The announcement of the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the Front National, at the age of 96, has left no one indifferent. The entire French political class has had its say about the man, his ideas, and his legacy. While many observed a form of restraint and sobriety, left-wing activists gathered to celebrate “the death of the fascist.”
On Wednesday, January 8th, the vast majority of the press, which the previous day had devoted their front pages to the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, featured a photo of the sacred monster of the French Right on their covers.
“Maréchal, le voilà” (“Marshal, here he comes”), is the headline in Libération, the left-wing newspaper displaying its trademark biting humour with a pun on the first sentence of the collaborationist Vichy regime’s anthem celebrating Marshal Pétain. Others are more sober, like Le Parisien, which simply reads “C’était Le Pen (1928-2025).”
News of his death was passed on to his daughter Marine Le Pen by the press, as the Rassemblement National (RN) leader’s plane was making a stop in Kenya on the way back from Mayotte.
The RN, the successor to the Front National since its name change in 2018, has distanced itself for some years from Le Pen senior over his statements downplaying the Holocaust and defending Vichy. Jean-Marie Le Pen was finally expelled from the party in 2015. Yet the current mood in the ranks of the RN of 2025 appears to be one of unanimity behind Marine Le Pen’s father.
Many younger conservatives now involved in politics or the media have on X described him as a mentor and inspiration. At the forefront of this generation is his granddaughter Marion Marechal, founder of Identité-Libertés.
The statement from the Elysée Palace about Jean-Marie Le Pen’s death surprised many with its sobriety and neutrality. President Emmanuel Macron did not wish to get involved in the controversy over a man convicted of racism on several occasions, and confined himself to factual remarks: “As a historic figure of the extreme right, he played a role in the public life of our country for nearly seventy years, which is now subject to the judgement of history.” Prime Minister François Bayrou adopted the same strategy, simply paying tribute to “a political figure.”
The death of Jean-Marie Le Pen places the French political class in an awkward position, as it struggles to strike the right tone. Le Pen is obviously an inescapable figure, but isn’t there a risk that paying attention to him will give him democratic legitimacy post-mortem, given that he was fiercely opposed by just about every political party for more than fifty years? Conversely, is it possible to ignore a man who played a key role in shaping contemporary French politics?
On the Left and the far left, activists made no secret of their delight at the news of the death of their worst—and best—enemy. Their best enemy, because Le Pen fuelled their political vindictiveness and was the perfect scarecrow for decades. The La France Insoumise MP Antoine Léaument posted on X: ”Jean-Marie Le Pen is dead. His ideas are not. The fight goes on. Until victory.” Unexpectedly for the far-left MP, his post was taken up positively and claimed by some activists on the Right, who agree and see Le Pen’s ideas as the way forward.
In Paris, a gathering was held on the evening of January 7th at Place de la République, a symbolic venue for left-wing demonstrations, to ‘celebrate’ the death of the ‘fascist.’ The Trotskyist Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste proposed a ‘giant aperitif’ to mark the occasion, with a mix of Algerian and LGBT flags. These scenes of jubilation were criticised by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau: “Nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies dancing over a corpse. The death of a man, even a political adversary, should only inspire restraint and dignity. These scenes of jubilation are quite simply shameful,” he declared on X.
Several people were arrested on the sidelines of the rallies, both in Paris and elsewhere in France.
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s funeral will be held in the coming days in the strictest family privacy, in his home region of Brittany. By opting for discretion, the family wishes to avoid any disturbances.
