Massive strike wave enaults France

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d'Estaing's blissful vision of renewed capitalist prosperity in France has been blocked in recent weeks by the very material obstruction of thousands of workers in Every region of the country and almost every sector of industry has been flooded by a tide of strikes and occupations that shows little sign of ebbing.

The national railways have been spasmodically paralysed by the action improved condi ema ding improved the Lyon underground more seriously disrupted by a strike that haş continued despite the appeals of the CGT union's Stalinist leaders.

Construction In the Alps, construction work on a massive nuclear energy installation at Malville has been halted for nearly two months by a strike on a claim for increased travel allowances.

After a fortnight on trike, workers in tne mineral water-bottling plant at Vichy returned to work last Thursday having won a wage increase.

Workers in the regional information centres of the government tax derartment recently struck for a week in support of union demands that more jobs be created for youth.

24-hour strikes have virtually halted production in the iron mines of Lorraine, and in the Pompey steelmills. With the threat of 6,100 redundancies in other steel-plants, this action is certain to escalate.

Picket lines

Again in Eastern France, lorry drivers have refused to cross the picket lines of workers in the furniture factories of the Vosges, on strike since June 13.

The collapse of the industrial empire of Marcel Boussac has also had its impact in the Vosges. In a protest campaign to save their jobs, workers from the textile factories blocked main roads for several days.

With the announcement by the court administrators of this vast collection of companies that July's wages would be paid in full, most of the roadblocks were lifted.

But the possibility of occupation has not evaporated, either in these factories or at the offices and printing works of L'Aurore (the daily newspaper formerly owned by Boussac).

These strikes, and the many other scattered actions that breaking out daily, all form part of the militant resistance of workers in France to the ravaging attacks of the capitalist crisis.

Attacked on all sides, workers have been fighting to protect their living standards with wage increases, where they have not been struggling to defend the very existence of their jobs.

A major element in this movement by the proletarat in France has been the involvement of women and immigrant workers.

Both sections receive very low wages and experience the most intolerable working conditions in French industry.

At the same time women have to endure the burden of domestic slavery, while immigrant workers are forced to live in the inhuman conditions of hostels and camps.

But it is these heavily oppressed layers who have come forward most sharply in the recent weeks-not only the immigrant workers at Malville, but above all the workers at Moulinex and Renault.

Of the 11 plants of Moulinex, 8 were occupied as workers throughout the company struck on their demand for a wage increase, far above the government's recommended levels.

The Moulinex factories produce domestic appliThe company has refused to negotiate until the occupations are ended, and at some plants successfully applied to the courts for an eviction order.

But the state and the employers held back on using this power until signs of weakness appeared in the action.

Riot police

The forces of the state showed no such hesitation in dealing with the Renault occupation at Flins. Riot police were called in to remove the strikers from the press-shops, and remained in force for some days. Maintenance workers refused to deal with the machinery until the police were withdrawn.

Once this had been achieved, some 100 strikers re-occupied the press-shops. The last 30 were finall ejected on June 27, wh'n management threw in ^00 eager scabs and reactio iary forces, armed with iron bars.

The core of the strike has been immigrant workers from North Africa, who have been fighting on a whole range of demands to improve their abysmal conditions.

Wage claim

Their claims-on the management abuse of the grievance procedures, for

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A resolution calling for a workers' inquiry S, Wednesday 5 July, 1978