The “New Democratic Centralist Front”

Readers of a certain age may remember when the Communist Party of the Soviet Union described its inscrutable inner workings as “democratic centralism.” Within hours of its joyous birth, France’s New Popular Front gave signs that democratic centralism was still alive and well in one of its components, namely, La France Insoumise. No one familiar with the recent history of LFI will be surprised that Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s tightly controlled political formation chose, as its first move under the new aegis, to purge “internal enemies” Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido, and Danielle Simonnet, while reinstating Mélenchon protégé Adrien Quatennens, who had been sidelined following allegations of domestic violence by his ex-wife.

Each constituent party of the NPF has been assigned a certain number of districts in which it has the power to choose the unique candidate who will represent the left. LFI has the lion’s share of the seats, and within LFI the power still lies with Mélenchon. For once JLM made the wise choice to mute his own ego for the sake of achieving sufficient unity to permit a unified left opposition in the upcoming legislative elections. Had he not conceded on key points of contention, there would have been no New Popular Front. His divisive instincts and inveterate hostility to the other components of the coalition had already sunk the Nupes, and had he insisted on putting himself forward as the only possible prime minister in case of a left victory, the NPF would have been still-born. For once he chose the politically smart course. But once the initial goal was achieved, he couldn’t resist sticking it to his old nemeses. Voters already wary of the alliance contre-nature that is the NPF will now hesitate again if given a choice between an LFI candidate and a Macroniste. However angry they may be with Macron, they will have to acknowledge that Mélenchon has not really changed.