WIN Discussion March 2026. See it HERE.
The recent municipal elections have confirmed a sharp polarisation in French politics.
The far-right National Rally won 3,019 mayoral and city council seats compared to just 827 in 2020. As incumbents, the Socialist Party retained power in France’s four largest cities (Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille). And despite a generalised witch-hunting campaign against it, joined by both the Socialist and Communist parties, Jean-Luc Melenchon’s left party La France Insoumise won more than 1000 councillors and control of some important towns, particularly in working-class and ethnic minority neighbourhoods. No left party even got through to the decisive second round of either of the last two presidential elections in 2017 and 2022, due largely to mutual infighting and left sectarianism. In these elections too, in all but a few areas the Socialist Party refused any electoral arrangement with LFI. What do these results mean for next year’s presidential election? Can the curse of left sectarianism be lifted this time to allow for a united working-class challenge? Will the far-right tide sweeping Europe now engulf France too?
After years of mass mobilisations – the gilets jaunes protests, a youth revolt against police brutality and racism, and a huge wave of strikes – the voice of the working class needs to be heard.
To introduce this discussion, this week we welcomed Raymond Debord, editor of the journal Militant, a former supporter of La France Insoumise, and a French sociologist and author.