The Stance of Nos Révolutions, discussed on August 31, 2025.
On January 16, in the dead of winter, François Bayrou was jubilant. After Michel Barnier’s departure, who was ousted in December 2024 by the National Assembly, he too faced a motion of no confidence… but emerged victorious. Only 131 deputies1 (France Insoumise, Greens, and Communists, as well as eight Socialists) decided to challenge his policy.
As with every ebb of the popular movement and protest, the dominant parties and media became more confident, more aggressive.Throughout the spring, the main government figures, with Retailleau, Darmanin, and Dati at the forefront, were able to deploy their projects for authoritarian and demagogic reforms, to the continuous applause of the system’s media. Meanwhile, the vast majority2of the French people continued to have the greatest mistrust of this government of liars, cheaters, and usurpers.
And then in July, at the start of the summer holidays, everything changed.The Prime Minister’s budget announcements (blank year, delisting of medications, elimination of public holidays…) were seen as one provocation too many. For millions of people, who had been forced into hardship for years, they were the signal for a counter-offensive.
The Power of September 10
Throughout the summer, calls to action and initiatives multiplied from all sides. The September 10 proposal quickly emerged, presenting itself as the starting point for a showdown with Bayrou. In this democratic ferment, organizations as well as ordinary citizens spoke out, sometimes in their own names, sometimes anonymously. As in any moment of popular effervescence, the political direction of the movement remained undecided: some wanted to fight Bayrou and the rich, while others denounced so-called welfare dependency with the slogan “Nicolas will pay.”
During August, it was finally the more combative slogan, “Let’s get angry, let’s block everything,” that won out.The September 10 movement aligned with social protest, despite media attempts to describe it as coming from the far right. As the new school year approached, the left-wing parties joined the fight: the unsubmissive, communists, environmentalists, and socialists all affirmed their support for the mobilization. The memory of the Yellow Vests is still fresh in people’s minds: there’s no question of opposing a spontaneous popular movement with mistrust or contempt. In the territories, hundreds of unions are already joining the movement, as are the national CGT and Solidaires. The RN, for its part, will stay in its corner: it has “no calling to organize demonstrations. »3.
September 10 is therefore announced with slogans from the working classes and the social movement. Of course, until the streets are filled with protesters, no one will know its real scale or direction. But surprise, on August 25, Bayrou announced he was convening the Assembly in an extraordinary session on Monday, September 8, to request a vote of confidence. The government is about to fall, two days before the people take to the streets… And here the cacophony resumes in the self-proclaimed “central bloc,” with the competing presidential ambitions of Attal, Bergé, Braun-Pivet, Philippe, Bertrand, Lisnard, Retailleau, Wauquiez… This situation gives the movement a heavy responsibility: to go much further than the simple fall of Bayrou (or his successor), by putting a change in policy, and therefore in the regime, on the agenda.
Learning from Popular Movements
In any event, the September 10 movement should proceed in the wake of the fall of Bayrou and his budget. In fact, new and pressing questions will then arise: forcing Macron to resign, establishing a true democracy by convening a Constituent Assembly, making the rich tighten their belts to solve the deficit, transforming the economy for the benefit of the working and middle classes…
Obviously, such a level of ambition presupposes anticipating a high level of confrontation with the rich and the institutions that serve them. Yet in recent years, numerous popular revolts have challenged Macron’s policy, sometimes putting it in serious difficulty, sometimes even causing the institutions themselves to waver. However, neither the Yellow Vests, nor the pension movement, nor the revolts for Nahel succeeded in setting France on the path to social progress and true democracy. In the end, “order reigns” in Paris. On the eve of September 10, it is therefore vital to learn the lessons of the strengths and weaknesses of these mobilizations, to do better and win the battle to come..
In this sense and at this stage, we believe it is useful to act in the following directions:
1. Promote anything that broadens the movement and deepens popular sympathy for it,both in the methods of action and targeting (differentiated blocking and free-of-charge measures, rejection of racist or religious divisions…) and in the slogans. The Constituent Assembly for a VIth Republic, price freezes, and the increase of wages and social benefits are for us three priorities that can bring together millions of French people in the struggle.
2. Welcome millions of French people not only into the struggle, but also into political and strategic deliberation.As in the Yellow Vests’ roundabouts or in strikers' assemblies, it is up to the popular masses to debate, vote, and decide in good conscience on the next steps of the movement.
3. Build coordination spaces for the different components of the struggle as soon as possible: unions, associations, parties, parliamentarians and local elected officials, intellectuals, citizen collectives and assemblies… Our people do not have time for prevarications, debates on protocol and precedence. The challenge is to closely coordinate the mobilization, without restricting its forms or outlines, in order to make it more effective and open the way to power.
4. Quickly have means of popular pressure on left-wing parties and parliamentarians,to push them to solidarity with the movement and to cut short any temptation for the center-left to reach an agreement with the Macronists. The experience of the pension movement, in which a good part of the parliamentarians made a fool of themselves with calls for moderation (“vote for Article 7,” etc…) while anger was rising in the street, must not be repeated. Conversely, the demonstrations in July 2024 in front of the Greens’ headquarters to call for unity showed the importance of materializing popular pressure on political leaderships. In short, facing Bayrou, the popular offensive must advance in lockstep, from the streets of the country to the Palais Bourbon.
5. Warn against attempts at categorical division now, and denounce them strongly when they occur.Let us remember that in 2023, the government excluded police officers from the application of the pension reform, in order to prevent any revolt among them. Only a united and informed people can defeat this type of clumsy maneuver.
6. Deal with repression.From the Yellow Vests to the pensions, we remember how “maintaining order” was able to stifle popular mobilization while leaving the government free to manipulate, from Parliament to the Constitutional Council. The coming movement must make resolving this issue a priority, because at a certain point in the mobilization, it is the one that conditions all the others. It must, on one hand, develop its own capacities for resistance and, on the other, know how to create hesitation in the ranks of the police. This requires demonstrations of force, but also initiatives aimed at arousing the sympathy of officers angry at the government's policy.
To debate these ideas, activists – political, union, associative, organized or not – can play an essential role. Let’s not be afraid of popular anger, let’s make ourselves useful to the movement! Long live September 10, everyone in the fight!
Signatories
Lilli Attanasio
Jean-Jacques Barey
Emmanuelle Becker
Chloé Beignon
Hugo Blossier
Hadrien Bortot
Josiane Bouali
Sophie Bournot
Marie-Pierre Boursier
Arnauld Carpier
Juan Francisco Cohu
Emmanuel Delaplace
Manel Djadoun
Maxime Driefrich
Rosa Drif
Anaïs Fley
Nadine Garcia
Laureen Genthon
Nina Goualier
Antoine Guerreiro
Marie Jay
Alexis Ka
Noâm Korchi
Helena Laouisset
Nina Léger
Sébastien Lorian
Colette Mô
Nuria Moraga
Frank Mouly
Basile Noël
Philippe Pellegrini
Élisa Picamilh
Hugo Pompougnac
Mona Queyroux
Mathilde Rata
Annabelle Skowronek
Clément Vignoles
Bozena Wojciechowski
- https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/17/scrutins/526 ↩︎
- https://www.publicsenat.fr/actualites/politique/sondage-avec-68-dopinions-negatives-francois-bayrou-bat-deja-un-record-dimpopularite ↩︎
- https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2025/08/22/bloquons-tout-le-rn-n-a-pas-vocation-a-organiser-des-manifestations-le-10-septembre-selon-sa-vice-presidente_6633476_823448.html ↩︎
Illustration image: "Les Gilets Jaunes", photograph from February 23, 2019, by Patrice Calatayu (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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