The fall did not go as planned for La France insoumise, mired in the Quatennens affair and its disputed reorganization.
The movement is overtaken by its new size and its new status.
Pension reform, unpopular, may allow him to get out of the rut.
The sun is shining, this Sunday, August 28, near Valence (Drôme).
The rebellious are gathered there two months after becoming the leaders of the left and the opposition, for their summer universities - the "Amfis".
Between 3,000 and 4,000 activists have been present since Thursday in this holiday camp to reflect, discuss, meet, and celebrate.
Impressive as LFI, created by Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2016, is still young.
But some journalists can't help but ask themselves this question: does all this hold up without Mélenchon?
Almost four months later, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has not left – even if he has made room on the front line – but the fall has not exactly resembled the plans for the start of the school year.
The campaign against the high cost of living, with the demonstration of October 16 as its starting point, did not manage to take the light, eclipsed by the calamitous and serial management of the Adrien Quatennens affair (who admitted, in September, to having struck his wife), and finally, also, the quagmire of the reorganization of the movement, at the beginning of December, which at least appeared opaque.
"Besieged Citadel"
However, everything was probably not to be thrown away at the start of the parliamentary session.
The October 16 march, again, was an honest success for a demonstration organized by a political party.
And during the only real week of debates on the budget, the LFI deputies succeeded in proving that they knew how to do something other than obstruction.
They have even succeeded several times in taking the government by surprise at the game of "Who will make the most majority compromises in the Hemicycle?"
“: there are the super-dividends of the MoDem, but not only.
“We never had an unequivocal opposition, was offended Eric Coquerel, the LFI president of the Finance Committee, on the eve of the debate.
We voted in committee on all the amendments and all the articles that we consider to be good.
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This fall, the rebellious have actually tripped over a carpet that is clearly visible: the “clan” (for opponents) or “personal” (for the nicest) functioning of the movement.
“I don't like the 'besieged citadel' side that LFI sometimes takes, explained in mid-November a deputy in view of the movement.
It's true that we don't only have friends on the outside.
But it's not my philosophy to shut everything down in the name of that.
This is also what caused the defense against winds and tides of Adrien Quatennens.
“It had become a permanent media gimmick, deplores the LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis Raquel Garrido.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his friends, who found themselves in front of a parliamentary group which stood up to them, never ceased to leak the idea of his imminent return.
It ruined all the political work!
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Relative democracy
For the deputy, who is one of the figures dismissed from the new “coordination of spaces” of the movement, the link is direct between the management of the Quatennens affair and the disputed reorganization of LFI.
“We know how to do when Jean-Luc Mélenchon has the right line and we get behind him.
But when there is dissonance, as in the Quatennens affair, who arbitrates?
He understood it well, hence a reorganization of tightening, without a vote to legitimize.
“” But Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not decide everything, it is not the reality, protests a senior executive.
He has neither the time nor the will.
Afterwards, yes, it is a moral authority.
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Let's be clear: democracy, in political parties, is sometimes a very relative notion.
In a certain way, LFI assumes since its origin a part of princely fact.
The list is long of internal disagreements resolved, quite simply, by the departure of those concerned.
Everyone seemed to know about it and get along with it so far.
But those sidelined by the new management consider that the situation has changed.
That if LFI has been able to be flexible, at attention behind its candidate, and therefore ultra-efficient during presidential campaigns, we must also learn the lessons of the "between-two-presidential" periods, where the rebellious appear a lot, much less efficient.
The pension test
More than a quarrel between people or a fight over the form of the movement (honestly, the differences are slight), what rebellious France is going through does indeed look like a growing pains.
"The stakes are not the same when you are the first left-wing party, the one with the most resources too, than when there were fifteen people in a pizzeria thirty years ago", recognizes Raquel Garrido.
And then La France insoumise did not arrive alone at this status and this group of 74 deputies.
If PS, PCF and EELV can say thank you to the rebellious for having opened the door to the creation of a broad alliance for the legislative elections, the first beneficiary remains LFI.
Without the rest of the left, betting that there would have been - at the very least - half as many rebels at the Palais-Bourbon is not a pessimistic projection.
And this is not a detail in the internal problems of the Mélenchonist movement today.
Because if yesterday, the actions of the rebels were, basically, their problem, this new status of leader of the Nupes makes them feel the friendly pressure of the partners.
This is obviously striking in the Quatennens affair: all the other parties have at least spoken out for the definitive exclusion of the deputy of Lille.
This is also the case, in more subdued voices, on the reorganization of the movement: "The democratic question is the one that divided the left of the congress of Tours [that of the division between socialists and communists, in 1920], it could well arise again”, judged, worried, a pro-Nupes ecologist deputy.
“Our weaknesses weaken our fights”, judge Raquel Garrido.
Who sees wider: “A solid LFI helps a solid Nupes, which helps a solid trade union front against the pension reform.
The pension reform, precisely.
The rebellious have eyes only for her.
The fight against the very unpopular postponement of the starting age to 65 is seen as a moment to put LFI back in place, and to strengthen Nupes.
By this yardstick, the partial legislative planned for the end of January in Angoulême will be a test: he missed 24 votes in June at LFI to win against the outgoing macronist.
It's hard to see how the sun could come back over LFI without a win.
Policy
“We have a problem of democracy in the movement”, denounces Clémentine Autain, deputy LFI
Policy
Adrien Quatennens case: LFI deputies react to the announced return of the deputy
La France Insoumise (LFI)
Adrien Quatennens
Jean-Luc Melenchon
Manuel Bompard