brought almost a third of all industry into public
ownership. (Less than 20 per cent had been in
public ownership before 1982.)
The most spectacular part of the Mitterrand
programme was the attempt to counter the world-
wide recession caused by the oil-price rise with a
‘socialist’ solution: a dash for growth that reversed
the Barre austerity plan. Many people in Britain at
that time, suffering from the sharp retrenchment
of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government,
which cut a swathe through manufacturing
industry, looked with admiration on the bold
Mitterrand strategy. The ‘recovery plan’ pumped
money into the French economy, created jobs in
housebuilding and the civil service, raised the
income of the poorest in society and increased
investment in the public sector. It was accepted
that higher taxes would not pay for this as well as
for nationalisation, but it was argued that in a
recession a large deficit was acceptable until higher
demand expanded the economy again and
brought the deficit down.
It did not work. Unemployment rose to 2
million and inflation soared once more above 15
per cent in October 1981; the deficit forced a
devaluation of the franc, and the lack of confi-
dence private industry felt for the Socialist gov-
ernment showed up in a shortage of investment
and production. In June 1982 Mitterrand made
his famous policy U-turn and switched to auster-
ity and public-spending cuts proposed by the
finance minister Jacques Delors. Public spending
was further curtailed in the spring of 1983.
Socialist reforms were downgraded in July 1984,
when the able young industry minister, the
undogmatic, technocrat Laurent Fabius, replaced
Mauroy as prime minister. The policy turned to
the centre, towards market-oriented reforms and
industrial modernisation. Not surprisingly the
communist ministers resigned. The French
economy recovered, thanks to the application of
policies not so very different from those of the
Giscard–Barre years. Higher productivity had
high unemployment as its trade-off, as it had in
the rest of Western Europe. Mitterrand accepted
the price of unpopularity in the expectation that
an upturn would follow the austerity of 1984–6
in good time for the presidential elections due in
- In an effort to improve the chances of the
Socialists, whose popularity was plummeting, he
pushed through an electoral reform, changing
from a ‘first-past-the-post’ system to proportional
representation.
The National Assembly elections in March
1986 turned out better than expected for the
Socialists, who remained the largest party, picking
up much support from former communist sup-
porters. The Communist Party fared disastrously,
losing a third of its votes. The broad-left coalition
(including the communists), had it been recon-
structed, could command only 251 votes. The
right, despite the rivalries between Giscard’s
UDF and Chirac’s RPR, enjoyed a clear major-
ity with 277 votes. What caused a real shock to
traditional French politics was the rise of a fascist
National Front party led by the barnstorming ex-
paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen. Almost one in
ten voters had voted for this racist, anti-Semitic
party, turning their backs on the traditional parties
and placing their confidence in a leader who
in the name of ‘patriotism’ attacked the North
African immigrants as foreigners who caused
white unemployment. Le Pen promised to bring
law and order back to France. The immigrants
would be forcibly repatriated.
After the elections, the Fifth Republic found
itself in an unprecedented condition, with a
Socialist president and a National Assembly
dominated by the right. Unlike the government of
the US, where the executive president and those
appointed to the administration are separated from
Congress, the government of France is appointed
by the president, but in order to function it must
command a majority in the National Assembly.
In March 1986, Mitterrand called on Jacques
Chirac, who headed the largest of the parties of the
868 WESTERN EUROPE GATHERS STRENGTH: AFTER 1968
National Assembly election, 1986% Seats
Socialists (PS and MRG) 31.9 216
Communist Party (PC) 9.7 35
Union French Democracy (UDF)
42.0
129
Rally for the Republic (RPR) 148
National Front 9.7 35