La France Insoumise:
How New is the French
New Left?
John Mullen
(Rouen)
© Jeanne Valebrègue
A s the Yellow Vest movement in France
continued to hit the headlines week
after week at the end of 2018 and the
populist grouping similar to others in
Italy or elsewhere, or fundamentally
a revival of left-wing mass reformism
beginning of 2019, one organisation in after a long hibernation? Much of
particular praised it as the beginnings the debate about the organisation in
of a new “citizens’ revolution”. This was France has been desperately superficial
the France Insoumise.1 A radical Left and partisan, based on vague alleged
movement (deliberately not a party), the personality defects of Mélenchon, so a
FI was founded in 2016 and is led by cool-headed view is worth an attempt.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was previously
(from 1976 to 2008) a left leader within Not so new?
the Socialist Party. It received 7 million
votes at the 2017 presidential elections.
Can it be considered a new political
F irst, let us note what is not new.
This is a movement which aims
at capturing government through
phenomenon with a novel strategy, a
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John Mullen
parliamentary elections and using that vicious interventions which laid waste to
position to bring about decisive change left experiments in Chile in 1973? Does the
in ecological, social, constitutional and FI government-in-waiting give us reason
foreign policy domains. It is a movement to believe that the U-turns of Labour
which considers parliamentary activity in Britain in the 1970s2, of Mitterrand
alone to be insufficient: vigorously in France in the 1980s3, or of Tsipras a
supporting the building of trade unions, few years ago in Greece, to name but a
strike action, community campaigns to few, will not occur in a future FI France?
save or improve public services and so
on are an integral part of its priorities. It Proposals
is a movement which considers alliances
with all those forces hostile to the
dictatorship of profit to be necessary, but
T he movement’s programme, The
Future in Common includes the
following proposals, to name but a
which desires to affirm itself as a distinct
few points: nationalisation of energy
actor in the progressive movement.
companies, some banks and other
A ll of this might lead one to think services, the end of nuclear power and a
that we are in the presence of the move to 100 per cent renewable energy,
resurgence of an old Left, marginalised the establishment of a maximum salary,
since the fall of the Eastern Bloc and a shorter working week, a million low-
the establishment of the elite neoliberal rent houses, retirement at sixty, leaving
consensus - a resurgence which is NATO, free school canteens and a free
occurring in parallel with influential health service. On the European Union,
anti-austerity organisations in other the plan is to renegotiate the treaties to
Western countries, whether it be around allow for anti-austerity politics, and if
Corbyn’s Labour Party in Britain, Bernie faced with a refusal, consider leaving the
Sanders in the USA, the Left Bloc in EU. In many ways, then, this resembles
Portugal, Podemos in Spain, or elsewhere. a social-democratic programme of 50
years ago. It has brought ‘planning’
F rom this point of view, the rise of
the France Insoumise calls for the
discussion of old questions: in particular,
back into political discourse, after
decades where pleasing ‘the market’ was
generally presented as the only option.
how far can government in the present It has also integrated the urgency of
forms of democracy act against the dealing with climate deterioration.
dictatorship of profit and get away with
it, in the face of the classic weapons of
pro-capitalist forces - from possession of T he discourse of the FI often attacks
“financial capitalism” which, it
maintains, has excessive influence over
the media and capital flight, to the more
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La France Insoumise: How New is the French New Left?
the rest of the economy and calls for “a economic crisis and the collapse of the
severing of the links” between industry traditional Right and Left parties make
and agriculture on the one hand, and political upheaval the new normal, and
the financial world of speculation on the Macron himself became president after
other. This is an old Communist Party obtaining only 24 per cent in the first
view of the economy and depends on the round of the election. The “ready to
idea that finance capital is separate from govern” tone, along with the insistence
other sorts (whereas often industrial that the proposed programme has
investors have a speculative financial been correctly budgeted by radical
operation on the go at the same time). economists, underlines the fact that
despite the term “citizens’ revolution”
the project is to be carried out within the
framework of capitalist institutions. This
is logical, since the difference between
a “citizens’ revolution” and a “workers’
revolution” (however far-off either
might seem) is that workers produce
the profit which allows the ruling class
to exist, whereas citizens as citizens have
far fewer powerful levers to oblige the
powerful to agree to their demands.
(This despite the creative tactics of Yellow
Vest and other citizens’ movements.)
Advertising leaflet for public day of
debate and entertainment
O ne of the FI’s radical demands
responds to the question of how
the state can be controlled by the people:
the programme calls for the replacement
A government in waiting of the present ‘Fifth Republic’ with its
excessive presidentialism and many other
T he slogan put forward at the FI
summer school in August 2018 was
“We are ready to govern” (just as Podemos
defects, with a ‘Sixth Republic’ which
would be characterised by a much bigger
share of popular democracy, including
in Spain has declared its objective “to
the possibility of calling referenda by
capture and transform state power”).
popular demand (now a key Yellow Vest
With only 17 FI MPs and a vote of 19.5
priority), and of revoking the mandate
per cent at the presidentials, this might
of MPs between elections under certain
seem ambitious, yet the continuing
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John Mullen
circumstances. The new Republic’s New options
precise rules would be drawn up by a
constituent assembly. Indeed, if he were
to be elected president, Mélenchon W hat then can we put down as
definitely new? FI aims to be “a
movement, not a party”. This involves
has declared that he would organise
the constituent assembly and then avoiding traditional party structures
resign, allowing the new constitution of delegated democracy and factional
to redefine the role of president and struggle (this last has at times taken up
assemblies in political life. This priority inordinate amounts of energy on the
placed on constitutional reform has French far left, far beyond what might
often been a strong strand in the French be deemed the necessities of democratic
radical Left, and is generally popular, debate). This turn has led to the FI
though how far the central dynamic of programme being written by a series
21st century neoliberal capitalism can of thematic networks and validated by
be affected by such measures is unclear, a movement conference made up of
and a certain scepticism is justified. delegates drawn by lottery from among the
willing – a novel option. In addition, just
T he programme contains
commitment to fighting against
racism and all other oppressions, and
a like in such organisations as Momentum
in the UK, the FI YouTube channel
and grassroots use of social networks
the 2018 summer school underlined the have been central to FI campaigning.
need for more non-white candidates at
elections. The commitment included
combating prejudices against Muslims. T he demand to “do politics in a
new way” is, of course,4 a very old
one. In the case of the FI, the emphasis
In practice however the FI are generally
no better at fighting islamophobia than seems to be particularly on not allowing
most of the French radical left (that electoral alliances to drastically water
is, they are pretty poor), and there are down demands for social change.
several extreme secularists among leading Implicitly, the criticism is of the French
activists. This situation however is in Communist Party, which has some
flux. There are strong activists against radical demands in its programme, but
Islamophobia in the FI who Mélenchon has often been accused of abandoning
respects, and it was notable that he began most of them in order to maintain
a public meeting in November 2018 by seats on regional or local councils in
denouncing the anti-Muslim racism alliance with a Socialist Party which has
of (ex-Prime minister) Manuel Valls. been moving rightwards for decades,
leading to its present collapse (6 per
cent of the first round vote in the 2017
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La France Insoumise: How New is the French New Left?
presidentials, 3 per cent of the first round The leadership encourages popular
vote in the following legislatives, surely mobilisations on local issues – “Know
a record for an outgoing government). your Rights” caravans tour the poorer
parts of some cities; a long-neglected
Successes local school was (illegally) repainted by a
local network supported by the FI; these
T he FI has some successes to its name.
In the 2017 presidential election,
Mélenchon received 7 million votes,
examples are relayed by the leadership
and the social networks, though have not
flourished as quickly as had been hoped.
the largest number ever obtained by a
The FI held a summer school and a youth
radical Left candidate, even during the
summer school as most French parties
heyday of the French Communist Party.
do. The youth summer school included
His public meetings were and are huge,
lectures by well-known Marxists as well
spectacular, and marked by stunning
as representatives of the non-Marxist
oratory and impressive pedagogy about
Left. Feminism, eco-socialism, self-
the workings of capitalist
society and the need for
radical humanism. FI has
been able to organise very
large mass demonstrations
against Macron. In opinion
polls, the movement is
consistently rated as the
most effective opposition
to right-wing president
Emmanuel Macron. Its 17
members of parliament form
a dynamic and diverse team,
a people’s tribune both inside Advertising leaflet with the programme
parliament (proposing more of the Youth Summer School
amendments than any other group)
organisation and Left republicanism were
and outside, on a wide range of issues.
the main highlights on the programme.
M any of the activities of local FI
supporters’ groups are traditionally
left in character: organising support for
They also organised in November 2018
the “Rencontres nationales des quartiers
populaires”, which translates literally
the mass strikes last year, organising as “national meeting for the poorer
debates on political issues chosen locally. parts of town”, and is understood in
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John Mullen
French politics as an attempt to listen to the USA). This vision often includes
to and implicate the sections of the the idea that symbols going back to
population who do not have a stable, the French Revolution, such as the
reasonably paid job, in particular the Tricolour and the Marseillaise anthem,
non-white sections of the working class. can mobilise a sense of a specifically
French radical humanism. So, tricolours
Organisation have sometimes been distributed at
rallies, and both the Marseillaise and
I f the FI leadership has preferred to
form a movement rather than a party,
it is also because it is a way of sidestepping
the International sung. Though these are
striking symbols, it is not clear that this
patriotic element is key to the FI support.
some questions of relationships with
In addition, since the tricolour has also
other parties (since one can, for example,
flown for centuries over vicious French
be a member of the Communist Party and
colonial and imperialist endeavours,
an active supporter of FI), and of partly
the non-white working class in France
avoiding a tradition of political horse-
may not find it so attractive. The vision
trading which has plagued the French
of France playing a positive role in the
Left for decades. Critics of the movement
international arena leads Mélenchon
method point out, with some reason,
to hold some positions considerably to
that a lack of structures for decision-
the right of his counterparts in other
making often leaves an inordinate
countries. For example, he is not opposed
amount of influence in the hands of
to France having nuclear weapons in
the national leadership. It has also been
the present international situation.
noted that it can reduce much-needed
T
debate on difficult issues. Podemos seems he other “very French” aspect of FI is
to have suffered considerable damage Left secularism and anticlericalism,
through not having a clearly defined which can sometimes be a cover for
position on the national question Islamophobia. This has seen the broad
in Catalonia, to take one example. Left express indifference or even support
faced with Islamophobic laws. Muslim
French traditions
public servants and high school students
O ne or two elements of the FI
approach are clearly rooted in
distinctive aspects of the French Left.
are banned from wearing headscarves,
Muslim mothers wearing them have often
been hounded out of any participation
One is a sort of Left patriotism, a feeling in school trips, and the Niqab face veil
that France has a progressive role to play was banned in the streets by a law in
in world politics (often in opposition 2010. Attempts by mayors of various
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La France Insoumise: How New is the French New Left?
towns to ban the wearing of full body personalities (and one FI MP). The FI
swimsuits by Muslim women on the leadership saw the document as a masked
beaches of their towns saw practically no attempt at attacking the FI, which it no
outrage from the Left, and Mélenchon doubt was for some, and did not sign it.
disappointingly condemned both the
racist mayors and the people who sell full- Under attack
body swimsuits (they do it for political
reasons, he claimed, without evidence).5
Although Mélenchon has more often
A s an electorally credible radical Left
movement, the FI, like Corbyn
in Britain, is under continuous attack.
recently condemned discrimination
The right-wing media like to paint
against Muslims, the FI is no better
Mélenchon as similar in appeal to the
than most of the Left on the issue.
fascist Marine Le Pen, or as a supporter
A recent row on the French Left of Putin. A series of unprecedented (and
concerning attitudes to immigration probably illegal) police raids on FI offices
has been carried out at a high temperature, and leaders’ houses in autumn 2018 took
without it being completely clear what away the organisation’s computers, but
the political content is. FI leaders have mostly aimed at putting out an image of
repeated that they are not simply in the FI as gangsters or as corrupt. Rather
favour of opening the borders, though than defend free political organisation,
they campaign for immediate legalisation one of the mainstream left-wing
of all immigrant workers, and welcoming newspapers reacted by headlining on
refugees in danger in the Mediterranean. speculations about Mélenchon’s love life!
Mélenchon has declared that much
immigration is not freely chosen and
working with countries of origin to stop
T he FI is also under attack from
sections of the Left, even if most
organisations declared their disapproval
the problems which drive people to leave
of the police raids. The Communist Party
should be part of Left policy. This, in
(which still has 12 MPs and 1600 local
the context of the campaigns of Sahra
councillors) is anxious about the danger
Wagenknecht in Germany, has led to
of being replaced as the institutional
some currents suspecting that FI could
reformist Left, as its alliances with the
conceivably move in a similar direction
austerity-wielding Socialist Party have
to Aufstehen. One of the reactions in
discredited it in many towns, and it has
France was an open letter denouncing
reacted with a series of sectarian diatribes
those who suggest that the far right
against FI. Its brand new general secretary,
is asking the right questions about
elected in November 2018, seems keen to
immigration, signed by 150 radical Left
continue allying with the Partis Socialiste.
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John Mullen
S ections of the revolutionary Left (a
current far more visible in France
than in many countries) have been given
investment strikes and so on) is little
discussed and can be considered, from
the point of view of the anti-capitalist,
generous space in TV chat shows, since as the real “elephant in the room”.
they will denounce Mélenchon. The
attitude of this far Left contrasts sharply
with that of the British far left’s attitude to M any commentators have labelled
the FI as populist. It is true that
leaders are interested in dialogue with
Corbyn, generally one of critical support.
This sectarianism can be explained such thinkers as Chantal Mouffe,6 and
mostly by the analysis defended by a part that the FI poses “uniting the people
of French revolutionaries (that left-wing against the elite” as a central slogan,
reformism is no longer possible in late rather than “unite the Left”. But
capitalism and therefore that Mélenchon rejecting the “Unite the Left” approach
is simply planning to betray), but also is mainly connected with rejecting
by the fact that standing in elections and political party horse-trading and rotten
getting a fair number of votes (over 1 compromises with austerity socialists.
per cent in each of 50 constitutencies) Jean-Luc Mélenchon is a thousand times
provides significant government closer politically to Jeremy Corbyn than
funding for the French far left. he is to Beppe Grillo, the Italian leader
now in government with the far right.
M ore measured Left critics underline
the dangers of a situation such
as happened in Greece when a Left M any millions of people, squeezed
or crushed by the juggernaut of
Syriza government, brought in with maximising profit, desperately hope
mass popular and worker’s mobilisation, that some government will make a real
decided to organise yet more austerity difference for the better in their lives,
rather than stand up to international and can put excessive trust in Left
capital. FI leaders tend to say “we will do leaders. Nothing is more understandable.
what we promise, we are not like Tsipras”. Whether FI’s future will be to produce
Nevertheless, this suggests that the Syriza an Alexis Tsipras, imposing ever more
catastrophe was due to the individual austerity on the people, a Jacinda
weakness of Tsipras or other leaders. The Arden, delivering far fewer reforms than
question of the amount of pressure a hoped, or an effective challenge to the
panicked ruling class could put on the dictatorship of profit, depends on multiple
FI movement both before a hypothetical unknowns, but in the French political
electoral success (with media campaigns landscape today, it represents a new kind
etc) and after (with capital flight, of challenge to elite business as usual.
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La France Insoumise: How New is the French New Left?
2019 Endnotes
T
1 Many translations have been proposed:
he nature of the Yellow Vest France in Revolt, France Unbowed, Rebel France...
movement, which designates
its enemies as elite politicians and 2 The stated intentions of the Labour gov-
ernment in the early 1970S to decisively move the
multinational companies,7 rather than balance of power away from capital (intentions
the employing class as such, means symbolised by Denis Healey’s 1973 promise to
draw “howls of anguish from the rich” were thor-
that organisations such as the FI, for
oughly abandoned, and 1977 and 1978 saw the
which elections are central, are well- first big drop in workers’ real wages since the war.
placed to benefit from the expressed
3 After an ambitious nationalisation and
anger. The European elections, which social reform programme in 1981, the Mitterrand
Mélenchon has announced to be “an government announced “a turn to rigour” which
anti-Macron referendum” will constitute revealed itself to be another word for austerity.
an interesting test. For these elections, 4 See Isaac Deutscher’s thoughts in 1967 on
due in May 2019, the FI have joined a “Marxism and the New Left”, available online at
https://www.marxists.org/archive/deutscher/1967/
grouping of six Left parties from around marxism-newleft.htm
Europe (counting a total of 9 Euro MPs
and 143 members of national parties). 5 See John Mullen “‘Beach secularism’ fuels
racism in France” in: Red Flag, 28 August 2016.
These parties left the established Party http://redflag.org.au/node/5453
of the European Left, since the latter
6 Mélénchon and Mouffe organised togeth-
supported the Tsipras government in er a meeting/ public conversation, which can be
Greece and its imposition of heavy EU- found online in French here https://www.youtube.
inspired austerity after the crisis of 2015. com/watch?v=FtriFMxsOWw& It tended to show
that the two were not really so close in politics.
7 Since its core is an alliance of low-paid
workers, self-employed and small business owners.
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