French Polls

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The municipal elections of March 13 and 20 have uncovered unhealable wounds in the political body of French capitalism.

The Gaullists of ex-premier bitter battle against the electoral lists of President Giscard d'Estaing with whom in national politics they maintain an increasingly tense coalition.

The battle has centred on Paris where Chirac hopes to become Mayor.

Other sections of the disintegrating Gaullist movement have allied themselves, much i to the delight of the Communist Party leaders, with the popular frontist Union of the Left led by the Communist and Socialist Parties.

PROBLEMS

The elections have also revealed problems for the Union of the Left.

Aside from the opportunistic jostling for power between the CP and SP leaders, they have been Working olass in reis ce frain the abandon and break with the bourgeois parties (the opposition Gaullists and Left Radicals) in the Union of the Left.

There are increasing demands that instead these parties put forward a slate composed only of workers parties.

This is the political task facing French workers.

They must both destroy the Toastinnary Criscard ative peddled by Socialist. and Communist Parties, and supported by a growing proportion of the capitalist class.

- The way that should be fought for in these elections is by voting for Communist and Socialist Party lists only where these do not contain representatives of the capitalist parties.

Such a vote should be seen as part of a campaign in all working class organisations to force the CP and SP leaders to break from their capitalist allies.

We believe that this task is in no way changed by the presence in many cities of a list of candidates put up by the 'For Socialism —For Workers' Power' alliance of the "Trotskyist' Revolutionary Communist League (section of the 'United' Secretariat of the Fourth International), Lutte Ouvriere and the Maoist Revolutionary Workers' Organisation.

While it would be right to vote for these lists in places where there are capitalist candidates on the CP/SP list and we do not disagree in principle with putting up revolutionary candidates in such an election, the programme of the alliance is based on semiutopian propaganda and does not confront the necessary struggle in the working class to destroy the popular front politics of the Stalinist and reformist leaders.

This is shown up by the completely incorrect position of the 'revolutionary' alliance calling for a vote on the second round for Union of the Left lists BRITAIN 6 issues. 12 issues 24 issues

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Jacques Chirac's Rassemblement pour la Republique are fighting a