Few arguments summed up the state of the party like that between Françoise Brassart, Mario Martinet and Frederic Vigouroux, three long-standing members from the south. The first backed Mr Hollande: "We have to be realistic, offer attainable solutions. We just can't promise the moon." The second supported the centrist Mr Strauss-Kahn: "But politics cannot control the global economy! At best we can try to regulate it, around the edges."

The third was Gallic socialism at its best. "We will never accept that the market knows better than the state," stormed Mr Vigouroux. "Capitalism is misery. It is up to France to show Europe the way, as it always has done. We were the first to overthrow our king, and we'll be the first to overthrow social democracy. You'll see."

The labytinth of alliances
José Bosé as a potential lefty cnadidate, with the following extracts:

Arnaud Montebourg, coanimateur de la minorité NPS, prétendait hier les résumer d'une formule : «Nous voyons l'apparition de deux gauches : une gauche a minima, qui théorise sa propre impuissance, et une gauche volontaire, qui voit les choses de façon plus ambitieuse.»

Arnaud Montebourg, leader of the NPS minority, used a grand formula to sum up the disagreements: "we see two lefts, a bare one, which theorises its own powerlessness, and a voluntarist one, which is more ambitious".

(...)

«Entre José Bové et Sarko, il y a le socialisme», a résumé hier l'organisateur de l'université d'été, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis.

"Between José Bové and [Nicolas] Sarko[zy], there is socialism" summarises the organiser of the université, Cambadélis [aligned to François Hollande, the party leader]

(...)

«Quant à l'extrême gauche, ce sera sa responsabilité de savoir si pour combattre la droite elle peut faire l'impasse de voter pour nous au second tour. Respectons ses choix, mais évitons de lui courir après. Sur bon nombre de propositions, nous ne la rattraperons jamais, car la différence entre elle et nous, c'est qu'elle ne se pose pas la question de l'exercice du pouvoir. Donc, il ne peut pas y avoir de compromis.»

"As to the hard left, it is its responsibility to decide if, to fight the right, it can avoid to vote for us in the second round. Let's respect its choices, but let's not run after it. On many fronts, we will never catch it, as the main difference between us and them is that they do not care about exercising power. so there can be no compromise" (Hollande)

(...)

«Dire la vérité n'est pas un renoncement, une prudence, une tiédeur. Ce n'est pas l'abandon de l'utopie. Au contraire, c'est la morale politique qui permet d'être conforme à l'idéal et d'agir durablement»

"Telling the truth is not being prudent, weak or treasonous. It's not giving up utopia. Quite the opposite, it is the political moral that allows to act in conformity with ideals and over the long term" (Hollande again)

It's a pretty vital debate, and one which can also be seen inside other parties (the "realists" or centrists" versus the "idealists" or "purists"). France is unique in that, as the Guardian correctly points out, a large chunk of the left still actively refuses capitalism and market mechanisms - large enough to possibly take over the socialist party - and sentence the left to losing the coming elections.

But some of the issues the left is fighting for - how to defend public services, how to ensure equality of chances for all, how to protect the weakest in society, are vital.