Where is France going?
by Vincent Boulet, Vice-President of the Party of the European Left
More than 1 million people took to the streets this Thursday, September 18, following the call of the united front of all national trade union confederations! The success of this day demonstrates the depth of anger against the reinforced austerity policies of successive and unstable governments in France. Today, France is experiencing a regime crisis of a magnitude unseen since the final crisis of the Fourth Republic in the 1950s. What is manifesting here is not only the dead end of Macronism, but also a major crisis against the backdrop of the country’s deindustrialization and acute social distress. It is a crisis of the Republic. Strong mobilizations have expressed this in different forms for many years: the Yellow Vests movement, social struggles against successive pension dismantlings… Macronism is the French bourgeoisie’s attempt to “resolve” the French crisis by blowing up the entire political landscape. It has failed.
The dangers are immense. Part of the bourgeoisie is now pushing for an austerity-driven headlong rush, seeking to dismantle all the social gains won by the French people over the course of the 20th century. Another part is now seeking a Bonapartist-style solution to the crisis by allying with the far right. The latter came out on top in the last legislative elections triggered by Macron in July 2024, with 3 million more votes than the left-wing union of the New Popular Front. The far right has not abandoned anything from its program, which is structured around “national priority”—that is, the refoundation of French society on racist and xenophobic bases.
The political crisis was made worse by Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to acknowledge the fact that the New Popular Front had won the most seats in the National Assembly. Since then, governments have been very weak and unstable. The new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, one of Macron’s closest loyalists, announced the cancellation of a particularly unpopular measure taken by his predecessor (the suppression of two public holidays). But this changes nothing essential. It is not just a matter of changing the government, but above all of changing policy.
To achieve this, maintaining trade union unity is essential to build the necessary balance of power in society. Nothing lasting can emerge without such a power struggle.
The issue is also political. The major problem of the left in France today is that it remains in the minority. With or without unity, with or without NUPES (in 2022), with or without the New Popular Front, the entire left together weighs less than the far right. In the second round of the last legislative elections, the left barely reached 30%, even though there had been a real surge of voters to prevent the far right from coming to power. Of course, it is necessary to continue working to consolidate unity on the left—without falling into the trap of presidentialization. It is irresponsible to call for unity (behind oneself) for a hypothetical and highly uncertain early presidential election while organizing the division of the left in the municipal elections scheduled for March 2026. It must also be taken into account that the ultimate failure of the New Popular Front to take power last year has generated a great deal of despair and weariness among left-wing voters.
Before talking about electoral agreements, we must talk about content. This does not mean having a program with hundreds of points, but rather relying on the social movement to reopen hope in a democratic and social transformation of the country, and to respond to the major challenges of the French crisis. These can be summed up in three main points: the centrality of the social question (that is, siding with labor, industrial renewal, and ecological transition); republican universalism and the establishment of a new political regime (that is, a new social, secular, and democratic republic); and an independent policy of peace and collective security in Europe and the world (that is, a France committed to peace and cooperation). It is possible to work toward building solid convergences on the left to once again make possible what it currently lacks: a majority perspective in society and in Parliament.
History is not written. The social movement shows that French society has not, at this stage, completely resigned itself to the far right coming to power. The responsibilities of left-wing organizations are historic: to turn toward the struggles of the French people, to set aside cowardice, personal ambitions, or petty political maneuvering. What is needed today is “audacity, more audacity, always audacity,” as Danton said!