A musical for rebellion

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... Black self-determination SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 2013 9 With Oscar night right around the cor­ ner, this iconic book-turned-play-turnedfilm is taking theatres by storm—and for good reason. “Les Miserables” combines superb drama, action, romance, and trag­ edy. Written by French literary giant Vic­ tor Hugo over a century and a half ago, it is remarkable, if not a bit depressing, to see how many of the political and eco­ nomic issues addressed in the novel and the musical retain their currency with audiences today.

“Les Miserables” is not an easy story to tell, particularly in a movie format. It con­ sists of several plots, each quite separate, until they converge in a great climactic rebellion in the second act. With roughly a dozen different major characters— each having different origins, trajecto­ ries, and motives—it can get a bit confus­ ing to those who are not familiar with the general plot.

Theatre productions can usually get away with story gaps due to the under­ stood limits of cast, space, and budget, leaving the holes to be filled in by audi­ ence imagination. Film does not enjoy this luxury, posing a real challenge to the producer and director. Luckily, Universal Pictures was able to hire Tom Hooper (“King’s Speech”) to direct, and then UP gathered a star-studded cast to bring this amazing project to fruition.

“Les Miserables” starts in 1815 and cli­ maxes in 1832, in the two-day-long June Rebellion, in which students tried to reestablish the republic and end the suffer­ ing of the masses. With many gains of the revolution of 1789 just a distant memory for the French working class, the country faces a return of the Bourbon monarchy after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.

The film centres on a former prisoner on parole, living in France, named Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman). Upon his release he violates his parole condi­ tions in an attempt to create a new life for himself. On the way he develops a moral code so selfless and good that it seems Jesus-like.

Despite his reformed ways, however, Valjean is under constant pursuit by French Police Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). He refuses to believe that a crim­ inal can ever reform. His views on law and crime are so black and white that he resembles a musical caricature of Bat­ man.

A sub-plot involves a love triangle be­ tween Valjean’s adopted daughter, Cos­ sette; a young Parisian revolutionist who is organizing the June Rebellion; and the daughter of comic-relief thieves. The film introduces several other charac­ ters, most notably Fantine (Anne Hatha­ way). Although she dies soon after being introduced, Fantine completely steals the show when she sings the classic “I Dreamed A Dream.” Hathaway is sure to win an Oscar for this, not only for her excellent singing voice, but because her (continued from page 7: “Black Self-determination and Socialist Revolution”)

capitalism in the 1930s, they made a profound break from the racist pat­ terns of the past. They had drawn the bitter lessons of the previous harmful policy of the segregationist AFL and other unions—a policy that led to pro­ found defeats.

The insurgent workers’ industrial union movement, organized at first within the AFL in the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), con­ sciously united Black and white, men and women, for the stupendous task of forcing auto, steel, and other giant cor­ porations to kneel to industrial union­ ism.

The CIO was more than a union. It was a social movement for freedom and equality. This is what gave it its great strength. The CIO also took the first steps in allying itself with Blacks as a people.

As history has proven time and time again, when whites take this road, Blacks naturally respond. And so did virtually the entire Black working class and middle classes—from common la­ borers to intellectuals and even small performance revealed the horror faced by working-class women at the time.

Political issues percolate to the surface. At the very start of the film, police re­ pression is quite visible as many of those labelled as criminals are guilty only for minor crimes, such as stealing a loaf of bread. Musical numbers dramatize the growing tension between France’s work­ ing class and its ruling elites so evident in the gross inequalities of urban life. It is these tensions that build to the climax, demonstrating the need for working peo­ ple to stand up, get organized and fight against any and all oppressive regimes.

The film does a great job in showing how the short-lived barricades failed to business people.

The conquests of this movement— although eroded by the privileged, self-seeking labor bureaucracy—are still alive and remain a source of great potential power. But most important, labor’s giant step forward toward class unity taken in the mid-1930s will in­ spire it to follow that example again.

The working class has been in retreat for over 40 years—a retreat that has accelerated since 1970. The unions have been crippled by a labor mislead­ ership that foolishly and criminally whines for “unity” with alleged “good” capitalists in place of a struggle against the capitalist class as a whole. A class-struggle policy in which all of capital­ ism’s victims will fight together for economic and social justice is the logi­ cal way forward—not “unity” with the capitalist labor-bashers.

A break from the policy of supporting politicians in either capitalist party is indispensable for such a class-struggle policy. An independent labor party based on the unions is the logical po­ litical step toward uniting the working class and its natural allies for a gener­ topple France’s new capitalist regime but would inspire revolutions to come. The young students who led the charge for freedom and equality saw their stand as a step towards a better world, and that only by being united on a principled basis could they smash tyranny.

Although the story is a tragedy in every meaning of the word (you would have to be a black-hearted capitalist not to get teary-eyed by the end), “Les Miserables” is truly an inspirational film. The music, the characters, and the political themes work so well together that, even though this epic has been on the big screen be­ fore, Hooper and his cast can be proud that they have brought “Les Miserables” and its message to the 21st century at a mere 158 minutes. I encourage everyone to go and hear the people sing! n alized struggle. But the labor bureau­ cracy has obstinately blocked this in­ dependent road. This irresistible force of historic necessity, however, will im­ pel labor’s rank and file onto the cen­ ter stage of history. They will be com­ pelled to sweep aside the privileged labor bureaucracy now blocking the road forward.

The aspirations of the Black commu­ nity toward an independent Black par­ ty is an entirely progressive nationalist expression. This is despite the success of the petty bourgeois, pro-capitalist, Black political misleadership that has kept the Black masses chained to the Democratic Party. These fakers, like their counterparts in the labor bureau­ cracy, are forced to conceal their slav­ ish subordination to the ruling class behind demagogic declarations of in­ dependence.

But the coming resurgence of mass la­ bor militancy will pick up where their predecessors left off. A new anti-cap­ italist alliance of all the dispossessed will arise that will uproot capitalist exploitation and national and sexual oppression. n We will continue with Part II of this resolution in next month’s Socialist Ac­ tion newspaper.

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Bizuayehu Tesfaye / Bloomberg