We have received this column from the socialist representative of Maintenant la Gauche, a minority motion at the last socialist congress. Faithful to its independent and participatory line, our journal publishes it under the responsibility and signature of its author.
Following the interview with Xavier Garcia, spokesperson for PS06, it seemed necessary for me to speak by responding to some points of this interview, as a representative of the left wing of the Socialist Party (“Maintenant la Gauche”) in Alpes-Maritimes. It seemed inappropriate for a spokesperson to speak on this subject prematurely, providing answers to the questions we collectively ask ourselves, even before the debates could be completed.
Socialism: intact values
The stated objective of these Etats Généraux, as defined by Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, would be to “reformulate the socialist identity.” Is this question of such importance today that we need to spend several months debating it, even though our representatives are currently in power and pursuing a policy different from that which we adopted together before 2012?
We should remember that the last “declaration of principles” of our party, adopted almost unanimously and recalling the values that underpin our movement, is only from 2008. Is it so urgent to perform the same work again in the current context?
I invite you to read it in full. It answers, in my opinion, the challenges of today’s world very satisfactorily.
Should we also recall that the party proposed, in 2011, a detailed project adopted once again broadly, and then supported François Hollande’s program and 60 commitments during the presidential election?
Has the world changed so much since these last deadlines? The economic crisis is not new and did not start in 2012: it began in 2007 and there is no urgency to reformulate these questions, even as we have the responsibility to carry out policies allowing the country to emerge from the economic deadlock in which it has been plunged for several years. François Hollande had promised recovery with justice, arousing hope and anticipation from a large number of voters in 2012: that’s the roadmap that must be followed.
A gap between these values and the policy pursued
And this is where the problem lies: the current difficulties do not rest on an alleged mismatch between socialist values or identity and the current world. It is above all the gap between the policy defended in 2012 and the reality of the policy carried out since that has aroused deep despair among left-wing voters. The municipal and European elections have shown that many of them have lost confidence and completely turn away from politics. The departmental and regional elections next year do not look better, despite these Etats Généraux and the supposedly new-found modernity of the socialists.
Nowhere is it written that we would save 50 billion (thus undermining public services, growth, social protection…) in order to redistribute 41 to companies. For comparison, the cost of François Hollande’s program measures for the period 2012-2017 reached only 20 billion: it is double what we devote to a single policy that fails to create jobs and plunges us into even greater difficulties.
Socialists have never defended a policy of reducing state investments hoping thereby to revive the economy: on the contrary, we have always defended the idea that it is by investing for the future, by giving purchasing power back to the most modest employees that we can enable companies to fill their order books and thus continue and enhance their activity. According to the OFCE and a Senate report, 85% of French consumption is, it should be remembered, directed to French goods and services: a boost in wages and a better distribution of wealth would not, therefore, automatically benefit foreign companies, as some claim.
Never have the socialists used right-wing words to such an extent: talking about “charges” instead of “social contributions” which are, for employees, indirect wages allowing them to finance benefits (social security, unemployment, family policy, etc.), “labor cost”, “flexibility”.
Never have the socialists called into question social achievements such as social security, unemployment insurance, pensions, or the Labor Code.
Never have the socialists dared to attack social dialogue by considering removing the thresholds allowing employees to benefit from staff representatives or Works Councils.
It is this gap today between our discourse, our values, and the government’s actions that creates an impression of unpreparedness in governing. Everything was ready to do what we promised voters and to succeed in the five-year term: it was up to François Hollande and the government to apply it.
The urgency is therefore not to reflect on the “identity of the socialists”: the values of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, emancipation, progress, justice… that we have always carried are not outdated. The urgency is to respond to the extremely difficult economic and social situation faced by citizens. Even though it is true that we must debate among socialists to provide answers to these questions, the Etats Généraux are not the appropriate tool to meet them!
A debate to concretely address current challenges goes through a clarification congress!
Whether for the Socialist Party, the left, or the French, the new “identity card” of the PS will be of no use if the policy pursued today fails: of no use to the PS which will have definitively lost the confidence of a very large number of its voters, of no use to the left as a whole, which, assimilated to the policy pursued, will struggle to credibly bear the values that are ours, and above all of no use to the French who will suffer the full brunt of a policy not allowing the recovery of a performing economy and a work organization that creates jobs.
The necessary debate that should animate the socialists is therefore on the current policy, which we have never collectively adopted, and possible alternatives: the tool for this is a Congress, allowing the debate of different proposed lines and to define a clear majority to get out of the current ambiguity.
This congress was provided for by the statutes: it should have taken place halfway through the mandate, therefore right now, instead of the Etats Généraux.
So, quickly, a Congress of clarification instead of diversionary Etats Généraux!
by Arnaud Delcasse, Maintenant la Gauche PS
