A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #372 - Spotlight - 2027 Presidential Election: Elections, a Trap for Fools, and What Comes Next? (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The political and media hype surrounding the presidential election is 
starting. What position should libertarians take in this period ripe for 
politicization, to remain heard without betraying our political 
principles? --- Here we are again, the electoral circus is about to 
return to town! And its clamor is likely to occupy a large part of the 
media space in the coming year. One might think that, as libertarians, 
we couldn't care less. Politically, yes, but materially, this news will 
unfortunately monopolize discussions and, above all, open a window of 
opportunity for debate and politicization. So, we might as well consider 
our role in this election, while we still have a cool head.

The Battle of the Leaders
On both the right and the left, individual pronouncements have 
multiplied in recent weeks. This is particularly noticeable on the 
right, a party usually quite accustomed to marching in formation behind 
a few party leaders. But the implosion of the Republicans, torn between 
Macron supporters and the far right, has shattered the usual discipline, 
and this political family currently has at least five candidates, some 
of whom are pushing for a primary. Other figures, like Dominique de 
Villepin, also seem to want to take advantage of the political 
landscape's fragmentation to present themselves as saviors.

On the far right, the National Rally (RN) remains relatively untouched 
by this kind of debate: the only remaining question is whether or not 
Marine Le Pen will be convicted on appeal, in order to determine whether 
she or Bardela will represent the RN, amidst the usual farcical 
candidacies of Asselineau or Dupont-Aignan. Perhaps Éric Zemmour or 
Sarah Knafo will also step into the limelight.

The state is the primary weapon available to the ruling classes to 
consolidate their power, both through force and ideology.

UCL Alsace
On the left, on the surface, chaos reigns, with more than a dozen 
potential candidates already. But in reality, the matter seems already 
settled. While a few figures continue to advocate for a primary in the 
fall, the initiative is essentially dead in the water, primarily due to 
La France Insoumise's long-standing refusal to participate. This should 
surprise no one: launched in 2016, LFI has been, since its inception, 
merely a tool serving the ambitions of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who created 
it after successively leaving the Socialist Party and the Left Party. 
Drawing on his experience, he built LFI as a "fluid" movement, meaning a 
nebulous network of activists serving an unelected, authoritarian 
leadership that is not subject to any democratic control, legitimized 
solely by occasional referendums, the most recent being the one intended 
to confirm him as the presidential candidate, which he will win easily, 
being the only option offered...

While, as libertarians, we can only bristle at LFI's authoritarian 
practices and the desensitization to these methods it fosters among its 
activists, one thing must be acknowledged: its structure is perfectly 
suited to the Fifth Republic, which is no less authoritarian than LFI 
and rewards the hyper-individualization of politics. Within this 
framework, LFI performs unsurprisingly well, especially since it has 
long since adopted a winning, albeit incredibly audacious, strategy: 
attempting to appeal to the left-wing electorate by proposing left-wing 
policies. A breathtaking level of political intelligence from which the 
Socialist Party (PS) still hasn't recovered.

A leader made to lead.
This has resulted in steady growth for the past 10 years. This is the 
strength of this hyper-personalization: the ability to maintain the 
momentum of previous campaigns over time, gradually centralizing the 
left-wing electorate. Combined with the irrepressible logic of strategic 
voting in the face of an ever-growing far right, the rise in LFI's 
scores positions it for 2027 in a hegemonic position within the 
electoral left: its mere refusal to hold a primary is enough to render 
the idea obsolete, and all serious reformist parties seem to be 
questioning the relevance of their candidacies.

Especially since LFI has long been working to present itself as the 
leading force of the left, inviting other organizations to rally behind 
it, a strategy that has successfully borne fruit with organizations like 
the POI and the Free Thought movement. The NUPES and then the NFP, which 
largely adopted its platform, provided LFI with an opportunity to 
present itself as a unifying force. For 2027, the Greens and the French 
Communist Party thus face a complex choice: field a candidate, risking 
being seen as traitors obstructing a left-wing victory, or back down, 
risking definitively consolidating LFI's hegemony and condemning 
themselves to become its satellites.

For the social and revolutionary movement, participation in 
representative elections represents a dead end that can only lead to 
division, compromise, capitulation, institutionalization, and 
instrumentalization, alienating the exploited from direct action.

Arnaud Jaegers
But LFI's rhetoric also targets the revolutionary left: for several 
months now, Mélenchon has liked to say that his movement aims to bring 
together activists from all backgrounds: "communists, Trotskyists, 
libertarians..." Everyone should unite behind this career politician and 
postpone disagreements. This rhetoric seems to resonate within the 
NPA-A, where figures like Philippe Poutou are beginning to speak out in 
support of Mélenchon's candidacy. However, tensions over how to deal 
with LFI largely contributed to the NPA's implosion in 2024. The 
revolutionary left should learn a lesson from this: it surely has much 
more to lose than to gain by cozying up to reformists.

Our path is straight, but the slope is steep.
The libertarian communists of the UCL do not usually give voting 
instructions of any kind. In a time of rising fascism and ecological 
emergency, abstentionist rhetoric would be more inaudible than ever, as 
a large part of the population struggles to see beyond the political 
horizon of electoralism. At the same time, history teaches us that there 
are no expectations to be had of a reformist party like La France 
Insoumise (LFI): we know Mitterrand's record after 1981, even though he 
championed a program that was in many respects far more radical than 
LFI's. Worse still, with the far right lying in wait, there is 
legitimate reason to fear that yet another betrayal by the electoral 
left could complete its rise and permanently bury all progressive discourse.

But the election campaign period remains a fertile ground for 
politicization, during which libertarians can also spread their message 
and try to convince those around them of the urgent need for long-term 
engagement, outside the electoral calendar. After 10 years of Macronism, 
the framework of bourgeois elections has never been so openly 
ridiculous: everyone can see the emptiness of the institutions, and it 
is precisely on this wave that La France Insoumise (LFI) is riding, 
presenting itself as the bearer of a "citizens' revolution." It is up to 
us to politicize this rejection of state institutions by directing it 
towards our genuinely revolutionary proposals. Because whatever the 
outcome of the 2027 elections, one thing is certain: whether it is to 
defend our rights and class interests, or to wrest social gains, we will 
need to continue and strengthen our struggles in 2027 more than ever.

N. Bartosek (UCL Alsace)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Presidentielle-2027-Elections-piege-a-cons-et-apres
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