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FRENCH ELECTIONS: WHAT THE GLOBAL LEFT SHOULD LEARN ABOUT DEFEATING
THE FAR-RIGHT  
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C.J. Polychroniou
July 10, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ A united left is a formidable opponent that cannot only halt the
surge of neo-fascism, but can also offer a positive and inspiring
vision for the future. _

Partcipants react as they listen to the announcement of the projected
results of the second round of France's crunch legislative elections
during a rally in Nantes, western France on July 7, 2024., (Photo by
Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Far-right forces have gained ground across Europe, particularly in
Austria, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In fact,
the Netherlands
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a new government, a coalition between far right and right, and the far
right came first in the first-round of France’s snap election. But
fearful of the prospect of a neo-fascist and xenophobic party in
government, French voters came out in record numbers
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rallied not behind Ensemble—the centrist coalition led by President
Emmanuel Macron—but behind the coalition of left forces calling
themselves the New Popular Front (NFP), delivering in the end a blow
to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) which had made historic gains
in the first round and topped the poll with 33.15 percent of the votes
cast. NFP came in first in the run-off election, with 188 seats, but
falling short of majority.

France’s snap parliamentary election results help us to make sense
of the surge of the far right and offer valuable lessons for the left
all over the world, including the U.S. where a centrist democrat and a
wannabe dictator face off in November.

First, it is crystal clear that the main reason for the rise of
Europe’s far right, authoritarian, and ethnonationalist forces is
the status quo of neoliberal capitalism. The neoliberal
counterrevolution that begun in the early 1980s and undermined every
aspect of the social democracy model that had characterized European
political economy since the end of the Second World War has unleashed
utterly dangerous political forces that envision a return to a golden
era of traditional values built around the idea of the nation by
fomenting incessant and socially destructive change.

True to its actual aims and intent, neoliberalism has exacerbated
capitalism’s tendency to concentrate wealth in the hands of fewer
and fewer, reduced the well-being of the population through mass
privatization and commercialization of public services, hijacked
democracy, decreased the overall functionality of state agencies, and
created a condition of permanent insecurity. Moreover, powerful global
economic governance institutions—namely, the unholy trinity of the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade
Organization—took control of the world economy and became
instrumental in the spreading of neoliberalism by shaping and
influencing the policies of national governments. It is under these
conditions that ethnonationalism, racism, and neofascism resurfaced in
Europe, and in fact all over the world.

In France, the rise of the far right
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with President François Mitterand’s turn to austerity in the 1980s
as his government fell prey to the monetarist-neoliberal ideology of
the Anglo-Saxon world. Once Mitterand made his infamous neoliberal
turn, the rest of the social democratic regimes in southern Europe
(Greece under Andreas Papandreou, Italy under Bettino Craxi, Spain
under Felipe Gonzalez, and Portugal under Mario Soares) tagged along,
and the eclipse of progressivism was underway.

Less than two decades later, reactionary political forces had emerged
throughout Europe as extreme neoliberal economic policies had paved
the way for the emergence of political tendencies with an eye to
exploiting the catastrophic social and economic impacts of
neoliberalism by tapping into a huge reservoir of public anger and
discontent with the establishment. Indeed, as neoliberalism tightened
its grip on domestic society, far right forces gained more ground. The
surge of Marine Le Pen’s RN occurs against the backdrop of
Macron’s obsession with converting France into a full-fledged
neoliberal society.

A crucial lesson offered by the results of France’s snap election
(as well as by Labour’s victory in UK) is that economics remains the
rule of the day. Political forces that seek to promote
multiculturalism and social rights while pushing at the same time the
neoliberal economic agenda will, in the end, get the short end of the
stick.

Initially, Macronism was a strategy of trying to appeal to a wide
range of center-left and center-right voters by defending secular
social rights and even making gestures to LGBTQ people but always with
an eye to transforming the social contract and freeing up the
“energy of the workforce
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Macron’s “progressive liberalism
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philosophy worked up to a point. It backfired in a big way along the
way when workers, farmers, and minority groups realized that their
economic future was at stake by Macron’s pro-market policies—and
that was clearly far more important to them than concerns over social
issues and even the environment itself. The “yellow vest” movement
that rocked Macron’s presidency in 2018 and left an “indelible
mark
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on French politics was the first indication that any set of government
reforms that carried a disproportionate impact on the working and
middle classes was going to be severely challenged.

In the end, Macronism even lost the support it initially had from
women’s and LGBTQ organizations, and not simply because Macron’s
stance on social policies hardened along the way as part of an
opportunistic and desperate attempt on his part to stir conservative
voters away from the arms of the far right. It is worth pointing out
here that, unlike most social movements which are male-dominated, the
“yellow vest” movement was distinguished by the “high proportion
of women
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that took part in the protests. It was economics that drove French
women out into the streets, demonstrating against Macron
government’s unjust tax reform measures.

Again, the lesson here is that voters are unlikely to be deceived by
the sort of political rhetoric that emphasizes diversity,
multiculturalism, and environmental concerns while policies are being
pursued in favor of a brutal neoliberal economic setting. Social
rights under neoliberalism is a mirage. This is a critical lesson for
all left forces in an age in which multiculturalism and the politics
of identity play such a prominent ideological role. We see the counter
effects of this ultimately “pro-capitalist-stratagem” in the U.S.
where voters without college degrees, which amount to over 60 percent
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the population, are overwhelmingly on Trump’s camp. A similar
tendency can be seen in the Latino community as a growing segment
of Hispanic voters
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joining Trump’s GOP party.

For the benefit of political expediency and ideological integrity
alike, the left should stick to its universalist traditions while
remaining of course sensitive to diversity and particularism. But it
has no business playing the game of identity politics that has become
the hallmark of corporate capitalism and of the liberal political
establishment. Last thing we need is a cultural and post-material left
morphed into a movement vying for space in a capitalist dominated
universe.

More important, as the unique experience of the formation of a
coalition of leftist parties in France for the snap parliamentary
election attests, the left’s best hope for making major inroads in
today’s western societies, which are unquestionably highly complex
and diversified, is by introducing and promoting an attractive yet
realistic economic agenda that addresses the immediate concerns of
average people but without losing sight of the broader objective of
the leftist vision which is none other than social transformation.

The “shocking” success of the New Popular Front in the run-off
election in France did not materialize simply because French voters
wanted to halt the rise of the far right to power, which is the
mainstream interpretation. French voters backed NFP for two key
reasons: first, because they finally saw the left leaving behind
factionalism and, second, because they were lured by its radical
manifesto
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For the first time since the 1930s, not only has an anti-fascist
alliance been revived in France but there is now hope for the future
of the left because of its economic vision, assuming of course that
the left can stay united beyond the election. And this is perhaps the
greatest lesson leftist forces should draw from the French snap
elections: a united left is a formidable opponent that cannot only
halt the surge of neo-fascism but can also offer real hope for a
humane and sustainable future.

_C.J. Polychroniou is a political economist/political scientist who
has taught and worked in numerous universities and research centers in
Europe and the United States._

* French Left
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* election
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* united front
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* Lessons for Activism
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