France: A Riotously Unhappy Anniversary

FRANCE After two years of Socialism, the mood turns testy and resentful

On May 10, 1981, youthful Frenchmen were careering jubilantly through the streets of Paris, trailing red flags from their cars and chanting, "We've won! We've won!" Standing in the chill spring rain at the Place de la Bastille, others laughingly shouted, "Mitterrand, give us some sun!" Even as a joke, that demand was a measure of the Impossible hopes raised by French President François Mitterrand's election victory two years ago, a historic occasion that brought to an end 23 years of...

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