The old is dying, and the new cannot be born. The catastrophic defeat of Lionel Jospin and his socialist party in the recent French elections was more than just another swing of the political cycle; it reflects the Left’s lack of understanding of the society it aspires to represent. Only an honest engagement with its own society, with a globalised world, with a changed Europe, and with its own illusions, can free the French Left from the immense weight of its own past.