mercredi 11 juin 2008

Whose side are you on?

Segolene Royal the busted flush and spectral semi-leader of the Socialist Party in France is worried about the plunging popularity of France's clown President Sarkozy. Rather than fermenting the opposition to all Sarkozy stands for and profit from his premature demise (35% in the polls and falling) she is, instead, concerned that, ". . .Today, despair about these promises [of Sarkozy to solve France's problems] risks discrediting, if we are not careful, all forms of political power.”. . .".

All forms of bourgeois political power of course. Royal reveals here the true nature of the Socialist party's purpose - not to challenge but to cooperate with governance, not to stir up the anger against the status quo's policies but to divert and pacify it. To break out of the current stultifying impasse, the 'despair' of which she speaks (and speaks accurately) needs to be directed, inflamed and politicised. But yesterday's unstrike action, as directed by the coopted Unions, play their role in demotivating the poplace and allowing governance to carry on gradually and systematically reducing people's living standards. That is its only possible response to the ongoing economic failure we are seeing.

By cutting wages, benefits and pensions it protects the ruling elite's profits, but, of course, at the expense of political support and, eventually, the system's own legitimacy. Just how soon is the 'eventually' is the question - but patience, comrades, patience. . .