The striking Lip workers in Besancon in castern France, who occupied their watch factory in June against the threat of redundancies, and who have continued the struggle unabated since their eviction by 3,000 police in mid-August, face their most decisive test yet.
The Government's negotiator, M. Giraud, is almost cerlain to break off talks and roter the whole business to the liquidator if his latest proposals are not accepted. These would involve 169 redundancies, and contain no commitment to maintain the wage levels and benefits previously established through struggle. A deadline of midday on Tuesday was originally set by M. Giraud, but extended once it became clear that some of the trade union organisations were inclined to go along with the proposals.
EMBARRASSED Chief among these is the Communist Party-ed CGT federation It was clear even before the 100.000 strong march on Besancon' on 29 September that the CGT had bocomo embarassed by the continuing strugele at Lip, with its militant methods of struggle and challenge to capitalist Jegality, Having only grudgingly agreed to endorse the march, it then did everything possible, to play down its signilicance and limit the size of the delopations: which travelled from workplaces all over France to demonstrate their solidarity with Lip. And the CGT representatives at the final tally strossed the need to be realistic: and reach a compromise solution with M Gitaud. The march on Besancon' The CCT is now openly at loggerbeads with the local leaders of the other main trade union federation, the CFDT, who have rejected M. Giraud's proposals. The differences in approach have also become apparent in a number of other ways-through, for instance, the CCT's opposition to the continued "illegal" manufacture and sale of watches while the negotiations go on. Since the workers depend on the proceeds from this to finance their struggle, the CGT position implicitly amounts to calling off the struggle. tremendous pressure froin the bureaucracy of the CGT and the Communist Party, that the value of the democratic organisation of the struggle through the daily peneral assembly of all the workers has been most apparent. The collective solidarity which has been maintained in this way has been more than enough to see off the CT's attempts to end the struggle at Monday's meeting, for example, the CCT's proposals got a mere 14 votes out of more than 700. An attempt by the COT to secure a secret ballot on the proposals-which again was calculated to weaken the workers" collective solidarity was also overwhelmingly rejected.
SOLIDARITY ACTION It is clear that the Lip workers cannot now expect any further help from the trade union leaders in carrying forward their struggle. The march on 29 September, when no less than one third of the 100,000 demonstrators marched behind the banners of the revolutionary left (including 20,000 in the contingent organised by Rouge, paper of the former Communist Leaguel, showed which forces were really concerned to advance the struggle of the Lip workers. The task for mantants now must be to build on the broad-based support committees created to mobilise for the march, to prepare for the further solidarity action which will undoubtedly be called for if the negotiations break down. Al the same time, it is undoubtedly also necessary to hreak down the dangerous tendency for the negotiations to become the property of a few representatives, who alone are conversant with the details and their implications. As an article in Roge points out: Every worker has something to may .... Commissioes should already have been organised to look in detail at Giraud's proposals, as well as those of the trade unions: commissions which would siso consider means of enforcing my agreement workshop by workshop as well as at the level of the factory as a whole. It is clear already that Giraud will try in every possible way to go back on any concessions he is fotood to make. The ondy real guarantee i 1o maintain the mobilisation of the workers through forms of organisition which can impose their control John Marston TO ME NEWOn CRed Weekly!
Pierre Rousset, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist League (French section of the Fourth International until its dissolution in June, was the main speaker at a packed meeting on Monday in London's Conway Hall, organised by the ING as part of the campaign against the ban.
Held in prison for more than two months following the anti-fascist demonstration which was the pretext for banning the League, Rousset described the context in which the Government took this action - one of growing class struggle in which revolutionaries were playing an increasingly significant role. He outlined in particular the importance of such recent strug gles as the school students campaign against the conscription laws, the Lip occupation, and the fight of immigrant workers against racism. He also stressed the urgency of stepping up the campaign to lift the ban, pointing out that one leading member of the former League, Michel Recanati, is still in prison awaiting trial. In Britain, further support for the campaign has come from playwright Arnold Wesker, Comrie branch of the National Union of Mineworkers, and Alfred Rae (secretary, Albion Shop Stewards Committee). The National Council for Civil Liberties has also associated itself with the campaign