The Ageing of Communist Electors Face the Contemporary Local Communism
The electoral behaviour of the former communist electors in the working-class areas is still a controversial issue in electoral analysis. Some studies underline the electoral faithfulness of the working-class generations, while others highlight the increase of abstention and extreme-right vote within the group. The goal of this is article is to summarize the study of the diversity of social and political biographies of elderly people who voted consistently for communist candidates. This survey is based on a monograph of two former communist working-class areas in the Parisian suburbs, each of which having followed a very different political path since the 1980s. Our data is derived from the results of exit polls, interviews and other observations. The comparison of these areas highlights two ageing models. On the one hand, where communist activism has almost disappeared, the elderly people live in a social and political anomy which contributes to disaffiliation towards the former local political order. On the opposite, the symbolic restoration of the second area, in which children of the former “local political aristocracy” have settled, contributes to maintaining an intergenerational and intragenerational link. This phenomenon facilitates a more active citizenship at the local level and loyalty to the communist candidates.