Five motions are competing for the National Congress of the Socialist Party, which will be held in Toulouse starting tomorrow. On October 11, socialist activists will be able to make their choice for one of these texts.
Here are the five motions in detail:
Motion 1: Mobilize the French to succeed in change
Primary signatory: Harlem Désir
Motion 2: A matter of principles
Primary signatory: Juliette Méadel
Motion 3: Now the Left
Primary signatory: Emmanuel Maurel
Motion 4: Dare. Further, faster
Primary signatory: Stéphane Hessel
Motion 5: Toulouse, my congress
Primary signatory: Constance Blanchard
It is widely expected that Motion 1 will emerge victorious in this internal competition, and Harlem Désir will become the National First Secretary of the Party. However, the ranking of the other motions is yet to be determined.
One may wonder why Stéphane Hessel — who will be 95 in 10 days, a man of the left and a convinced European — decided to put forward a motion at the Socialist Party Congress in Toulouse. But this ardent defender of human rights, peace, and human dignity explains that “it is because the crisis is raging that I have agreed to be the primary signatory of Motion 4, Dare. Further, Faster.”
This motion is the result of the joint work of citizen activists, enriched by the economic expertise of Pierre Larrouturou — with whom Stéphane Hessel had already written “For a Social Europe Treaty” in 2004 — and is energized by the optimism and ongoing commitment of the great resistor that is Stéphane Hessel. Pierre Larrouturou also mentions that “having a member of the National Council of Resistance as the primary signatory is important in the context of a social crisis to remind us that things can end badly…”. Because the debate taking place at the congress must be an opportunity to respond to the current urgency.
This text is an invitation for militants not to resign themselves to a congress whose outcome might be already known. Several proposals to overcome the crisis and restore balance to public finances without austerity are clearly outlined. In essence, the motion argues that creating a more just and humane society is merely a matter of political will. By recalling how Roosevelt in 1933 began by taming financial markets by separating deposit banks from investment banks and taxing high incomes, it calls on the government to be bold in transforming society.
Véronique Camille
