occupation almost every day!
ists. We asked them how they viewed their struggle.
Q. Do you see your fight as part of a general struggle by the working class against unemployment? On what basis have you tried to win mapport from other workers, and how is this organised?
YVON-MARIE: The IMRO workers think it is really important to popularise our struggle. We are producing a regular magazine, Special Licenciements (Redundancy Special) - there have been five editions so far, and we printed 11,000 copies of the last We distribute it through various channels. First of all, ourselves -we sell it in the streets, at the factory gates, in the markets. Some are taken by the unions, the CGT (General Confederation of Labour) and the CFDT (French Democratic Confederation of Labour). All the revolutionary organisations distribute it. Finally, we send copies to every big daily newspaper in France and abroad, especially those in the countries of the Common Market.
We also produce lots of posters to draw attention to our struggle. We are out fly-posting at least three nights every week.
Most important, however, we are present in every struggle - not only in Rouen, but in the whole region - especially where there are occupations taking place. We also. Lake Darn the oca committee or unemployed workers set up by the CGT.
Q. One important decision you took was to use the presses and other equipment to produce material popularising your struggle. How was this decision arrived at? Does it extend to producing material for other labour movement struggles and organisations? Y-M: We began using the machines for our own purposes a long, long time ago - • the first time was in May '68, I think. It was something absolutely natural and normal for us. We didn't need to discuss it, we just went ahead and used them.
We've produced material not just for ourselves, but for the Chilean MIR, for the building workers of Rouen, for Rouge, Revolution and The struggle against unemployment and closure in Britain is still in its infancy. But in France the factory occupation at Lip in mid-1973 sparked off a wave of struggles which has shown no sign of letting up. At one stage, last September, there was a new One occupation which has lasted for almost seven months is at the IMRO printworks at Rouen. Two of the workers taking the PSU (Unified Socialist Party). When the soldiers were imprisoned for belonging to soldiers committees and trade unions, we printed a leaflet for them. We also produced a leaflet for a big anti-fascist meeting in Rouen. We are part of the movement on all of these questions.
STEPHANE: About the use of the machines - we don't produce just for the sake of producing, because it takes up a lot of time which can be put to better use. There would be a danger of forgetting our essential aims. We are not just printers -we are militants.
Q. Has keeping the workforce united during these long months of struggle been a problem?
Y-M: This has been a basic problem. Some workers left at the beginning - they weren't prepared to fight the boss - while others have dropped out along the way.
The problem is to keep morale high, to involve the workforce in organising we occupanon smitts, in the distribution of tasks, as well as in assessing the situation. At the beginning we had a mass meeting every morning where the workers discussed how to take the struggle forward. We also had commissions to deal with particular aspects. S: But very quickly we saw that with a small workforce like ours (120 workers) everybody was dealing with all of the commissions, so there was no need to keep them separate. Increasingly, too, the discussion was going on 24 hours a day, and the formal mass meetings gradually disappeared - the occupation became a sort of permanent forum.
I should add that there has been a real growth of political understanding during the course of the struggle. For instance, it's quite natural now to discuss problems like Palestine, which we could never have done before.
Q. Are there any women workers at IMRO? If so, what part are they playing in the struggle?
S: There are a few women at IMRO, but this is one of our most regrettable failures. Mind you, a few women shaken Israel. Dr Israel Shahak is the Chairman of the League for Human and Civil Rights in Israel. He is well known both in Israel and internationally for his lifelong battle agianst the racism inherent in Zionist ideology, and for his defence of the rights of the nationally oppressed Palestinian Arab population in Israel.
Over the last year or so a vicious Zionist witch-hunt has been conduc ted against Dr. Shahak, with the object of getting him dismissed from his university post and put on trial for being a 'national traitor and a so-called 'self-hating Jew' (an expression Zionists use against all anti-Zionist Israelis and Jews - it rests on the Zionist myth that the Jews of the world constitute a nation and that all Jews are Zionists).
Here he explains the background to the recent events which have • What lies at the root of the general unrest which has arisen in the West Bank?
Certain events acted as a catalyst, but what really brought the situation to boiling point was a growing perception of the nature of the permanent Jewish colonisation. or tne tact Inat srael intends to keep the West Bank forever.
The continuing occupation has destroyed more than the nature of Palestinian society in the occupied territory.
It has proletarianised the Palestinian people - it is changing them more and more into a society that is akin to slave society, without national charac ter and -witnout even a numan character. boune in germanent oporession, wven FOR any people would revolt against this • What about the events in the Galilee (Northern Israel)? This is the first time that the Arabs in the pre-1967 borders of the Zionist state have revolted in such a daring manner.
Yes, this is a different thing. This really indicates a change, not just an oppor tunity as in the case of the West Bank It indicates the rise in Israel of a young generation wnien is not teudalised, which is better educated, and which has lost its fear both of the Israeli authorities and of the notables, elders and family heads who were almost all
----- pull-quotes -----
part, YVON-MARIE and STEPHANE, were in London last week to share their experiences with British printworkers and journal-