FRENCH WORKERS SAY, “PAY ATTENTION\"
PARIS, Nov. 7 -- Some two million workers in government and nationalized industries made yesterday a holiday in France -- but a holiday with a message: pay attention to labor's demands]
Gas and electricity went off promptly at eight a.m. in most places and stayed off until five p.m. Government offices were vacant. No mail was distributed, Water pressure went down, Electric trains stayed in the stations, The Paris subway closed its gates to passen-= gers,
Traffic lights went dead -- which didn't contribute to orderliness as automobiles on streets increased abnormally in number, Air traffic was cut forty per cent. Garbage went uncollected. Hospitals took care of only serious and emergency cases. Schools went on recess for the day. .TV fans had to skip their favorite programs,
Some bakeries were in short supply because of reliance on electric mixing machines and gas ovens, Butchers worried as refrigerators warmed up. Restaurants served cold meals, People got unaccustomed work outs because of arrested clevators. Women skipped beauty parlor appointments -- no hair dryers, no lights. A journalist complained about his electric razor not working when he plugged it in.
The absence of electricity and gas, the dip in water pressure and the difficulties in transportation were scarcely conducive to a high rate of production among the millions of workers who were not called out. In eastern France the miners decided to show their approval of the general action by downing tools,
Thus the whole economic life of the SECURay was affected by what is known in French as perturbations.
Such an extensive nation-wide demonstration is not the firstveL its kind and will not likely be the last.
How are such actions to be explained? What do they point to?
WORLD GUTLOOK jalizes in weekly political analysis and interpretation of events for labor, socialist, colonial independence and Negr
Dee
_ For some years -- more exactly since the boom reached its height” -- it has been observable that the layers of workers hitherto viewed as the vanguard, like the metal workers, have engaged in struggles of less and less scope while the workers in the public services, govern= ment offices, etc.3; that is, categories that formerly were the least advanced politically have been demonstrating more and more frequently and, in some cases, going into strike action.
The explanation is obvious, The metal workers, above all the skilled categories, have turned full employment to advantage, winning wage increases without big struggles. In contrast workers in the socalled "civil service" have not been getting much response from their employer, the government. Their wage rates are behind schedule and. consequently they have been driven more and more Trequently and strongly into protest actions. -
These actions -- like the long strike of the miners last spring --demonstrate the mighty potential power of the working class and its capacity to struggle on the economic level. The establishment of the de Gaulle regime, so baneful in the field of political struggle has not greatly affected struggles on the economic level.
This could be a solid base of departure for the workers! movement, Unfortunately the leadership of the workers! unions -- Stalinists, traditional reformists, Catholics -- like the corresponding political leadership do not have the slightest intention of undertak= ing a struggle that might hurt the regime and eventually set in motion revolutionary consequences. The economic struggles are not only divorced from a political perspective of that kind, even as economic struggles they occur only at the lowest level.
Thus a day in which demands are publicized by a stoppage must be viewed as a kind of preparatory mobilization, a kind of test run before engaging in more serious struggles for correspondingly more serious aims.
For the trade-union leaders, such stoppages have a different ‘objective, They want to demonstrate, during negotiations with representatives of the government, that the workers are behind them, They are looking for backing for themselves, and hardly more, in order to take credit for the small increase which the government may grant its employees.
In general, for some years, the workers have responded to these appeals of the frade- -union leaders, but with rather diminishing enthusiasm, They dontt want to disavow their organizations even if they display great timidity. It is not very likely that the government, which does not hide its hope that the workers will leave their organizations out of weariness, will see its wishes realized, The labor market still remains favorable to the employees, At certain times some categories of workers begin strikes almost spontaneously as was the case with the miners last spring -- such will to resist be ing quite unexpected to the leadership of the workers! organizations.
But for the situation to develop more profoundly, for the appear~
ance of more powerful economic confrontations, there must be either a turn in the economic situation itself or big political changes. When these will occur cannot yet be confidently predicted.
RIGHTISTS SUFFER HEAVY