BLISS is it in a financial crisis to be a socialist. Or so it ought to be. In speculators and ratings agencies, Europeâ??s left has a ready cast of villains and rogues. In simmering social discontent, it has an energising force. A recent issue of Paris-Match inadvertently captured the mood: page after full-colour page on Britainâ??s rioting underclass were followed by gory visual detail of the bling yachts crowding into the bay near Saint-Tropez. Time, surely, to put social inclusion before defiant decadence.
The oddity is that almost everywhere the European left is in decline. Among the large countries, Socialist parties rule only in Spain, where they look likely to lose Novemberâ??s election. The only big place where the left has a good chance of returning to power is France, at next springâ??s presidential election. Yet Franceâ??s Socialist Party also stands out as Europeâ??s most unreconstructed. Hence the contorted spectacle of a party preparing for power at a time when the markets are challenging its every orthodoxy.
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