The melancholy of the «true left»

Faced with the failures of the twentieth century, the left has shifted ground. More concerned with the fate of minorities than workers, it disappointed. But from the ashes of that disappointment comes a strange feeling: melancholy. This is the key to the return of the «true left».

In Renaud's song Socialiste, the lyrical subject recounts his encounter with a socialist activist, Simone, at a demonstration, probably during the events of May «68. Here's what he has to say about it: »[She] Believed that the morning of the great evening / Was coming / Believed in the great breath of hope / On the future / The kind of shit I'd already read / In Minute or in a newspaper / I don't know."

It's a strange pairing, the one presented by the French singer: a convinced and committed activist demonstrating in the company of