The procession of this May 1st will be watched more than ever. According to a note from territorial intelligence that leaked to the media, between “80,000 and 100,000 people” must parade in Paris on Monday “including 1,000 to 2,000 elements at risk”. The capital’s police headquarters is preparing for an eventful day. The police are worried about the absence of demonstrations since the decision of the Constitutional Council which, on April 14, validated the essentials of the pension reform. Pan concerts have certainly punctuated the movements of the members of the executive, but no large gathering has taken place since that of April 13.
The police headquarters therefore expects a “historic mobilization”. It would be marked in particular by the possible presence of “black blocks”. “Due to the tense social climate conducive to significant mobilization, the protest and radical movement as a whole should be present in a determined and offensive state of mind”, they assure. The authorities are thus planning a May Day which “will not in fact be a celebration of the workers alone, but will rather be an unprecedented day in terms of unity, protest against the government and a spirit of vengeance”. The profiles collected should be very diverse.
According to the intelligence services, the inter-union and its sympathizers are expected to bring together between 30,000 and 50,000 demonstrators, from environmental groups, different political and youth structures, or even from the pink block – which brings together queer activists and radical feminists. “The pre-cortege could be inflated by a significant mobilization of yellow vests,” the note said, putting them at around 1,500 to 3,000 people. To these should be added the famous “elements at risk”, composed in particular of “200 to 400 ultra-left activists including foreigners, and 100 to 200 radicalized yellow vests”. “These radical activists should bring in their wake […] demonstrators with a heterogeneous profile such as students and high school students close to the protesting left, little seasoned in the commission of abuses, but also radical trade unionists and a certain number of opportunist thugs”, underline the security services. To analyze the issues of the day, L’Express interviewed Michel Pigenet, professor emeritus of contemporary history, specialist in the history of work and social movements.
L’Express: The intelligence services mention the risk of the presence in the May Day procession of 1,000 to 2,000 demonstrators animated “with an avenging spirit”. What do you think ?
Michel Pigenet: The costing in advance has always seemed strange to me. It is very difficult, even after the fact, to verify whether the authorities were right or not, because the clashes durings demonstrations are always very confusing. Now, the presence of demonstrators of this type is not surprising: we find them in many mobilizations for several decades. Following May-68, the autonomous movements [NDLR : un courant classé à l’ultragauche]for example, had specializes in playing cat and mouse with law enforcement. This type of incident continued in the eighties, before returning more recently. We are witnessing a kind of one-upmanship between groups wishing to go “in contact” with the “adversary” and, simultaneously, to counter his initiatives.
A word, too, on the leak of the note in question. That the intelligence services write this type of analysis is not surprising. It’s their job. That it comes out in the press raises concerns other than security. It is a political communication tactic, which sends two messages. First, the risk posed by people “with a vengeful spirit”, an observation likely to legitimize and justify a strong police presence on the day of the demonstration. Then, the warning sent to peaceful people: beware, this demonstration risks being dangerous.
The unions, however, are counting on a significant mobilization. Does this day sign a strong comeback of the day of May 1, less followed in recent years?
By definition, May Day is a routine event. It always comes back every year. It is a thermometer of social conflict and inter-union relations, the effects of which are measured in the number of demonstrators. Over the past four months, the unions, failing to obtain what they had mobilized for – the abandonment of the reform – have scored points. They were able to agree on a watchword, the way to mobilize. The inter-union held and the unions returned to the forefront of the social scene.
The comparisons that we have been able to make with the previous movements, in particular that of the yellow vests, play in their favor: first of all on the delicate ground of the organization of mass actions. On the strength of the points thus scored, they therefore intend to make May 1, 2023 a demonstration of force, of their strength. For the first time in a long time, all trade unions are united in a common call to demonstrate. Without prejudging what will actually happen on May 1, the preparation for the day is already “historic”, in the sense of a break with the ordinary of previous years. We will then see what will happen to its unfolding.
Are you surprised by the number and variety of radical profiles – estimated between 1,000 and 2,000 – listed in the information note?
The whole history of the labor movement, starting with that of its street demonstrations, is crossed by the question of “excesses”, “provocations”, “provocateurs” and other “thugs”. These themes stem from experience, fear and myth. To stick with the demonstrations of the 2000s, it is not uncommon for them to attract people to them who are determined to confront the police, who organize and “equip themselves” accordingly or prepare in advance ” depots” and “reserves” along the parade route. This does not mean, however, that the demonstration is, for sure, doomed to degenerate. Sometimes, it does not go beyond a few incidents, quickly absorbed, as if stifled, by the mass of peaceful demonstrators, the reactivity of the union order service, etc.
A matter of context, economic situation, atmosphere… Nothing is ever certain, however, provided that the social or political climate is particularly tense, a spark is enough to ignite the powder. Here, the device for maintaining order comes into play. Its proximity, its untimely intervention, not understood, its more or less “energetic” nature can contribute to demonstrators unfamiliar with the degradations committed resisting, or even responding to the police.
For better or for worse, there is a manifesting dynamic, which makes the specificity of each procession. People who would have gone quietly to the Place de la Nation can, at that time, join the black blocs. The number modifies the profile of the actors, blurs the notion of “radical elements” or considered as such in the sense of a great heterogeneity, mixing “peaceful” fathers and mothers of families, “radicalized” trade unionists, to use the expression of the note, etc. If I had been the author of the note, I would have more clearly distinguished those who light the fuse from those who ignite. Nuance is essential.
May 1, 2023 seems particularly symbolic, a few weeks after the mobilization against the pension reform. Is it unprecedented that this day of mobilization is so loaded in terms of demands?
No: May 1 is always protest. In 1889, the International Socialist Congress in Paris commemorated the massacre that had taken place in Chicago three years earlier. He decided to organize everywhere, every May 1, from 1890, delegations bearing workers’ demands, including the 8-hour day. The hour is more with the fight than with the festival. In Fourmies, on May 1, 1891, troops fired on a procession and killed 9 demonstrators, including 4 women and 2 children aged 11 and 14. In 1904, the CGT launched a vast campaign in anticipation of May 1, 1906, during which it called on workers to refuse to work more than eight hours a day. As the date approaches, the authorities are worried. Rumors of revolution are circulating. Georges Clemenceau, then Minister of the Interior, “the first cop in France”, he said, brought 15,000 soldiers to Paris. The capital is squared and 860 arrests are made among trade unionists. Rough clashes oppose demonstrators and police.
Other May Days will be eventful. In 1919 and 1920, we deplore deaths. From 1954 to 1967, parades will be banned in Paris. In the meantime, however, the date has become a public holiday and a day off. The 1st of May follow each other without looking alike, between low water levels of calm times and floods of periods of social protest, years of division and great hours of unity. That of 2023 promises to be powerful and, as such, memorable.