"Hey, that's pretty good," smiles François Ruffin.

He has just towed on the pension reform, in the ballet of workers' cars entering and leaving the Good Year factory in Amiens.

"I expected more resignation ... There I have the impression that it will move", next Thursday during the day of mobilization against the reform.

Because for the free electron, the potential social movement that allows political victories, "it's now".

"If it is not on pensions that we bring people out of resignation, it will be hard" on something else, reports François Ruffin to AFP.

He has just asserted his status as a leader against the government's plan to postpone the retirement age to 64 by organizing the first meeting of the united left on Tuesday in Paris, before that of Nupes scheduled for January 17.

Since the start of his second term as deputy for the Somme, François Ruffin has stepped up his game, particularly in the media where he intervenes at least once a week to deliver his ideas on the link to be rewoven between the left and the working classes.

"When I only do it every three months, it's like getting back in the ring, it's hard," he says.

"And then, I want to be on the front line. It's not an Olympic competition for the podium, I think my voice can contribute".

Ruffinism

François Ruffin has also offered to be part of the management of LFI, before being asked to settle for participation in a political council with vague outlines by Manuel Bompard, the manager of the movement and close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. .

"No sourness", "I will not return to the charge", he warns.

"LFI needs more democracy but it's not my battle, I'm moving on."

LFI deputy François Ruffin, January 10, 2023 in Paris © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP/Archives

This did not cut him off from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with whom he continues to discuss theory and political history regularly.

Some lend him ambitions: "the presidential election of 2027, that seems obvious to me", slips a rebellious leader.

Who recalls that the interested party created his association of financing, "In the end it is us who will win", one of his favorite slogans.

But "whoever thinks he can take everyone by surprise from the outside is wrong", adds this Insoumis.

However, François Ruffin does not depend on LFI.

He is appreciated by the PS and the PCF.

Structurally, it walks on two legs.

First his militant newspaper Fakir, created in 1999. An organ of choice for disseminating ideas and recruiting support.

This is how Christophe Bex, now an LFI deputy for Haute-Garonne, got to know him.

Having been inspired by his campaign methods, he is proof that "ruffinism" is beginning to dig its furrow: "What I have retained in Ruffin is the militant but not boring side" with its festive campaigns.

LFI deputy François Ruffin during a visit to the Café de l'Avenir, May 31, 2022 in Condé-Folie, in the Somme © Denis Charlet / AFP / Archives

A network of "fakirian prefects", one per department, is in charge of organizing the distribution but also of the militant cafes.

"Wrong path"

The other leg is Picardie Debout, his party very focused on action and the field, which made the link locally on the left to have the deputy elected in 2017. "I made the Nupes before the hour “, boasts the deputy.

For his former collaborator Paul Bernardet, "it is a false lead to analyze François Ruffin under the prism of ambition", "he works all day to carry out substantive battles".

LFI deputy François Ruffin at the National Assembly, January 12, 2023 in Paris © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

"He could be a very good candidate, he has a strong training capacity, he is good in the campaign," adds Paul Bernardet.

According to Christophe Bex, at a minimum, François Ruffin "wants to move forward, it's like cycling, if you stop you fall. (...) He was re-elected deputy, it's a stage, but he always needs a new stage".

If the deputy of the Somme says he is still satisfied with "staying behind on certain subjects" that he does not master well, he assures that he will go to the front on a tricky theme on the left, immigration, when the bill arrives in Parliament in the spring.

© 2023 AFP