Lutte Ouvrière

Lutte Ouvrière, meaning Workers' Struggle and abbreviated LO, is a Trotskyist political party in France named after its weekly paper. Its roots lie in the Barta group, a Trotskyist organisation founded in 1939 by David Korner, and in Voix Ouvrière, founded in 1956 by Robert Barcia, known as Hardy, and Pierre Bois; after Voix Ouvrière was banned over its support for the student revolt of May 1968 the group took the name Lutte Ouvrière. Barcia was its founder and central leader. Arlette Laguiller was its spokeswoman and presidential candidate from 1973 to 2008, followed by Nathalie Arthaud, who has stood in every presidential election since 2012. The party emphasises workplace activity, opposes reformism in favour of a revolutionary socialist approach, and belongs to the Internationalist Communist Union. It holds an annual festival, the Fête de Lutte Ouvrière.