Industrial politics in France: Nationalisation under Mitterrand

The first part of this article looks at the reasons why nationalisation featured in the 1981 French Socialist programme, and concludes that while in the abstract it was an issue that encouraged left‐wing unity, the Socialists and the Communists expected very different things from it. The second and third parts look at the implementation of the policy, stressing the continuity with which the Socialists', rather than the Communists', aims have been pursued.