People's Democracy

32nd Congress of French Communist Party

  Sitaram Yechury

THE 32nd congress of the French Communist Party (PCF) convened from April 3 to 6, at the outskirts of Paris at the municipality of  Saint Denis.  This is one of those municipalities controlled by the PCF with a communist mayor. The 32nd congress met in the background of severe convulsions  taking place in French politics. The recent presidential elections have shown that the rightwing neo-fascists have gained substantially. Readers will recall that in order to defeat the neo-fascist forces in the second round of elections,  progressive sections of France, including the communists, had to rally behind the discredited socialist candidate.  In this rightward shift that we had noted in the reports of the various congresses of European communist parties held in December 2001, the communists suffered an erosion in their  electoral base.  This was more pronounced in France. 

BACKGROUND OF THE PCF CONGRESS

Compared to the earlier general elections where the PCF polled a little over 10 per cent of the votes, in the last general elections, this declined to 4.8 per cent.  In the presidential elections, the decline was equally sharp -- from 8.6 per cent, it came down to 3.4 per cent.  The number of communist members of parliament declined from 35 to 22. The minimum requirement for a group to be recognised in the French parliament is 20 and, hence, the PCF managed to be  recognised as an official group. In the European parliament, it has six members --- its lowest ever. It, however, leads the 50-member communist group in the European Parliament.

In terms of membership, there has also been a decline. Compared to the last congress which showed a membership of 2.8 lakh, the membership was 1.75 lakh (1,74,996 to be precise) at this congress. The circulation of the party daily L'Humanite declined by over 15,000 subscriptions in 2000-2001.  Its current circulation is 46,000 daily.  This, in short, formed the backdrop of the congress which  convened under the ambitious slogan "Communism: Let Us Together Write A New Page." Conspicuous by its absence was the symbol, hammer and sickle, on any of the congress materials. 

INNER-PARTY DEBATE’s HISTORY

The process of intense inner-party discussions on the path to be adopted by the communists in France goes back to many decades.  In 1979, the PCF had dropped Marxism-Leninism and the dictatorship of the proletariat from its programme, influenced by the Euro-communist deviations of the time. The present process of transformation of the party can be traced back from its 27th congress held in December 1990. At that time, the PCF had emphatically rejected social democracy, being very critical of their participation  in the then Mitterand ministry. Our report on that conference  noted  our assessment in the following: The French communists "are today in the midst of an intense search for modern answers to the questions thrown up by the recent developments. This congress is a watershed in the sense that the French Communist Party has unhesitatingly asserted that the answers can be found only on the basis of Marxism and not by abandoning it"  (People's Democracy, January 13, 1991).

However, proceeding contrarily, at the 28th congress in 1994, the PCF sought to make a decisive break with the past and dropped the principle of democratic centralism so vital to a revolutionary organisation.  As we noted in our report of that  congress: " `Unity in diversity', a phrase so common to all of us in India, was adopted as a principle of party organisation. Whether it is unity that will be strengthened or diversity undermining the revolutionary core of a communist party is something only the future will answer. The unity that is being sought at the level of tactics in the present French conditions is necessarily different from the unity that is required for retaining the communist perspective. Hence, the requirements of unity in their manifesto and programme, instead of fusing into a  commonality may well lead to divergent paths"  (People's Democracy, February 13, 1994).

At that congress, the long-standing French revolutionary, who steered the party through the second world war resistance movement and served as the general secretary for 22 years, Georges Marchais, was replaced as general secretary by Robert Hue.  It was at this congress that the PCF sought to give a new theoretical basis for the transition from capitalism to socialism.  Arguing that Marx, in his writings, used the French word `depassement' to describe this transition (this term translated into English, is supposed to mean "overcome"), the PCF argued that the task of the communists is not to overthrow capitalism but to overcome it. This, naturally, contained the seeds of reforming or revising capitalism rather than replacing it with socialism!

It was on this theoretical basis that the 28th congress embarked on what they called the process of mutation of the communist movement. This was the new orientation the PCF sought to make at that time. Regarding this, our report on this congress had stated: "It would be safe to say that the new orientation that the PCF seeks, was something that was not going to be crystallised in this congress. The documents would, at best, define the direction, which would either strengthen the revolutionary traditions of the French communists or pave the way for the slide to social democracy" (ibid).

SERIOUS EROSION

Such mutation, or new orientation as has now been shown, resulted in a serious erosion of the French communist support. The party had decided, as a consequence, to join the last socialist ministry in France. This was a government that, while proceeding with the neo-liberal economic policies serving the interests of the European and global capital, also pursued a foreign policy that eventually led to support the US-led NATO strikes in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, the PCF was seen as an appendage of this socialist agenda, as a partner of social democracy which, to use the classic-old definition, "espouses the interests of the working class when in opposition and espouses the interests of the bourgeoisie when in power.”

By the summer of 2000, the PCF met again at its congress to assess the negative consequences of this  mutation process.  It decided to continue on the existing path.  Early 2001 saw municipal elections, in which the PCF lost over one-third of the seats that it had earlier. 

A special congress of the party was held in 2001, which changed the constitution. According to this new constitution, elections to the Central Committee in a party congress are not to be based on individuals but on the system of lists. What this means is that while the presidium or the Central Committee presents an official list at the congress, any delegate disagreeing with even one name on this list will have to propose an alternative list opposing the official panel.  In the event of a vote between two or more lists, the composition of the Central Committee would be determined by drawing in individuals on these lists according to the percentage of votes polled by each list.

In other words, for instance, if there are three lists contesting  and, if the first polls 60 per cent, the second 30 per cent and the third 10 per cent, then the new Central Committee would consist of 60 per cent of the names from the first list,  30 per cent from the second list and 10 per cent from the third list.  This rather unique electoral system was to have an important bearing at this 32nd congress. 

In an unprecedented move, in the pre-congress discussions, three documents were circulated and voted upon. The official document received 55 per cent of the votes in the pre-congress discussions. The second document, moved by the major working class districts of northern France, mainly opposed the line of cooperation with the socialists and joining the government, i e, the line adopted by PCF since the 28th congress in 1994.  This document received 23 per cent of the pre-congress votes. The third document, moved by influential Marxist intellectuals and economists, argued for going back to the pre-1979 traditions of the PCF, i e, going back to the Marxist fundamentals before Marxism-Leninism and the dictatorship of the proletariat were dropped by the PCF in  1979.   This received 22 per cent of the votes. 

FOUR TRENDS

In other words, the documents moved as alternatives to the official document which in the main argued for the continuation of the present orientation, received as much as 45 per cent of the votes of the French communists in the pre-congress discussions. The basic question before the 32nd congress was how to incorporate the amendments and propositions contained in the alternative documents in the official document.  There was much consternation amongst the delegates that the composition of the delegation to the 32nd congress did not reflect the voting pattern of the pre-congress documents.

The delegation at the congress was predominantly supporting the official line.  This was reflected in the elections to the  national council where more than one-fourth opposed and voted against the official list. The opposition saw this as an advance since they argued that only 10 per cent of the minority opinion was represented in the delegation.

The trends visible in the congress actually reflected the intense inner-party discussions going on in the PCF for more than a decade.  To understand this better, it is necessary to note that at the special congress held to  amend the constitution in 2001, Robert Hue resigned as the general secretary. He, along with Marie George Buffet, served as co-convenors of the national council till this congress.

Four clear trends were visible in the congress.  The first, led by Robert Hue, argued for more mutation in order to overcome the present crisis of the French communists. This appeared akin to the argument advanced by the neo-liberals seeking more reforms to overcome the economic crisis which, in the first place, was caused precisely by these reforms.  The second and the third trends reflected the line advanced by the alternative documents discussed in the pre-congress deliberations. The fourth or the official line, which eventually was adopted, was to "stay where you are."

Finally, Marie George Buffet was elected as the national secretary of the PCF.  But the process was not smooth. One of the leading lights of the PCF, a member of the earlier Polit Bureau and head of the international department during the 27th and 28th congresses, Maxime Gremetz, a staunch Marxist, refused to be on the official panel and, in fact, announced that he, alongwith his supporters, will move an alternative panel. However, such an alternative panel did not eventually materialise since some of the dissidents were co-opted into the official panel. Unlike us in India, the French Communist Party does not first decide on the number of the new committee to be elected.  This offers them the possibility for manoeuvres and accommodation to deal with dissent.

NAGGING ISSUES

Though the congress ended on a fairly confident note, four nagging and contentious issues remain before the French communists. The first relates to the party's orientation. All the basic issues concerning a communist party continue to remain far from satisfactorily resolved. After much deliberation, the congress adopted its orientation as the following:

"The communists act so that humanity may free itself from capitalism and all systems of domination.  We do not accept the idea that capitalism is the final horizon of human history that cannot be surpassed. The communist ambition is that of a society without capitalism.  Overcoming it, in our view, is the process  of breach, whereby humanity gets rid of the logic and effects of capitalism and all systems of domination. It is the democratic movement of social and political struggle and of the appropriation of powers aiming at a successful abolition of this system" (Section IV A, Para 154). 

Notice that there is no mention here of class struggle, only of social and political struggle. Neither is there any mention of the leading role of the working class.  (International delegates were handicapped by the fact that there were no English translations of any congress document. One had to rely on the verbal simultaneous interpretations of the speeches and proceedings.)

The second relates to the attitude towards the socialist government and whether to join such a government or not.  The third relates to the attitude to the Socialist Party itself. In the  recent past, the PCF  had a joint electoral list in the proportional representation system with the Socialist Party. There is considerable opinion favouring a separate list of the Communist Party in order to demarcate from the socialist party. And, finally, the attitude towards the foreign policy of the French government. 

There is a very strong feeling within the party that the PCF's international relations are dictated by the foreign policy priorities of the French government. For instance, when the French government supported the US-led NATO war on Yugoslavia and Kosovo, the PCF also supported it.  When the French government opposed the US-UK war against Iraq, so did the PCF.

The French government's priorities in foreign policy give a very special position to the earlier French colonies of Francofone Africa.  The fraternal delegates invited by the PCF also reflect such a priority. 

Only the future will tell us how these contentious issues will be resolved.  Comrades like Maxime Gremetz and another former head of the international department and currently the leader of the 50-MP strong communist bloc in the European Parliament, Francis Wurtz, however, exude confidence that the French communists will soon return to the revolutionary moorings. The French communists, indeed, have a very glorious legacy.  The indomitable resistance against fascism  put up by the French communists remains a glorious page in the history of the people's struggle of the 20th century. The world renowned intellectuals and artists that the PCF attracted remains till date unprecedented. In fact, Pablo Picasso had once said that he goes to the Communist Party like a thirsty man goes to a fountain spring!

The Indian communists can only wish that our French class brethren succeed in not only regaining the past glory and splendor of the communist movement, but will carry it forward to greater heights in the contemporary realities.   

(Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member had attended the PCF 32nd Congress as a fraternal delegate)