, courts are much harsher on workers, the poor and young people from working-class neighborhoods than they are on big business owners and politicians. Is it an injustice to be held in custody before appeal? Of course not. There are currently more than 20,000 people in pretrial detention, awaiting trial. Why should Sarkozy and Le Pen benefit from special treatment?
Big business owners are displaying the same arrogance. They are crying out against plundering on the pretext that the government might ask them to contribute, just a little, to repay the debt.
The Medef has even called for a day of employer protest on October 13. But don't worry, there will be no street demonstrations, no marches of Dior-branded yellow vests and black blocs in Hermès balaclavas, just a bosses' meeting.
Capitalists are doing well, very well indeed! They've never concentrated so much money in their hands. The fortune of the top 500 bourgeois families in our country has multiplied by 12 in less than thirty years. It has risen from under 100 billion euros in 1996 to 1,128 billion euros today.
They’ve amassed these fortunes by exploiting workers and making record profits in recent years. And they’ve topped them off by obtaining tax breaks and the right to plunder state coffers like never before. With the 211 to 270 billion euros in public aid they’ve cashed in, without any control or compensation, they are the ones who have increased the debt.
Far from inspiring pity, the bourgeois class holds all the levers of power. It has governments, state administrations and the overwhelming majority of politicians in its pocket. It has the police and the army on its side. The same is true of the judiciary, most of whom come from its ranks and are attached to the bourgeois order. And with the newspapers, television channels and social networks it has purchased, it has power in the media and pours out its propaganda 24/7.
All those wealthy exploiters and parasites don't like being criticized, and even less so, to see some of their own people end up in jail. But above all, they're defending their own interests: they want to keep on raking in money, despite the debt, the crisis of their system, the fierce trade war, and the ever-increasing sound of marching boots. And they will do whatever it costs to make sure that workers, pensioners, the unemployed and the sick accept the sacrifices they demand.
It's this employer policy that Lecornu must put into practice. If he fails to form a majority and a government, the task will fall to his successor.
Therefore, workers must organize a major counter-offensive. This is what those who mobilized on September 10 and 18 began to do. We must find a way to continue the fight.
After rushing to Matignon on September 24, the trade union confederations faced the fact that Lecornu had nothing in reserve but blows for workers. That's why they’re calling for a new mobilization on Thursday, October 2. We must seize this opportunity to make ourselves heard, at least as much as the bosses.
Today, the bourgeoisie is crying out before it has even received the blows it deserves. But the time will come when workers will have the determination to wrest its ill-gotten wealth and knock it off its pedestal. And on that day, yes indeed, the bourgeoisie will have a good reason to be scared to death!
Nathalie Arthaud