Fabien Roussel's media emergence began with good wine, good meat, good cheese, the essence of "good French gastronomy", as the communist candidate summarizes it.
This assertion on the set of France 3, on January 9, sparked many fiery comments, illustrating the fractures within the French left, in particular between environmental activists and defenders of the French art of living.
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But this controversy above all allowed Fabien Roussel to make himself known to the French, some of whom had even forgotten the very existence of the Communist Party.
Sensing the right vein, the candidate started talking about meat in all his speeches and all his interviews, calling the rest of the left, and in particular the environmentalists, moralizing poopers wishing to eliminate all the pleasures of life .
"No more coppa! No more panisses in Marseille! No more fries in the North! Finished! But what are we going to eat? Tofu and soy? But finally!", He thus launched during a meeting at the beginning of February in Marseilles.
Meat, cheese, wine (in moderation): our ambition is to make quality food accessible to all French people.
French gastronomy for everyone: I assume it!
pic.twitter.com/WDL1KLG92K
— Fabien Roussel (@Fabien_Roussel) January 9, 2022
This attention to the culinary tastes of the French is in fact only one of the facets of the strategy of Fabien Roussel, who intends to stand out within a weakened and crumbled left.
The communist candidate takes the opposite view of his political family on other emblematic subjects.
He is thus the only one on the left to support nuclear energy.
He is also for a stricter application of French secularism, speaks disdainfully of "wokisme", defends hunters and strongly supports the action of the police, not hesitating to march alongside leaders of the far-right during the controversial spring 2021 police protest.
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So many positions that have earned the left-wing candidate to be hailed by several right-wing personalities and by certain members of Emmanuel Macron's government.
And too bad if his program proposes to considerably increase the Smic, to nationalize the banks, to hand over an ISF whose amount would be tripled and to hire half a million new civil servants, these are his divergent words from the rest of the left. which marked public opinion.
Be present in the presidential election to continue to exist
"If to say that gastronomy should be within everyone's reach is to be on the right, then the vast majority of the country is on the right. I don't think so", refutes its campaign director, Ian Brossat, also deputy director. 'Anne Hidalgo at the mayor of Paris, contacted by France 24.
Beyond good meat and good wine, Fabien Roussel especially appeals to the right because he weakens the most dangerous candidate on the left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, by taking a few points from him which could cost him a possible place in the second round. .
The Communist Party had however made an alliance with the leader of La France insoumise during the last two presidential elections, in 2012 and 2017. But Fabien Roussel, 52, was elected head of the PCF in 2018 with a clear mandate: to bring back his party at the center of the game by being present in the presidential election of 2022.
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"The alliance with the Left Front in 2012, then La France insoumise in 2017 was a failure for the Communist Party because these two campaigns were followed by a defeat in the legislative elections", underlines Roger Martelli, historian of the PCF, contacted by France 24. "The Communists concluded that not taking part in the presidential election was a handicap which threatened their existence."
A decision which is beginning to bear fruit, according to the polls, which give Fabien Roussel up to 5% of voting intentions – a low score in absolute terms but much better than the 1.93% obtained by the last communist candidacy for the presidential election, that of Marie-George Buffet in 2007. Even better, and particularly symbolic, the same polls place Fabien Roussel above the candidate of the Socialist Party, Anne Hidalgo.
After decades in the shadow of the PS and then of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Communists are savoring their regained independence.
And the media are back at the mythical headquarters of the PCF, which the party has never stopped occupying since its inauguration in 1971, when the PS was forced for financial reasons to sell its historic headquarters on rue de Solférino. end of 2017.
The headquarters of the French Communist Party, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, in Paris.
© FRANCE 24
“You could say the Communist Party is taking its revenge on the streak that saw it fall behind the Socialist Party. But that satisfaction has to be tempered by the fact that this is now a battle between political dwarfs,” analyzes Roger Martelli.
"The left no longer inspires, it no longer claims this right to happiness"
For Ian Brossat, the objective is now to widen the base of the left by bringing back voters who have become abstainers or parties to the far right.
"That means talking to them and offering solutions to their problems. That's what Fabien Roussel is trying to do," explains the campaign manager.
All with witticisms, as when the communist candidate promises "roussellement" as an economic line, a play on words with his surname referring to the theory of runoff advocated by Emmanuel Macron, but supposed here to relaunch demand thanks to state aid for citizens.
Macron is costing us dearly with his trickle-down theory.
For 2022, I propose the Roussellement: increase wages and pensions because when an employee earns 300 euros more, he does not hide them in tax havens! # Roussellement2022 pic.twitter.com/UOyYaGsPUu
— Fabien Roussel (@Fabien_Roussel) February 6, 2022
For the leader of the PCF, the working classes have turned their backs on the left because the left had first abandoned them.
"I'm fed up with this left that makes us feel guilty about everything. I don't want to be part of this well-meaning environmentalist left, which not only gives lessons, but which makes the French feel guilty because they eat meat, makes the French feel guilty the French because they take their car, makes the French feel guilty because they are having a pavilion built in the countryside, makes the French feel guilty because they are flying the blue-white-red flag there. Frankly, I regret that the left no longer makes people's eyes shine. It no longer inspires, it no longer claims this right to happiness."
Especially since most of the other candidates hold pessimistic speeches, whether on the subject of global warming or the civilizational threat that immigration would represent.
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"In an increasingly wealthy France, we have French people who live more and more poorly and social inequalities which have increased considerably. 'Happy days' means carrying out policies that improve the lives of people in instead of having officials who spend their time rotting the lives of the vast majority of French people with social regression reforms," says Ian Brossat.
But critics, especially from Fabien Roussel's competitors on the left, note that it's easy to make exciting promises and deny problems when you have no chance of being elected.
The Communist Party is well aware that its candidate will not win the presidential election and in fact has its sights more firmly on the legislative elections in June.
And for the occasion, the strategy could be different.
During his meeting in Montreuil, on February 16, Fabien Roussel thus called for a great alliance of the left to win what is considered to be the "third round" of the presidential election.
Article adapted from English by Romain Brunet. Click here to read the original article.
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