AHC: Mainstream Center-Left Party in France

Inspired by an article in this week's Economist, I pose the forum a challenge: Create a mainstream center-left party in France. Some may argue that the PS is likely to win next year's elections, thus making them "mainstream". Thus, to clarify my intention here is for you to establish a POD that leads to a more purely social-democratic or socially liberal French party. It is quite hard to argue that policies such as prohibiting bank speculation or dramatically raising tariffs are mainstream.

P.S.: I'm more than aware of the Jospin Government's third way-esque policies. That was more indicative of the personalities leading the government (and DSK) than it was a major shift in ideology.
 
This is really a AHC tasked to take France as a whole more to the right; the PS is mainstream, by the simple fact that it is electable. It is electable because it represents a substantial body of opinion in France. This is a country in which there was overwhelmning public support for strikes over the issue of raising the retirement age to 62. That is the sort of country France is. However much you might deplore it, the PS is mainstream. It may in fact be more mainstream than the current French government.

France still has actual Socialists. 'fraid so.
 
For me as a German the PS looked always like a mainstream party. A bit like our SPD was before the extreme left wing left to what is today Die Linke. The PS might be a bit more radical, but that is simply a part of French Political culture. Strikes or protests in France for example are in general also a lot more vocal and radical than ours. As long as a party represents a good part of the society and the overhelming majority can at least live with their politics it is mainstream.
 
So, a party who has held the Presidency from 1981 to 1995, and the Parliament from 1997 to 2002 isn't a mainstream party? And even if he holds most of the big cities of France, almost every regional government and French delegation to the European Parliament, it is still not a mainstream party? HOW INTERESTING.

Yes, I know, I'm myself a PS militan, and I must admit that they're now Socialist in name only, but as the UMP grows more and more conservative under Sarkozy and his minions, the PS tends to be more on the left. Even those who are considered social-democratic are on the right to PS standards: Strauss-Kahn was very often decried as socialist in name only, and Manuel Valls could be considered as on the right of the party, while Aubry runs steady on the left and Hollande on the center. If you're searching for a true left, socialist in the Anglo-Saxon sense party, check out with the Left Party (Parti de Gauche) of Mélanchon, which is about to merge with the old Communist Party and gains more and more traction at each election. To speak of Besancenot's New Anticapitalist Party, it's now the shade of its former self.

France's current parliamentary system allows the Communist Party to have four deputies while it barely reaches the 5% at a presidential election, and the far right National Front goes easily beyond the 15% but has no deputies. meh.
 
So, a party who has held the Presidency from 1981 to 1995, and the Parliament from 1997 to 2002 isn't a mainstream party? And even if he holds most of the big cities of France, almost every regional government and French delegation to the European Parliament, it is still not a mainstream party? HOW INTERESTING.

Yes, I know, I'm myself a PS militan, and I must admit that they're now Socialist in name only, but as the UMP grows more and more conservative under Sarkozy and his minions, the PS tends to be more on the left. Even those who are considered social-democratic are on the right to PS standards: Strauss-Kahn was very often decried as socialist in name only, and Manuel Valls could be considered as on the right of the party, while Aubry runs steady on the left and Hollande on the center. If you're searching for a true left, socialist in the Anglo-Saxon sense party, check out with the Left Party (Parti de Gauche) of Mélanchon, which is about to merge with the old Communist Party and gains more and more traction at each election. To speak of Besancenot's New Anticapitalist Party, it's now the shade of its former self.

France's current parliamentary system allows the Communist Party to have four deputies while it barely reaches the 5% at a presidential election, and the far right National Front goes easily beyond the 15% but has no deputies. meh.

Good stuff. I'm a social liberal in the Gladstonian sense. I'm aware that's a very Anglo-American lineage (even if my ancestors were Breton) and that the closest French movements (radicals, UDF, etc.) have struggled to remain at the top.

So let me rephrase the question: Could the PS or SFIO encapsulate the radical and liberal sentiment within France? I know that the UMP attempted to do so, but was it ever possible that the PS could have?

Also, could a President Michel Rocard have made a considerable difference on the Socialist ideology?
 
Rocard seems a good way to begin with: he was Mitterrand's fiercest rival, and always ran on the left of Mitterrand, and the latter made much in 1971 at the Epinay Congress to make the Socialist Party more of a centrist party, if not to say that he pushed it rightwards. Mitterrand's Prime Ministers were all to his left, from Mauroy to Beregovoy, but he was the only one to hold the country, and he used Rocard's passage at Matignon to effectively blow up his career. Rocard taking over would mean a more left-wing approach, and Chevenement not leaving, as he was the main representative of what comes closer to the Radicals. A Mitterrand victory in 1974 also counts, under a "Common Platform of the Left", effectively uniting the communists, the radicals and the socialists. But as of making the PS electable, well...

Sorry if I was rude, I've read your works on the board and I'm happy to find another member interested in French history.
 
Well, being something of an insider, I can tell you that the PS, when in power, is quite left-center mainstream. They just need to vent a lot of hot air to keep the far left down, but when ruling they are not that different from your average German or Spanish social-democrat (a tad more socially conservative maybe).

The left party is not considered a threat by the PS, mostly whatever results it can got is based upon the popularity of his leader (quite appealing to a small radical part of the electorate and a major turn off to the rest). The Green pose more of a challenge but are still amateurish with the local cadres a very mixed lot.
 
De Gaulle is killed at Petit Clamart in August 1962. In the following Presidential election, Antoine Pinay is elected. Gaullist troups are in disarray and split over Europe and social reforms. Chaban-Delmas gains the leadership and is nominated Prime minister. Centrists under Lecanuet make progress in the 1963 legislative election. In the 1968 election, socialists and social Gaullists have a relative majority. Pierre Mendès France becomes PM.

In this time-line, there is no popular election for the President, and the Vth Republic evolves into a prime ministerial regime with stable governments and a President who is a moral authority. The socialists do not need the communists in order to govern, and ally themselves with moderates and social Gaullists.

Here what it could have looked like in terms of Presidents and Prime ministers :


Charles de Gaulle (1) 1959-1962


Prime ministers:
Michel Debré 1959-1962
Georges Pompidou Apr.-Oct. 1962

Gaston Monnerville (2) Aug.-Oct 1962

Antoine Pinay 1962-1969

Prime ministers:
Jacques Chaban-Delmas (3) 1962-1964
Jean Lecanuet 1964-1968
Pierre Mendès France 1968-1969

Gaston Monnerville 1969-1976

Prime ministers:
Pierre Mendès France 1969-1973
François Mitterrand 1973-1975
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing 1975-1976

Jacques Chaban-Delmas 1976-1990

Prime ministers:
Robert Boulin 1976-1980
Michel Rocard 1980-1988
Lionel Jospin 1988-1990

Michel Rocard 1990-2004

Prime ministers:
Lionel Jospin 1990-1995
Philippe Séguin 1995-1997
François Léotard 1997-2000
Martine Aubry 2000-2004

Philippe Séguin 2004-

Prime ministers:
Martine Aubry 2004-2008
Pierre Moscovici 2008-2011


(1) Assassinated by the OAS at Petit-Clamart, 22 August 1962
(2) President of the Senate, President ad interim of the Republic
(3) Resigned after a vote of non-confidence at the Assembly
 
The PS is already a mainstream party by virtue of its electoral weight.

The reason why the PS is more left wing in apparence (but not always in substance) compared to say the British Labour Party, have a lot to do with the fact that since the end of the war the left is strong in French politics. Don't forget that for a long time, the main left wing party in France was the communist party itself. This changed afterwards for both electoral reasons and because Trotskysts and hard left wannabies politicians like Jospin realised that they stand more of a chance of being elected and gain power by joing the PS. This and the need for accommodation with the Communists decisively shifted the PS to the left. The Programme Commun of the 1970s, partially implemented in 1981 was a very left wing document which Michael Foot would have been delighted to implement in Britain.

Ever since 1981 one can make the argument that the PS become more social democratic and less socialist. But the PS never really needed to change its orientation, since the opposition it faced was never smart and organised enough to shift the terms of the debate in its favour and towards the right.

The French right has never really managed to unite around either a leader or an ideological programme since De Gaulle left power in 1969. It become rather conservative and reluctant to do anything during the seventies, partly through fear of aleniating its base and partly through a lack of organisation. During the eighties and nineties it can be said with hindsight that Chirac did a lot of damage to the French right. That man was a snake whose only objective was to gain power and fame for himself and his protégés. The right did implement a privatisation programme between 1986 and 1988 but it was a small one and it served no end save for privatising for the sake of privatising. The French right never developped a coherent ideological alternative to what the PS what proposing, whether on economics, foreign policy, social security and education. It carried on the foreign policy of De Gaulle, and protected its minions like private schools, unaccountable conglomerates like Dassault and Lagardere and so on. The rise of Le Pen Front National also emasculated it, the RPR and such could have nipped Le Pen rise in the bud, had they answered to the questions he was raising, but scared of the left and of themselves they did not.
This is more or less still the case today to a degree. Sarkozy is a snake just like Chirac and to say that he adheres to a coherent philosophy like some of his supporters do is laughable. Through his heavy handed approach to politics he has only managed to reinforce his opponents. If he wins in 2012 it will be by default for lack of a better alternative.

In order to make the PS more like the Labour Party, the answer lies in making the French right much more potent and much more coherent both philosophically and organisationally. Jacques Chaban Delmas New Society ideas offers a possible start on the philosophical front. They were radical for their time, but in line with the "neither reaction nor revolution" philosophy which animated Gaullism. Get his programme implemented and the rug will be swept under the feet of the Left (they were very scared of his programme OTL), forcing them to rethink and reinvent themselves. Getting the French right to be more organised and to develop think tanks and such is the harder part. But it can happen if the right men and the right decisions are taken.
The New Society program should allow the right to remain in power until the mid eighties. Eventually the PS will take over and if the New Society program has been really successful, they won't dare challenging its legacy. The communists will be on the fringe and possibly not even allied to the PS anymore.
 
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