The first round of the French election is April 23, and the traditional parties are being eclipsed in the polls with the surge of right-wing populist Marine Le Pen, the newcomer Emmanuel Macron, a slick, young center-right neoliberal.

This happens in the context of the rise of right-wing populism around the world. But in France, there is a left, to the left of a Socialist Party thoroughly discredited for its austerity and anti-labor legislation. Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s surprise emergence as a contender for the presidency cannot be discounted, then.

Sebastian Budgen, an editor for Verso Books, a contributing editor at Jacobin, and an editorial board member of Historical Materialism, talks with Suzi Weissman about the candidates on the Left, especially Mélenchon, as well as the broader political-economic scene in France.