In LFI, rebel activists demand more ‘internal democracy’

For more than a year now, La France Insoumise has been in the grip of a hidden crisis related to its “internal democracy.” Following the removal of several Mélenchon figures from the leadership of the Jean-Luc Mélenchon movement in December 2022 (Raquel Garrido, Clémentine Autin, François Ruffin, Alexis Corbière), criticism increased over the lack of a democratic framework within the LFI. And now they are spreading to the activist base of the movement. Controversies that Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a member of the national “coordination” of the LFI, always brushed aside.

Frustrated by their lack of voice, the activists who signed the Sixth Republic Appeal in 2023 decided to take the next step by organizing a citizens’ meeting to propose “reform” to the internal functioning of the LFI. It will take place on Saturday, February 10, in Ghani, in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the constituency of Socialist MP Fatiha Kelowa Haci. “We have tried for over a year to contribute to the movement’s internal debate through open letters and press releases, but it has been impossible. We were ignored. So we chose a different method to make ourselves heard,” they explain.

They specify that they are organizing “in complete independence from the personalities of the movement,” and LFI deputy Raquel Garrido, one of the figures of internal protest, is already subject to sanctions from her group the National Assembly. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part, last week invited these “rebels” to leave his movement. “If you don’t agree with anything and see me as a tyrant, what else are you doing here? I left PS when I didn’t agree,” he told Le Figaro newspaper.

“We, activists of rebellious France, are sounding the alarm”

“We, the activists of France Insoumise, are sounding the alarm. We are indeed experiencing a real internal crisis related to decisions vertical repetition we tolerate: for example, from the creation of the People’s Union to the creation of Nupes, we were never consulted. Who joins these parliaments? Who will become president? Who determines their creations and their role? We don’t know…” these activists exposed in their Appeal. They claim “450 signatories”.

During this citizens’ meeting, in speeches organized by theme, these critical rebel activists will present their “lived experiences of activism in LFI, their analysis of the functioning of the movement, its structures.” And also, they emphasize, “the issue of exceptions, which is relevant, will be raised by the testimony.”

In November, LFI regional councilor Julien Poix announced his resignation from the movement, condemning the “lack of internal democracy”. The day will end with “a proposal for reform that we will present to all our comrades from LFI, as well as to all activists of the Common Future.” “And a call to organize a “Congress” of the movement. “This time the debate will be open to LFI. And, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon, we have full faith in the ability of our people to organize themselves,” they say, paying tribute to the words of the Insoumis leader.

Since 2018, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has avoided structuring the prohibited “currents” within his movement and is irritated by attempts at internal “democracy”. “The next person who utters this word in front of me, I will destroy him,” he kindly threatened a relative in 2018, report Laurent Mauduit and Denis Siffer in their recent work “Trotskyism, Secret Histories, from Lambert to Mélenchon” (Les Little publications Mornings, 2024).