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A spirit of militant class struggle
ROBERT GRIFFITHS reports from the French Communist Party Congress which takes place amid savage government attacks on workers’ rights

A THOUSAND delegates and visitors filled the Paris Docks exhibition centre in Aubervilliers last weekend for the 37th congress of the French Communist Party (PCF).

They met to chart the party’s course for the next three years as railway staff, air traffic controllers and other sections of workers were preparing to join the growing national strike wave against a new “labour flexibility” law.

French Socialist Party (PS) President Francois Hollande and his Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri want to replace the statutory 35-hour working week with a “normal” one of 46 hours, limit the right to strike, cap compensation payments for unfair dismissal and allow employers to put previously agreed terms and conditions back on the negotiating table.

  • Robert Griffiths is general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain.
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