PCF 1936
Source: L'Humanité, June 12, 1936;
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitch Abidor;
CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org 2005.
Speaking yesterday evening at the Gymnase Jean Jaurès, at the meeting of Parisian Communists, Comrade Maurice Thorez declared:
After having expressed the sympathy of the Communist Party for the strikers, and having assured them of his active solidarity, Maurice Thorez has once again refuted the lie and calumnies of the enemies of the people.
The workers are fighting for their bread and that of their children. They have suffered terribly for many years. With the agreement of June 7 and the rapid vote by the Chamber of the first legislative texts on collective contracts, paid vacations, and the 40-hour week with no decrease in salary, they have already obtained substantial advantages.
In the matter of salaries, the readjustment of abnormally low wages should allow for a return to work after the signing of contracts.
On this Maurice Thorez reminds us that one must know how to end a strike as soon as essential demands have been met. One must even know how to agree to compromises in order not to lose any strength and, more notably, not to make the fear and panic campaigns of reaction any easier.
The working class, having imposed wage increases and the right to exercise union rights, must protect its unity with the middle-class workers, particularly the peasants, by not separating itself from them through a more accelerated progress.
Thorez reminds us that “Everything isn’t possible,” and that the guiding word of the party remains “Everything for the Popular Front! Everything through the Popular Front!”