French Socialists Are Funny

FLG finds French Socialists so funny. Case in point from an article in Le Monde about the need to reform socialism:

Ces mutations exigent une troisième refondation de la social-démocratie en même temps qu'elles en indiquent le contenu. Face à la mondialisation des marchés et des entreprises, les partis socialistes doivent agir eux-mêmes comme une force internationale (et d'abord européenne), capable d'élaborer et de conduire une stratégie politique transnationale. Ils doivent inventer un nouvel internationalisme, car aucun des grands défis auxquels l'humanité est confrontée n'a désormais de solution nationale. L'indispensable réponse socialiste à la crise économique, écologique, morale du capitalisme, en particulier, ne peut être mise en oeuvre qu'au niveau européen et mondial.

Translation:

These changes simultaneously indicate the need for a third reformation of social democracy and indicate the content. In the face of globalization of the markets and companies, the socialist parties must act like an international force (and firstly European), able to work out and to lead a transnational government scheme. They must invent a new internationalism, because none of the big challenges with which humanity is confronted from now on has national solution. The essential socialist answer the to economic crisis, ecological crisis, and the crisis of morals in capitalism, in particular, can only be implemented at the European and world level.

This logic makes sense, but socialist have always argued that they need to possess global power and control for their plan to ultimately work. Thank goodness for two things. First, most people want to see some evidence that a plan will work before implementing it. Call it a test run. In this case, the national level. But, and happily for FLG and the world, socialist policies often completely fuck things up in the countries they are tried and have to be reversed. See the Mitterrand Government. The un-nationalization of the Mitterrand era was a huge plate of humble pie for many of the mandarins involved, including the current head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Second, the idea that socialists need to reform now toward more international focus demonstrates conclusively the large ignorance of history of the Left. Failing to learn from previous mistakes is the fundamental weakness of socialism. Oddly, it is also what makes it so enduring. Each successive generation has to learn that it is fundamentally flawed.

Nevertheless, FLG found the article hilarious.