For a week now, farmers have massively joined forces by blocking highways, laying siege to police headquarters, intruding into big supermarkets, and they may block the capital. Even when they work hard, some of them can’t earn the minimum wage, the Smic (Salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance). We understand their anger!

Farmers have already forced Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to make concessions that are far from satisfying everyone who is mobilized. And the anger is deep-rooted. The major trade union, the FNSEA (Fédération nationale des syndicats d’exploitants agricoles), has taken the lead of the mobilization and is calling for further action.

In agriculture as in any other economic sector, there are big farmers and small farmers. The big ones are true capitalists. Arnaud Rousseau, who is both the head of the big food-processing firm Avril (owner of the Lesieur brand, among others) and the president of the FNSEA, is one of them. They are involved in setting market prices and behave like financiers. They can easily cope with crises and even take advantage of them to crush those who are smaller.

These businessmen can make a packet of money by exporting goods all over the globe. They know how to take advantage of the free trade agreements that destroy many small farmers here and in poor countries. We can hear them denounce foreign competition and demand border taxes but they are the first ones to export and to defend the law of the market. And they use the plight of small farmers to grab new subsidies.

However, small farmers are workers on the land crushed by middlemen, the agro-industry, mass marketing – and banks, as they are often over-indebted. They are asphyxiated by the bigger ones. Lactalis buys milk from the producers at 0.40 euros per liter and customers pay 1.00-1.20 euros per liter in major supermarkets. It’s obvious why the Besnier family – who own Lactalis – are among the richest people in France with a fortune worth 40 billion euros. On top of this, small farmers also have to deal with climate uncertainties, epizootic diseases and many other constraints.

Working all day long without being able to pay bills and having to depend on bigger companies, is something small farmers share with all workers. Because living without control over your salary and working conditions is the lot of almost all workers, employees and technicians. Seeing your purchasing power drop, risking loss of employment or housing is the fate of millions of workers. Well, we have no reason to accept for ourselves what mobilized farmers don’t accept!

These small farmers are, just like us, workers at the base of society. They feed the population, as they say with pride and good reason. But without the workers who transport, transform and pack farm produce… they could only feed themselves. And without the workers, the hospital staff, the masons or the cleaners, society would come to a sudden stop.

Workers and farmers are essential to all wealth. But the capitalists, the parasites, the financiers are the ones who derive profits from their work… We don’t have to accept this!

We live in an unfair economy where billionaire capitalists crush the working class. So, yes, the working class, the small farmers, the craftsmen and shop keepers can come together in the fight against the big corporations and the banks!

The irony of the situation lies in the fact that the small farmers, victims of the law of the jungle which is at the heart of capitalism, defend it because they long to consolidate their ownership. Even if for many of them, it turns into life-long debt and threatens them with bankruptcy or expropriation. Even if their free entreprise turns them into quasi-employees of the big agri-food groups.

Like all exploited people, there will be no rest for the small farmers until capitalism is overthrown. But this struggle rests first and foremost on the working class. Solidarity, compassion and admiration for the farmers’ struggle are not enough: their mobilization must be a source of combativity for all workers. If we want to be heard and respected, we have no choice: we must fight for our class interests and the perspective of a completely different society, based on a collectivized and planned economy.

Nathalie ARTHAUD