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35-557: It was composed of: Before the beginning of the 1965 presidential campaign, the non-Communist left was divided. The Socialist Gaston Defferre proposed the creation of a "Great Federation" gathering the center-left and the center-right parties in order to resist to the Gaullist domination over the country and to the leading role of the French Communist Party (PCF) over the opposition. He wanted to be its candidate for

70-670: A Christian-democratic political party in France during the Fourth Republic . Its base was the Catholic vote and its leaders included Georges Bidault , Robert Schuman , Paul Coste-Floret , Pierre-Henri Teitgen and Pierre Pflimlin . It played a major role in forming governing coalitions, in emphasizing compromise and the middle ground, and in protecting against a return to extremism and political violence. It played an even more central role in foreign policy, having charge of

105-498: A welfare state . Georges Bidault remarked that the MRP was governing "in the centre with right-wing methods to attain left-wing ends" or that it was "pursuing left-wing policies with a right-wing electorate" (une politique de gauche, avec un électorat de droite) . Nevertheless, the MRP disagreed with the institutional and constitutional ideas of De Gaulle, who advocated a strong executive power , not dependent on Parliament, acting in

140-725: A series of smaller insurrections and political crises elsewhere in the French Empire. The MRP eventually divided over the Algerian question in the late 1950s (with Bidault being an avid supporter of the OAS ). In terms of voters, many on its left-wing joined the Socialists and many on its right wing left for the Moderates or Gaullists. After the 13 May 1958 crisis, the party supported De Gaulle's return and called for approval of

175-480: The 1965 presidential election , L'Express published an identikit of the best center-left candidate under the name of "Mister X". It corresponded with Defferre's profile ( L'Express co-founder Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber being a well known advocate of a Third Force alliance of socialists, Christian democrats and Radicals). But, failing to create an SFIO-MRP- Radical Party federation, Defferre had to give way to François Mitterrand , whose preferred strategy for

210-720: The Socialist Party ( Parti Socialiste ; PS) in 1971. He held a series of ministerial portfolios after the Socialist victory in 1981, especially as minister of state for the interior and decentralization. A lawyer and member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), Defferre was involved in the Brutus Network , a Resistance Socialist group, during World War II . A long-standing member of

245-689: The Third Force that brought together centre-left and centre-right parties against the Communists on the one hand and the Gaullists on the other hand. Two Christian Democrats led the cabinet: Georges Bidault (June–December 1946, October 1949-July 1950) and Robert Schuman (November 1947-July 1948, August–September 1948) who presented , as Foreign Minister, plans for what would become the European Community. Indeed, European unification

280-559: The "parties regime". The MRP ministers chose to stay in government. Nevertheless, the party called on voters to reject the proposed constitution in May 1946, fearing the election of a pro-Communist regime. After that, the MRP became the largest party in parliament after the June 1946 legislative election (28.2%) and Bidault took charge of the cabinet. In October 1946, the MRP, together with the SFIO and

315-488: The Catholic Church and seized its properties. The very conservative Pope Pius X told the bishops to distance themselves from the state and condemned Le Sillon in his 1910 encyclical Notre charge apostolique . Better relations were restored in the 1920s, but the parties on the left (Radical, Socialist and Communist) were strongly anticlerical. At the beginning of the 20th century, many organisations appeared:

350-711: The Christian Workers Youth, the Christian Agricultural Youth, and the French Confederation of Christian Workers . In 1924, the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) was founded, but it remained a small centre-right party. However, more liberal Christian Democratic ideas arose in intellectual circles. Emmanuel Mounier founded the review Esprit (mind or spirit) which denounced fascism and passivity of

385-652: The FGDS was divided about question of the relations with the PCF which demanded the elaboration of a common platform . During the May 68 events, François Mitterrand announced his candidature for an anticipated presidential election. He thought Charles de Gaulle would resign after the crisis. Finally, de Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly and his followers won the June 1968 legislative election . Held as responsible for

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420-597: The Foreign Office for ten years and launching plans for the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which grew into the European Union. Its voter base gradually dwindled in the 1950s and it had little power by 1954. In the late 19th century secular forces sought to radically reduce the power of the Catholic Church in France, especially regarding schools. The Catholic bishops mistrusted

455-569: The French National Assembly. Ribière demanded an apology, Defferre refused, so Ribière demanded satisfaction by duel . René Ribière lost the duel, having been wounded twice. He escaped relatively uninjured, however. In 1969 Defferre was the Socialist candidate once again for the French presidency . This time he had the support of ex-Premier Pierre Mendès-France , who would have been Premier again had Defferre been elected. But he

490-589: The MRP suffered a serious electoral defeat. In 1963, Jean Lecanuet took the leadership in order to renew the party's image. He was a candidate at the 1965 presidential election and was third (15%) behind De Gaulle and Socialist François Mitterrand . Then he created the Democratic Centre by merging MRP members with the National Center of Independents and Peasants (CNIP). The MRP itself disbanded in 1967, while some historical personalities of

525-721: The National Assembly (1945–1958, 1962–1986) and member of the Senate (1959–1962), he also served for many years as mayor of Marseille (1944–1945, 1953–1986). He was a formidable political force in the South-East, where he owned the major centre-left newspaper Le Provençal (which he co-founded at the Liberation) and later acquired the right-wing daily Le Méridional . Defferre served as Merchant Marine Minister (1950–1952), then Overseas Minister (1956–1957), and laid

560-541: The PCF, presented a new proposed constitution. It was approved despite De Gaulle's call for a "no" vote. One year later, a Gaullist party was founded under the name of Rally of the French People ( Rassemblement du peuple français or RPF). The MRP became a mainstay of the Fourth Republic . It was allied with the Socialists and the Communists in the Three-parties alliance until spring 1947. Then, it joined

595-618: The Republic and the ideas of the French Revolution , as well as the idea of popular sovereignty , which questioned the superiority of the spiritual power over the temporal. For this reason, it supported all the conservative governments of the 19th century, notably MacMahon and his policy of "moral order". In 1892, in his encyclical Au Milieu Des Sollicitudes , Pope Leo XIII advised the French Catholics to rally to

630-453: The Republic. The previous year, another encyclical, Rerum novarum had denounced both capitalistic society and socialist ideology, and advocated the creation of Catholic popular organisations. In 1894, students founded Le Sillon (The Furrow). Its leader, Marc Sangnier , campaigned for spiritual values, democracy and social reforms. It represented the progressive wing of French Catholicism. Radical forces triumphed in 1905 and disestablished

665-587: The Socialist group in the National Assembly , Defferre helped Mitterrand take the leadership during the Epinay Congress (1971), in spite of his reservations concerning Mitterrand's strategy of an alliance with the Communists. Later, when Mitterrand became president, Defferre served as Mitterrand's interior minister from 1981 to 1984. He was the architect of the 1982 decentralization reforms. Town and Country Planning Minister until 1986, he died in office as Mayor of Marseille. His widow, Edmonde Charles-Roux ,

700-648: The Socialists was the formation of a left-wing coalition including the PCF. His political career was strongly supported by members of the Corsican mafia, not least the Guérini clan. Defferre was a participant in the last duel in France that took place in 1967 when Defferre insulted René Ribière at the French parliament and was subsequently challenged to a duel fought with swords. Defferre yelled ‘Taisez-vous, abruti!‘ (‘Shut up, stupid!’) at Ribière following an argument in

735-627: The Western democracies. In the paper L'Aube (The Dawn), Francisque Gay and Georges Bidault shared similar theses. These circles participated actively in the anti-Nazi underground Resistance during the Second World War. In 1944, some prominent French politicians wanted to rally all the non-Communist Resistance behind Charles De Gaulle . This project failed. The French Section of the Workers International (SFIO)

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770-476: The conservative electorate. Indeed, among the three largest parties, it was the only one that was not Marxist . Furthermore, it appeared the closest to de Gaulle. It supported the reforms decided by the provisional government and inspired by the programme of the National Council of Resistance written during the war: nationalisation of banks and industrial companies such as Renault , and the creation of

805-489: The constitution of the Fifth Republic . It participated in the government of national unity behind De Gaulle, then broke with him in 1962 over his opposition to extending European economic integration into the realm of political integration. When De Gaulle proposed a referendum on presidential election by universal suffrage, the MRP took part in the "coalition of the no". De Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly and

840-540: The failure, Mitterrand resigned in November 1968 and the FGDS dissolved itself. Mitterrand then undertook to conquer the Socialist Party (PS) which succeeded to the SFIO in 1969. This article about a political party in France is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gaston Defferre Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French Socialist politician. He served as mayor of Marseille for 33 years until his death in 1986. He

875-502: The groundwork for the end of French colonialism in sub-Saharan Africa through Loi-cadre Defferre . In his region, he faced a strong French Communist Party (PCF) with which he was frequently in conflict. As mayor, he relied on the support of the non-Gaullist center-right in the municipal assembly. In the same way, he advocated a national alliance between the SFIO and the Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP). Before

910-793: The later 1940s and 1950s. Along with the French Socialist Party, it was the most energetic supporter in the country of European integration. It was also a strong backer of NATO and of close alliance with the United States, making it the most "Atlanticist" of French political parties. Its leaders, especially Georges Bidault and Paul Coste-Floret (foreign and colonial ministers respectively in several French coalition governments) were primary architects of France's hard-line colonial policies that culminated in long insurgencies in Vietnam (1946-1954) and Algeria (1954-1962), as well as

945-511: The left-wing non-Communist forces. This strategy was confirmed by the relatively good electoral result of Mitterrand, who succeeded to prevent a re-election of De Gaulle in the first round, and obtained 45% of the votes against him in the second round. Furthermore, the PCF/FGDS electoral agreements permitted to shrink the Gaullist parliamentary majority after the 1967 legislative election . But

980-458: The national interest while particular interests would be represented by the parties in Parliament. Wanting to achieve the complete integration of Catholicism in the Republic, the MRP supported the principle of parliamentary democracy against De Gaulle. Relations with De Gaulle deteriorated. In January 1946, the president of the provisional government resigned in protest at the restoration of

1015-411: The presidency. However, this project failed in due to the objections of the Socialist and Christian-Democrat leaders. François Mitterrand then proposed to be candidate with a strategy of union between the left-wing forces, including the PCF. This one accepted to support his candidature. Nevertheless, in order to talk on an equal footing with the Communists, he advocated the constitution of a federation of

1050-421: The right-wing electorate. At the 1951 legislative election , it lost half of its 1946 voters (12.6%). Furthermore, due to its propensity for integrating conservative politicians sometimes compromised by their association with Vichy, it was sardonically nicknamed the "Machine à Ramasser les Pétainistes" ("Machine for collecting Pétainists"). The MRP also dominated French foreign and colonial policies during most of

1085-478: Was minister for overseas territories in Guy Mollet’s socialist government in 1956–1957. His main achievement was to establish the framework used to grant independence to France’s African territories. In 1967, he fought the last duel in French history. As the Socialist candidate for president in 1969, he received only 5 percent of the vote. He was much more successful in promoting François Mitterrand as leader of

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1120-477: Was an important part of the MRP platform. It is the only major French party to defend the functioning of the colonial system, including forced labour, in the post-war period. With the creation of the Gaullist RPF and the reconstruction of the conservative right in the National Center of Independents and Peasants ( Centre national des indépendants et paysans , CNIP), the MRP faced challengers to represent

1155-524: Was president of the literary circle the Académie Goncourt . Governmental functions Electoral mandates National Assembly of France Senate of France Municipal Council [REDACTED] Media related to Gaston Defferre at Wikimedia Commons Popular Republican Movement The Popular Republican Movement ( French : Mouvement Républicain Populaire , MRP ) was

1190-582: Was refounded and people from the Christian resistance movement founded the Popular Republican Movement. It claimed its loyalty to de Gaulle, who led the provisional government composed of Communists, Socialists and Christian democrats. At the November 1945 legislative election , the MRP was second (23.9%) after the French Communist Party (PCF) but ahead the SFIO. The MRP benefited from the absence of real right-wing challengers to rally

1225-403: Was soundly defeated, suffering from the polarisation of French politics following the events of May 1968 , scoring only 5% of the vote, the lowest ever score for a French Socialist candidate. The failure of Defferre prompted the birth of the new Socialist Party (PS) and buried the idea of an alliance with the centre-right. Having been the main opponent of Guy Mollet in the party, and leader of

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