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France's troubled communists. The party is losing its loyal
following - even to the rightists  By This story was jointly
writtencontributor Karen Weisblatt and staff writer William
Echikson. / April 18, 1988   In each election since World War
II, conservatives have confronted the French public with a stark
choice: elect us or face a doctrinaire Communist Party. The
communists stubbornly held a loyal one-fifth of the electorate,
making it impossible for more moderate leftists to rule without
them. It was an effective scare tactic. Until 1981, the
conservatives won every Fifth-Republic election.  Skip to next
paragraph  But today, France finds itself in the midst of a
presidential campaign - the first round of voting is on April 24
- and no one is talking about the communist menace. The
communists have split into hard-line and reformist factions.
Official party candidate Andr'e Lajoinie is polling only 6
percent. Dissident candidate Pierre Juquin, unti