By Adrien Welsh, member of the LJCQ and National Secretary of the Communist Party of Quebec (PCQ-PCC)
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From December 25 to 29, 1920, thousands of delegates of the French Section of the Workers’ International (2nd International) met at the Salle du Manège in Tours to solve a fundamental question, namely, whether the French Socialists would join the Communist International or “keep the house” of the SFIO. The Congress is divided: the debates are stormy between those who maintain that the conquest of socialism can be won by reforms, that the Party should be open mainly to local notables (among them, Léon Blum and Jules Guesdes), and their opponents (Marcel Cachin, Ludovic-Oscar Frossard, Paul Vaillant-Couturier and Boris Souvarine) for whom socialists must form a resolutely class-based party, composed in its great majority of ideologically-trained workers, experienced in struggle, who adhere to the 21 conditions of membership in the Communist International. This latter group firmly believes that the Second International betrayed the working class, turning it into cannon fodder when, at the beginning of World War I, it voted for war credits and the pound on a silver platter for the imperialist bourgeoisie, all under the pretext of “national unity”.
The Armoury Hall hears one speaker after another. Among them is Clara Zetkin, who arrived from Germany discretely under the nose of the police, gave a poignant speech and sometimes individually convinced the delegates to vote in favour of joining the Communist International. Another young comrade, Nguyen Ai Quoc, exposed the crimes of French colonialism in his country, Indochina, and urged the delegates to vote in favour of joining the Communist International — at that time, the SFIO took ambiguous (if not outright colonialist) positions. Ten years later, Nguyen would become one of the founding figures of the Communist Party of Indochina, and 24 years later, under the name Ho Chi Minh, he became President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
After four days of discussion and debate, membership in the Communist International was decided, 3252 against 1022. The victory was clear, but a split was inevitable. In the aftermath of the Congress, the socialist camp was certainly weakened, but they continued to dominate the electoral arena. For their part, the Communists kept hold of the organ of the Party, L’Humanité, which declared: “Enfin, enfin, enfin, le socialisme français rompre avec les routines purement électorales” (“Finally, at last, French socialism breaks with purely electoral routines“). As revolutionaries, they are aware that their victory must not rely on electoral successes, but rather on daily militancy, agitation, and propaganda, and that at the centre of this work, the communist press occupies an incontestable space. The Communists are convinced that it is with the help of the press, a real weapon in combat, that they are able to convince, little by little, those workers misled by the song of reformist sirens to join the revolutionary camp.
Contrary to what the leaders of the SFIO thought, the creation of the French Communist Party on December 29, 1920 did not represent so much the division of the working class, but rather the creation of a revolutionary party whose interests correspond strictly to those of the working class and its historical struggle for the overthrow of capitalism. In this sense, it is no exaggeration to say that the four days leading up to the creation of the PCF profoundly changed France.
In the first years following its foundation, the PCF engaged and energized important union struggles. Among those long since recorded in the history books, we should highlight the “great strike” of the “Penn Sardins” of Douarnenez where, in 1924, with the help of the communist municipality, the “sardinières” went on strike under the slogan “pemp real a vo” (“five reals it will be“). These women, between the ages of 10 and 80, were exploited mercilessly by their employers, who paid them only 16 cents an hour, sometimes forced to work up to 70 hours straight. A long battle ensued, in which strikers and municipal authorities confronted the employers together, making this economic strike a political issue. This was undoubtedly one of the peculiarities of this strike, but also one of the elements that ensured its success: by the end of this conflict, the womens’ salary would increase to 1 franc per hour, with night work and overtime being paid 50% more.
This example proves that the role of elected communist officials cannot be confined to the office that the bourgeois state prescribes to them. It is not a question of fighting to gain one’s place, but to gain one’s place due to our presence in the struggle, with all of its different facets, to uphold the cause of the workers. This deserves to be emphasized in times when reformist ideas, which advocate “prudence” and which confine elected officials to their offices, are being absorbed by some progressives.
The 1920s were followed by the Great Depression of the 1930s. This marked an opportunity for the French communists to increase their influence among the working class. Communists led and energized major strikes that were at the heart of many social struggles, but above all that pushed the Socialists to agree to ally themselves with the Communists in a United Front against Fascism. In 1936, the Popular Front was victorious against the torpor and apathy of the French bourgeoisie. These few months of left-wing government allowed numerous victories for the working class, but the “France of 200 families” decided that Hitler would now be their ally. The bourgeoisie’s wish for revenge would be granted a few years later when, in 1940, France chose defeat and collaboration under Pétain — some industrialists like Louis Renault eventually paid for collaboration with the Nazi occupiers, but others would escape justice, like Nazi spy Coco Chanel.
However, long before the capitulation of 1940, the PCF had distinguished itself through its impassioned participation in Spain’s International Brigades. Of all countries, France sent the most brigadistas to fight Franco’s fascist terror in what would turn out to be a prologue to World War II.
Many reproach the PCF for having waited until 1942 to join the Resistance — but nothing could be further from the truth! The Communists did not even wait for General de Gaulle’s June 18 Appeal: one day prior, Charles Tillon had called on the people of France, the “people of the factories, fields, stores, offices, merchants, craftsmen and intellectuals, soldiers, sailors, airmen still under arms” to unite in struggle to establish a popular government (and not to join de Gaulle in rebuilding the French colonial empire).
In the maquis of the Resistance, the Communists suffered blows and setbacks, and were often targeted by the Nazi occupying forces with the complicity of the authorities. One of the most famous cases is the 48 killings of October 22, 1941. A few weeks before this date, a Communist militant murdered Karl Holtz, a German officer, in the streets of Nantes. In retaliation, the Nazis sought to execute a list of prisoners and hostages provided to them by the French administration, which had taken great care to ensure that the list included as many Communists and trade unionists as possible. Among those shot, a young man, Guy Môquet, was only 17 years old. Despite this defeat, the Communists did not lose their morale, and continued the Resistance. Even in the concentration camps they continued, where Communists committed carefully-calculated acts of sabotage, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the Kapos.
At the height of the Nazi occupation, it was the Communists who led the battle, even alone. The example of the FTP-MOI is particularly eloquent: while all of the resistance groups retreated into occupied Paris in 1942, a handful of Communist militants of foreign origin led by Missak Manouchian only increased their acts of sabotage and attacks against the fascist occupiers. Although 21 of these militants were arrested and shot in 1944, the Resistance reorganized itself to such an extent that, only a few months later, Paris was liberated under the leadership of Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, a Communist.
At Liberation, the sacrifices of the Communist Party during the War were recognized to such an extent that its influence extended to all spheres of society. The “Rifled Party”, as it is now called, took part in France’s government. Until the Party’s expulsion, Communists insisted that the program of the National Council of Resistance (which employers were reluctant to implement) be respected. They did this, most notably, through major acts of nationalization, the creation of an extended public service (including social security, the work of Ambroise Croizat, a Communist minister) and other progress regarding wages and working conditions. At the same time, the PCF was also promoting major strikes on the ground, forcing employers to give in to workers’ crucial demands. In 1947 alone, there were no less than 3 million strikers in sectors as essential to the national economy as mining, transportation, ports, and so on, and in the same year, the PCF was able to fully mobilize the workers’ movement.
It was this working class solidarity that gave the necessary pretext for the Ramadier government to expel the Communist ministers. But there is another possible explanation: their expulsion allowed the government to engage — without hindrance — in the Indochina War, as well as to sign the Marshall Plan and integrate France into NATO, thus selling off national sovereignty and the independence of the country’s foreign policy.
Even when excluded from the government, the Communists did not hesitate to continue their struggle for sovereignty, peace and socialism. In 1968, workers’ strikes allowed the workers to claim a 35% increase in the minimum wage overnight, as well as a guaranteed 10% increase thanks to the Grenelle Accords, which the Communists, in their unified struggle, were able to win. Then came the struggle against privatization, for the defence of public services, pensions, and other social conquests (it is better to speak of “social conquests,” rather than social gains, because the bosses never truly disarm themselves), but also against the integration of France into the supranational union of European capital.
The PCF has also enjoyed an enviable electoral success, to the point that any “left-wing” formation has had to acknowledge it. Indeed, from the 1920s onward, but especially after 1945, municipalities, departments, regions and other levels of local democracy saw that the Communists were increasingly present. Some cities were nicknamed “red cities” because of the continuous leadership of the Communist Party.
It would be wrong, however, to think that the local victories of the PCF had anything to do with well-conducted campaigns around only small, local issues. Far from it. The campaigns of the PCF, whether at the municipal, regional or national level, were unique in that most of them revolved around general issues, questions of national or even international politics (e.g., opposition to the war in Indochina or Algeria). Communist elected officials were not known for their ability to manage a municipality, but rather for their ability to use municipal power to both strengthen the struggle and use its resources for popular education.
In 1980, 10,000 of the 28,000 PCF cells were “enterprise” cells. This is precisely what makes the PCF a “new” or “different” type of party. Instead of concentrating on winning bourgeois elections, the PCF has always emphasized the development of enterprise cells, understanding that it is from its militancy with the working class as well as from the knowledge of its condition that it derives its strength as a party. In other words, the strength of the PCF has never been its number of elected officials, but rather its privileged links with the CGT and the labour movement in general, its capacity and propensity to introduce politics into labour, and the correctness of its demands, which alone have been able to dialectically link democratic and social issues, while ensuring that the class struggle is at the centre of the struggle.
This is precisely what made the bourgeoisie fear the PCF, but it is also what allowed the PCF to gain the confidence of the masses, and then go on to become an indispensable element of the French political scene.
If the founding of the PCF 100 years ago represents a considerable event in the history of contemporary France, it would be wrong to see it as a solely French event: the creation of the PCF is also an event that would have a worldwide impact, especially in the struggle of colonized peoples towards their emancipation.
Indeed, the PCF is the only mass Communist Party fighting in an imperialist country that holds a colonial empire stretching from Asia to Africa. This particular character makes the PCF a unique Communist Party, since it must combine daily the defense of the interests of the French working class with those of the peoples oppressed by imperialism and colonialism.
Even if some mistakes may have been made, the PCF has been exemplary in the anti-imperialist struggle. No other French political party can boast of having called for mobilization against the colonial wars, for Algeria, for the self-determination of all peoples oppressed by any imperialism – including Guadeloupe, Martinique and the “DOM-TOM” (“Overseas France”) for which the Party has, with the agreement of local progressive and anti-imperialist movements, reiterated their demand for autonomy and self-determination.
No other political party can boast of having supported, among other things, calls for a general strike that literally paralyzed the country, not for wage issues, but simply for peace in Algeria and the self-determination of this North African nation at a time when for other political formations, including socialist ones, only the sound of cannons was acceptable to ensure the maintenance of French Algeria. As a result, the interests of the workers of the colonial powers are in no way opposed to those of the colonized peoples.
In the following years, the PCF continued its struggle for the emancipation of the French working class, understanding that this was intimately linked to the struggle of the peoples against imperialism. Solidarity with Vietnam, against Apartheid, for Palestine, as well as for a sovereign Latin America free from Yankee influence are among the mantras of the French Communists. This is how the French Communist Youth, the MJCF, led the World Federation of Democratic Youth for many years. It is in this way that CGT cadres are at the head of the World Federation of Trade Unions. Thus, the World Council for Peace often met in Paris, despite the most violent provocations of those who refused the slogan of peace and justice: in 1962, a bomb was dropped by an OAS commando at Issy-les-Moulineaux while delegates from all over the world gathered to demand independence from Algeria.
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Congress of Tours is to celebrate one hundred years of class struggle in France. It is to celebrate key figures in the international labour movement like Maurice Thorez and Jacques Duclos. It is to celebrate trade unionists like Henri Krasucki, who never surrendered to the daily imperatives of class struggle. It is to celebrate millions of young people who, through all possible means, fought against colonialism and colonial wars, especially those in Algeria and Indochina. Among them is the heroic example of Raymonde Dien, who did not hesitate to lie down on the rails to prevent a convoy of arms from reaching the port of Marseille before being sent to Indochina. It is also to celebrate artists and poets like Louis Aragon, Paul Éluard, or Pablo Picasso who knew, through their art and their sensitivity, how to take the revolutionary struggle to another terrain. Finally, and probably in a more fundamental way, celebrating the Centennial of the Congress of Tours means celebrating the millions of militants, cell and section leaders, local elected officials, union leaders, and activists in the various democratic and popular organizations who never shy away from their mostly-voluntary militant tasks (leafleting, organizational and administrative responsibilities, and so on). Without them, communist revolutionary ideas could never have come to life and mobilized the working class and the popular masses.
The Congress of Tours should in no way be regarded as a mere historical event. It is first and foremost an event that must be forward-looking. Similarly, to see it only as an event specific to the PCF, as simply the creation of a new political party, is to be ignorant to its wider meaning.
The Congress of Tours is the pivotal moment when the French proletariat decided to equip itself with the weapon it needed, to free itself from the shackles of its economic and ideological exploitation. It is this same weapon that also allowed the French workers to link their struggle with that of the oppressed and colonized peoples worldwide.
Today, it is clear that the revolutionary boldness and firmness of Cachin, Frossard, Zetkin, and Nguyen Ai Quoc, who one hundred years ago did not hesitate to break with social-democratic treason, is more important than ever. While Holland has made the greatest transfer of money from labour to capital thanks to the CICE and other employer “gifts”, while Macron is increasing his own pay by eliminating the wealth tax and taking national education as a public service to the scrap heap, or while democratic rights are being increasingly violated by the recent laws against “separatism”, and allowing police officers to carry out exactions without hindrance; while the labour code is only a shadow of its former self (thank you Mrs. El-Khomri!) and social breakdown continues unabated, the response to this is becoming more and more beautiful.
Just as one hundred years ago, it is this same audacity — that which allowed thousands of delegates to break with the reformism and betrayal of the SFIO — that prompts us to look ahead. Today more than ever, our struggle is ideological, social, and political. Today more than ever, a resolutely class-based Communist Party, which concedes nothing to the ruling class and is resolutely oriented towards workers’ struggles, is the single indispensable tool for the working class to earn its complete emancipation.
Longue vie au Congrès de Tours!
Vive l’internationalisme prolétarien!
Vive le socialisme!
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