New moves towards

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Patriotic Front leaders Mugabe (left) and Nkomo With scarcely a pause for breath after the general election, the bourgeois politicians and labour bureaucrats of the Fifth Republic have plunged back into their campaign to defend capitalism in France.

The outcome of the election has of course modified their tactics-but it has not made the slightest alteration in their ultimate aims.

The results once again confirmed the conservative bias of the electoral system.

Although the parties of the right now hold a reduced parliamentary majority of 91 seats, they gained only 50.7 of the votes cast, as against 19.3 for the 'Union of the Letti Petty wrangling Statisticians with 'socialist' sentiments can draw some . insolation from • these gures, but they do nothing reveal the political origin ::he results.

For the last six months, he leaders of the Socialist ani Communist Parties have =een engaged in constant setty wrangling over the *actics of their electoral ¿lance and the details of the ¿ass collaborationist 'comon programme' The discussions never ouched on the principal issues at stake : the inclusion ot the bourgeois 'Left' Radicals in an electoral pact with workers' parties, and the signing of a joint programme not only between themselves, but also with this alien class torce.

Any consideration of principles is of course anathema to the participants in such a bloc. But the motives of the Salinists in provoking any form of discussion were far iom obvious.

Certainly they regained attle credibility as being crincipled leadership fighting he Socialists to advance the interests of the working class.

Open divisions

On the other hand, these pens divisions seriously damaged the left's electoral prospects.

The petty bourgeoisienumerically strong and with considerable social weight in France-inevitably follows the leading political class in any society.

Seeing the leaders of the working class locked in futile rivalry with no political iontent, the majority of the smallholders, shopkeepers and others solidly returned candidates of the right.

But so shrewd and experleader Marchais cannot have been blind to these 'dangers' Developments since the second round of the election have clearly revealed the Stalinists' objective.

Characterising the French experience as a 'negative example', a spokesman for the Spanish CP advised his fellow counter-revolutionaries to 'seek out a very broad agreement between the most disadvantaged classes and the middle classes in particular' 'Historic compromise' The obvious 'positive' examples for this course lie in the historic compromise between the Italian CP and Christian Democrats, and in the support giyen by the Spanish CP itself to Suarez' Francoist government.

But Marchais was in no need of this useful tip. Already he had arranged to meet President Giscard d'Estaing to discuss the programme of the new government and the role of the CP.

This exchange is only one of a series. Giscard will also meet Socialist Party leader Mitterand, and has now been visited by both Andre Bergeron (leader of Force Ouvriere, the yellow trade union confederation) and Edmond Maire, head of the CFDT union confederation, which played a prominent part in cementing the 'Union of the Left'.

Demoralisation

This fresh approach is a far at present.

Formerly held together by shared reactionary sentiments that were never clearly detined, the RPR is now developing a programme designed to form the basis of an all-out confrontation between the bourgeoisie and the working class.

This new programme has many parallels with that of the British Tory party.

Chirac, like Thathcer, hopes to exploit the reactionan alliance which would exclude them.

Such isolation would have the unwelcome effect of transforming the CP into a magnet for militant opposition to class collaboration.

The decisive factor in determining the success of these various outflanking manoeuvres will be the French working class.

The general election was a considerable setback for workers internationally, but in no sense can an electoral setback be analysed as a defeat.

The extent of this setback can be controlled only by the action of a principled leadership fighting for the revolutionary socialist programme to advance the interests of all workers.