In one of the biggest workers actions in Europe in many decades, millions of workers of France went on a General Strike on January 29, 2009, bringing the entire country to a grinding halt. This is thus far the biggest action of the working class in any country of the world in the wake of the world wide economic crisis which has hit the working class severely all across the world. The General Strike of French workers follow massive workers protests in Greece, Italy, Iceland, as well as powerful protests in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The French General Strike was manifested throughout the country, with as many as 200 separate demonstrations reported across the country in different towns. Over 2.5 million workers were reported to have participated in these marches.

The General Strike was called to demand that the Sarkozy government take action in favour of workers on the questions of unemployment, wages, and the rising cost of living. It was called to condemn the Sarkozy government for concentrating on deploying public funds to bail out banks and other corporates, while ignoring the terrible situation being faced by the working class.

The strike affected diverse sectors of the economy. Air, rail and road transport was brought to a halt as public sector workers in all three went on strike. Hospitals, schools and universities, banks, post offices and courts, were severely affected.  France’s eight major trade union centres organised the strike jointly. Doctors and Nurses, Train drivers, airport staff, bus drivers, teachers, postal workers and tax inspectors joined private-sector employees including bank clerks, car workers, ski-lift operators, supermarket check-out staff, not to speak of stock exchange employees. Lawyers as well as electricity workers went on strike. Car workers downed tools over the crisis hitting the French auto industry. The arts world joined the ranks as north Paris’s cutting-edge new arts centre, Le 104, staged its own strike. State radio stations broadcast music on a loop, and the telecoms, gas and electricity sectors were all affected.

The working class was demanding job protection and better wages and protesting the Sarkozy government’s anti working class reforms, ranging from justice to hospital and school reforms, and changes to the running of state TV.

Opinion polls reveal that 70 % of France thought the strike is justified. Unemployment in recession hit France is expected to hit 10% in the coming year. The latest unemployment figures, to be released on January 29, 2009, could not be released because statisticians were on strike! Such was the popular participation in the strike that school students blocked their schools with dustbins.

The working masses expressed their anger that the Sarkozy government declared there was no money to protect their interests, even while it was putting billions of Euros to bail out failing banks.

The General Strike of the working class reveals the potential of the class to fight against the attempts of the bourgeoisie to shift the burden of the crisis on to the backs of the working masses. The working class of France is demanding that the bourgeoisie be made to pay for the crisis, and not the working masses. This is the sentiment of the working class throughout the world at this time, from the Americas to Europe, from Africa to Asia.

A great struggle lies ahead of our class. We must fight to ensure that the shifting of the burden of the crisis onto the backs of the working masses is lessened.

However, history also teaches us that bourgeois governments will only try to bail out the bourgeoisie. They really have no concern for the working masses. They will take recourse to all kinds of measures, including racism, fascism, and imperialist war, to ensure that profits of the imperialists are preserved, and the working masses are divided and made to pay. Already in Britain and US, moves are afoot to attack immigrant workers by manipulating immigration laws.

The General Strike of workers of France is an inspiration to workers all over the world in terms of a united class action. We need to take it forward to its logical conclusion. This means, as we develop the resistance to the attempts of imperialists and our reactionary bourgeoisie to shift the burden of crisis on to our backs, we will have to prepare for the lasting solution to the crisis. Which is that working class has to organise to take political power into its own hands, overthrow capitalism, take over the means of production and exchange, and reorganise the economy so as to ensure that it is oriented to fulfilling the growing material and cultural needs of the toilers and tillers — not to satisfy private greed.