ABSTRACT
There is a sense in which Francois Mitterandian socialism was the kind of "oxymoron" that characterized many liberal democracies in the second half of the twentieth century—radical and conservative at the same time. The voters want more, and then there are more interests to conserve. French Socialists liked to claim that Mitterrand was one of theirs, but they admitted he represented, or at least had represented, everything the left said it abhorred. But he offered it a Mephistophelean pact, and it assented. The disappointments Mitterrandism led to are significant, because they are typical of recurring themes in the history of the French left, and the non-communist left in particular. The history of the left can be read as alternating cycles of hope and disappointment. In 1945-46, the cold war was brewing and the "franco-francais" political game was being internationalized. De Gaulle had invited the Communists into his government while refusing them the most important ministries, which they demanded.
