Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: What France's Election Means

Date: May 18, 2017

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Richard D. Wolff first explores developments in the U.S. concerning labor activism, student loan interest hikes, and worker-ownership legislation before shifting in the second half to an in-depth discussion about the implications of France’s 2017 presidential election. His guest is Antonin Plahier, a French academic and activist with the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA), who provides a critical analysis of the election results, the rise of populism, France's socioeconomic struggles, attitudes toward immigrants and the European Union, and the prospects for the French left.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. U.S. Economic Updates and Labor Activism

[00:54 – 15:30]

• Yale Graduate Student Hunger Strike: Graduate students seek unionization under Local 33, facing resistance from Yale—mirroring national patterns of employers blocking union drives and workers’ rights.
  • “Yale University is a very typical employer here in the United States, all its protestations to being the guardian of Western civilization notwithstanding.” (A, 10:05)
• Rising Student Loan Interest Rates: Federal student loan interest rates to increase, affecting 44 million Americans with a collective $1.4 trillion debt burden; private lenders benefit from government rate hikes.
  • “Is making it more expensive for students to borrow to get a college education? Is that part of making America great again, do you think?” (A, 15:04)
• Worker Ownership Legislation: Introduction of two bills (WORK and the US Employee Ownership Bank Act) to promote worker-owned businesses. Wolff praises the measures as a step forward but cautions that real workplace democracy requires going beyond mere ownership to real participation in decision making.
  • “Worker ownership we have seen, worker ownership is a good step, but it is just a step, and it needs to be supplemented by the real serious business of giving working people in their workplace the democratic right to control the decisions that affect their lives.” (A, 21:50)
• Mother’s Day and Family Economics: Highlights reliance on immigrant families for US population growth, disparities in paid leave, and growing labor force participation by mothers.
  • “The United States is the only advanced industrial country that does not have a law mandating paid maternal leave.” (A, 25:41)

2. What France’s Election Means – Conversation with Antonin Plahier

[29:42 – 54:34]

Election Recap and Media Narratives

[32:01 – 36:06]

• French and American media painted the Macron victory as a win for the center over populism (Le Pen), but Plahier challenges this, arguing that populism is not defeated and remains a significant force.
  • “If we have a look just on the election results, it’s true, 66% for Macron and only 33% in favor of Marine Le Pen. But we have to look beyond the election results … populism has not been defeated yet in France.” (C, 32:16)
• Populism defined broadly as a politics that opposes “the national people” to “foreigners or foreign capital”—catching both Le Pen and leftist Mélenchon under its umbrella.
  • “This idea—that in order to protect us against capitalism, we have to proudly defend our border against immigrant people … or against German capitalism … is a real dead end for the working class.” (C, 33:16)

Strength of Populism and Class Politics

[36:00 – 37:13]

• Nearly 45% of the French electorate voted for candidates categorized as populists.
  • “It was able to get half the French people to vote for it … is a stunning achievement that will shake European politics no matter what pretenses are made that it was quote, unquote, defeated.” (A, 36:16)
• The NPA positioned itself against all nationalist solutions, emphasizing worker solidarity across national borders.
  • “We workers have more in common, whatever the borders or whatever the citizenships supposed to divide us, than we have in common or we would be supposed to have in common with national capitalists.” (C, 34:52)

Appeal of Marine Le Pen and the National Front

[37:13 – 40:30]

• Economic precarity fuels resentment; widespread unemployment and growing inequality make reactionary solutions attractive.
  • “The 2008 crisis has considerably affected conditions of the working class. 5 million people are unemployed… the crisis is deepening … People are upset, they are angry and they are right to be so.” (C, 37:14)
• Political establishment scapegoats immigrants for structural problems, aiding the far right’s narrative.
  • “For three decades, every government have ambiguous or even sometimes really open arguments against immigrant people. That’s the way they explain the social situation.” (C, 38:43)

Scapegoating, Immigration, and Solidarity

[40:57 – 44:40]

• Government anti-immigrant policies and foreign interventions worsen the migrant crisis (e.g., deaths in the Mediterranean). But solidarity movements persist.
  • “Mediterranean Sea became increasingly … the place of a human disaster. 5,000 people are dying every year in this place … the policy of the European governments towards immigration are directly responsible of this mass murder.” (C, 41:08)
• Social struggles (e.g. undocumented workers’ strikes) are critical to building solidarity and countering anti-immigrant sentiment.
  • “Through this social movement, we can change people’s minds and we can convince them that both of them have common interests to fight against capitalism.” (C, 44:03)

Hostility to the European Union

[44:43 – 48:58]

• The EU is commonly blamed for unpopular reforms, but in reality, French and other national governments shape EU policies they later rail against.
  • “Governments don’t want to take responsibility when they adopt an unpopular law … they say, ‘I lead it because the European Union is compelling me to do so.’ But … the European Union is basically just a meeting of national governments.” (C, 45:37)
• This functions as political theater—national politicians deflect blame, making the EU a target of public anger while enacting the policies themselves.

The Mélenchon Phenomenon and the Left’s Future

[48:58 – 54:34]

• Rise of leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon partly a result of the collapse of the French Socialist Party (PS).
  • “The Socialist Party have chosen in the past five years to serve with real loyalty the interests of the bourgeoisie … they have almost committed suicide.” (C, 49:48)
• While Mélenchon advanced social measures, he compromised on several platform points and did not sufficiently root his movement in ongoing class struggle, according to Plahier.
  • “Melanchon basically was saying, vote for me and the social reforms will follow. … even the most timid social reforms require social struggles… you have to say it.” (C, 52:38)
• The NPA argued for worker-led political representation and organization, seeing a need for a more radical alternative to both establishment and populist parties.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On U.S. Graduate Worker Organizing:
  “They are more clear in their interests than we were, and they are more clear allies of the unions than we were. All of which has enabled them to be more effective.” – Richard D. Wolff, [11:50]
• On Student Loans:
  “Raising the government’s interest rate, it’s good news for the private lenders that compete … more damage to young people and their families who are thinking of college educations.” – Richard D. Wolff, [18:50]
• On Paid Parental Leave in the U.S.:
  “The country that makes more noise about family values than any, doesn’t support it when it comes to paid family leave.” – Richard D. Wolff, [26:35]
• On Populism and the French Election:
  “Populism has not been defeated yet in France.” – Antonin Plahier, [32:30]
• On Immigrant Scapegoating:
  “Immigrant people, in a way or another, in the speech of the different governments, have been responsible. Taken as responsible of this situation.” – Antonin Plahier, [39:35]
• On EU as Scapegoat:
  “The national government … pushes through an unpopular law and then acts as though it had to do that under the pressure of the European Union … they get the law they want and pretend they’re not to blame for it, even though they are also the controlling forces in the European Union.” – Richard D. Wolff, [47:27]
• On Need for Worker-Led Organization:
  “If we want one day the world to be better, we have to start here and now.” – Antonin Plahier, [54:23]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Yale Graduate Student Hunger Strike & U.S. Labor Issues: 00:54 – 15:30
• Student Loan Interest Rates & Impact: 15:30 – 18:55
• Worker Ownership Legislation & Workplace Democracy: 18:55 – 25:30
• Mother’s Day Economic Reflections: 25:30 – 29:42
• Intro to Antonin Plahier & French Elections: 29:42 – 32:13
• Populism in France: 32:13 – 36:06
• National Front’s Appeal Among Workers: 37:13 – 40:30
• Immigration, Scapegoating, and Solidarity: 40:57 – 44:40
• Criticism of the European Union: 44:43 – 48:58
• The Mélenchon Phenomenon and the French Left: 48:58 – 54:34

Conclusion

This episode offers both a critical lens on current U.S. economic struggles and a nuanced, insider’s account of the forces at play in the 2017 French election. Richard Wolff and Antonin Plahier dissect the persistence of populism, the role of scapegoating in times of crisis, the importance of building solidarity, and the necessity of ongoing class struggle for transformative social change. The conversation provides context and clarity for listeners seeking to understand the complexities behind political headlines, both in the U.S. and abroad.