A-Infos (en) France, OCL Lamouette Enragee: Discussion with comrades from the Partisan magazine about the workers' survey (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

We deliver the content of the discussion that we had with a comrade from 
the Partisan magazine published by the OCML-Voie-prolétarienne on the 
subject of the workers' investigation in general and the publication of 
"Before going around the world... " especially. This interview has just 
been published in the latest issue of their magazine*. ---- This moment 
of exchange, beyond our real and historical differences, was an 
opportunity to share our respective points of view on the period without 
any sectarianism and in a warm atmosphere. This is rare enough in 
today's activist circles for us to highlight it. We thank these comrades 
for contacting us and coming to meet us.

Before going around the world, take a tour of the workshop...
Workers' survey, 2017-2023

It's a truly atypical book in the activist world which has just been 
published by Acratie. It is the work of the "Groupe Communiste 
Anarchiste de Boulogne-sur-mer", which has published the newspaper "La 
Mouette Enragée" since 1992. It can be found in some activist 
bookstores, or order it at the following address La Mouette Enragée BP 
403, 62206 Boulogne-sur-mer cedex.

It is an in-depth investigation, carried out over several years, in the 
sectors of the working class and the proletariat, mainly in the 
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. There we find the medical sector and its 
growing integration into the business plan of global capitalism (EHPAD, 
ambulances, midwives, etc.), Uber-Eats delivery people, logistics 
(Amazon, La Redoute, Verbaudet), call centers , the agri-food industry, 
SMEs and temporary employment, etc. These are field surveys, with 
interviews, all very rich.

Such a book could not let us remain indifferent. On the one hand because 
it reaffirms the centrality of workers in the political project, on the 
other hand because it starts from the investigation, which is one of the 
key points of our reference to Maoism: as Mao Zedong said, "that whoever 
has not carried out the investigation has no right to speak." This is 
the primary basis of the mass line, and therefore of the possibility of 
communist political intervention among the masses and among the advanced 
elements.

And this book is of great importance for understanding the developments 
of the working class in an imperialist country like ours. And that's why 
we went to meet them in Boulogne, to interview them, to better 
understand their work and their project. The interview is below, 
proofread by them.

Of course, we do not share the political orientation of these comrades 
(and this is clear from reading the interview), in particular what we 
can call the cult of revolutionary spontaneity, that is to say research 
proletarian and worker sectors which will spontaneously be at the 
forefront of a future social revolution. We are not going to repeat here 
all the elements of our positions, let us recall in particular that if 
we want to rely on all the embryos of revolutionary consciousness and 
practice of the working class against its exploitation, we affirm 
without hesitation that it is spontaneously reformist, consciousness 
being also - and mainly - the reflection of the submission of labor 
power to the capitalist market, competition between workers and search 
for the "best price" of this particular exchange value described by Marx 
a long time ago . We refer our readers to the documents of our 
organization, and to our political platform.

Nevertheless, we have real convergences with "The Enraged Seagull", 
beyond rage! This proletarian concern, this search for an understanding 
of reality beyond clichés, and as we have said, working-class 
centrality. A book to absolutely read, to discuss, to enrich, to criticize.

1- What is the importance for you of working-class centrality, how do 
you see the difference between working class and proletariat?

Without of course going back to the restructurings of the end of the 
1970s, it seemed necessary to us to take stock after years of repeated 
and cumulative defeats around "the question of work" posed at the class 
level: whether national mobilizations around the breakdown of pensions 
or the "Labor Law", attacks against social rights, unemployment 
insurance, etc.
We think that the reasons for these setbacks, suffered in the interval 
between 1995 and today, are not only linked to questions of strategies 
or union mobilizations, but also to a profound modification of class 
composition: understand why certain sectors are mobilizing and others 
not, or very little...
We have observed a profound change in the typology of jobs in recent 
decades, with a fall in industrial employment and a massive transfer of 
the workforce to services and a rise in precarious employment in 
multiple forms...

Now, to answer your question simply and somewhat schematically, we place 
in the "working class" category those individuals who carry out 
productive work in the sense in which Marx defines it in the manuscripts 
of 1861-63(1), i.e. that is to say exploited work which in the 
capitalist sense of the term produces surplus value... and in "the 
proletariat" those who sell their labor power but do not necessarily 
exchange it for capital... A person who works in quality of AESH(2) in 
the public sector, if we have to take a concrete example.

2- What is the approach of the investigation, how do you see the 
contradictions within the class (men/women, French/immigrants, etc.)?

You are right, the specific problems of female workers are rarely 
addressed! However, the survey feedback and testimonials that we have 
collected in the healthcare sectors, call platforms, mail order sales, 
and even in the food industry mainly come from women. As we stated in 
the foreword, this book is a sketch that calls for getting back to work 
on the profession, which we are certainly going to do. We have also been 
criticized for not addressing the issue of housing or that of 
consumption or lifestyle...

We deliberately chose to focus on places and times of exploitation and 
not on those of reproduction. An assumed choice and which offers us the 
opportunity in the times to come to open the projects which have not been...

You are also right about the place given to immigrant workers in the 
survey. Do not think that we are avoiding the question, we were very 
involved from 1999 to 2005 on this ground in the Calais region, on a 
class position and always in relation to this question of work, but in 
its international dimension, this time . We drew up an assessment which 
was published in a collective book(3). The limitation that we highlight 
also comes from the fact that in several sectors where we investigated, 
immigrant workers are very little present, if not absent. In 
Boulogne-sur-mer, for example, people who came from the Maghreb or 
Portugal in the 1960s to work in the steelworks left en masse with 
return plans associated with the restructuring and liquidation of the 
sector... On the other hand, in the Lille region, we met a certain 
number of immigrant workers, particularly at La Redoute, but questions 
specific to immigration conditions were not addressed.

The rejection of the other, of the foreigner, like xenophobia are indeed 
a reality as reported in the book by a testimony from the port sector of 
Boulogne-sur-mer. Comrades endured it personally, but it is the result 
of a particular identity and working culture which was built without 
exogenous input, in small boxes, from generation to generation... A 
survival from the day of Today. In the big companies in the port area, 
the relationships are different and xenophobia more discreet or absent. 
And to answer, finally, your question, of course we must fight racism if 
it is expressed within the class, without concession of any kind and 
specifically if necessary...

3- What contradictions with the intellectual petite bourgeoisie?

The question of bureaucratization and the place granted to members of 
the petty bourgeoisie in the revolutionary movement, in itself, is not 
new (4). It has been a problem from the start and will continue to be a 
problem even for those who try to free themselves from it with will. 
This is not inevitable, but from where we stand, we will answer, a 
little easily you will no doubt say, that it is in the course of the 
movement and the heart of the movement itself, its strength and from its 
dynamics, that the essential elements of counter-power will emerge (or 
not!). Spontaneity is an essential factor in our eyes, even if as we 
like to add: "spontaneity can be worked on!"»

That said, this question arises in the conditions of the period, that is 
to say that the 80s went through this... A cocktail based on industrial 
restructuring, broader and longer influence of the school system and its 
ideology bourgeoisie on larger strata of society, the rise of 
intermediate categories necessary for the conditions of contemporary 
exploitation, all this has favored and amplified the phenomenon that you 
describe. This is why we chose to only give the floor to rank-and-file 
women or men, most of whom did not have a union mandate, or who entered 
into a fight against the bureaucracies as during the struggle led at the 
time at the Redoute. by "Les Redoutables". Initially, a certain number 
of them were in the CFDT, but faced with the collaboration of their 
leader during the social plan, they seceded. Since then, it must still 
be noted that certain leaders of this movement have integrated other 
union structures to "continue the fight", with sometimes surprising 
concessions made to co-management... This is also the case for the women 
of Vertbaudet, in initially not unionized, but who mainly joined the CGT 
which organized the strike and then the negotiations.

4- Marxism and communism how to investigate political consciousness, in 
the broad sense?

Obviously the question is political and revolutionary. Several times we 
refer to Tronti at the beginning of the book, even though as you know, 
we are absolutely not Leninists. Tronti states in one of his latest 
works that: "...without a working class, there is no politics!» We do 
not interpret it in the same way as him, since he was a senator, but his 
statement says it all, namely that without the presence and intervention 
of the working class, nothing is fundamentally possible! Now, this 
notion of "consciousness" has not remained in the background, but it is 
the "jaw-breaking" question par excellence, all the more so when the 
workers' movement is going through, as is currently the case, a deep 
crisis. In our opinion, consciousness is a category to be handled with 
caution because it involves a psychological dimension induced in the 
relationship and the transition from the personal to the collective and 
vice versa. And the investigation is carried out on a case-by-case 
basis, which is one of its limitations. Except, in moments of strong 
conflict where it then takes another turn...

5- What perspectives does this book and this investigation have?

We will continue our journey and the investigation at the same time, for 
all the reasons and the inadequacies that you have rightly raised. We 
are just starting to talk about our work around us, and want to discuss 
it as widely as possible and thus encourage meetings. And in the state 
of mind that you evoke in your introduction, that is to say outside of 
any sectarianism! Also, this survey is an opportunity to make contacts 
in key sectors where tomorrow, perhaps, issues will arise during a 
social movement (strikes, blockades, etc.). We often lack time and space 
when a conflict breaks out, as the proletarians are increasingly 
fragmented. The survey, beyond being an analysis tool, also proves to be 
a tool at the service of the class struggle, to organize at the 
grassroots level.

Boulogne-sur-mer, Lille, Marseille.
04/20/2024.
----------
(1)Theories on surplus value. (Book IV of Capital).
(2)AESH: Supporting students with disabilities.
(3) From Sangatte to Coquelles. Situation and interventions (1999-2004).
https://lamouetteenragee.noblogs.org/files/2017/05/sangatte-coquelles.pdf
(4)Whether we agree or not with the conclusions he draws, J.W. Mahkaïski 
had posed the problem in his own way at the end of the 19th century.

* To know more:

OCML-VP: contact@ocml-vp.org
BP 133 - 93213 Saint-Denis La Plaine cedex

The OCML-VP website: http://ocml-vp.org

The comrades of the OCML-VP also run the site "Where is the CGT going?"» 
which we recommend consulting: http://ouvalacgt.over-blog.com

Published in Workers' survey, Class society

https://lamouetteenragee.noblogs.org/post/2024/06/05/discussion-avec-les-camarades-de-la-revue-partisan-a-propos-de-lenquete-ouvriere
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