France’s July 2024 elections gave us a parliament split into three big blocs: the centre-right around Macron, the fascists of the Rassemblement National (RN), and the left alliance of the New Popular Front (NPF). This last group is dominated by the radical left France Insoumise (FI). The Left bloc had more MPs than either of the other two blocs, but Macron’s main aim was to avoid a government with a radical programme. He named Michel Barnier from the traditional French right as Prime Minister, hoping the fascist MPs would give enough support for the government to survive since the French constitution does not allow new parliamentary elections until next July. You can read a further explanation of the situation until then in this interview from October.
The Barnier government has been dominated by accelerating austerity plans, aiming to slash public spending by a further €60 billion. Macron’s manoeuvres allowed the fascists of the RN to gain respectability and establishment sympathy for their supporting role. Barnier appointed hard right anti-immigrant ministers such as Bruno Retailleau to appease the RN. And his government continued to stoke Islamophobia, for example confirming the ban on long “Abaya” dresses which are considered to look Muslim, from high schools. But in early December, the RN decided to vote in favour of the no-confidence motion put forward by the left alliance.
Once he realized his government was likely to fall, Barnier desperately tried to talk MPs round, squealing about how Brussels would be upset and how international bankers would punish France. President Macron, meanwhile, was in Saudi Arabia on the day of the vote, modelling designer sunglasses and selling fighter jets. Macron has been pretending to be above the storm; in recent months he has squeezed every last bit of sparkle he could from the Olympic Games and the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral, hoping that this will hide his role as salesman for the grubby forces of profit.
A few voices on the Left are saying it was a mistake to support a parliamentary motion which the fascists were also going to vote for. This is a dangerous error, since fascist parties are not honest or principled, such a position would leave us to be bounced around by their whims. Of course, Macronist leaders in parliament this week were eager to pretend that the fascists and the radical left were now bosom buddies.
What actually happened was that the fascists were forced to vote for a no-confidence motion which included a clear denunciation of last year’s racist immigration law, described in the text as “vile” and “morally bankrupt”. In his opening speech for the motion, Eric Coquerel of the FI denounced the concessions made to the RN, insisting that taxing the rich has to be at the centre of politics, expressing his support for the strike movements starting up, and called for Macron to be impeached. Marine Le Pen, in her speech immediately following that of Coquerel, defended entrepreneurship, cutting taxes, and attacked immigrants while opposing the impeachment of Macron.
The fall of Barnier is a victory for the Left. The NPF alliance, as the biggest group of MPs, should be allowed to form a government, and this is what FI is demanding. The alliance has a radical programme and a compromise candidate for PM, Lucie Castets, ready.
The day after the no-confidence vote, Macron made a solemn speech to the nation which may go down in history as the emptiest speech of the century. He simply insisted that the far Right and the Left do not care about ordinary people, but he does.
Macron is now faced with a choice of three options, since he refuses to resign. He could respect democracy and allow the Left to form a government. He could name a new right wing PM even more open to working with the fascists than the previous one was. Or he could try one more time to split the left alliance and draw some Socialist and Green Party MPs into a Left-Right joint government.
Fragile unity
The left alliance is holding for the time being, but is fragile. The right wing of the Socialist Party is looking for a way out. In September, the party’s national committee voted 38 to 33 to stay in the alliance. But polls show that a third of Socialist Party voters did not want Barnier to fall, and 5 of their 62 MPs refused to vote him down, so the party’s right wing feels they have room to manoeuvre. Continuing the huge smear campaign against Mélenchon and FI, accusing them of being antisemitic and supporters of terrorism, is an important part of their tactics, and this campaign is cheerfully supported by most of the media.
In the Green Party and the Communist Party there are also groupings which are unhappy with the radicalism of the NPF compromise programme, and fearful that the FI will continue to grow in size and influence. They are looking for ways of moving rightward. Yannick Jadot, one of the most influential Green leaders, announced on national radio on Thursday that he did not want Macron to resign. Unwilling to openly criticize the left programme, these groups are saying that another prime ministerial candidate, less opposed to Macron than Lucie Castets is, would be a good move. But these various manoeuvres are very unlikely to produce a viable Left-Right government any time soon.
And the centre of gravity of the Left remains the France Insoumise. In recent months its MPs have been aiming to keep in debate the major issues concerning working people. For example they presented a bill to reverse last year’s raising of the standard retirement age (Macron’s MPs had to resort to obstructive tactics to prevent a vote taking place). Another bill would have abolished the crime of “making statements in support of terrorism”, an offence which in reality has been mostly used against environmental activists, pro-Palestine leaders and trade unionists.
On the ground, some claim there are now over 400,000 people in the local FI action groups. This is probably an exaggeration, but it is certainly the biggest activist network for a number of decades. Since it is a left reformist grouping, much emphasis is of course placed on elections, but FI action groups are very much involved in the movement against the genocide in Gaza. Each local group has a large amount of autonomy. FI activities near me include mobilizing in support of homeless migrant groups occupying buildings for shelter, organizing a “know your rights” caravan to tour housing estates, collecting for foodbanks, and so on. In a nearby town, FI groups initiated leafleting of schools in order to marginalize a far right group of “vigilant parents” who were fomenting hatred against trans people and other LGBT+ groups.
In voting for the no-confidence motion, the RN insisted they were defending ordinary people from the budget cuts which would reduce retirement pensions, as well as from the rise in electricity prices. But recent months have only confirmed their horrifically reactionary core ideas, as they argued to suppress all sex education in schools, and as a “right-wing feminist” group called Nemesis with links to the RN hit the news for their campaign to claim that immigration is the main cause of sexual violence.
Combativity and the need for spectacular change
Whoever Macron chooses to replace Barnier, resistance to austerity is ongoing. On Thursday 5th of December a one-day strike in the public sector saw at least two thirds of primary school teachers walk out, as well as waste workers, local authority staff and more. Two hundred thousand demonstrated around the country. From the 11th of December, rail strikes are planned. Even university presidents are in revolt against budget cuts in higher education. Meanwhile the private sector has seen a wave of redundancy announcements in recent weeks. Tyre manufacturer Michelin, hypermarket chain Auchan, and car company Valeo are among those who announced factory closures.
The crisis in France is entering a new phase. It is necessary both to insist that Macron respect democracy and allow a Left government, and to build the strike movements. The anti-austerity strikes (teachers are opposing attacks on the right to sick leave; rail workers are fighting the privatization of freight trains) are crucial. Ways need to be discussed to link this combativity to a political vision and strategy for “spectacular change” (to use Mélenchon’s expression). Marxists should have plenty of ideas to bring to these debates.
