The French Left’s government-versus-radical divide is unchanged since 1983-84

Evidence

Although it can to some extent be traced back further into the past, to the 1920 Congress of Tours and beyond, the fundamental rhetorical divide on the French Left between a ‘Left of government’ and a ‘Left of the Left’—viewing each other with extreme suspicion as soldout managers of capitalism or irresponsible demagogues, respectively—is substantially the same today as it has been since the ‘austerity turn’ of 1983–84, when a drastic U-turn in economic policy led to the departure of the Communist Party from government and a bitter sense of betrayal that stretches far beyond immigrant communities. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1375

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A compact account of how a single economic policy turn in 1983-84 froze the fundamental structure of French Left polarization for four decades, spilling into immigrant and Palestine politics.