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FT editor Roula Khalaf picks her favorite stories in this week’s newsletter.
The writer’s latest book is “France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain”
Ten days ago I attended a colloquium in memory of Jean Zay, Minister of Education in the French Popular Front government of the 1930s led by the socialist Léon Blum. Unfortunately, Zay is best remembered for his tragic end. He was imprisoned by the Vichy government in 1940 and shot by their paramilitary army just before liberation. Militia.
The mood was somber. Participants reeled from Emmanuel Macron’s unexpected dissolution of parliament after the European elections. This ill-advised decision was likely motivated by the idea that with the French left divided, the election could benefit the Macronist center. But within four days, left-wing parties formed an electoral alliance, christened the New People’s Front (NFP), in tribute to the legendary Blum government. Like its predecessor, the NFP is an unwieldy array of organizations, but the two key components are the Socialist Party and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise (LFI).
For three decades, the French left was dominated by François Mitterrand’s Socialist Party (PS). This dominance was eroded as the party moved away from its working-class base. The last nail in the coffin was the failed presidency of François Hollande in 2012-17. Mélenchon, the former leader of the PS, capitalized on this disillusionment to create the LFI, inspired by Spain’s anti-austerity Podemos movement. In the 2017 presidential election, he finished fourth with 20 percent of the vote, while the Socialist candidate received 6 percent. In 2022, he finished third with 22 percent; the socialist candidate received 1.75 percent.
Mélenchon, a sort of French Corbyn, is a charismatic demagogue – with a streak of authoritarianism that is foreign to Corbyn. He is hostile to the EU, anti-American and condescending to Putin’s Russia. To his credit, he defended Muslim minorities more than other French politicians. From 2022, however, it takes an increasingly assertive position. After the October 7 attack on Israel, he refused to label Hamas a terrorist organization. Mélenchon’s brutal leadership style alienated his own colleagues. His stock began to fall. In this year’s EU elections, the LFI appealed less than the socialists. And it was one of his party rivals who preempted Mélenchon by launching the NFP idea. Mélenchon had to agree.
In the first round of elections last Sunday, the NFP came second (28 percent) to the Rassemblement National (33 percent). Invoking France’s hallowed – but increasingly shaky – tradition of coming together to defend “republican” values ​​when “republican” values ​​are threatened, the NFP agreed that its third-placed candidates would step down if have the Macronist candidate better placed to defeat the RN in the round. two. Mélenchon previously accused the Macronists of being no better than the RN.
The groups that make up the Macronist center were more ambiguous about their stance. Macron called on voters to reject the RN, despite saying a few days ago that both extremes were as bad as any other. He may have changed his stance, but other centrists have been less clear. One member of his government declared that the RN was a threat to the republic and the LFI a threat to the nation.
Even where the Macronists retreat now, it is not certain that those who voted for them in the first round will shift their votes to the left in the second. I was talking to a friend who I would expect, given the choice between NFP and RN, to vote for the former. She told me that if there was no Macronist to vote for, she would vote RN because of Mélenchon’s alleged anti-Semitism.
It seems impossible that NKM will secure a majority in the second round. If that happened, the situation would be chaotic. She put together some common policies: repealing Macron’s pension reforms, raising the minimum wage, reintroducing the solidarity wealth tax that Macron foolishly abolished in 2017, etc. Otherwise, its leaders disagree on nothing and don’t trust each other. It is not even clear who would emerge as a potential prime minister. Like its famous predecessor, the NFP is essentially a negative coalition to fight the extreme right.
Whatever happens, the RN has never been closer to power. No wonder my Parisian colleagues were depressed. The original National Front, founded by Marine Le Pen’s father in 1972, included former members Militia who murdered Zay. The party has superficially “detoxified” since then, but its worldview remains unchanged. For all those who believe in the universalist values ​​of the French Revolution and the equality of all French citizens regardless of ethnicity, these are dark and troubling times.