View source for Lutte Ouvrière

{{Multiple issues|
{{More footnotes|date=February 2008}}
{{update|date=April 2012}}
{{Expand French|Lutte ouvrière social-impérialisme|date=June 2017|topic=gov}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Workers' Struggle
| native_name      = Lutte ouvrière
| native_name_lang = fr
| split            = [[Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party]]
| country          = France
| colorcode        = {{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}
| logo             = Logo Lutte Ouvrière.svg
| logo_size        = 250px
| leader           = [[Collective leadership]]:<br />([[Central Committee]]);<br />Spokesperson:<br />[[Nathalie Arthaud]]
| president        = 
| secretary_general = 
| foundation       = {{start date and age|1939}} (groupe [[David Korner|Barta]])<br />{{start date and age|1956}} (LO)
| dissolution      = 
| headquarters     = Paris
| ideology         = [[Communism]]<br />[[Trotskyism]]
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| national         = 
| european         = 
| europarl         = 
| international    = [[Internationalist Communist Union]]
| colours          = Red
| membership       = {{steady}} 8,000 claimed adherents<ref>{{cite news|title=Européennes 2019: Lutte ouvrière mènera une liste autonome|url=https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/politique/elections/europeennes-2019-lutte-ouvriere-menera-une-liste-autonome_2052874.html|agency=Agence France-Presse|newspaper=L'Express|date=11 December 2018|access-date=11 December 2018}}</ref>
| membership_year  = 2018
| seats1_title     = Seats in the National Assembly
| seats1           = {{Composition bar|0|577|hex={{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| seats2_title     = Seats in the Senate
| seats2           = {{Composition bar|0|343|hex={{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| seats3_title     = Seats in the European Parliament
| seats3           = {{Composition bar|0|72|hex={{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| seats4_title     = Seats in Regional Councils
| seats4           = 
| website          = {{Official URL}}
| footnotes        = [[Constitution of France]]<br />[[Parliament of France|Parliament]]; [[Government of France|government]]; [[President of France|president]]
}}

'''Lutte Ouvrière''' ({{IPA|fr|lyt uvʁijɛʁ|lang}}, {{lit|Workers' Struggle}}) is a [[Trotskyist]] [[communist party]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Présentation |url=http://www.lutte-ouvriere.org/qui-sommes-nous/presentation |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=Lutte Ouvrière : Le Portail |language=fr}}</ref> in France, named after its weekly paper. [[Arlette Laguiller]] was the party's spokeswoman from 1973 to 2008 and ran in each presidential election until 2012, when [[Nathalie Arthaud]] was the candidate.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2002-04-05 |title=Profile: Arlette Laguiller |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1911315.stm |access-date=2024-12-26 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=French elections: Who else is standing? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/4/13/poutou-arthaud-lassalle-and-other-minor-candidates |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mag |first=Lyon |date=2008-12-09 |title=Lyon Mag |url=https://www.lyonmag.com/article/9385/la-lyonnaise-nathalie-arthaud-nommee-porte-parole-de-lutte-ouvriere |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Lyon Mag |language=fr-FR}}</ref> [[Robert Barcia]] (Hardy) was its founder and central leader. Lutte Ouvrière is a member of the [[Internationalist Communist Union]]. It emphasises workplace activity and has been critical of such recent phenomena as [[alter-globalization]].

== History ==
Its origins lie in the tiny '''Trotskyist Group''' founded in 1939 by [[David Korner]] (Barta). This developed factory work throughout the war and was instrumental in the [[Renault]] strike of 1947, along with the [[anarcho-syndicalists]]. The group was exhausted by this effort and collapsed in 1952.

After attempts to revive the Trotskyist Group, '''Voix Ouvrière''' was founded in 1956 by [[Robert Barcia]], known as Hardy and the group's pre-eminent leader, and by Pierre Bois, a leading activist in the Renault plant. Effort was made to involve Barta but disputes between him, Hardy and Bois prevented it.

VO established itself through the 1960s by producing mass factory bulletins, usually weekly. The [[Communist Party of France]] (PCF) retained its hegemonic position within the workers' movement in France and its members sometimes tried to prevent the distribution of VO bulletins. In part this explains the continued use of semi-clandestine operation within VO and in LO today.

After being banned due to its support of the Students Revolt of [[May 1968 events in France|May '68]], the group became Lutte Ouvrière.

== Since the 1970s ==
An ongoing issue is the possibility and conditions of cooperation with fellow Trotskyist party the [[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|Revolutionary Communist League]], the French section of the [[Fourth International (post-reunification)|Fourth International]]. In 1970, LO initiated fusion discussions with the LC (as the LCR was then called). After extensive discussions, the two organisations had agreed the basis for a fused organisation. However, the fusion was not completed. In 1976 discussions between the Ligue and Lutte Ouvrière progressed again. The two organisations started to produce a common weekly supplement to their newspapers, common electoral work and other common campaigning. Since then on occasions the two organizations have stood joint candidates at some elections.

LO has made great efforts to stand in elections either on its own or in an alliance with the LCR. As a result, Arlette Laguiller has become well known to the public as LO's perennial presidential candidate. The early 1970s also saw two breakaways from Lutte Ouvrière. The first such split, in 1974 in Bordeaux, took the name l'Union Ouvrière, but rapidly disintegrated, so much so that when another small split group that developed a year later expected to be able to fuse with l'Union Ouvrière, it found it had already disappeared and were forced to form their own organisation as a consequence. This new group, Combat Communiste, evolved into [[Socialisme International]], an affiliate of the International Socialist Tendency.

Another more recent breakaway developed after Arlette Laguiller's relatively high electoral results in the 1990s and LO's statement that this meant that a new workers' party was a possibility. This statement, as well as a dispute over the personal code members were expected to abide by, led to the departure of over a hundred members to form the Voix des Travailleurs group. This later fused with another smaller group but has more recently joined the [[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|Revolutionary Communist League]] as a recognised faction. In the period up to 2008, a minority faction existed within LO and appeared publicly, although its supporters were segregated in their own cells.

LO has gained critique for their position on the 2004 [[French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools]]. André Victor written in his article ''Islamic Hijab and the Subjugation of Women'' 25 April 2003<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lutte-ouvriere-journal.org/?act=artl&num=1812&id=7 |title=Lutte Ouvrière Hebdo - Foulard islamique et soumission des femmes |language=fr |publisher=Lutte-ouvriere-journal.org |access-date=2013-05-06}}</ref> that "Sarkozy has spoken out against hijab on passport photos, and presumably earned the approval of millions of voters, which was probably the real purpose of this exercise in demagoguery". It considers that "The real problem is that wearing the hijab, visible sign of the subjugation of women to their husband, father, brother or men in general, has been the subject of a political campaign of organizations present in fundamentalist migrant groups to impose their law within them, especially women. ... Therefore this policy leads to increase the weight of the most reactionary religious authorities within the immigrant population". While considering the law as ''hypocrite'', LO stated that "For teachers, not accepting hijab, - particularly in the classroom, -  means to support women in their family and social environment, attempting to resist the machismo".

Following the very low score of Arlette Laguiller in the first round of the [[2007 French presidential election|April–May 2007 presidential election]] (1,33%, compared to [[2002 French presidential election|5,72% in 2002]]), the party was left with a debt of €1.4 million. According to Michel Rodinson, a party official, the campaign cost was in total €2 million (800,000 of which are paid by the state). The rent of the [[Le Zénith|Zenith]] for meetings in Paris, as well as the December political poster campaign, account for most of the expenses.<ref>[http://www.metrofrance.com/fr/article/afp/2007/04/24/070424142028_h2o7rf6h/index.xml Dépenses de campagne: énorme ardoise pour LO, la LCR s'en tire sans déficit]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[Metro International|Metro]]'', 24 April 2007 {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

[[File:Lutte Ouvriere Mutualite 2008 02 29 n1.jpg|thumb|left|Rally organized by Workers' Struggle (Lutte Ouvrière) on 29 February 2008 at the [[Maison de la Mutualité]] (Paris) for the 2008 town elections.]]
In the local elections in 2008, Lutte Ouvrière broke with tradition by joining the Socialist Party-led slates by the first round of the elections in a number of towns, preferring this tactic to the more usual option of cooperating with other far left groups to run a joint election campaign. Because an organized minority faction called "L'Étincelle" supported some lists running against lists supported by the party leadership, Lutte Ouvrière suspended the faction from the organization in February 2008; the faction was expelled in September 2008. The faction has agreed to take part in the initial stages of the [[New Anticapitalist Party]] set up by the LCR with others, though this may not be a long-term strategy, with one member explaining it as "foot in both camps" strategy.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.fifthinternational.org/content/france-lutte-ouvri%C3%A8re-deaf-call-anticapitalist-party|title= France: Lutte Ouvrière deaf to call for anticapitalist party|date = 15 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2008/02/04/lutte-ouvriere-excludes-its-minority|title=Lutte Ouvriere excludes its minority|date=4 February 2008|publisher=[[Workers' Liberty]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2008/09/23/minority-faction-expelled-lutte-ouvriere|title=Minority faction expelled from Lutte Ouvriere|date=23 September 2008|publisher=Workers' Liberty}}</ref>

Unlike in 2004 and 1999, when it ran common lists with the [[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|Revolutionary Communist League]], LO ran autonomous lists in the [[2009 European Parliament election in France]]. For the [[2022 French legislative election]], LO announced that the party would run its own slate separate from the [[New Ecologic and Social People's Union]], which they believe to be [[reformist]].<ref>{{cite web|date=3 May 2022|title=Législatives 2022 : où en sont les négociations des partis de gauche avec La France insoumise ?|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/elections/legislatives/legislatives-2022-ou-en-sont-les-negociations-des-partis-de-gauche-avec-la-france-insoumise_5116000.html|access-date=3 May 2022|publisher=France Info|language=fr}}</ref>

==Fête de Lutte Ouvrière==
Another very public activity of LO is their annual [[fête]] which is held in the grounds of a chateau which the organisation purchased for that purpose in 1981. The annual Fête de Lutte Ouvrière is probably the largest public gathering of the revolutionary left in Europe.

== Leadership ==
[[File:Nathalie Arthaud.png|thumb|[[Nathalie Arthaud]]]]
[[File:Arlette Laguiller 384133733 b384cfaee6 o d cropped.jpg|thumb|[[Arlette Laguiller]]]]

The 2012 presidential candidate, [[Nathalie Arthaud]], is a teacher and was an elected town councillor for [[Vaulx-en-Velin]], in charge of youth matters.  Arthaud was also the spokesperson for [[Arlette Laguiller]]'s 2007 presidential campaign.  Arlette Laguiller had first run as the LO candidate in 1974, and subsequently in 1981, 1988, 1995, 2002, with 2007 being her last candidacy, and still plays an active part in the leadership of the party.  For long, the internal organisations of the party were largely unknown to the general public, the spokeswoman and regular presidential candidate Arlette Laguiller being the only party leader appearing in public. Even to party members, some leaders were known only by cadre names. The party justified such secrecy measures by the possibility that it may have to enter clandestinity, should a highly repressive government take power. For similar reasons, marriages and children were strongly discouraged.

Bernard Seytre, a member of LO for 20 years, confirmed the "iron discipline which rhythms the life of this Trotskyist organisation, whose responsibles [''cadres''] do not have the right to have children, lest they be excluded".<ref>''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]'', [http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/lo/dossier.asp?ida=367858 La chute d'Arlette] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181348/http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/lo/dossier.asp?ida=367858|date=30 September 2007}} by [[François Koch]], 26 December 2002 {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

Lutte Ouvrière was criticised by political opponents in the 2002 presidential campaign as being a [[political cult]], for example by [[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]], his older brother [[Gabriel Cohn-Bendit]], ''[[L'Humanité]]'' and ''[[Libération]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Arlette Laguiller n'aime pas le débat |date=11 April 2002 |work=L'Humanité |language=fr |url=http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2002-04-11/2002-04-11-32049 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050629070722/http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2002-04-11/2002-04-11-32049 |archive-date=29 June 2005 }}</ref><ref>[[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]] and his brother Gabriel, [http://www.denistouret.net/constit/Laguiller.html Arlette n'est pas une sainte], ''[[Libération]]'', 4 April 2002 (mirrored) {{in lang|fr}}</ref> In part, this strict disciplinary attitude has enabled LO to be a very stable organisation in contrast to the instability that they allege characterises so many other left groups. LO is a difficult organisation to actually join and after becoming a member, individuals are expected to conform to a code of conduct, which is considered old fashioned by some critics.

==Election results==

===Presidential===
{|class="wikitable"
|+ [[President of the French Republic]]
!rowspan="2"|Election year
!rowspan="2"|Candidate
!colspan="3"|First round
!colspan="3"|Second round
!rowspan="2"|Result
|-
!Votes
!%
!Rank
!Votes
!%
!Rank
|-
![[1974 French presidential election|1974]]
|rowspan=6|[[Arlette Laguiller]]
|595,247
|2.33
|{{increase}} 5th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[1981 French presidential election|1981]]
|668,057
|2.30
|{{decrease}} 6th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[1988 French presidential election|1988]]
|606,017
|1.99
|{{decrease}} 8th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[1995 French presidential election|1995]]
|1,615,552
|5.30
|{{increase}} 6th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[2002 French presidential election|2002]]
|1,630,045
|5.72
|{{increase}} 5th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[2007 French presidential election|2007]]
|487,857
|1.33
|{{decrease}} 9th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[2012 French presidential election|2012]]
|rowspan=3|[[Nathalie Arthaud]]
|202,548
|0.56
|{{steady}} 9th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[2017 French presidential election|2017]]
|232,384
|0.64
|{{decrease}} 10th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[2022 French presidential election|2022]]
|197,094
|0.56
|{{decrease}} 12th
|colspan=3 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|}

===European Parliament===
{| class="wikitable"style="text-align:center"
|-
! Election
! Leader
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
! EP Group
|-
! [[1979 European Parliament election in France|1979]]{{efn|name="LCR-no-seats"|Run in a joint list with [[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|LCR]], that won no seats.}}
| rowspan="6" |[[Arlette Laguiller]]
| 632,663
| 3.08 (#6)
| {{Composition bar|0|81|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| New
| rowspan="4" |−
|-
! [[1984 European Parliament election in France|1984]]
| 417,702
| 2.07 (#7)
| {{Composition bar|0|81|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! [[1989 European Parliament election in France|1989]]
| 258,663
| 1.43 (#8)
| {{Composition bar|0|81|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! [[1994 European Parliament election in France|1994]]
| 442,723
| 2.27 (#10)
| {{Composition bar|0|87|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! [[1999 European Parliament election in France|1999]]{{efn|Run in a joint list with [[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|LCR]], that won 5 seats in total.}}
| 914,811
| 5.18 (#9)
| {{Composition bar|3|87|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{increase}} 3
| [[European United Left - Nordic Green Left|GUE/NGL]]
|-
! [[2004 European Parliament election in France|2004]]{{efn|name="LCR-no-seats"}}
| 440,134
| 2.56 (#8)
| {{Composition bar|0|74|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{decrease}} 3
| rowspan="5" |−
|-
! [[2009 European Parliament election in France|2009]]
| rowspan="4" |[[Nathalie Arthaud]]
| 205,975
| 1.20 (#11)
| {{Composition bar|0|72|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! [[2014 European Parliament election in France|2014]]
| 222,491
| 1.17 (#10)
| {{Composition bar|0|74|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! [[2019 European Parliament election in France|2019]]
| 176,339
| 0.78 (#14)
| {{Composition bar|0|79|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
! [[2024 European Parliament election in France|2024]]{{efn|Run in a joint list with [[Combat Ouvrier|CO]], that won no seats.}}
| 121,200
| 0.49 (#14)
| {{Composition bar|0|81|{{party color|Lutte Ouvrière}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|}
{{Notelist}}

== International relations ==
LO maintains relations with the following other Trotskyist groups ([[Internationalist Communist Union]]):

*Workers' Fight (UK)
*[[Spark (U.S. organization)|The Spark (United States)]]
*{{Interlanguage link multi|Combat Ouvrier|fr}} [[Guadeloupe]] and [[Martinique]]
*Organisation Révolutionnaire des travailleurs [[Haïti]]
*{{Interlanguage link multi|Union Africaine des Travailleurs Communistes Internationalistes|fr}} (Africa)
*Sınıf Mücadelesi (Turkey)
*Lucha de Clase (Spain)
* L'Internazionale (Italy)
* Bund Revolutionärer Arbeiter ([[Germany]])

==See also==
* [[International Workingmen's Association]]
* [[Arlette Laguiller]]
* [[Workers' Party (France)|Parti des Travailleurs]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Lutte ouvrière}}
*{{Official website|http://www.lutte-ouvriere.org }}
*[http://www.union-communiste.org Internationalist Communist Union site]

{{French political parties}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutte Ouvriere Party (France)}}
[[Category:1956 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Communist parties in France]]
[[Category:Internationalist Communist Union]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1956]]
[[Category:Political parties of the French Fifth Republic]]
[[Category:Trotskyist organisations in France]]
[[Category:Trotskyist parties]]