Pierre Mauroy, who has died aged 84 after battling lung cancer, became in 1981 the first socialist prime minister under France's Fifth Republic. For many the man with working class roots from the north of the country epitomised both a deeply-felt and a pragmatic form of socialism. Mediapart's Antoine Perraud assesses the life of a politician who oversaw radical reforms in one of the most eventful periods of modern French politics.
The first socialist prime minister under France's Fifth Republic, Pierre Mauroy, has died at the age of 84. He was operated on for lung cancer a year ago and died on Friday of complications related to the disease.
