{"id":627990,"date":"2022-04-28T10:11:16","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T10:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobinmag.com\/2022\/04\/melenchon-lfi-macron-parliament-left-elections\/"},"modified":"2022-04-28T13:07:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T13:07:31","slug":"the-french-left-is-uniting-around-jean-luc-melenchons-radical-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/04\/28\/the-french-left-is-uniting-around-jean-luc-melenchons-radical-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"The French Left Is Uniting Around Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s Radical Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n\n\n

After years of division, left-wing parties are in talks to run together in June\u2019s French parliamentary elections. Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s strong presidential bid has placed him at the heart of the Left \u2014 and an alliance that could deny Emmanuel Macron a majority.<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n \n
\n Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon, former French presidential candidate, casts his vote at a polling station during the first round of the French presidential election in Marseille, France, on April 10, 2022. (Jeremy Suykur \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images)\n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n

For much of Emmanuel Macron\u2019s presidency, the French left has been badly divided. In April, this culminated in a nightmarish string of individual presidential bids that complicated the clear front-runner Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s hopes of advancing to the runoff.<\/p>\n

Yet today, a tectonic shift is underway: for the various left-wing parties are moving toward an alliance for the parliamentary elections in June, with M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s La France Insoumise (LFI) the undisputed leader of the group.<\/p>\n

Following M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s near-qualification for the second round, LFI, Europe Ecology\u2013the Greens (EELV), and the French Communist Party (PCF), are in advanced talks over an accord based on the platform of the Union Populaire, M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s campaign vehicle meant to appeal to a broad left-leaning and working-class electorate. Discussions have also begun with the Socialist Party (PS) and the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Sources close to the negotiations say they\u2019re aiming to wrap up a deal by the end of this week, just in time for the annual May Day marches on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve shown there\u2019s a bloc led by the Union Populaire, and so the discussions necessarily have to reflect this,\u201d says David Guiraud, a member of LFI and parliamentary assistant running for the National Assembly in the northern city of Roubaix. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to dominate everything. We\u2019ve extended our hand, but we still have demands; people voted for us for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those demands<\/a> come straight from M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s platform: a hike in the minimum wage; a reversal of recent labor law reforms; lowering the retirement age to sixty; reimplementing a wealth tax; green policies guided by the concept of ecological planning; a transition to a Sixth Republic; and repealing recent laws on national security and Islamist \u201cseparatism,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n

Of course, building a parliamentary majority and forcing Emmanuel Macron into a situation of \u201ccohabitation\u201d with a left-wing government won\u2019t be easy. An absolute majority would require obtaining at least 289 of the National Assembly\u2019s 577 seats \u2014 far more than the combined sixty seats controlled by the Insoumis, Communists, and Socialists today. (In discussions, LFI negotiators have reportedly talked about 165 seats<\/a> that appear particularly favorable.)<\/p>\n

But Guiraud remains hopeful about earning a majority. \u201cThere\u2019s a small window of opportunity,\u201d he says, using a term regularly employed by M\u00e9lenchon to describe the prospects of making the presidential runoff \u2014 \u201ctrou de souris<\/em>,\u201d which literally means \u201cmouse hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but it\u2019s never been easy for us,\u201d Guiraud continues. \u201cWe have a program of rupture that requires us to take advantage of certain periods. [Right now] everyone who feels like they weren\u2019t represented in these presidential elections has another fight ahead of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The party also hopes to deploy a secret weapon. To lift turnout in an election that usually sees a steep decline in participation after the presidential race, the party is billing June\u2019s vote as a \u201cthird round\u201d of the election season, with Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon directly appealing to voters to elect him as prime minister. It\u2019s an unconventional strategy ahead of parliamentary elections, but the goal is to tap into the candidate\u2019s popularity and image as a principled challenger to Macron and Marine Le Pen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is someone who brought together millions of votes, who almost made the second round, and who brought together a powerful popular bloc,\u201d Guiraud says.<\/p>\n\n \n\n \n \n \n

Missed Opportunities<\/h2>\n \n

The conditions for a left-wing pact are far more favorable today than they were after Macron\u2019s first victory in 2017: for one, the president now has an actual track record and there are a few illusions about his agenda; second, the far right is gaining traction, with its leaders salivating at the prospects of taking power in the post-Macron era.<\/p>\n

But internal dynamics have also made left-wing parties more amenable to an accord. After largely going it alone and missing out on many winnable seats in 2017, LFI\u2019s baseline conditions for a pact are easier to meet this time, while its two major partners of choice \u2014 the Greens and Communists \u2014 are both coming off disappointing presidential campaigns and hoping to salvage a presence in the National Assembly. (It also helps that parties receive public money according<\/a> to their results in the parliamentary elections.)<\/p>\n

Sandrine Rousseau, an economist and self-described \u201ceco-feminist<\/a>\u201d who narrowly lost last year\u2019s Green presidential primary to Yannick Jadot, says she\u2019s on board with M\u00e9lenchon as prime minister. \u201cI think it\u2019d be great,\u201d she tells Jacobin<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s what\u2019s needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the idea of left unity has been repeatedly floated \u2014 and rejected \u2014 over the last few years, she says the results of this month\u2019s presidential election have changed the calculus. \u201cI think everyone\u2019s conscious of the wasted opportunity from going at it separately,\u201d Rousseau tells me. \u201cAnd then, there\u2019s also a defined leader. There wasn\u2019t one before. Everybody was claiming leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many within EELV, Rousseau is now openly critical<\/a> of her party\u2019s presidential campaign. Earning just 4.6 percent of the vote, Jadot ultimately failed to clear the 5 percent threshold required to get a major chunk of spending reimbursed by the government \u2014 resulting in an embarrassing call<\/a> for contributions in the middle of his speech on Election Night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an enormous missed opportunity,\u201d Rousseau says. \u201cJean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon didn\u2019t get into the second round, and we didn\u2019t even get 5 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end, we needed to come together,\u201d she says, regretting her party\u2019s criticism of M\u00e9lenchon. \u201cWe didn\u2019t understand the important demand from left and ecologist voters that we actually win, not just get a respectable score.\u201d<\/p>\n

After starting off on a good note, talks with the Greens have lagged somewhat this week, with EELV head Julien Bayou pushing for more seats and criticizing the lack of the word \u201cecology\u201d in the coalition name Union Populaire<\/em>, while LFI negotiators have bemoaned the Greens\u2019 internal divisions. But Bayou has told<\/a> the press he remains hopeful about a deal, with EELV leadership set to meet Saturday.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n

Communist Doubts<\/h2>\n \n

Igor Zamichei, coordinator for the French Communist Party\u2019s national executive committee and a participant in the ongoing negotiations, says today\u2019s dangerous political moment requires unity. \u201cThe situation is urgent,\u201d he says. \u201cThe immense majority of French people did not want this match-up between Macron and Le Pen.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why there wasn\u2019t emphasis on unity before<\/em> the presidential race to prevent such a rematch, Zamichei defends his party\u2019s candidate Fabien Roussel for bringing attention to issues like labor and energy independence. (Roussel ultimately won just around 800,000 votes \u2014 or 2.3 percent \u2014 while M\u00e9lenchon missed out on the second round by about 400,000 votes.)<\/p>\n

Zamichei suggests that beating Macron would\u2019ve been difficult since the combined first-round score of left-wing parties was only around 30 percent. \u201cFor the Left to win, we need 40 to 45 percent in the first round,\u201d Zamichei says. \u201cThe problem for the Left is that it\u2019s too weak . . . and denying its diversity won\u2019t give it strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Zamichei acknowledges it was \u201ca disappointing result\u201d for Roussel. \u201cIn the end, we suffered from the institutions of the Fifth Republic \u2014 the fact that there are only two candidates who qualify for the runoff round and that this encourages tactical voting,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a member of the PCF\u2019s national council<\/a> says the first-round results showed the party is out of touch with a swath of young and working-class voters and that it badly misjudged the appeal of M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s candidacy. At the same time, the PCF activist says it would\u2019ve been near impossible to back out of the race in the end, since the party had already invested so much time and energy into it. Abandoning the campaign would\u2019ve also required some form of rank-and-file input, since PCF members had themselves voted for a shift in strategy in 2018 when they elected Fabien Roussel as party leader and endorsed<\/a> his presidential bid in 2021.<\/p>\n

In any case, the Communists are now ready to get behind M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s bid for prime minister. \u201cIt\u2019s natural that he\u2019d become prime minister if we had a majority,\u201d says Zamichei.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n

Fallen Giant<\/h2>\n \n

As negotiations roll on, La France Insoumise has also extended an invitation to the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), a respected presence in social movements that could provide some valuable pressure from the left, and which has responded favorably so far. But that hasn\u2019t sparked as much controversy as another question: should an accord for the parliamentary elections include the Socialist Party (PS)?<\/p>\n

The bad blood between LFI and the PS runs deep: Socialist presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris who won just 1.8 percent of the first-round vote, repeatedly bashed<\/a> M\u00e9lenchon on the campaign trail. Years of broken promises and the disappointment of the Fran\u00e7ois Hollande presidency have led many left-leaning voters to distrust the entire party apparatus.<\/p>\n

And yet there are reasons that make a deal compelling to both sides: the PS is facing an existential crisis and desperately wants to elect legislators \u2014 a big reason why party leaders have voted<\/a> to open negotiations with LFI despite all their criticism over the years. Meanwhile, from a sheer mathematical perspective, the Socialist Party could provide valuable assets to the Union Populaire as it seeks to build a majority. (Despite its fall from glory, the PS still has more seats in the National Assembly today than LFI or the PCF.)<\/p>\n

Like the Communists, the Socialists also have a solid base<\/a> of elected officials at the municipal and regional levels. La France Insoumise, on the other hand, has struggled to convert its nationwide appeal into a presence on the local level.<\/p>\n

Either way, David Guiraud says the ultimate responsibility lies with the Socialist Party and its willingness to endorse what\u2019s on the table. \u201cIt\u2019s up to it to be clear in its positions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

So far, talks appear to be moving in the right direction. After a first round of meetings on Wednesday, LFI\u2019s chief negotiator Manuel Bompard told<\/a> the press he didn\u2019t feel like he was \u201ctalking to the same PS from two or three years ago,\u201d adding that nothing \u201cseemed insurmountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

While an accord with the PS would likely rankle some of the Insoumis rank-and-file \u2014 M\u00e9lenchon has long lambasted the party he left in 2008 \u2014 it\u2019s also generating frictions within the Socialist camp. (Ex-president Fran\u00e7ois Hollande is reportedly furious<\/a> about the party\u2019s openness to LFI, though he\u2019s in the minority, and party leader Olivier Faure has encouraged<\/a> those unhappy about the talks to leave the PS.)<\/p>\n

While the first round of the parliamentary elections on June 12 is still weeks away and an agreement has yet to be finalized, there\u2019s a remarkable irony about the current state of play. While left-wing parties are moving toward a pact after years of division, for once their bitterest rivals seem rather more divided. On the far right, Marine Le Pen\u2019s National Rally has shot down<\/a> an invitation from \u00c9ric Zemmour to ally with his Reconquest party. In the meantime, the leader of the right-wing Les R\u00e9publicains has vowed<\/a> his party will remain an independent force in Parliament, only adding to the doubts over how Macron will be able to cobble together a friendly majority in the National Assembly.<\/p>\n

In France\u2019s highly volatile political climate, all that division \u2014 coupled with broad left unity \u2014 might just keep the \u201cmouse hole\u201d open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t forget that we were supported by a whole lot of young people, in a whole lot of working-class neighborhoods,\u201d Guiraud says. \u201cWe need to go out and keep these people mobilized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n\n

This post was originally published on Jacobin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For much of Emmanuel Macron\u2019s presidency, the French left has been badly divided. In April, this culminated in a nightmarish string of individual presidential bids that complicated the clear front-runner Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon\u2019s hopes of advancing to the runoff. Yet today, a tectonic shift is underway: for the various left-wing parties are moving toward an alliance [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2784,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627990"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628454,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627990\/revisions\/628454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}