Du populisme à gauche : les cas français et italien - article ; n°1 ; vol.56, pg 121-131

Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire - Année 1997 - Volume 56 - Numéro 1 - Pages 121-131
Populism on the left: the French and Italian cases, Marc Lazar.
In France like in Italy, the left repeatedly is tempted by protestation and identity-type populisms. For Marc Lazar, it's more a question of observing a syndrome than a coherent doctrine: idealized representation of a united, just, good, all-powerful but exploited people; defiance towards representative institutions; demands for direct democracy; designation of a charismatic leader, of the dominating enemy and his plots - the corrupt elites. Finally, we're told, the left resists populism because of its acceptance of a traditional democratic framework, old structures and an ideological framework that is stronger than makeshift populisms. Nevertheless, traces of populism can be found in the discourse and behavior of Communist parties especially, in far-left groups but also in the socialists, especially in the periods of broad alliances when it's necessary, to gather the people. This left-wing populism extends a revolutionary reading of Jacobinism that is distrustful of institutionalised representations by aspiring to the exclusion of all the privileged.
11 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.