Undoubtedly, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s concrete proposal to repeal the criminal Emigration Law passed in January of this year and his support for the struggle of the Palestinian people, clearly expressed, together with the theme of “No Pasarán” [blocking neofascists, meaning blocking Le Pen’s NR] have revived the anti-fascist sentiment of the French people. All this has been decisive for mobilizing a vote that, neither in the European elections nor in the first round [of the French legislative votes], had taken place before. [Mélenchon is the leader of France Insoumise and a main spokesperson for the NPF.]

In short, in both Britain and France, the vote was an instrument to oust the previous governments. In the French case, it was also an expression of a deep anti-fascist popular sentiment, a sort of emergency brake against the threat from the most extreme right wing, but little more. The New Popular Front looks very much like the colorful salad that characterizes the old/new postmodern social democracy and, like it — as Syriza showed in Greece [starting in 2015] — possesses neither the will nor the capacity to solve the problems and may even further weaken the working class.

The big problems will continue to worsen in the midst of great political instability, either with the foreseeable alliance between Macronism and Le Pen or with a government of the New Popular Front without a parliamentary majority.

For the moment, time has been gained in the face of the iron fist with which, either through a new threatened pandemic, climate crisis or more directly by war, the bourgeoisie is preparing to confront its own contradictions and the rise of popular mobilization provoked by the crisis. And the working class, in France, in Britain and in every country, must take advantage of this time, this kind of reprieve, to progress in the construction of a powerful communist class organization, capable of organizing the necessary force to defeat the criminal plans of the [neo]imperialist oligarchy.