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Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Four points on the French presidential elections


The final round of presidential elections in France took place on 7 May. Emmanuel Macron won by a two-to-one margin against the fascist candidate Marine Le Pen. A World To Win News Service will be reporting on this. For the moment the main points to note are:

1) Macron was the imperialist “consensus” candidate, around which the great bulk of the French capitalist ruling class and its political representatives rallied. His victory is in no way a victory for progress or enlightenment.

2) Millions of people voted against Le Pen even while rejecting Macron's avowedly pro-capitalist politics. But this has not removed the danger of fascism. The election process has normalized the fascist right-wing in France (once considered "fringe" extremists) and further legitimized its efforts to reach political power.

3) The election of Macron will mean the continuation and acceleration of right-wing politics in France and internationally. He has pledged, among many other things, to rapidly remove rejected asylum seekers, throw many more petty law-breakers into prison, and slash civil service jobs, social benefits and social protection.

4) The people in France, as elsewhere, need a completely different, revolutionary communist solution to the choice between the continuation of the capitalist-imperialist status quo and a fascist alternative that would actually intensify the ugliness of the same capitalist-imperialist system.

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