The French Have No Word for It

In 1972 the Communist Party of France, led by Georges Marchais, the Socialist Party, led by François Mitterrand, and the small Movement of the Radical Left, led by Robert Fabre, endorsed a “Common Program” and formed a united electoral front known as the “Union of the Left.”

In the 1974 presidential election, the Union of the Left ran Mitterrand against Giscard d’Estaing, who was backed by a Center-Right coalition including his own Independent Republican Party (which recently dropped the “Independent”), the Gaullists, and the truncated Radical Party (from which the Radical Left had split), plus a few minor groupings. Giscard won by less than two percentage points (50.81 per cent against 49.19 per cent for Mitterrand) .

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James Burnham

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In 1972 the Communist Party of France, led by Georges Marchais, the Socialist Party, led by François Mitterrand, and the small Movement of the Radical Left, led by Robert Fabre, endorsed a “Common Program” and formed a united electoral front known as the “Union of the Left.”

In the 1974 presidential election, the Union of the Left ran Mitterrand against Giscard d’Estaing, who was backed by a Center-Right coalition including his own Independent Republican Party (which recently dropped the “Independent”), the Gaullists, and the truncated Radical Party (from which the Radical Left had split), plus a few minor groupings. Giscard won by less than two percentage points (50.81 per cent against 49.19 per cent for Mitterrand) .