On the far left, Permanent Revolution tries to dust off Trotskyism

Friday March 24, in Gonfreville-l’Orcher, in Seine-Maritime. The strike started six days earlier by the refiners of TotalEnergies to protest against the pension reform continues. In the middle of the CGT trade unionists, an activist with short hair takes the microphone: “If we are united like there now, on the hot spots, it means we can win! », she encourages them. This young woman is Adèle Haenel. In recent weeks, the actress has multiplied appearances alongside the Permanent Revolution movement, giving unexpected visibility to this Trotskyist organization.

Hyperactive on social networks and endowed with media figures such as Adèle Haenel or the philosopher Frédéric Lordon, this former branch of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA), took off during a founding congress in December, officially becoming a political party. . For the 1er-May, Permanent Revolution imagined a “alternative battle plan” to that of the unions, explains the lawyer Elsa Marcel, who is a member. In Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), where the National Rally is relocating for the occasion, the movement is preparing a “appearance”with anti-racist organizations and members of its “general strike” network, which includes “several hundred people” from different industries.

For the small organization, whose media visibility is disproportionate to the reality of its forces (nearly 400 members at the last count), the mobilization against the pension reform acts as a baptism of fire. “This sequence of cl*** struggle is super important”, testifies Ariane Anemoyannis, in master of law at Paris-I and future lawyer. The use of Article 49.3 of the Constitution (allowing the adoption of a text without a vote) by Elisabeth Borne, which brought part of the youth to the streets, was a boon for Le Poing levé, a student collective of Revolution permanent, present in eighteen universities and high schools. In the demonstrations, its activists, microphone in hand, chanted the call for ” general strike “. “It’s actually a much broader political sequence: there is a window of opportunity to bend the government”thus claimed Lorélia Frejo, activist of Paris-I, during an inter-faculty ***embly organized in Paris-VIII in early April, to thunderous applause.

“Cl*** Clash”

The strength of this collective is to have embraced “all emancipatory struggles: environmental, feminist, LGBT issues, “yellow vests”, police brutality”, points out Hugo Melchior, a historian specializing in the extreme left and student movements. Before the refiners of Seine-Maritime, Adèle Haenel began her speech as “as a feminist, as a lesbian too”. Youcef Brakni and ***a Traoré, from the Truth for Adama committee, are close to railway worker An***e Kazib. Pillar of the movement, the latter attempted to stand in the last presidential election without succeeding, for lack of sponsorship.

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