Who Wants to Be a Pauper?

In France, the Communists control the biggest union of them all. The Communist-dominated Confederation General du Travail (CGT) claims 4,000,000 members, probably has at least 2,000,000, and occupies strategic positions throughout French industry and transport. It has long outgunned and outshouted a cluster of loosely joined non-Communist trade unions boasting about 1,500,000 members. But last week the Communist unions suffered a stunning defeat.

Last September, non-Communist negotiators sat down with managers of the biggest nationalized industry in France, the Renault automobile company, employer of 51,000 workers. They agreed to a generous new wage contract: immediate wage boosts of 5%, automatic wage hikes tied to the cost of living and three weeks of paid vacation. At this point, the Communist union, which is strong at Renault, found itself enmeshed in ideological confusion. Basic to Communist theory, even if it is hard for workers to understand, is the notion of "progressive pauperization." Under this theory, any substantial gain the workers get must be resisted as evil, because it makes them satisfied with their lot and puts off the proletarian revolution. At the CGT convention last June, this issue was thrashed out, and CGT Secretary General Benoit Frachon, a card-carrying Communist, spoke frankly of the need to "destroy the dreams and delusions of those who try to present the capitalist regime in its present state as a source of progress."

But to the Renault automobile workers, the new wages looked good. Last week the CGT masters reluctantly reversed their classic Marxist line and endorsed the wage contract.

It was high time. With new-found momentum, the non-Communist unions (the Socialist Force Ouvriere, the Catholic Christian Trade Union and several independents) have already signed up the employers of some 600,000 Paris-area metal workers to contracts identical to the Renault terms. Employers and non-Communist unions jointly hailed the new settlements as milestones in labor relations. If it did not want to be left behind, the Communist-led CGT would probably have to follow suit: French workers were in no mood to be pauperized for the benefit of the revolution.

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