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117-628: La Rocque envisioned the PSF as the more explicitly-political successor of the Croix-de-Feu , the World War I veterans' organization that had been founded in 1927 and, by the early 1930s, had emerged as the largest and one of the most influential of interwar France's numerous far-right leagues . Though the Croix-de-Feu had adopted as its slogan " Social d'abord " ("Social First") as a counter to

234-480: A certain mystique with regard to his attitude towards the Republic , explicitly rallied to it and denounced in a speech on 23 May 1936 totalitarianism (both Nazi and Soviet ) along with racism (with regard to which he explicitly rejected anti-Semitism) and class struggle, as the principal obstacles to "national reconciliation". Nevertheless, critics of the left and centre denounced the Croix-de-Feu, together with

351-433: A decree of August 1947 indicated the special precautions to be taken "to protect workers spraying paint or varnish". An Order of 10 September 1947 laid down the terms in which warnings must be given "of the dangers of benzene poisoning" while a circular of October 1947 indicated "how such poisoning can be prevented". In addition, a Decree of August 1947 instituted the original measures on health and safety committees. During

468-532: A group of veterans of the First World War , those who had been awarded the Croix de guerre 1914-1918 . The group was founded on 26 November 1927 by Maurice d'Hartoy , who led it until 1929. The honorary presidency was awarded to writer Jacques Péricard . Also in 1929, the movement acquired its newspaper, Le Flambeau . At its creation, the movement was subsidized by the wealthy perfumer François Coty and

585-489: A left-wing coalition government. La Rocque quickly became a hero of the far right , which opposed the influences of socialism and "hidden Communism " but was sceptical about becoming counterrevolutionary . Under la Rocque, the movement advocated a military effort against the "German danger" and supported corporatism and an alliance between capital and labour. It enlarged its base by creating several secondary associations, thus including non-veterans in its ranks. To counter

702-511: A membership of 295,000, according to the party's own statistics by early 1938. With the continued growth of the PSF, however, the PPF fell into decline, which parallelled the demise of the Popular Front to which it had largely been a reaction. In March 1937, Doriot proposed the formation of a Front de la Liberté ("Front of Liberty") with the objective of unifying the right in opposition to

819-610: A million according to some historians), it eclipsed even the traditionally mass-based Socialist (SFIO) and Communist Parties (202,000 and 288,000 members, respectively, in December 1936). The party's central committee included its president, La Rocque, vice-presidents Jean Mermoz and Noël Ottavi  [ fr ] , Edmond Barrachin  [ fr ] , Charles Vallin , Jean Ybarnégaray , Jean Borotra , and Georges Riché  [ fr ] . The party had two newspapers: Le Flambeau and Le Petit Journal . Six members of

936-631: A nationwide roundup of over 100 PSF leaders. Deported first to Czechoslovakia and later to Austria , he returned to France only in May 1945. As with nearly all other political parties that had existed under the Third Republic, the PSF produced both collaborators with and resisters of the Vichy regime. In most cases, individual circumstances dictated more ambiguous loyalties and actions. Although former PSF deputy Jean Ybarnegaray , for instance, served in

1053-752: A paramilitary aesthetic and initially advocating collaboration with the Germans during the Second World War, finally came out against the more radical supporters of Nazi Germany . French Section of the Workers%27 International The French Section of the Workers' International ( French : Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière , SFIO ) was a major socialist political party in France which

1170-533: A popular front which would include the liberal Radical Party. The Popular Front strategy was adopted in the 1936 French legislative election and the coalition gained a majority, with SFIO obtaining for the first time more votes and seats than the Radical Party . Léon Blum became France's first Socialist prime minister in 1936 while the PCF supported without participation his government. A general strike applauded

1287-435: A populist and social-Catholic "antidote" to French fascism. He wrote, "Far from representing a French form of fascism in the face of the Popular Front, La Rocque helped to safeguard France from fascism" by diverting the support of the middle classes away from more extremist alternatives. Jacques Nobécourt made similar assertions: "La Rocque spared France from a pre-war experiment with totalitarianism". The lasting confusion over

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1404-511: A traditional platitude of French conservatism, and the reform of France's political institutions along presidential lines to bolster the stability and authority of the state. Though the Croix-de-Feu participated in the demonstrations of 6 February 1934 , La Rocque forbade its members from involving themselves in the subsequent riot, thus demonstrating a respect for republican legality that the PSF would also uphold as one of its essential political principles. La Rocque, who had previously maintained

1521-643: Is not enough to disqualify his movement as fascist. Croix-de-Feu The Croix-de-Feu ( French: [kʁwa də fø] , Cross of Fire ) was a nationalist French league of the Interwar period , led by Colonel François de la Rocque (1885–1946). After it was dissolved, as were all other leagues during the Popular Front period (1936–38), La Rocque established the Parti social français (PSF) to replace it. The Croix-de-Feu (CF) were primarily

1638-671: The Révolution Nationale , notably its corporatism and social policies. The PSF further refused to recognize General Charles de Gaulle 's Free French , along with the National Council of the Resistance , as the legitimate French authorities in opposition to Vichy, which also claimed constitutional legitimacy although some members of the PSF, such as Charles Vallin, joined the Free French. However, La Rocque

1755-600: The 1906 election to 17 percent in 1914 , and during World War I it participated in France's national unity government , sacrificing its ideals of internationalist class struggle in favor of national patriotism , as did most other members of the Second International. In 1920, the SFIO split over views on the 1917 Russian Revolution ; the majority became the French Communist Party , while

1872-597: The Algerian War of Independence became the major issue of the political debate. During the 1956 French legislative election campaign, the party took part in the Republican Front , a centre-left coalition led by Radical Pierre Mendès France , who advocated a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Guy Mollet took the lead of the cabinet, but he led a very repressive policy. After the May 1958 crisis , he supported

1989-763: The Brutus Network in which Gaston Defferre , later mayor of Marseilles for years, participated along with Daniel Mayer . In 1942–1943, Pétain's regime judged the French Third Republic by organising a public trial, the Riom Trial , of personalities accused of having caused the country's defeat in the Battle of France . They included Léon Blum , the Radical Édouard Daladier and the conservatives Paul Reynaud and Georges Mandel , among others. At

2106-605: The Cartel des gauches , when capital flight was an issue, giving rise to the so-called "myth of the 200 families") in the context of the Great Depression and also over the issue of the Spanish Civil War . The demoralised left fell apart and was unable to resist the collapse of the Third Republic after the fall of France in the military defeat of 1940 during World War II. A number of SFIO members were part of

2223-871: The Communist International , also known as the Comintern and the Third International, created by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. Led by Boris Souvarine and Ludovic-Oscar Frossard , they created the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC). Another smaller group also favoured membership in the Comintern, but not all 21 conditions . The minority led by Léon Blum and

2340-745: The Faisceau , a tiny minority compared with the Croix-de-Feu, whose membership peaked at over a million. The Israeli historian Zeev Sternhell , on the other hand, has argued for the existence of a native French fascism and for groups like the Cercle Proudhon of the mid-to-late 1910s being among the more important ideological breeding grounds of the movement. He, however, does not include the Croix de Feu in that category: The 'centrist' right always had its own shock troops that served its own purposes, and took good care that they did not become confused with

2457-599: The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS), a centre-left coalition led by Mitterrand. It split after the May 68 events and the electoral disaster of June 1968. Defferre was the SFIO candidate in the 1969 French presidential election . He was eliminated in the first round, with only 5% of votes. One month later at the Issy-les-Moulineaux Congress , the SFIO was refounded as

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2574-536: The Great Depression . They generated the most fear from the left. That demographic had historically been one of the primary bastions of the Radical-Socialist Party , and its falling under the influence of the "fascist" right was viewed by Popular Front leaders as a serious threat to the stability of the republic. The PSF, for its part, actively courted the middle classes and argued that their traditional Radical defenders had abandoned them by supporting

2691-583: The National Bloc coalition which played on the middle-classes' fear of Bolshevism (posters with a Bolshevik with a knife between his teeth were used to discredit the socialist movement). The National Bloc won 70% of the seats, forming what became known as the Chambre bleue horizon (Blue Horizon Chamber). During the Tours Congress on 25 December 1920, a majority of SFIO members voted to join

2808-496: The Palais Bourbon and remained grouped several hundred metres away from the others rioting leagues. As one of the most essential paramilitary associations and because of its anti-Semitic position, the Croix-de-Feu and La Rocque were considered by the political left to be among the most dangerous imitators of Mussolini and Hitler. However, as a result of La Rocque's actions during the riots, it subsequently lost prestige among

2925-654: The Parti Républicain Social de la Réconciliation Française (Social Republican Party of French Reconciliation), known generally as Réconciliation Française and intended as the official successor of the PSF. On the initiative of Léotard, the PRSRF participated in the right-wing Rally of the Republican Lefts (RGR, see sinistrisme ) coalition in the elections of June 1946 , November 1946 , 1951 and 1956 . The death of La Rocque in 1946 deprived

3042-649: The Popular Front government. Léon Jouhaux was the CGT's main leader until 1947 and the new split leading to the creation of the reformist union confederation Workers' Force (CGT-FO). In both 1924 and 1932, the Socialists joined with the Radicals in the Cartel des Gauches coalition. They supported the government led by Radical Édouard Herriot (1924–1926 and 1932), but they did not participate. The first Cartel saw

3159-716: The Popular Front to inflame anti-Semitic sentiment in the colony. The 1936 elections saw the victory of anti-Semitic municipal governments, boycotts against Jewish business (heavily promoted by the Radical Party newspaper Le Republicain de Constantine ) and physical violence and attacks against Jews. The Croix de Feu acted in concert with other anti-Semitic parties, including the Rassemblement National d'Action Sociale led by Abbé Lambert , Action française and Parti Populaire français . Membership in Croix de Feu grew from 2,500 in 1933 to 8,440 in 1935 and 15,000 in 1936. The Croix-de-Feu did not participate in

3276-493: The Republican Federation and Democratic Alliance , which had traditionally lacked a formal membership structure and relied instead on the support of notables, the PSF aggressively courted an extensive membership among the middle and lower classes. By 1940, the PSF had become not only France's first right-wing mass party but also the nation's largest party in terms of membership: over 700,000 members (and more than

3393-469: The Resistance . The SFIO was part of France's tripartisme government from 1944 to 1947, but after the war faced a resurgent Communist Party, which achieved a higher share of the vote in every election for the next three decades. From 1956 to 1957, SFIO leader Guy Mollet served as prime minister, but the party continued its period of decline and disunity. In 1969, the present Socialist Party of France

3510-572: The Réseau Klan ("Klan Network") in 1942 as a means of coordinating intelligence-gathering activities among PSF members. Nevertheless, he continued to believe that he could convince Pétain to abandon his collaborationist line and so he requested and was granted three meetings with the Marshal in early 1943. Two days after their last meeting, on 9 March, La Rocque was arrested by the Gestapo during

3627-722: The Socialist International (1951–1969). The SFIO's symbol was a red and black circle with the Three Arrows . After the failure of the Paris Commune of 1871, French socialism was severely weakened, with its leaders dead or in exile. During the 1879 Marseille Congress , workers' associations created the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France (FTSF). Three years later, Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue (the son-in-law of Karl Marx ) left

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3744-615: The Vichy 80 who refused to vote extraordinary powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain in July 1940, following which the latter proclaimed the Révolution nationale reactionary program and the establishment of the Vichy regime . Although some engaged in collaborationism , an important part also took part in the Resistance and they eventually went on to be part of the National Council of the Resistance . Pierre Fourcaud created with Félix Gouin

3861-604: The parliamentary elections of May 1936, the government issued a decree banning the Croix-de-Feu, along with the Mouvement social français , on 18 June. Within weeks, on 7 July, La Rocque founded the French Social Party to succeed the defunct league. Defunct Defunct The PSF inherited the large popular base of the Croix-de-Feu (450,000 members in June, 1936, most of them having joined since 1934) and, mirroring

3978-550: The right-wing terrorised and capital flight destabilised the government while the divided Radicals did not all support their Socialist allies. The monetary crisis, also due to the refusal of Germany to pay the World War I reparations , caused parliamentary instability. Édouard Herriot, Paul Painlevé and Aristide Briand succeeded each other as prime minister until 1926, when the French right came back to power with Raymond Poincaré . The newly elected Communist deputies also opposed

4095-449: The " Politique d'abord " ("Politics First") of Action Française , it espoused the political goals elaborated by La Rocque in his tract Service Public , including social Catholic corporatism , the institution of a minimum wage and paid vacations ( congés payés ), women's suffrage and the reform of parliamentary procedure. The party's programme would further develop the same themes by advocating "the association of capital and labour",

4212-418: The "fascist" tendencies of the PSF can be ascribed in part to two factors. Firstly, the PSF's predecessor, the Croix-de-Feu, had aspired to a paramilitary aesthetic (described by Julian Jackson as a "fascist frisson " and dismissed by Rémond as "political boy scouting for adults") outwardly similar to that employed by the more overtly fascist of the right-wing leagues. Furthermore, La Rocque continued to defend

4329-563: The 1880s, the FTSF saw their first electoral success, winning control of some municipalities. Jean Allemane and some FTSF members criticised the focus on electoral goals. In 1890, they created the Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party (POSR). Their main objective was to win power through the tactic of the general strike . Besides these groups, some politicians declared themselves as independent socialists outside of

4446-399: The 1930s "leagues" as a native "French Fascism", particularly the Croix-de-Feu. The organisation is described by Rémond as completely secretive about its aims with an ideology kept "as vague as possible." Rémond, the most famous and influential of these postwar historians, distinguishes "Reaction" and the far right from "revolutionary" fascism as an import into France which had few takers. In

4563-603: The 1932 demonstrations organised by the Action française and the far-right leagues Jeunesses Patriotes against the debt payment to the United States. The Croix-de-feu, however, took part in the massive rally of 6 February 1934 , which led to the toppling of the Second Cartel des gauches (Left-Wing Coalition). Still, La Rocque refused to riot, although parts of the Croix-de-Feu disagreed with him. It had circled

4680-477: The 1968 third edition of " La droite en France ", his major work he defines fascism in Europe as a revolt of the declassés , a movement of those on half-pay, civilian and military. Everywhere it came to power through social upheavals.... Although with a handful of fascists [in 1930s France], there was a minority of reactionaries and a great majority of conservatives. Amongst these he places much smaller groups like

4797-507: The Chamber in June 1939, that promised to translate into approximately 100 deputies in the legislative elections planned for 1940. By 1939, the party's elected officials, its 11 deputies aside, included nearly 3000 mayors, 541 general councilors and thousands of municipal councilors . Of all the PSF's successes, it was the party's popularity among the middle classes, the peasants, shopkeepers, and clerical workers, who had been hardest hit by

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4914-654: The Communist ministers were excluded from the cabinet led by Socialist Paul Ramadier . Anti-communism prevented the French left from forming a united front. The Communists had taken control of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union. This was relatively weakened by the 1948 creation of a social-democratic trade union Workers' Force (FO) which was supported by the American Central Intelligence Agency . This split

5031-535: The Croix-de-Feu and the PSF were partially-realized manifestations of a distinctively-French fascism, their political potential but not their tactics of organization and mobilisation, which was destroyed by the German invasion and thus permanently discredited. Sternhell, pointing to the democratic path to power followed by the Nazi Party , also made the argument that La Rocque's apparent respect for republican legality

5148-622: The Forties, the SFIO was partly responsible for setting up the welfare state institutions of the Liberation period and helping to bring about France's economic recovery. In May 1946, the Socialist-led government of Félix Gouin passed a law that generalised social security, making it obligatory for the whole population. A number of progressive reforms were also introduced during Paul Ramadier's tenure as prime minister in 1947, including

5265-617: The French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) under pressure from the Second International . The new SFIO party was hemmed between the middle-class liberals of the Radical Party and the revolutionary syndicalists who dominated the trade unions . The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) proclaimed its independence from political parties at this time and the non-distinction between political and industrial aims. In addition, some CGT members refused to join

5382-581: The Gaullist Rally for France . The historian William D. Irvine stated: Historians have argued that the Croix-de-Feu were a distinctly-French variant of the European fascist movement. If the uniformed rightist " Leagues " of the 1930s did not develop into classical Fascism, it was because they represented a shading from conservative right-wing nationalism to extremist fascism, in membership and ideology, distinctive to French inter-war society. Most contemporary French historians ( René Rémond , Pierre Milza and François Sirinelli in particular) do not classify

5499-452: The Left but in the East". At the beginning of the 1950s, the disagreements with its governmental partners about denominational schools and the colonial problem explained a more critical attitude of the SFIO membership. In 1954, the party was deeply divided about the European Defense Community . Against the instructions of the party lead, the half of the parliamentary group voted against the project and contributed to its failure. Progressively,

5616-482: The PRS to form the Socialist Republican Union (USR). The Cartel was again the victim of parliamentary instability while various scandals led to the 6 February 1934 riots organised by far-right leagues. The Radical Édouard Daladier resigned on the next day, handing out the power to conservative Gaston Doumergue . It was the first time during the French Third Republic that a government had to resign because of street pressure. Following 6 February 1934 crisis, which

5733-406: The PSF instead as an offshoot of the Bonapartist tradition in French right-wing politics, populist and anti-parliamentarian but hardly fascist. Milza in La France des années 30 writes that "the PSF was more anti-parliamentarian than anti-republican". More recently, Lacouture wrote, "La Rocque's movement was neither fascist nor extremist". Furthermore, Rémond identified the PSF, at least in part, as

5850-531: The PSF of the chance to make serious inroads in parliament. On 30 July, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier , fearing that the imminent electoral campaign would distract the Chamber of Deputies from the business of national defence, used the decree powers granted him by the Chamber to extend its term until May 1942. After the Fall of France and the establishment of the Vichy regime , La Rocque denounced it as defeatist and anti-Semitic, but he still proclaimed his personal loyalty to Marshal Philippe Pétain , and

5967-428: The PSF was renamed Progrès Social Français (French Social Progress) and took on the form of a social aid organisation because of the occupation authorities' prohibition of organised political activities. La Rocque's attitude towards the Vichy government was initially ambiguous. As stated, he continued to affirm his loyalty to Pétain and was amenable to certain of the more moderate aspects of Vichy's reactionary program,

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6084-439: The PSF. Zeev Sternhell , criticising Rémond's classification of the PSF as Bonapartist in Neither Right Nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France , associates the party and its leader with a "revolutionary right" tradition that owes its political heritage to Boulangism and the revolutionary syndicalism of Georges Sorel . That minority view is partially shared by Robert Soucy , William D. Irvine , and Michel Dobry , who argue that

6201-409: The Popular Front. Despite that demographic threat, however, the PSF generated the most fervent hostility within the parties of the established parliamentary right, most notably the conservative Republican Federation . The tensions between the Federation and the PSF were demonstrated as early as 1937 by a Normandy by-election in which the Federation candidate, after being behind the PSF candidate in

6318-460: The Popular Front. Although the Republican Federation, followed by several small right-wing parties that stood to lose little from allying themselves to the more extremist PPF, quickly accepted Doriot's proposal, it was rejected both by the moderate Democratic Alliance and by La Rocque, who identified the Front as an attempt to "annex" the popularity of his party. His insistence on the PSF's independence got La Rocque attacked violently by other figures on

6435-456: The Radical Party amongst the left-wing movement and opposed the colonial wars. The SFIO received its lowest vote in the 1960s. It was discredited by the contradictory policies of its leaders during the Fourth Republic . Youth and the intellectual circles preferred the PSU and workers the PCF. The French Fifth Republic's constitution had been tailored by Charles de Gaulle to satisfy his needs and his Gaullism managed to gather enough people from

6552-419: The Radical Party to form the coalition that would win the 1936 French legislative election and bring about the Popular Front. In June 1934, Leon Trotsky proposed the French Turn into the SFIO, the origin of the strategy of entrism . The Trotskyist leaders of the Communist League (the French section of the International Left Opposition ) were divided over the issue of entering the SFIO. Raymond Molinier

6669-403: The SFIO because they considered it extremist. They created the Republican-Socialist Party (PRS). In contrast to other European socialist parties, the SFIO was a decentralised organization. Its national and executive institutions were weakened by the strong autonomy of its members and local levels of the party. Consequently, the function of secretary general, held by Louis Dubreuilh until 1918,

6786-401: The SFIO, in order to block the opposition of the Communists on the one hand, and of the Gaullists on the other. Besides, in spite of Léon Blum 's support, the party leader Daniel Mayer was defeated in aid of Guy Mollet . If the new secretary general was supported by the left wing of the party, he was very hostile to any form of alliance with the PCF. He said that "the Communist Party is not on

6903-405: The Union's latines, because Oran had fewer Muslims and was more anti-Semitic. Under Lieutenant-Colonel François de La Rocque , who took over in 1930, the Croix-de-Feu took its independence from François Coty and left the building of Le Figaro for rue de Milan. It organised popular demonstrations in reaction to the Stavisky Affair in the hope of overthrowing the Second Cartel des gauches ,

7020-426: The chief potential French March-on-Romer " but added that he was "a rather pallid Fascist", did not attempt to seize power during the 6 February riots and peacefully complied with the government's ban of the Croix de Feu. Other scholars, such as Robert Soucy and William D. Irvine , argue that the La Rocque and the Croix de Feu were in fact fascist and a particularly "French" fascism. La Rocque, however, if tempted by

7137-498: The contemporary Popular Front, achieved considerable success in mobilizing it through a variety of associated organizations: sporting societies, labour organizations and leisure and vacation camps. PSF members also orchestrated the development of "professional unions" ( syndicats professionels ), envisioned as a means of organising management against labour militancy, which espoused class collaboration and claimed 1,000,000 members by 1938. Unlike established right-wing parties such as

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7254-412: The corruption of capitalism. To them the Leagues were a bulwark of this corrupt regime. Robert Brasillach called them "old cuckolds of the right, these eternal deceived husbands of politics.." and claimed that "the enemies of national restoration are not only on the left but first and foremost on the right.l". The American journalist John Gunther in 1940 described La Rocque as a "French Fascist No. 1,

7371-419: The end, the BDS won both seats allocated to Senegal. In 1956, another SFIO splinter group appeared in Senegal, the Socialist Movement of the Senegalese Union . In 1957, the history of the SFIO in West Africa came to an end. The federations of SFIO in Cameroon, Chad, Moyen-Congo, Sudan, Gabon, Guinea, Niger, Oubangui-Chari and Senegal all met in Conakry from 11 January to 13 January 1957. At that meeting it

7488-430: The extension of social security to government workers the introduction of a national minimum wage and the granting from April 1947 onwards of allowances to all aged persons in need. Various measures were also introduced during the SFIO's time in office to improve health and safety in the workplace. An Order of July 1947 prescribed the installation of showers for the use of staff "employed on dirty or unhealthy work" and

7605-429: The far-right before it was dissolved by the Popular Front government on 18 June 1936. La Rocque then formed the French Social Party (PSF) as a successor to the dissolved league. Moderate estimates place the membership for the PSF at 500,000 in the buildup to the Second World War , which would make it the first French conservative mass party. Although its slogan Travail, Famille, Patrie ("Work, Family, Fatherland")

7722-402: The far-right leagues, the PSF was viewed by the long-established Federation as a rival "to its own electoral fortunes". A second victim of the PSF's popularity was Jacques Doriot 's far-right Parti Populaire Français (PPF), which incorporated nationalist, virulently-anticommunist and openly-fascist tendencies. Founded, like the PSF, in June 1936, the PPF enjoyed initial success and attracted

7839-420: The fascists. Sternhell, interested in the Fascism as a "anti-material revision of Marxism" or an anti-capitalist, cultish, corporatist extreme nationalism, points out that groups like the Jeunesses Patriotes , the revived Ligue des Patriotes and the Croix de Feu were derided by French fascists at the time. Fascist leaders in France saw themselves as destroyers of the old order, above politics, and rejecting

7956-416: The federation, which they considered too moderate, and founded the French Workers' Party (POF). The FTSF led by Paul Brousse was defined as possibilist because it advocated gradual reforms whereas the POF promoted Marxism. At the same time, Édouard Vaillant and the heirs of Louis Auguste Blanqui founded the Central Revolutionary Committee (CRC) which represented the French revolutionary tradition. In

8073-408: The ferocious repression of strikes by Radical prime minister Georges Clemenceau after 1906, following the creation of a Minister of Labour, a post held by PRS leader René Viviani . During the July 1914 international crisis, the party was ideologically torn between its membership in the Socialist International and the wave of patriotism within France. The assassination of Jaurès on 31 July 1914

8190-438: The first Cartel, refusing to support bourgeois governments. The second Cartel acceded to power in 1932, but this time the SFIO only gave their support without the participation of the Radicals which allied themselves with right-wing radicals. After years of internal feuds, the reformist wing of the party led by Marcel Déat and Pierre Renaudel split from the SFIO in November 1933 to form a neosocialist movement and merged with

8307-405: The first Vichy government under Pétain as Minister for Veterans and the Family, he resigned his post in 1940 and was in 1943 arrested and deported because of his efforts in helping Resistance members to cross the Pyrenees into Spain. In August 1945, after the Liberation of France , La Rocque and his remaining followers, principally Pierre de Léotard, André Portier, and Jean de Mierry, established

8424-502: The first round, initially refused to stand down and support the latter in the runoff round. The rancor of the feuding parties, despite the Federation candidate's eventual endorsement of the PSF, resulted in the seat falling to the centre, which demonstrated to Federation and PSF leaders alike the undesirability of co-existence. Thus, although the two parties were in fact in agreement on many questions of ideology, notably their defense of

8541-607: The government to prevent the sabotage of their efforts to lure the Radical Party into a centre-right coalition. Thus, the Independent Radicals , gathering right-wing Radical parliamentarians, constituted the most effective opposition to the Popular Front, particularly in the Senate . With the prospect of a PSF breakthrough in the 1940 elections in mind, the Independent Radicals sought to cooperate with

8658-569: The institutions (parliamentary system or presidential government). The SFIO re-emerged and participated in the three-parties alliance with the PCF and the Christian-democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP). This coalition led the social policy inspired by National Council of Resistance 's programme, installing the main elements of the French welfare state , nationalising banks and some industrial companies. While serving in government during

8775-573: The land obtained compensation for the improvements that they made on the land. The sharecroppers also had the right to join a marketing cooperative, while their conflicts with owners were to be resolved at arbitration tribunals to which both sides elected an equal number of representatives. In the early years of the French Fourth Republic, the SFIO played an instrumental role in securing appropriations for 1,000 additional state elementary school teachers and in bringing in bills to extend

8892-513: The leagues' activities even in the face of their condemnation by the parties of the established moderate right (though not the Republican Federation ). Secondly, the PSF's condemnation of parliamentarism , which was considered synonymous with French republicanism by most leftist and centrist politicians, marked it as inherently anti-republican and thus "fascist" in the period's political discourse in their opinions. A number of foreign historians, however, have questioned those defences of La Rocque and

9009-532: The left and the right to govern without the other parties' help. Furthermore, the SFIO hesitated between allying with the non-Gaullist centre-right (as advocated by Gaston Defferre ) and reconciliation with the Communists. Mollet refused to choose. The SFIO supported François Mitterrand to the 1965 French presidential election even if he was not a member of the party. The SFIO and the Radicals then created

9126-471: The majority of the Socialists' elected members decided in Blum's words to "keep the old house" and remain within the Second International. Marcel Sembat , Léon Blum and Albert Thomas refused to align themselves with Moscow. Paul Faure became secretary general of the SFIO, but its most influential figure was Blum, leader of the parliamentary group and director of a new party paper Le Populaire . L'Humanité ,

9243-424: The minority continued as the SFIO. In the 1930s, mutual concern over fascism drew the communists and socialists together, prompting them to form the Popular Front . The coalition won the 1936 election and formed a government under SFIO leader Léon Blum , which lasted until 1938. After the outbreak of World War II and German conquest of France in 1940, the SFIO was banned, and many of its members took part in

9360-804: The modern-day Socialist Party . Mollet passed on the leadership to Alain Savary . The SFIO suffered a split in Senegal in 1934 as Lamine Guèye broke away and formed the Senegalese Socialist Party (PSS). As the Senegalese Popular Front committee as formed, the SFIO and the PSS branch cooperated. In 1937, a joint list of both the SFIO and the PSS won the municipal elections in Saint-Louis . Maître Vidal became mayor of

9477-513: The monarchist Action française and its slogan Politique d'abord! "Politics First!"), de la Rocque invented the motto Social d'abord! ("Social First!"). In his book, Le Service Public ("Public Service)", which was published in November 1934, he argued in favour of a reform of parliamentary procedures, cooperation between industries according to their branches of activities; a minimum wage and paid holidays; women's suffrage (also upheld by

9594-485: The monarchist Action française, which considered that women, often devout, would be more favourable to their conservative thesis) etc. The Croix de Feu was one of the right-wing groups that pushed anti-Semitic politics in 1935. Along with Volontaires Nationaux and others, the Croix de Feu used the political developments in Metropolitan France like the election of Léon Blum , a Jewish Prime Minister, and

9711-481: The nascent PSF were elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1936 , and three more were elected in by-elections between 1936 and 1939. Two deputies of other right-wing parliamentary groups defected to the party. The true measure of the party's electoral potential, however, came with the municipal elections of 1938–1939 in which it won 15% of votes nationally. As a result of the proportional representation law passed by

9828-507: The national laic school system to kindergarten and nursery school levels. During the spring of 1946, the SFIO reluctantly supported the constitutional plans of the PCF. They were rejected by a referendum . The party supported the second proposal prepared with the PCF and the MRP which was approved in an October 1946 referendum . However, the coalition split in May 1947. Because of the Cold War ,

9945-638: The new force; for their part, the PSF deputies voted confidence in Édouard Daladier 's Radical government in April 1938. With the collapse of the Popular Front the PSF-Radical alliance seemed inevitable to many on the left, with the Socialist newspaper Le Populaire writing in 1938 that "the PSF-Radical bloc has become a reality of political life". However, that observation appeared premature to most contemporary observers. The Danzig Crisis of 1939 deprived

10062-467: The other leagues, as fascist organizations. A desire to defend the republic was not their sole motivation. Politicians of the centre-right and left alike opposed La Rocque because of the perceived threat of his success in mobilising a mass base within their traditional particularly working-class constituencies. The disruptive nature of the leagues' activities made Pierre Laval 's government outlaw paramilitary groups on 6 December 1935. Although that decision

10179-533: The parliamentary republic, would also contribute to the development of Gaullism , culminating in the establishment of the presidential Fifth Republic in 1958. The postwar Gaullist party, the Rally of the French People (RPF), like the MRP, enthusiastically adopted the mass-based model of organization and mobilization that had been pioneered by the PSF, a sharp and permanent break from the cadre-based parties of

10296-675: The participation of the socialist Alexandre Millerand in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau 's cabinet, which included the Marquis de Gallifet , who had directed the bloody repression of the Paris Commune. In 1902, Guesde and Vaillant founded the Socialist Party of France while Jaurès, Allemane and the possibilists formed the French Socialist Party . During the 1905 Globe Congress, the two groups merged into

10413-453: The party of unifying leadership, however, and the prewar popularity that it had hoped to exploit never materialised. Though the PRSRF had effectively disappeared by 1956, with the schism that year of the RGR into centre-left and centre-right groups, some of its members would later continue their political careers within the conservative National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP). Despite

10530-451: The party. The Matignon Accords (1936) set up collective bargaining , and removed all obstacles to union organisation . The terms included a blanket 7–12% wage increase and allowed for paid vacation (two weeks) and a 40-hour work week. The eight-hour day had been established following the war of 1914–1918 of attrition and its mobilisation of industrial capacities. Within a year, Blum's government collapsed over economic policy (as during

10647-506: The political parties. They tended to have moderate opinions. In the 1890s, the Dreyfus affair caused debate in the socialist movement. While Jules Guesde believed socialists should not intervene in this internal conflict of the bourgeoisie, Jean Jaurès urged the socialist movement to join the republican movement's struggle to defend republican values. In 1899, another debate polarised the socialist groups, pitted Guesde against Jaures over

10764-524: The postwar insignificance of the party itself, elements of the PSF's and La Rocque's ideology strongly influenced the political formations of right and the centre during the Fourth Republic . La Rocque had advised his followers to create "a third party, sincerely republican and very bold from a social perspective" — by which he meant Réconciliation Française within the Rally of the Republican Lefts , but for some former PSF loyalists and sympathizers,

10881-647: The previous party newspaper, was controlled by the founders of the SFIC. However, Frossard later resigned from the SFIC and rejoined the SFIO in January 1923. One year after the Tours Congress, the CGT trade union made the same split. Those who became Communists created the Confédération générale du travail unitaire (United General Confederation of Labour; CGTU) which fused again with the CGT in 1936 during

10998-435: The prewar classical right. Historical debate over the PSF, like its predecessor, the Croix-de-Feu, has been driven by the question of whether they can be considered in at least some respects as the manifestations of a "French fascism ". Most contemporary French historians , notably René Rémond , Michel Winock , Jean Lacouture and Pierre Milza , have rejected that assertion. Rémond, in his La Droite en France , identifies

11115-545: The return of Charles de Gaulle and the establishment of the French Fifth Republic . Moreover, the SFIO was divided about the repressive policy of Guy Mollet in Algeria and his support to De Gaulle's return. If the party returned in opposition in 1959, it could not prevent the constitution of another Unified Socialist Party (PSU) in 1960, joined the next year by Pierre Mendès France , who was trying to anchor

11232-590: The right, including former Croix-de-Feu members who had abandoned the more moderate Social Party. The major parties of the right fell in disarray after their electoral defeat and the strike movement of June 1936. Although the Republican Federation, at least, was consistent in its opposition to Popular Front policies, the Democratic Alliance and the small, Christian democratic Popular Democratic Party (PDP) were reluctant to criticise

11349-399: The same time, Marcel Déat and some neosocialists who had split from the SFIO in 1933, participated to the Vichy regime and supported Pétain's policy of collaboration. Paul Faure , secretary general of the SFIO from 1920 to 1940, approved of this policy too. He was excluded from the party when it was reconstituted in 1944. In total, 14 of the 17 SFIO ministers who had been in government before

11466-598: The socialists' victory while Marceau Pivert cried "Tout est possible!" ("Everything is possible!"), but Pivert would later split and create the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party (PSOP), with historian Daniel Guérin also being a member of the latter. Trotsky advised the GBL to break with the SFIO, leading to a confused departure by the Trotskyists from the SFIO in early 1936, which drew only about six hundred people from

11583-493: The statement applied more accurately to the newly-formed Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement (Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP) and, for others (notably François Mitterrand ), the left-liberal Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR). PSF ideology, particularly its corporatist emphasis on the association of capital and labour and its advocacy of a strong stable presidential regime to replace

11700-462: The support of French settlers, the CF adopted a new approach. European settlers in Algeria tended to support authoritarian and imperialist governments over French republicanism . They were anti-Semitic and xenophobic . Believing that Algerian Europeans were a new race, they saw themselves as "youthful, virile and brutal" and Metropolitan France as "degenerate, effeminate and weak". They often resorted to

11817-627: The town. The congress of the PSS held 4–5 June 1938 decided to reunify with the SFIO. Following that decision, the 11–12 June 1938 congress of the new federation of SFIO was held in Thiès . In 1948, Léopold Sédar Senghor broke away from the Senegalese federation of SFIO and formed the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS). During the 1951 French legislative election campaign, violence broke out between BDS and SFIO activists. In

11934-586: The use of force against Muslim and Jewish Algerians. The Croix-de-feu had a massive propaganda campaign that won thousands of members in Constantine and Algiers . It proposed an alliance with local Muslims and attacked the left. Scholars see that as a tactic to funnel extreme and separatist frustrations caused by an economic disparity between European settlers and the local Algerian people. It used different propaganda in Oran , more similar to Jules Molle and

12051-485: The war were expelled for collaboration. After the liberation of France in 1944, the PCF became the largest left-wing party and the project to create a labour -based political party rallying the non-Communist Resistance failed in part due to the disagreements opposing notably the Socialists and the Christian Democrats about laïcité and the conflict with Charles de Gaulle about the new organisation of

12168-510: The whole of the socialist movement saw as a fascist conspiracy to overthrow the Republic, a goal pursued by the royalist Action Française and other far-right leagues, anti-fascist organisations were created. The Comintern abandoned its social-fascism directive of social democracy in favor of united front directives. The French Communist Party (PCF) got closer to the SFIO, the USR and

12285-587: The years of the French Fourth Republic , the SFIO was also active in pressing for changes in areas such as education and agriculture. Through the efforts of the SFIO, a comprehensive Farm Law was passed in 1946 which provided that sharecroppers had the right to renew their options at the expiration of their leaseholds and that the owner could repossess the land only if he or his children worked it. In addition, sharecroppers could acquire ownership at low interest rates while those who were forced to leave

12402-485: Was France's first major conservative party (1936–1940). He advocated a presidential regime to end the instability of the parliamentary regime, an economic system founded upon "organised professions" ( corporatism ) and social legislation inspired by Social Christianity . Historians now consider that he paved the way for the French Christian democratic parties: the postwar Popular Republican Movement (MRP) and

12519-585: Was a setback for the pacifist wing of the party and contributed to the massive increase in support for the wartime government of national unity . Participation in World War I caused divisions within the party which were accentuated after 1917. Furthermore, internal disagreements appeared about the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In 1919, the anti-war socialists were heavily defeated in elections by

12636-688: Was decided that the African federations would break with their French parent organisation and form the African Socialist Movement (MSA), an independent pan-African party. The Senegalese section of MSA was the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS) and it was led by Lamine Guèye . The first meeting of the leading committee of MSA met in Dakar from 9 February to 10 February 1957 the same year. Two SFIO delegates attended

12753-513: Was essentially administrative and the real political leader was Jean Jaurès , president of the parliamentary group and director of L'Humanité , the party's newspaper, Unlike the PRS, SFIO members did not participate in Left Bloc governments, although they supported a part of its policy, notably the laïcité , based on the 1905 Act of separation between church and state. However, they criticized

12870-689: Was formed from a merger of the SFIO and smaller parties. Between 1909 and 1920, the SFIO published the newspaper L'Humanité . In French politics, it affiliated with the Left Cartel (1924–1934), the Popular Front (1936–1938), the Tripartisme (1944–1947), and the Third Force (1947–1958). Internationally, the party was first affiliated with the Second International (1905–1916), then the Labour and Socialist International (1923–1940), and finally

12987-482: Was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party . The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representative to the Second International , merging the Marxist Socialist Party of France led by Jules Guesde and the social-democratic French Socialist Party led by Jean Jaurès , who became the SFIO's leading figure. Electoral support for the party rose from 10 percent in

13104-661: Was hosted in the building of Le Figaro . It benefited from the Catholic Church 's 1926 proscription of the Action Française , which prohibited Catholics from supporting the latter. Many conservative Catholics became members of the Croix-de-feu instead, including Jean Mermoz and the young François Mitterrand . Unlike the Unions latines , which had promoted algérianité (Algerianness) and gained

13221-907: Was hostile to Vichy's enthusiastic collaboration with the Nazi occupiers and forbade PSF members from participating in Vichy-sponsored organisations such as the Service d'Ordre Légionnaire , the Milice and the Legion of French Volunteers . In August 1940, La Rocque began actively to participate in the French Resistance by transmitting information to the British Secret Intelligence Service via Georges Charaudeau's Réseau Alibi ("Alibi Network") and forming

13338-566: Was later used by Vichy France to replace the Republican slogan Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité , the party remained eclectic. The party disappeared with the Fall of France without having had the opportunity to profit from its immense popularity. During the occupation of France , La Rocque joined the French Resistance but was the subject of considerable controversy immediately after the war. Defunct Defunct The Parti Social Français

13455-581: Was led by former CGT secretary general Léon Jouhaux , who was granted the Nobel Peace Prize three years later. The teachers' union ( Federation for National Education , FEN) chose to gain autonomy towards the two confederations in order to conserve its unity, but SFIO syndicalists took the control of the FEN which became the main training ground of the SFIO party. A Third Force coalition was constituted by centre-right and centre-left parties, including

13572-405: Was succeeded by the law of 10 January 1936 regulating militias and combat organizations, the law was only partially implemented. Of all the leagues, only Action Française was dissolved, and the Croix-de-Feu was allowed to continue its activities essentially unimpeded. After the victory of the Popular Front , which had included in its electoral programme a promise to dissolve the right-wing leagues in

13689-589: Was the most supportive of Trotsky's proposal while Pierre Naville was opposed to it and Pierre Frank remained ambivalent. The League finally voted to dissolve into the SFIO in August 1934, where they formed the Bolshevik-Leninist Group ( Groupe Bolchevik-Leniniste , GBL). At the Mulhouse party congress of June 1935, the Trotskyists led a campaign to prevent the united front from expanding into

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