The French Communist Party (PCF) is a critical, yet secondary, player in the Socialist Party's (PS) dramatic bid for the premiership, known as Matignon, a move that exposes the raw ideological fault lines within the broader left-wing alliance.
The Socialist Party's demand—to form a government with the Ecologists and the PCF—is a clear, though numerically weak, attempt to reassert a moderate left-wing identity separate from the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI). This attempt to form a minority government, which would include the Communists, seeks to leverage the ongoing instability and Lecornu's collapse to push for a progressive agenda focusing on social and economic reforms.
The Communist Angle: A Moderate Wedge?
While historically championing radical reforms—and being a founding member of the fragmented New Popular Front (NFP) alliance alongside LFI and the Socialists—the PCF currently finds itself aligned with the more centrist PS faction in this specific bid for power.
Ideological Positioning: The PCF has previously criticized the neoliberal policies of Macronist governments, aligning with the NFP's platform which included calls for a major tax on the wealthy, significant public service investment, and repealing unpopular pension reforms.
1 Their inclusion in the PS proposal signifies a willingness to cooperate on a shared, if moderate, left-wing program.The LFI Rupture: The core of the current leftist turmoil stems from the ideological split between the PS and the far-left LFI, whose leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been accused of abandoning radical reforms by some within the alliance. By joining the PS-Ecologist coalition demand for Matignon, the PCF, led by Fabien Roussel, tacitly sides against the LFI's approach and risks further cementing the fracture within the NFP.
A "Responsible" Left: The proposed government, with its explicit pledge not to use the contentious Article 49.3 (a move LFI and the PCF had previously used with the far-right National Rally to topple a previous government), signals an attempt by the PS and PCF to present a picture of "responsible" left-wing governance open to "compromise" in a hung parliament. This position stands in contrast to the more uncompromising stance of LFI.
The inclusion of the French Communist Party in the Socialist's demand is a tactical decision that highlights the deeper power struggle on the French left, which is attempting to navigate a path to power following multiple government collapses.
You can learn more about the formation and early days of the unified left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front, from this report: The New Popular Front: The French Left Unites.
