France: The Lecornu Budget: A Fierce Attack. Our Only Defense: Ourselves!
October 20, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. On October 17, Standard & Poor’s downgraded France’s credit rating due to “high uncertainty” surrounding its public finances. The financial world is reminding [President] Macron and [Prime Minister] Lecornu that it’s their duty to crack down even harder on workers. […]
France: What Lies Behind the Surge in Social Unrest?
From a correspondent in France On Wednesday, September 10, and then again on Thursday, September 18, France experienced two days of major social unrest against the budget cuts announced for 2026. Between recurring political crises, worsening inequalities, and growing fears of being dragged into a “real” war, it is in fact a deeper anger that […]
Boeing Strikers Again Reject New Offer – Workers Say, “No pensions; No Planes.”
Thirty-three thousand Boeing machinists, members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), on Wednesday, October 25, voted down the company’s proposed contract offer by nearly a two-thirds margin. The company’s offer included a 35% increase over 4 years. Previously 96% of the membership rejected an offer, recommended by the union leaders, of a 25% wage […]
France: Oppose “Social Dialogue” and Racist Provocations: Back to the Streets!
September 4, 2023 editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Translated from French. Profits are at record levels, the crisis is worsening, inflation is squeezing our budgets and wages are falling. The social climate is tense. Macron is doing his utmost to prevent demonstrations and strikes from […]
France: We Stand With the Vertbaudet Workers!
May 22, 2023 editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the NPA, translated from French. Last Tuesday, May 16, the police intervened to break up a picket line of workers at the warehouse of a children’s clothing company, Vertbaudet, in Marquette-les-Lille (northern French town). One worker was rushed to a hospital with […]
France: Macron in Trouble Plays the Race Card, and the Billy Club!
May 8, 2023 editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), translated from French. The government is still trying to end the fight against the pension reform… It can even thank the trade union leaders, who agreed to meet with Macron on May 17, and who set the […]
France: Macron’s Sound, Our Fury: The Pension Struggle Continues, and Will Continue!
April 24, 2023, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), Translated from French Wherever Macron goes, an angry chorus of clanging pots and pans follows him to protest his pension reform. While he claims loudly that it’s over and done with, that we need to turn the […]
France: The More Macron Talks, The Less We Listen
April 18, 2023, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), Translated from French [Translator’s introduction: After President Macron used an anti-democratic article (article 49.3) of the constitution to pass the pension reform without a vote in the National Assembly, his final move to legitimize the reform in spite of […]
Determined Until the Withdrawal of the Pension Reform!
April 10, 2023 Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the NPA. Translated from French. The demonstrations of April 6 were once again numerous – young people, workers, pensioners gathered in the streets of large and small cities. This is enough to make the government tremble, a government that will use any […]
France: What Perspectives can Revolutionaries Advance in the Movement?
The following is a translation of a perspective written by the Etincelle tendency of the New Anticapitalist Party for discussion with comrades in France organized around Philippe Poutou and Olivier Besancenot. Since its beginnings in January, the movement against the pension reform has had a political character that goes far beyond the postponement of the […]
France: March 7, 8, 9 and as Long as it Takes: General Strike for Our Pensions!
February 27, 2023, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), Translated from French Pension reform is coming to the Senate this Tuesday, February 28. And this is the Senate that for the last few years has made a habit out of voting in favor of rolling back the […]
French Workers Fight Pension Reform: Is a General Strike Next?
The fight against the pension reform in France that began in January is still raging. Last Saturday, February 11, French working people and students filled the streets again, in a massive protest against the government’s plan for pension reform. The government wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and the population says, […]
France: Strike on Tues. 31: We Will Fight to the End!
January 29, 2023 editorial of the workplace newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Translated from French. The January 19 strike was a success: the trade unions counted more than two million demonstrators, and even the police acknowledged that more than one million people marched. This is more than the strike […]
France: After the January 19 Strike: We Will Persist to the End!
January 23, 2023 editorial of the workplace newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Translated from French. The January 19 strike was a success: the trade unions counted more than two million demonstrators, and even the police acknowledged that more than one million people marched. This is more than the strike […]
France: Force the Government and the Bosses to Back Off!
January 16, 2023 editorial of the workplace newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Translated from French. The government keeps repeating “we are living longer, so we have to work longer.” But only when we work less do we live longer! When you’re a worker, your life span is not the […]
France, 2023: “Trust” Only the Struggles for Higher Wages and Against Pension Reform
January 2, 2023, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Translated from French. “Trust and unity”, French President Macron proclaimed on TV, while wishing us a happy new year! 2022 was the year of soaring prices (even before the war in Ukraine); and, just a week ago, […]
France: Pension Reform – Life ahead of us Spent…Working!
December 12, 2022, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the NPA, Translated from French. The destruction of the planet has made 2022 the warmest year ever recorded in France. But winter is here and the cold is setting in. For many of us, managing to keep warm will become a nagging […]
Pension Cuts are on the Bosses’ Agenda
Senator Mitch McConnell announced a week ago that Congress wouldn’t provide any money to support state government employee pension funds.
Retirements on the Chopping Block
Across the country, state and city governments are using the excuse of budget deficits to cut funding for whatever they think they can get away with. After continuously cutting funds for education, social services, transportation, and housing, the latest item on their chopping block is public workers’ pensions. Politicians try to blame the budget shortfalls […]