MAINTENANCE. Legislative: would a union of the left really be “historic”?

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When the left comes together on a project, it changes people’s lives in the long term. on May 3, 1936, the #FrontPopulaire granted 40 hours, paid holidays, salary increases… Our roots are there. Nowhere else. pic.twitter.com/NlekunTInD

— Olivier Faure (@faureolivier) May 3, 2022

This alliance today with parties that have real ideological differences (we see it on Europe or international issues) can it really work?

The essence of an agreement is to organize disagreements. “Politics is the art of the possible” said Gambetta, not that of the absolute. The idea is to see if it is possible to agree on a certain number of common objectives. Then, everyone keeps their share of truth and hopes to make their ideas prosper and advance. Moreover, signing an agreement for a certain period does not mean that we stay together until the consummation of centuries. There may be divorces. In the past, despite the differences, the parties managed to govern together and these unions were rather successful, with social advances that endure.

What are the most disagreements about?

Historically, the most serious concern foreign policy: wars, alliances, problems of decolonization too. This is still the case today. Except that the situation is different: we are no longer in the context of a presidential election but of legislative elections. Socialists or environmentalists may think – without saying it out loud – that President Macron-elect and the rest of the opposition will help them prevent Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the Insoumis from going too far in questioning the treaties. Europeans or the principles of foreign policy. Many voters can also say to themselves: “a Mélenchon Prime Minister commits us less than a Mélenchon President of the Republic” and try the experiment.

Within the Socialist Party today, an internal rebellion opposes this union, fearing the end of the party. Is it a hazard?

Yes, there is. Other parties, before, have already withered away. The Socialist Party, with its very poor score in the presidential election, and now that the ecologists – its former allies – have signed an agreement with the Insoumis, could find themselves isolated. The management is really in an uncomfortable situation, with these internal disagreements and the difficulty of continuing to exist in this alliance. There may be a split.

Should the squeaky “old guard” be listened to?

For the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, the danger comes more from the great elected Socialists than from former President Hollande or Stéphane Le Foll, who has been grumbling for a long time against everything that is done in the PS. What would be dramatic for the Socialists would be for the mayors of Nantes, Rennes, Lille, Marseille to express their disagreement with regard to this union. But it is also possible that they will assert their experience at the head of large cities, departments, regions, and the PS government culture and say to their partners: “You need us”.

Can the Rogue hear it?

The Rogue can understand these arguments if they want to win. But they can also be tempted to crush the socialists. If they only make an alliance with environmentalists, they risk not establishing themselves as a great alternative force on the left of Macronia. However, beyond 2022, the presidential election of 2027 is already being played out.

Love him or dislike him, if François Mitterrand has succeeded so well, it is because he knew how to spare his partners internally and externally. He appointed Communist ministers in 1981 and associated them as long as he could, when he could have done without them. He appointed Pierre Mauroy (1981-1984) then Michel Rocard (1988-1991) as Prime Minister although they had strongly contested him before. Jean-Luc Mélenchon made a good score in the presidential election. But he may also have learned from Mitterrand that you have to know how to spare your possible allies to really win. Going from 4th place (from 2012 to 2017), to 3rd (in 2022) to… better, in order to make history.

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