Issue 224 of SOCIALIST REVIEW Published November 1998 Copyright © Socialist Review

'The current wave of protest comes against a background of generalised disaffection,' said one commentator as 500,000 school students took over the streets of France last month in one of the biggest movements since the election of the Jospin government in 1997. What began as a series of fairly small scale protests in Nimes in the south of France two weeks ago against overcrowded classes has now generalised throughout virtually the whole of the secondary school student sector the lycées--involving some 2.3 million teenagers. Tens of thousands paralysed the streets of Paris, and brought a whole host of other French towns to a standstill. The students fought in the streets as they were prevented from marching to the ministry of education by the hated riot police, who feared the movement might get out of control.

The school students' demands moved very quickly from one of overcrowding to embrace a whole number of other grievances--shortage of teachers, excessive workload and dilapidated buildings. For many of the students the parallels with May 68 were apparent--'This is our October 98!' they shouted.

The explosion of the school students' protests shows how a general feeling of dissatisfaction and discontent can very quickly translate into a mass movement that challenges the political system. It also shows how something that begins without any specific focus can suddenly become a rallying point for other groups of workers. The fact that the school students were quickly supported by the French teaching unions, who have grievances of their own, has not been lost on the government.

A common response from many in this country is that, while this may happen in France, there is very little chance of British workers or students doing the same. In fact if we look at British society today there is growing anger and bitterness against the Blair government and over the fact that very little has been delivered for most ordinary people since the election last year. It is still the case that the NHS is underfunded and stretched to the limit, class sizes of over 30 are still common in many schools, and the government still wants to implement cuts in welfare and disability benefits.

In such a situation. the possibility that protest and action can break through becomes more likely--and with such deep seated anger amongst wide sections of the working class any action that did take place would become a rallying point for other groups of workers.

Already there are signs of this generalisation developing over pay. New Labour has been determined to hold down public sector pay--something which has a real impact on the lives of millions of people. When nurses protested last month in places such as London and Birmingham they received widespread support, with thousands signing petitions supporting them. There is a general feeling that their fight affects other groups as well. In Dundee the imposition of a pay cut of 15 percent on council manual workers led to a day of action involving hundreds and a real mood of anger in the city. And in the BBC workers voted to take strike action over pay and working conditions. There are signs that when workers do take action it moves very quickly from a small scale protest or picket to something far more radical.

Britain is very volatile at the moment. With the Blair government determined to stick to very strict spending limits and with the cast iron certainty that the economy is set to get a lot worse before it gets better, the possibility of a fightback becomes even more apparent. When and where this takes place is difficult to predict. But when the action does take place it can, like the school students' protests in France, spread like wildfire and it has the potential to develop into a movement that the government may find it very difficult to contain.