The Left in Europe - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

(rebuilders) of 1987 and the more recent “refondateurs” (refounders) have
been. Intentions and resolutions are not enough. This has been shown by
the party’s own experience, as in the case of the 2002 resolution to refound
the PCF, which was adopted at the PCF party congress in Martigue and
proved in the end to be impossible to impose on the party. 4 A glance at the
different tendencies within the PCF makes clear the difficulty that has stood
in the way of previous inadequate openings and party reforms.
Although the party structure envisages no formally organized platforms
or tendencies, they exist on an informal basis. They will only be briefly
outlined here in relation to certain issues and inner-party controversies. The
earlier distinction between traditionalists, renewers, Hueists (adherents of
the former general secretary of the PCF) and adherents of the line of Marie-
George Buffet is largely out of date. The relevant tendencies have reemerged,
differing on some questions, agreeing on others. There is no clear
pattern any more.
Relationship with the PS
France
Must the PCF define its independent role as being to the left of the PS and
at a distance from it, or should it develop a flexible strategy that takes account
of the power relations in the regions? A concrete answer to this question
will have to be found for the regional elections of 2010 at the latest,
especially in the regions, where the PCF can only achieve left-wing or
Centre-Left majorities with the support of the PS. The principle of alliance
with the Socialist Party is mainly represented by the traditionalists in the
PCF, the adherents of Robert Hue, and the bulk of the PCF’s public elected
officials. If one wants to bring about real changes, they argue, one cannot
exclude left-wing governing coalitions on principle. They have spoken out
in the past against an excessively critical assessment of the “gauche plurielle”
in power and are largely responsible for the fact that there has still
been no analysis of the PCF’s second period in office as part of the “gauche
plurielle”, although Marie-George Buffet and her adherents are well aware
of the necessity of such a critical analysis. A repetition of the left-wing
governing coalition with the SP without any analysis of the previous experience
would be a catastrophe.
4 Roger Martelli, p. 6
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