French Premier Tries to Rally Divided Party, Position His Candidacy

Premier Laurent Fabius on Saturday tried to rally his divided and defeatist Socialist Party toward unity and victory in next year’s parliamentary elections.

Taking note of polls that predict electoral disaster for the Socialists next March, Fabius told the biennial party congress: “History teaches that nothing should be taken for granted, neither victory nor success. A powerful campaign, once we put aside our internal debate, will increase our chances considerably.”

The speech was more than a rallying cry for the parliamentary elections of 1986. The 39-year-old Fabius, appointed a little more than a year ago, had never addressed a party congress before as premier. Partisan, yet still statesmanlike in tone, the speech seemed to serve as the personal launching of the Fabius campaign for president in 1988.

This reflected the reality of the congress. Convinced that defeat lies ahead next year, the Socialists were trying to define themselves as a party and work out new ideological ground for the future. The congress made it clear that the Socialist Party will be a more modern, more pragmatic, less ideologically bound party in the future.

Hopes for ‘88, Not ’86

Yet, even while the Socialists debated their ideology, they were witnesses to a personal drama. The polls, so pessimistic about 1986, are much more optimistic about the presidential elections of 1988.

A Socialist, according to these polls, is the most popular politician in France and therefore a leading candidate for the presidency. But that Socialist is neither Fabius--declining in poll ratings--nor President Francois Mitterrand, who is recording dismal ratings. Michel Rocard, a 55-year-old short, tense intellectual who resigned from the Cabinet in a dispute earlier this year, is the Socialist with rare popularity.

This popularity and his own ambition for the presidency have kept Rocard in the center of attention at the three-day congress that ends today. He was the key player both in the ideological debate and in the daily assessments that delegates were making about the presidential qualities of their leaders.

But since all sides, including Rocard, were trying hard for a show of unity at the congress, there was no political brawling. The differences expressed, no matter how significant, were subtle.

Risks Tearing Up Party

Nevertheless, Lionel Jospin, the 48-year-old first secretary of the party warned, “If the Socialists as a whole are not strong, the individual presidential drives risk tearing up the party.”

Basically, Rocard believes that the Socialist Party must move toward the center if it wants to retain or later regain power in France. However, traditional Socialists like Jospin believe that the real ground for the Socialists lies on the left and that victory therefore depends on rallying Communist voters to the Socialists or to a Socialist-led leftist coalition.

The differences, and the attempt to placate these differences, were etched during a debate Friday. The 2,000 delegates listened intently while Jospin and Rocard, following each other to the podium with hourlong speeches, discussed the future of the party.

“I am ready with Michel Rocard to modernize our theories,” Jospin said. “But on condition that it is a question of modernizing socialism and not abandoning it.”

On the key issue of alliances after next year’s elections, Rocard said that the Socialists should make clear to the voters exactly what they intend to do. The issue arises because the Socialists, while they may continue as the largest party in France, will surely fail to win enough seats to control the National Assembly even with Communist support. That would confront France with a novel situation under its present constitution: a Socialist president until 1988 with a conservative Parliament.

No Blank Checks

Rocard said that party leaders should not have a “blank check” to do what they please and that there should be “written guarantees” about the party’s intentions.

On this point, Premier Fabius later ruled out any coalition with the conservative parties in which the Socialists played a junior role. “We will not be a support for the right in any future government,” he said.

In the personal battle of oratorical skills, Fabius seemed to carry the congress, evoking sustained and excited applause. Rocard, on the other hand, delivered an intense, intellectual speech with involved phrasing that many French journalists found difficult to follow.

The performance of Fabius may have ensured a major role for him in the upcoming campaign.

The youthful prime minister, despite the personal rivalry with Rocard, is closer to him than to Jospin in ideology. Earlier this year, Fabius and Jospin were battling over who would lead the party in the parliamentary election campaign. Mitterrand stepped into the battle and ruled that both would have a major role.

Rocard has placed before the congress a motion embodying his views for the future of the party. In advance of the congress, the Rocard motion surprised and worried party leaders by winning 30% of the votes of party members in regional meetings.

But Rocard, in his speech, indicated that he is willing to compromise for the sake of party unity, and a committee is expected to work out a new resolution combining the Rocard motion with the official resolution of the party leaders. The delegates will vote on resolutions today.