Will France sound the death knell for social democracy?

As the French presidential election approaches, even workers in the country’s rust belt are embracing right-wing populism. James Angelos reports

One afternoon in September Franck Sailliot marched through the northern French city of Lille alongside a couple of thousand leftist trade unionists and students.

The marchers waved union flags, blew whistles, bellowed slogans. “Enough, enough, enough of this society, where there’s only unemployment and insecurity!” they yelled.