In view of the extremely dangerous political situation in France, with a potential victory for the FN/RN in the forthcoming presidential election, discussions are taking place across all organisations and factions on the left regarding the stance to adopt. The revolutionary left cannot, of course, shy away from this debate.
The ruling class’s hatred of La France insoumise (LFI, France Unbowed) betrays its fear of the radical left potentially coming to power. This social polarisation must shape the attitude of revolutionaries during the 2027 presidential campaign. The NPA’s decision to support Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign contributes to the rise of a radical left. All those who claim to be anti-capitalist must join it.
The bourgeoisie does not hate without reason; LFI has thrown down the gauntlet to the existing order. On economic matters, it offers an alternative to neoliberalism: ecological planning, which aims to subject capitalism to extra-economic principles, social justice and respect for ecosystems. This alternative is not in itself anti-capitalist, but if implemented seriously, in proportion to the balance of power, it opens up a range of possibilities and could lead to moving beyond capitalism and its crises.
LFI has demonstrated its ability to think outside the box on the Palestinian question. It has emphasised that history did not begin on 7 October 2023, that this tragic event was preceded by 75 years of oppression of the Palestinians by Israel and its supporters. It has stood firm against a political and media establishment that has accused its representatives of anti-Semitism in every possible way.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, there have been numerous social and political movements around the world challenging neoliberalism. Yet we are still at the beginning of a process of reorganisation that will take time. The presidential campaign offers an opportunity to take a step forward in building a combative Left.
In our view, there is no doubt: those who claim to uphold the – plural – legacy of revolutionary Marxism must stand alongside La France Insoumise. Presidential elections are significant moments in the country’s political life, but we must consider how they relate to long-term collective mobilisations – both social and trade-union-led. Anti-capitalists must make a decisive contribution to this integration.
Caution is called for: our differences with LFI are significant. Within the party, there are no democratic mechanisms allowing activists to decide on the movement’s broad strategic direction. Yet the objective of transforming society through collective reflection and action presupposes free discussion and the organisation of pluralism. The goal is inseparable from the path taken to achieve it; the experience of the 20th century shows that completely separating the two often leads to disaster. This does not preclude the existence of structured organisations, of course, provided they operate democratically. Democracy enhances the power and intelligence of the collective and its members.
Furthermore, although LFI has contributed to all the major struggles of recent years, its centre of gravity lies in the National Assembly: there is virtually no counterpart outside the institutions. Under these circumstances, there is a risk that the movement will adapt to the institutions rather than transform them, particularly if the organisation were to come to power. LFI has established the Institut la Boétie, which does excellent work in intellectual development and the training of activists. However, it has no role in organising the grassroots, and whilst it contributes to the intellectual development of La France Insoumise, it is disconnected from the movement’s strategic decisions.
But precisely for this reason: anti-capitalists can make a significant contribution to the campaign on these various issues, thereby enabling the militant left to make collective progress. Sustained cooperation with the NPA would be of great benefit to LFI, and vice versa. Jean-Luc Mélenchon secured 22 per cent of the vote in the first round of the 2022 presidential election; his influence is incomparable to that of the NPA. Yet changing the world is a matter of scale.
The NPA is the heir to a profoundly democratic and egalitarian culture. This will be evident wherever its activists take part in the campaign. Similarly, in the tradition of revolutionary Marxism, collective thought and action must not be separated: they constantly feed off one another.
The US organisation Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is an interesting case, offering food for thought on the situation ahead. New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is a product of this movement, as are the candidates who have for months been taking part in the Democratic primaries under the banner of ‘democratic socialism’.
Since Mamdani’s campaign, the DSA has doubled its membership: there are now more than 120,000 members across the United States!
March separately, strike together
This scaling up means the organisation faces new challenges, in particular the risk of being co-opted by existing political institutions. But this danger is the flip side of the movement’s progress; the alternative being to remain forever a marginal fringe group. DSA has remained true to its democratic functioning and its commitment to placing the class struggle at the heart of its work. Its experience shows that institutional battles are sometimes part of the arsenal that revolutionaries must employ to change the world.
The election of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not the most likely scenario, although it cannot be ruled out. We are no longer in the 1980s. At that time, François Mitterrand’s rise to power – which quickly led to his turn to ‘austerity’ – took place against a backdrop of the rise of neoliberalism across the globe, notably with the elections of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Yet whilst neoliberalism is far from dead, and whilst the right may be an even greater threat than in the 1980s, the political landscape is more open today. As the crises of capitalism deepen, the sectors potentially receptive to anti-capitalist rhetoric are expanding.
A more likely scenario is the rise to power of Marine Le Pen and the FN/RN, that electoral showcase of French neo-fascism. Caught up in its own optimism, LFI does not seem prepared for this eventuality. The legal framework for banning LFI is already in place; all a future far-right president would need to do is press the button.
We will then have to transform into an anti-fascist resistance movement, which requires a decentralised, if not clandestine, organisation. The grassroots must demonstrate the capacity to take the initiative. Yet this is precisely the kind of organisation that LFI refuses to put in place. The ‘action groups’ currently set up have no resources or autonomy: what will become of them if the movement is decapitated? What will happen when politics is no longer – or only to a much lesser extent – a matter for institutions, because the neo-fascists will have taken them over?
The NPA is the heir to political traditions that have successfully organised extra-parliamentary struggle, and the resources and expertise for this still exist within its ranks. More broadly, this task will fall to all those within the environmental and trade union movements, and within anti-racist, feminist, anti-war and, of course, anti-fascist collectives, who wish to build the struggle on all fronts. Whatever the outcome of the presidential election, cooperation between LFI and the revolutionaries therefore makes sense: the aim is to strengthen, right now, the infrastructure for the protests of tomorrow – something that is imperative whatever happens in the forthcoming presidential election.
The time has come for revolutionaries to have confidence in their ideas. ‘History is breathing down our necks,’ wrote Daniel Bensaïd in a completely different context. It takes unexpected and often steep turns, but has it not always been so? The current circumstances call for the formation of a bloc of militant left-wing forces, in which each organisation can retain its strategic autonomy, but in the building of which revolutionaries must play a decisive role.