Julian-Nicolas Calfuquir is an economics PhD student at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and a former national official for the Parti de Gauche.
France’s elections in July handed a surprise first place to the New Popular Front, which is now demanding the right to govern. To really change the country, it needs to broaden its base of support among nonvoters and the working class.
Two years ago, a left-wing alliance denied Emmanuel Macron his majority in parliament. But today the forces of the Left are deeply divided — making Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National almost the sole contender for power.
Most of the last decade’s left-populist insurgents failed to create lasting alternatives to neoliberalized social democracy. But Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise bucked the trend — and did it through years of work building real, popular roots.
In 2017’s French election, radical left-winger Jean-Luc Mélenchon surged to 20 percent support, only narrowly failing to make the runoff. Last month he announced his candidacy for the 2022 race — and he’s trying to show that his France Insoumise movement can govern as well as protest.