Working people around the world should celebrate the victory won by truck drivers in France, who organized a 12- day strike paralyzing that country. The workers wrestled concessions from the bosses and government, winning some relief from the worsening hours, wages, and working conditions imposed on them over the last several years.
The victory of the strike and the sympathy it aroused among working people throughout France demonstrates the problems facing the rulers there and throughout Europe. The French capitalists are getting nervous about pushing through the austerity measures they need to bolster sagging profit rates and remain competitive with their imperialist rivals. Their ability to meet the conditions for entering the so-called European Monetary Union appear dimmer than ever. With unemployment at a record 12.6 percent, and persistent labor resistance to austerity, political tensions are pulling the government apart. The reaction from some bourgeois politicians, such as former president Valery Giscard D'Estaing, reveals how illusory the prospects are for creating a "united" Europe to counter the economic might of the U.S. ruling class. During the truckers strike Giscard called for a devaluation of the franc, to lessen the social tension over the austerity plan the Juppé government is trying to implement. For years Paris has kept interest rates up to maintain a strong French currency, pegged to the German mark. This policy puts a squeeze on anyone who works for a living or is looking for a job in France. But it has served the class interests of those who own and control wealth and all those who hold debt.
The proposed devaluation would torpedo any hopes of a monetary union that would include Paris. French president Jacques Chirac quickly met with German chancellor Helmut Kohl to reassure him of Paris' commitment to maintain "stability between the franc and the mark."
The problem the rulers in Élysée Palace - as well as in Bonn, London, Rome, and other imperialist capitals -have yet to confront is that there is no way out for these bloodsuckers short of a frontal assault to defeat the working class and to smash workers' living standards and expectations. Each probe in this direction only deepens the crisis for the capitalists, as working- class resistance mounts. In the wake of the truckers' strike, a columnist in London's Financial Times scolded Paris for "an alarming failure of nerve on the part of the political authorities and an open invitation to other interest groups to try their luck by similar strong-arm methods." Their talk of "unity" aside, the borders are more important to the capitalist powers in Europe than ever. Borders are what defines the currency and military force of each nation state. So they will not give them up, despite their desire to establish a trade block against their rivals in Washington.
The working class has no interest in these national rivalries, which are used to pit toilers in one country against those in another. For working people, the only way to a genuinely united Europe is to get rid of capitalism and the dog-eat-dog competition it breeds. Supporting working-class struggles like the truck drivers' strike breaks down the divisions the bosses try to impose on us. The fight for jobs for all, as well to oppose any cutbacks on the social safety net, is also a key part of advancing the interests of the working class around the world.