Socialists vs. Communists in France

A cartoon in the Paris rightist daily Figaro shows a gleeful (President of the Republic) Valery Giscard d’Estaing watching a television screen on which Francois Mitterrand (Socialist party), Georges Marchais (Communist party) and Robert Fabre (Left-Radicals) attack one another. Turning to his Prime Minister Raymond Barre, Giscard says, “They’re right, you know. We don’t let them appear often enough on television!”

The great majority of the French now hold the Communists primarily responsible for the breakup of the alliance established five years ago; but this has not changed the wide-spread mood of anger, frustration, and disgust on the part of many with the left in general. The French left has managed to deal itself a heavy, damaging blow.

...