Back from the Brink: French Communism (Parti Communiste Français) Re-orientates

Abstract

The French Communist Party (Parti Communiste Francais; PCF) survived the crisis of 1989 and by 1999 had consolidated a stable level of support, based on its continuity as a Marxist party based on the working class. It played a major role in the protests against Maastricht in the mid-1990s and made a considerable contribution to forging the left alliance which defeated the right in the French general elections of 1997, participating — as a result — in the ‘plural left’ government of Lionel Jospin until 2002. It also contributed to building new left cooperation on a Europe-wide basis — a crucial element for the left in the massively destabilising post-1989 period. However, it faced catastrophic electoral collapse in 2002 and again in 2007, which has led to contentious internal restructuring and analysis and a rejection of the strategy which led it to remain in the Jospin government after it had taken a neo-liberal turn. In 2009, the PCF entered into the Front de Gauche — with the new Parti de Gauche (PG) — to contest the European elections, meeting with modest success.