France's Problem With Capitalism

[BayCityProgressive]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4887560.stm

I thought this was an interesting article. 2/3 of French prefer socialism to capitalism. It ceertainly does seem that France has a very revolutionary past and has recently been plagued by strikes again. The strikes in 1968 were some of the biggest worker strikes ever. There was also the Paris Commune and Marx thought that France would be the first industrial state to become socialist. I have heard that currently France is a mixed economy with many socialist programs and features. Does anyone know what is socialist about France? What types of social programs do they have? IDo they have nationalized utilities? I head last week that even the conservative government is making it a right to have a home. This seems pretty radical on its own.

[dmallind]

1. No expert but

I can tell you that France does have many nationalized companies/industries and extremely generous/expensive pension and unemployment benefits. They have started to sell off all or part of some previously nationalized companies such as Renault lately though. One interesting nationalized company is Areva who deal in nuclear power production - kind of strange to US progressive mindset that such a left-leaning nation would be a leader in nuclear power.

[lectrobyte]

2. Their society seems to be well-positioned for peak oil, too. Maybe this

will be the "New French Century", that "New American Century" thing doesn't seem to be working out.

[Mass]

3. It depends what you call socialist.

France has a lot of mixed economy programs where public sector and private sector collaborate. In 1981, they nationalized a series of strategic industries, but a large denationalizing effort has been made recently, but strategic industries, such as railroad, electricity, that need a nationwide infrastructure effort, are still publicly held (which is good news for French people).

France has an universal public healthcare system which single payer insurance and private doctors who negotiate with the insurance. It also has a relatively decent unemployment system and a network of nearly free, public colleges and a free early childhood school system (from 3 nearly everywhere and 2 in many big cities).

Marx thought the UK would be the first to become socialist because it was a lot more industrialized than France at this time.

Though I was happy to hear Chirac talk about a right to hav a home, I do not trust him to much on that. France is in the middle of an electoral presidential campaign and we are in the period where promises are cheap.

To answer to the remark about nuclear energy, in the 70s, France made a strategic choice to be energy independent by starting an extensive program of nuclear reactors. It was still a teenager at the time, but it came as a shock to many in the left when their party decided they would follow the right on that rather than oppose. They seem also very intent in developping alternative energies in the years to come.

[malaise]

4. The French are way more conscious of their rights

than most Western socities.