The date may have been a coincidence.
Tuesday's (10 May) decision by the French government to bypass parliament and pass a law reforming the labour market to make it more flexible can be seen as a symbol for the state of the French left, and of France itself.
Exactly 35 years earlier, on 10 May 1981, Francois Mitterrand became the first elected Socialist president. With his communist allies he said he wanted to "change life".
The day is still celebrated by the French left,...
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