The Left Party (French: ', PG) is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

political party in France, founded in 2009 by

Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...

and Marc Dolez after their departure from the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS). The PG claims to bring together personalities and groups from different political traditions; it claims a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

and republican orientation. Politically located between the

and the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

, the Left Party intends to federate all the sensitivities of the anti- liberal left—which they also call "the other left"—within the same alliance. In 2008, the PG joined forces with the Communist Party of the United Left and six other left-wing and far-left organizations in the coalition of the Left Front, of which Jean-Luc Mélenchon was the candidate for the presidential election. The PG was co-chaired from 2010 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Martine Billard. In 2016, the Left Party had 8,000 members. At the end of 2014, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Martine Billard resigned, and the party leadership was then collectively ensured by the national secretariat. The weekly newspaper, ''L'Intérêt général'' (formerly ''À gauche'') is sent to all members but also to simple subscribers. It is printed at more than 15,000 copies a week. In 2016, in view of the presidential and legislative elections of the following year, Jean-Luc Mélenchon formed a new movement,

La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (LFI or FI; , ) is a left-wing political party in France. It was launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims to implement th ...

, that the Left Party helped to animate.

History

It was founded in November 2008 by former

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

senator

, deputy Marc Dolez, and other dissidents of the party together with the ' movement (', "Movement for a Republican and

Social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

Alternative"). They had left the five days earlier, in protest of the result of the Reims Congress vote on motions, where the leftist motion they supported won only 19%. They were joined after by other members from the left of the

, by people who hadn't been members of a political party before, and by dissidents from the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

following the deputy Martine Billard. In 2010 the PG was accepted into the Party of European Left. In November 2013, the joined the international

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's ...

(BDS) campaign against Israel. Co-presidents and co-founders Mélenchon and stepped down from office in 2014. Since its 2015 congress, the party is led by its coordinators and spokespersons Éric Coquerel and Danielle Simonnet. On 2 July 2018 the party withdrew from the Party of European Left, disagreeing with the presence of the Greek left-wing party

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

in the alliance. The party advocates

eco-socialism Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism, socialist ecology, ecological materialism, or revolutionary ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. E ...

as an alternative to capitalism, stating that: "Ecosocialism makes it possible to contribute in an exemplary way to the fight against the looming ecological catastrophe, through a major transformation planned over time in modes of production and consumption. This ecological planning is also the way to restore control of time to everyone and to include humanity and nature in a long time frame, necessary for the survival of our ecosystem. Our ecosocialism aims for human emancipation and involves breaking with the domination of the capitalist logic of maximum and endless accumulation. Thus, it fully introduces the ecological dimension and the fight against productivism into the history of socialism. Ecosocialism is thus “a socialism freed from productivist logic and a fiercely anti-capitalist ecology” (First Manifesto – 18 theses for ecosocialism).PROGRAMME DU PARTI DE GAUCHE Convention programmatique du 27 et 28 mars 2016, P.10
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Elected officials

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

Around 90 locally-elected officials (municipal, regional and general councillors), including two members of the

Council of Paris The Council of Paris ( French: ''Conseil de Paris'', ) is the deliberative body responsible for governing Paris, the capital of France. It possesses both the powers of a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') and those of a departmental co ...

, initially joined the party. This number has dropped since then.

Popular support and electoral record

The PG has yet to run independently in an election, so support base is difficult to quantify.

National Assembly

European Parliament

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2008 establishments in France Alter-globalization Democratic socialist parties in Europe Eurosceptic parties in France La France Insoumise Organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Parties represented in the European Parliament Party of the European Left former member parties Political parties established in 2008 Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Socialist parties in France Jean-Luc Mélenchon