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Campaign against La France Insoumise: the labour movement must respond!

Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire 5 March 2026

Since the death of neo-fascist activist Quentin Deranque in Lyon on 14 February, following a clash between fascist and antifascist groups at a La France Insoumise (LFI) meeting, the right and far right have been trying to exploit the situation to cause maximum damage to LFI. All the bourgeois media are following the government and reactionary politicians in accusing LFI of supporting ‘political violence’. To make the picture complete and more frightening, they add the ritual – and no less absurd – accusation of ‘antisemitism’.

The minute of silence for Deranque at the Palais Bourbon was one of the high points – if one can call it that – of this offensive against LFI and the ‘radical left’. It was a truly astonishing spectacle: a tribute from members of parliament to an activist who had been involved with Action Française, and who is both a monarchist and an antisemite!

The cynicism and hypocrisy of this propaganda operation are obvious. The accusers have absolutely no problem with violence, as long as it serves their class interests. For example, when police officers killed El Hacen Diarra – a Mauritian migrant worker – on 15 January, the right, the far right, and the government looked the other way. In general, they do not defend the victims, but the police.

Fascist and racist attacks
The racist and islamophobic campaign that successive governments, the right, the far right, and their media outlets have been waging on the country for so many years is a constant incitement to violence against ‘foreigners’. And their efforts often bear fruit.

In March 2022, former Argentine rugby player Federico Martín Aramburú was shot dead in the streets of Paris by a neo-Nazi militant after intervening to protect the victim of a racist attack. In December of the same year, a far-right sympathiser killed three people in a Kurdish cultural centre in Paris. In May 2025 in the Var region, another racist killed Hichem Miraoui, a Tunisian hairdresser. Unfortunately, there are many other examples of racist attacks and murders committed in recent years by the far right.

The campaign orchestrated by the ruling class also encourages fascist groups to attack activists of the ‘radical left’, including LFI. Last spring, armed fascists attacked a public meeting in Paris. Two activists from the CGT and ‘Young Struggle’ were wounded with knives. LFI MEP Rima Hassan’s meetings – when they are not banned by the prefectures or university administrations – are systematically targeted by provocations from far-right groups. Here again, there are countless examples.

As revealed by an investigation by L'Humanité, the fascist organisation ‘Nemesis’ – which was active in Lyon on 12 February – has specialised in provoking clashes with left-wing activists, so that its members can present themselves as victims of ‘left-wing violence’.

For the bourgeoisie, ‘violence’ is a variable concept: it is acceptable, even legitimate, when it comes from the police or the far right and targets immigrants or the labour movement. But for them, it is intolerable when it comes from left-wing activists or workers.

For a class response
With municipal elections just a few weeks away and the presidential election a little over a year away, this vast campaign against LFI clearly has ulterior motives. The fact that leaders of the right wing of reformism such as Yannick Jadot and Olivier Faure, or defectors from LFI such as Alexis Corbière, are joining in, makes these manoeuvres even more obvious.

But beyond these considerations and LFI itself, it is the entire labour movement that is being targeted – as demonstrated by the attack on the Solidaires office in Lyon on 15 February – and which must therefore respond firmly, actively, and en masse. The CGT, in particular, must not passively observe the hate campaign and implicit calls for violence targeting Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s movement.

A united front of all left-wing organisations – political and trade union – must be formed, to mobilise young people and workers on a large scale against the violence of fascist groups, police violence, racist attacks, the repression of trade union activists, and the ongoing campaign to stigmatise immigrants and Muslims.

This is a matter of defending our most fundamental democratic rights, but also of the unity of our class in the struggle against austerity policies, growing precariousness, the destruction of public services, company closures, and all the other scourges engendered by capitalism in crisis.
https://marxist.com/campaign-against-la-france-insoumise-the-labour-movement-must-respond.htm

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