The Epinay Congress was the third national congress of the French Socialist Party ( Parti socialiste or PS ), which took place on 11, 12 and 13 June 1971, in the town of Épinay-sur-Seine , in the northern suburbs of Paris . During this congress, not only did the party admit the Convention of Republican Institutions ( Convention des institutions républicaines or CIR , a federation of left-wing republican groups led by François Mitterrand ) into its ranks, but the party leadership was also won by Mitterrand and his supporters. For the observers and the French Socialists themselves, the Epinay Congress was the real founding act of the current PS. It was also the turning point in Mitterrand's grand political plan, which led to the ascendancy of the French Left over the next quarter-century, and eventually, in 1981, to Mitterrand's election to the Presidency of France for two consecutive 7-year terms.
10-600: After the catastrophic results of the 1968 legislative election and of the 1969 presidential election , the secretary general of the French Section of the Workers' International (socialist party, SFIO) Guy Mollet resigned. The party merged with several centre-left clubs. The leader of one of these groups, Alain Savary , was elected first secretary of the new Socialist Party (PS). Supported by Mollet's circle, he tried to convince
20-653: The Fifth Republic . They were held in the aftermath of the a general strike in May 1968 . On 30 May 1968, in a radio speech, President Charles de Gaulle , who had been out of the public eye for three days (he was in Baden-Baden , Germany), announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and called legislative elections to restore order. While the workers returned to their jobs, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou campaigned for
30-646: The Unified Socialist Party protested against the passivity of the left-wing parties. The Gaullist Union for the Defence of the Republic became the first party in the French Republic's history to obtain an absolute parliamentary majority. The FGDS disintegrated. However, the relation between the two heads of the executive power had deteriorated during the crisis. One month later, Georges Pompidou resigned and
40-568: The "defence of the Republic" in the face of the "communist threat" and called for the "silent majority" to make themselves heard. The Left was divided. The Communists reproached the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS) leader François Mitterrand for not having consulted it before he announced his candidacy in the next presidential election, and for the formation of a provisional government led by Pierre Mendès-France . The Far-Left and
50-510: The Communist Party in order to replace it as main left-wing party became obvious when he said, during the congress: François Mitterrand was elected as First Secretary. 1968 French legislative election Georges Pompidou UDR Maurice Couve de Murville UDR Early legislative elections were held in France on 23 and 30 June 1968, to elect the fourth National Assembly of
60-636: The alliance with centrist parties was tolerated in some local assemblies. Mitterrand and the CIR, which joined the PS in Epinay, advocated immediate negotiations with the PCF in order to write a common election programme. Indeed, Mittterrand was candidate of the Left, supported by Socialists and Communists, in the 1965 presidential election . The will to overthrow Savary and Mollet's group from
70-513: The internal opponents of his will of change. However, these opponents were themselves divided about the strategy of the party. The right-wing, led by Pierre Mauroy and Gaston Defferre , was composed of some local elects who made alliances with the centrist parties, whereas the left-wing CERES faction led by Jean-Pierre Chevènement wanted to accelerate the process of an alliance with the French Communist Party (PCF). The Communists were
80-509: The largest party of the French left at the time and advocated the unity of the French left around a Common Programme . Savary found a compromise between the PS factions: it was agreed to begin an "ideological dialogue" with the PCF. This dialogue was seen as a paving of the way towards an eventual electoral coalition with the Communists. The general principle of the "Union of the Left" was adopted, but
90-464: The leadership of the party permitted the birth of a broad coalition between the Mitterrand, Defferre, Mauroy and Chevènement factions. It united against the proposition of Savary to change the ballot system for the election of the leading committee (the "parliament" of the party). Then, it elected Mitterrand to the first secretaryship with 51.3% of the vote against 48.7% for Savary and Mollet. This Congress
100-609: Was described as a premeditated plot, prepared by Mitterrand, Mauroy, Defferre and Chevènement beforehand. Mitterrand became the new PS first secretary and in the following year signed the Common Programme with the Communist Party and the Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left . Mitterrand clinched the party leadership with a very radical speech, a strategy often used in French socialist congresses: His project to ally with
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