Word: mitterrand
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...silence about the split, the Socialists are busy turning out books and pamphlets defending their position. Both sides refuse to compromise on the contentious issue of how much of French industry should be nationalized under the common program of a leftist government (TIME, Oct. 10). Declared Socialist Leader null Mitterrand: "Any new concession would be like tossing wood into the conflagration...
...popularity of President Giscard d'Estaing, whom many had written off as an ineffectual leader, incapable of uniting the center-right against the left. Another poll ?this one by the newspaper Le Quotidien de Paris?showed that Giscard would win 52% of the vote to 48% for Mitterrand in a presidential election. The same poll indicated that Mitterrand would clobber Chirac...
...power anyway. To the delight of centrists and right-wing politicians, the quarreling partners went out of their way last week to emphasize their differences. The Communist daily L'Humanité issued a special 6 million-copy supplement blaming the Socialists for the split; an editorial accused Mitterrand's party of denying workers "a really better life" by refusing "to accept the need to challenge the privileges of the very rich." Anti-Socialist demonstrations by Communist workers were denounced as a "provocation" by Gaston Defferre, the Socialist mayor of Marseille. Questioning the Communists' much-vaunted devotion...
According to this theory, the Socialists will get about 30% of the popular vote, while the Communists will win about 20%. In light of Mitterrand's frequent assurances that the Socialists in power would "control" their Communist allies, some experts argue that Marchais and his colleagues have decided it would be better to stay in opposition than play second fiddle to the Socialists. Another theory is that the Communists fear a Mitterrand volte-face: once in office he would jettison Marchais and try to form a broader alliance with centrist parties headed by President Valery Giscard d'Estaing...
Some experts believe that if the Communists fail to get their revised version of the common program as well as the right to veto any Socialist policy in a leftist government, they will sabotage the election effort. Mitterrand's dilemma last week was acute. If the quarrel is not resolved, the defection of only 2% or 3% of the Socialist vote could prevent the left from getting the 54% it needs to win a majority in the National Assembly. On the other hand, if Mitterrand yields to Communist demands for widespread nationalization, the Socialists could lose the support...