A-Infos (en) France, SOCIALISME LIBERTAIRE: LET'S TAKE OVER POLITICS WITH LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISM (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

"Despite the thunderous pronouncements of all political parties without 
exception, the reality of the last municipal elections (March 15 and 22, 
2026) is that - once again - the largest party in France is that of 
abstainers. It has even increased by more than 4% compared to 2014, 
which was already a record year." This abstention is particularly 
pronounced in working-class neighborhoods of large cities: 57% of 
registered voters in Saint-Denis or Aubervilliers did not turn out to 
vote, sometimes more than 60% in working-class neighborhoods of 
Marseille. To be completely thorough, we should add to these figures all 
those who, for one reason or another, are not registered or have been 
removed from the electoral rolls, as well as all non-European immigrant 
workers who have the right to pay taxes and social security 
contributions, but not the right to have an opinion on how they are used...

The media-whether public and state-owned, private and owned by 
millionaires, or so-called "social" and owned by fanatical 
activists-tried their best to engage the population, and especially its 
largest segment, the working class, but their electoral charade failed. 
Because, as everyone can see, politicians' promises are only binding on 
those who believe them. In any case, even the most left-leaning 
politician wouldn't have a free hand to implement it. This has nothing 
to do with the candidates' qualifications or honesty. Once elected, they 
are bound to respect the institutional rules of the Constitution, and 
these rules do not include the abolition of private property, which is 
the foundation of the system of social injustice in which we live: 
Capitalism.

Everywhere, the observation is the same and demonstrates a profound 
disinterest, even disgust, with what is commonly called politics-that 
is, the rivalries between politicians who couldn't care less about our 
daily problems and fight to save or obtain an elected seat-with the 
salary and all the associated privileges.

But having observed this massive voter apathy, what conclusion should 
we, as anarcho-syndicalists, draw, particularly in light of the 2027 
presidential election and the announcement of the far right's imminent 
rise to power? Should we succumb to fear and heed the siren calls to 
rush to the polls?

While we share the rejection of politics (politicianry) expressed by 
many, it seems important to us-as anarcho-syndicalists-to proclaim the 
necessity of engaging in defense of our interests, an approach that is 
eminently... political. It is a necessity, insofar as politics is the 
art of engaging with what concerns the city and its inhabitants; it is 
what contributes to what our lives and daily routines are today. 
However, particularly because of the damage caused by the incompetence 
or demagoguery of traditional politicians (whether they have held power 
or not), this need for direct, unmediated engagement is not always 
understood. So, let us be clear: taking an interest in politics has 
nothing to do with supporting one political party or another. On the 
contrary, it means seeking partners-around us at work, in our 
communities-to collectively, freely, egalitarianly, and fraternally 
develop solutions to the (recurring) problems we face in our daily lives 
(for example, the unbearable cost of living, job losses and widespread 
job insecurity, substandard housing, pollution and its health impacts, 
insecurity, and police brutality...) and which torment us, sabotage our 
life plans and our lives themselves, constantly leaving our future in 
uncertainty.

Thus, it is only when we understand that lamenting-one by one and in a 
scattered fashion-about the ills of current capitalist society is 
pointless, but that it is necessary to unite and try to act directly, 
using collective action and solidarity, if only to avoid being 
completely crushed psychologically, that we will be able to begin to 
raise our heads and envision the future. Abstention from elections must 
be accompanied by active engagement in solidarity, lest it become a 
resignation to the worst.

As the rise of the far right to power seems increasingly likely, rather 
than relying on a hypothetical savior emerging from the ballot box, let 
us recall what our anarcho-syndicalist comrades from the clandestine 
network stemming from the then-section of the International Workingmen's 
Association (IWA) wrote in 1943, in the midst of the dark night of the 
Nazi occupation: "It is not a question of fighting only against 
Hitlerian fascism, but against all fascisms, against all tyrannies, 
whether right-wing, centrist, or left-wing, whether royal, democratic, 
or social, for no tyranny will emancipate labor, liberate the world, or 
organize humanity on truly new foundations. It is not a question of 
speaking of freedom, it is a question of living freely. It is not a 
question of speaking of fraternity, it is a question of living 
fraternally." We are not fighting to put words on a banner or change the 
color of a flag. We are concrete. We want to move: from perpetual war to 
perpetual peace; from the exploitation of man by man to social equality; 
from total or partial tyranny to complete freedom; from incoherence to 
conscience. We accept no compromise with anyone. We are not attached to 
any personality or party. We want the practical realization of the 
social ideal advocated for nearly two hundred years by the republicans 
of 1789, the socialists, the syndicalists, and the libertarians. And we 
are convinced that only the aforementioned method can achieve it...

SOURCE: CNT-AIT - Toulouse | Anarcho-syndicalism

https://www.socialisme-libertaire.fr/2026/06/emparons-nous-de-la-politique-avec-le-communisme-libertaire.html
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