What is France's (Nouveau) Front Populaire and why is it significant?

France’s major left-wing parties have joined together in an alliance ahead of the parliamentary elections on 30 June and 7 July. The new alliance has its roots in a historical movement that has a pivotal place in French political history.

The Nouveau Front Populaire, or New Popular Front, comprises parties including the Socialists, La France Insoumise, the Greens and the Communist Party. 

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Its name takes inspiration from the original Front Populaire (Popular Front), which shaped several fundamental aspects of modern France. 

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What was the Front Populaire (Popular Front)? 

The Front Populaire was an alliance of left-wing parties in France formed in 1934. It included the French Communist Party, the socialist SFIO (French Section of the Workers’ International - which became the modern-day Socialists) and the Radical-Socialist Republican Party. 

The left-wing alliance won the 1936 parliamentary elections, ushering in a government under Prime Minister Leon Blum. 

The Front Populaire dissolved in autumn 1938 but not before implementing a raft of key social reforms that would have a much longer-lasting impact on French society. 

How did the Popular Front change France?

The Popular Front is credited with introducing many social reforms to France, many of which are among the cornerstone of workers rights to this day. They include:

• The right to strike 

• Collective bargaining

• Removal of obstacles to union representation 

• A 40-hour working week

• 12 days paid annual leave for workers 

• Wage increases for workers 

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How did it end?

Despite and in some cases because of the wide-ranging social reforms, France’s economy remained sluggish and PM Blum was replaced in 1937 and the alliance broke down by 1938.

While the movement is fondly remembered by many in France as the alliance that brought in many key social and labour reforms, the Popular Front is also considered as a failure by many historians for its management of France’s stalled economy and its lack of stability. 

The Front Populaire also failed on the international scene to act decisively against the rise of Nazi Germany.

What is the Nouveau Front Populaire?

The Nouveau Front Populaire is a tentative left-wing alliance formed in response to the sweeping victory of the Rassemblement National in the European parliamentary elections on June 9.

The movement has no single leader (so far), and all of the parties involved have agreed not to oppose each other’s candidates.

The alliance wants to:

• Increase the minimum wage by up to 30%

• Reinstate the retirement age of 60 

• Reinstate the ISF wealth tax

• Limit class sizes in schools to 19

• Ensure doctors set up more practices in ‘medical deserts’

• Ensure France is carbon neutral by 2050