The disputed legacy of Mitterrand
The French left celebrated the 30 th anniversary of the arrival of socialism to power, while PS leaders claim the legacy of former
On Sunday May 10, 1981 at 18:30, an aide to François Mitterrand announced that within hours was to become the next president of the French Republic . Mitterrand, then 65, imperturbable, he said, almost to himself: "What a story." That day was first proclaimed a socialist as head of the French State in the V Republic.
Thirty years later, the French socialist Mitterrand has become an icon for many things (from the union of the left, the undisputed leader of political charisma ...), but mostly a victory that has become increasingly remote. For Mitterrand was the first but also the last. In 1987 defended his mandate. Since then, the French Socialist Party (PS) has lost every presidential election: in 1995, 2002 and 2007.
Hollande: "I do not want to play a model, I adapt to what I am" Strauss-Kahn
is the farthest from the style of the late French leader
lives these days a kind of 'mitterandmanía' says Royal
learned from him not to give up despite the failure omen
So when a year to a new election date, the leaders of socialism still heading French commemorate the victory of Giscard d'Estaing Mitterrand on a certain nostalgic inevitable, but also with a sort of propitiatory ceremony with a touch of optimism based on the very low popularity of Sarkozy.
whole of France these days seems to live under the influence of a sort of mitterrandmanía, which began to be felt in January, when it held 15 years after his death. And then recalled his political stature, his contradictory personality, his tortuous past, his family and his double life last days of terminally ill spectral giving rides down the Champs de Mars Baltic with his dog, his personal doctor and a bodyguard carrying a banquetita .
The phenomenon has reached its climax these days, on the anniversary of his rise to power: there almost every night documentary on his life, his energetic style, about his relationship with the television on that special night when he defeated Giscard d'Estaing, will premiere plays that concern him are edited books in which friends, colleagues or former ministers entered talks with the president.
Newspapers Launch special editions. Readers send in messages that explain what it meant that victory, where they were, what they did that afternoon. Le Monde, even yesterday insert a facsimile reproduction the issue published the day after the victory, which allows recall, among other things, then how many words fit on the front page headline: "The very strong victory of François Mitterrand is beyond the regrouping of the left and aggravates divisions left party power. "
there anything else. Several socialist leaders a chance of winning the primary autumn compete for the inheritance of the old Mitterrand to win adherents. Ségolène Royal, former presidential candidate defeated by Sarkozy in 2007 and again would-be socialist candidate, attended by 600 supporters last Sunday and several former ministers of Mitterrand. Before them, the Socialist leader, the less valued in the polls, recalled the 10 lessons he learned from the old socialist president and, above all, "not to give in spite of those who predicted a defeat."
François Hollande, former first secretary of the PS, one of the candidates, moved yesterday to Château-Chinon, a town in which Mitterrand was mayor for 20 years. There, before a bust of former socialist Hollande, which many have inherited (or mimicked very talented) poses some very Mitterrand in his speeches and daily progress in the polls, recalled: "I do not want to play a model. I adapted to what I am. " And while
former first secretary of the PS said this, in Paris at the party headquarters, the current First Secretary, Martine Aubry, inaugurated an open day dedicated to the memory of Mitterrand and his victory 30 years ago. The fourth expected
candidate choices and the most darling of the polls, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, director general of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), remains, as always, on the sidelines. The rules of the institution he leads forbidden to attend this type of nationwide political demonstrations. However, by temperament and ideology, the candidate may be further from the figure of Mitterrand, who has less in common. The least lays claim to his inheritance, in any form, perhaps because they already know the winner. A socialist leader explained it yesterday in the newspaper Libération: "The heir to Mitterrand will be the successor."
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