The article addresses why the spectre of May 1968 still haunts French discourse. It outlines the country's "longue duree" sequences of restoration and revolt, and the place of Sarkozy within them, suggesting that what haunts his presidency is the "spectre of communism" in its 19C sense. It argues that a key analytical element in understanding the disorientation that goes by the name "Sarkozy" is the mass ideology of neo-Petainism offered by both parties: a disorientation solemnly enacted from the summit of the state and presented as a historical turning point. It urges the left to accept this challenge head-on as such 19C phenomena as extreme poverty and inequality, nihilism and servility, politics dissolved into the "service of wealth" reappear. The task is to renew the communist hypothesis in our consciousness and on the ground. (Quotes from original text)