We would like to thank those who, in the first round, voted for a Lutte ouvrière candidate. They expressed their class consciousness and pride, and affirmed their interests as workers. And they were right.

This current of 350,000 people is still modest. And in the absence of a genuine workers' party, the majority of workers are lost in the search for a supreme savior – who does not exist.

For a long time, workers searched for that supreme saviour on the left. Today, many see it in the Rassemblement national (RN). This is a deadly path for the working class.

The RN, like all the parties competing to govern, is respectful of the capitalist order and fundamentally devoted to the bourgeoisie, which holds a monopoly on factories, banks and supply chains. The RN promotes the most reactionary ideas: racism, xenophobia and the oppression of women.

Worst of all, that new postulant to the role of supreme savior is pitting workers against each other on the basis of their origins, dividing and weakening them, at a time when the working class needs unity more than ever, to prepare for the coming battles against its mortal enemies, big business and finance.

So it's out of the question for any conscious worker to vote RN. And there's obviously no question of voting for one of the candidates sponsored by Macron, who has trampled on us for so long.

Some Lutte ouvrière voters may want to vote for a left-wing candidate labeled Nouveau Front Populaire (New Popular Front) against the RN. If so, they can do that without feeling embarrassed. In the first round, they expressed what they think of those politicians, rejecting all the parties which, in government, betray their own promises to submit to the will of the bourgeoisie, and have played a major role in bringing the RN closer to power.

As for those who don't feel like approving the NFP candidates, in particular not ex-ministers and an ex-president, they don’t need to feel guilty about not going to the polls, as that will be way of expressing their distrust of the bourgeoisie’s political staff and institutions.

Capitalist society works well only for the rich, for billionaires, for the bourgeoisie, while the working class has to sweat out profits and dividends for the privileged few who respect neither people nor the planet. For things to change, we need the strength and unity of workers and their mobilization against the ruling class, using their own weapons: massive strikes and factory occupations.

Tomorrow, the far right and the racists will feel empowered to denigrate and attack not just immigrant workers, but anyone who challenges exploitation. But there's one thing they can’t take away from us: our indispensable role in the economy, the fact that workers make everything run in society. They are at the heart of production, of transport, commerce, banking and public services. The bosses need all of us, and that gives us the means to fight back and be respected.

We need a party that brings together workers of all nationalities and origins, behind a program that defends both their everyday interests and the ultimate overthrow of capitalism.

We need a party that revives the best traditions of the labor movement, which was built on the fundamental idea that there are two antagonistic classes in society, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and that the workers' struggle will only cease when the bourgeoisie is overthrown. A party that affirms that those who make society work should run it.

Yes, the party of the working class must be a revolutionary party: the future of mankind is at stake, because the perpetuation of the bourgeois order is plunging us into crisis, war and barbarism.

So, fellow workers, let's not be afraid. Let's close ranks and form our party! In the past, the working class has waged great struggles. It's on the basis of that history that we need to rebuild a genuinely communist, revolutionary and internationalist workers' party!

Nathalie Arthaud