BERLIN ©

FRANCE:

The all-pervading question
of unity of the working class

DELEGATION of the Com-
munist Party of Canada
recently visited France to

study the work of the Commu-
nist Party in that country. Head-
ed by Nelson Clarke, national
organizer of the party, the dele-
gation included Don Stewart of
Hamilton and Bernadette and
Leon Le Brun of Montreal. In
the following interview with
Stan Lynn of the Canadian Trib-
une, Clarke described the dele-
gation’s impressions in France.

Lynn: What were some of your
experiences? Whtre did you go}
what did you do, whom did you
meet?

Clarke: We had discussions
with comrades leading in’ the
organizational work, the educa-
tional work of the Communist
Party, agrarian work. We had
discussions with members of the
political bureau, culminating in
a pleasant luncheon with central
committee members, including
the party’s general secretary,
Waldeck Rochet. We had a
meeting wieh Etienne Fajon, edi-
tor of the party’s newspaper,
L’Humanite, in his office.

In addition, we visited certain
municipalities. We were receiv-
ed in the Hotel de Ville in Co-
lombe, a municipality just out-
side Paris. We went to Le Havre,
the second largest port in France.
It has 200,000 people and is led
by the Communists and their
Socialist allies. In all these civic
receptions we were greeted not
only by members of the Com-
munist Party, but also by mem-
bers of the Socialist Party who
are working in close alliance
with them, although not all
Socialists in France are doing
that.

Lynn: What are some of the
problems the Communist Party
faces in France?

Clarke: The pervading ques-
tion is that of the unity of the
working class, and unity with
other democratic forces directed
toward trying to bring about a
Left majority in the next Nation-
al Assembly.

The Communist Party put
forward a proposal for a mini-
mum common platform and an
electoral agreement with the
other parties. So far they have
not accepted it. But we are told,
for instance, that in the big
Renault factory in Paris, 11,000
workers signed a petition to the
leaders of all the Left political
parties—that. is, the Socialists,
Communists, Mitterand’s group
—asking for implementation of
a common program.

A delegation of workers was
received by Mitterand, by the
deputy general secretary of the
Socialist Party and by the gen-
eral secretary of the Communist
Party. The report back stated
_ that the discussion that satisfied
- the workers was the one with

the Communists. The other par-
ties had hedged, had not accept-
ed the proposals. But there is a
tremendous drive from below to
develop a united front, united
action for a common program.

The other feature of the Com-
munist Party and of other de-
mocratic forces is the continuous
circulation of petitions and the
sending of delegations, daily,
from factories, from the muni-
cipalities, to the American Em-
bassy, to protest the war in
Vietnam. There is a great mass
movement in France against the
Vietnamese war.

Lynn: What is the attitude of
the Communist Party toward de
Gaulle?

Clarke: The party appreciates
the sobriety of his foreign policy.
They think he shows a certain
far-sightedness not displayed by
the Americans. At the same time
they make it clear that de Gaulle
represents big French capital
and is trying to serve its inter-
ests, which are very often in
conflict with the American po-
sition.

The internal policy of France .

demands the curbing of the big
monopolies. There is sharp resis-
tance to wage increases by them.
De Gaulle is trying to enforce a
price-wage policy that is con-
trary to the interests of the
working class.

There are many problems of
democracy, at the municipal
level, for example, — the prob-
lem of money from the central
government, just as in Canada,
and the undemocratic feature of
the prefects; the officials of the
various Departments, appointed
by the central government, hav-
ing wide veto power over muni-
cipal spending. While there are

-some counterparts to this in our

municipal boards in Canada, in
France it is a sharper and bigger
problem.

We had a meeting on factory
property, with representatives of
the factory committees elected
by the workers. They administer
over five percent of the compa-

A Soviet cartoonist's view of
the withdrawal of NATO from
France.

ny’s profits, which aré diverted
for the maintenance of a large
library, assembly hall, cafeteria,
a series of children’s camps, a
program to supplement the state
medicare plan, which only covers
70 percent of doctors’ bills. .

Lynn: Is there any difference
between this and profit-sharing
plans in the United States?

Clarke: Well, there is a differ-
ence in the sense that it is in no
way related to productivity. It
is related to the profitability of
the company, but not to pro-
ductivity. —

Lynn: This
belonging to the workers indi-

vidually, but it belongs to them ©

collectively?

Clarke: Yes. This, plus’ some
achievements of the municipali-
ties, are gains won by the work-
ers in the course of. struggle,
which help to advance social
consciousness and to advance
the working class toward so-
cialism.

Lynn: What is the attitude of
the French party toward the
Common Market?

Clarke: The party regards the
Common Market as a concen-
tration of monopoly capitalist
interests within which there are
sharp contradictions, particular-
ly between France and Germany.
The party is seeking to develop
a common, anti-monopoly, work-
ing-class policy in the various,
countries involved in ECM. The
party is not demanding the dis-
solution of the Common Market;
but it sees it basically as a con-
centration of the monopoly capi-
tal of a number of. countries.

Lynn: You sometimes hear
reference to a “renaissance of
Marxism”. I don’t know if this
is a good term, but were you
aware of any greater creative
activity among Marxists in
France?

Clarke: Yes, I think I was. For
example, they made a massive
study of state monopoly capital-
ism. They organized a confer-
ence attended by representatives
of a number of other Communist
parties, research institutes and
so on.

Last spring the central com-
mittee of the party had a ple-
nary discussion on the develop-
ment of democracy and art. A
number of very interesting con-
clusions came out of it; for
example, the reference to the
fact that the creative artist must
work as an individual. While his
work is subjected, properly, to
criticism, it is essentially the
work of an individual who can
create and it has to be treated
with respect from that light.

Lynn: Does the Communist
Party project the possibility of a
peaceful transition to socialism
in France? :

Clarke: Yes, very definitely.

isn’t something

guerrillas captured an Australian civilian and destroyed 64 trucks we

. April, when 58,000 families were rendered homeless. ..

- Sept. 8, was called “‘a terrorist act by a vicious government”

increased its output from the period of 1950 to 1965 by more oe

This beautiful photo shows the largest mosque in Sana, cap’
of the Yemeni Republic, located on the south-east tip of the Red
Sea. Until the middle of 1965 royalist forces, aided by Britain throug
Saudi Arabia, sought to overthrow the young republic. But an agre?
ment signed in August, 1965, between the United Arab Republic a
Saudi Arabia, paved the way for a ceasefire in Yemen when royalist _
forces lost their. main support. Progressive forces in the Arab wor! :
are trying to preserve unity and ‘prevent the renewal of conflict !
Yemen, which would only aid Western colonialism.

around the world

AMERICAN forces have burned down two South Vietnames®
villages in a terror reprisal for the shooting down of two U.S. helt
copters and one plane in the area. They also seized 70 men from
among the villages as “Viet Cong suspects” .. . South Vietnam

during a daring attack last week on an American constructio#
company’s vehicle lot only seven miles from Saigon. Other attac®
were made at a nearby military outpost and a police check point-*
* * * ,

OVER 30,000 workers at the British Motor Corporation i
Britain have been put on short time, losing between one and thré
days of work per week. The areas affected are: Birmingham 18,90!
Oxford 6,500; Coventry, Scotland, South Wales and Londo
6,500 . .. An earthquake of force 5-6 on the international scale hit
the central Asian city of Tashkent in the Soviet Union early 07
Sept. 18. More than 600 shocks ‘have been registered in the cily>
the capital of Uzbekistan, since the first disastrous earthquake last

* * *

CHINA’S surging “proletarian” movement is going forwat
“without participation of the Chinese working class,” reports t
Soviet newspaper Pravda, from Peking. “The present ‘Red Gua
activity is characterized by increasingly sharp attacks on Chines
Communist Party committees at factories, educational establish
ments, cities and provinces, as well as on party and governme? ce
officials,’ says Pravda . . . Chinese fighter planes had an air pattl
with U.S. F-105 jets on Sept. 9 over the Kwangsi Chuang Auton0
mous Region, the New China News Agency reported from Pekine
The American planes were said to have intruded into China’s 2
space and ‘“‘wantonly strafed Chinese villages” .. .

* * * ‘

THE IMPRISONMENT of Stokely Carmichael, national cn

stet

man of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, ae
fri

statement from the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation . . . The
Worker in New York has reported an encouraging response 107
$10,000 drive to repair the damage caused by the recent pombins
of the Communist weekly’s offices . . . Poland’s deep-sea fishin’

four times, from 66,200 tons to 280,000 tons. This-is the result
bigger fishing boats, better equipment and longer fishing trips
* he Sn he ee eS

DURING a Red-Square rally in Moscow on Sept. 11 some 25,
young people gave a pledge “to be worthy of our fathers’ imm
tality and at the first alarm to go into battle and win.” The teens
boys and girls sang The International and placed an ever srs
wreath at the foot of the. Lenin mausoleum ... The USSR
tanks capable of operating in nuclear-devastated areas, Mats y
Pavel Poluboyarov said in Moscow recently . . . Nine socialist 4”
non-aligned nations have called for the immediate expulsion 0 +
Chiang Kai-shek regime from the United Nations and the adm
sion of the People’s Republic of China. The nine signatories ©
Albania, Algeria, Cambodia, Congo (Brazzaville), Cuba, Guine
Mali, Rumania and Syria... e

September 30, 1966PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page