112-574: Maurice Thorez ( French: [mɔʁis tɔʁɛz, moʁ-] ; 28 April 1900 – 11 July 1964) was a French politician and longtime leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1930 until his death. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister of France from 1946 to 1947. Thorez, born in Noyelles-Godault , Pas-de-Calais , became a coal miner at the age of 12. He joined the French Section of
224-575: A Stalinist line under the leadership of Maurice Thorez . In response to the threat of fascism , the PCF joined the socialist Popular Front which won the 1936 election, but it did not participate in government. During World War II , it was outlawed by the occupying Germans and became an key element of the Resistance . The PCF participated in the provisional government of the Liberation from 1944 to 1947, but for
336-814: A dirigiste economic policy, which included substantial state control over a capitalist economy, which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth. The wartime damage was extensive, and large reparations from defeated Germany did not happen. The United States helped revive the French economy with the Marshall Plan (1948–1951), giving France $ 2.3 billion with no repayment. France was the second largest recipient after Britain. The total of all American grants and credits to France from 1946 to 1953 amounted to $ 4.9 billion. It provided urgently needed funding for modernizing transport systems, electricity generation, and basic industries including cement, coal, and steel. The plan required
448-628: A plurality (not the absolute majority) of the National Assembly voting against the Cabinet. Consequently, these ministerial crises did not result in the dissolution of Parliament. Thus, as in the Third Republic, this regime was characterized by ministerial instability. The Fourth Republic was also a victim of the political context. The split of the three-party alliance in spring 1947, the departure of Communist ministers, Gaullist opposition , and
560-476: A 'perversion' of the communist model and unambiguously rejects Stalinism . It has not attributed the failure of the Soviet Union as being that of communism , rather stating that the failure of Soviet socialism was the failure of one model "among others", including the capitalist or social democratic models. It also tried to downplay the PCF's historic attachment to Moscow and the Soviet Union. Since then,
672-529: A Progressive Alternative , a party of reformist communists, in the Limousin and Val-de-Marne ). There exist isolated Communist bases in the rural anti-clerical areas of southwestern Côtes-d'Armor and northwestern Morbihan ; in the industrial areas of Le Mans ; in the shipbuilding cities of Saint-Nazaire , La Seyne-sur-Mer (there are no more ships built in La Seyne); and in isolated industrial centres built along
784-481: A bloodless action called Opération Corse . Operation Resurrection would be implemented if De Gaulle was not approved as leader by the French Parliament , if De Gaulle asked for military assistance to take power, or to thwart any organized attempt by the French Communist Party to seize power or stall De Gaulle's return. De Gaulle, who had announced his retirement from politics
896-480: A confirmation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 's view on the future evolution of capitalism. The party feels that the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the Great Recession have further justified its calls to overcome capitalism. However, the PCF has remained somewhat vague on how capitalism will be 'overcome' and what will replace it, placing heavy emphasis on utopic models or values. The text adopted at
1008-466: A decade before, placed himself in the midst of the crisis, calling on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitutional system. On 29 May 1958, French politicians agreed upon calling on De Gaulle to take over the government as prime minister. The French Army's willingness to support an overthrow of the constitutional government was a significant development in French politics. With Army support, De Gaulle's government terminated
1120-399: A greater emphasis on social work and protests. The party's structures were democratized at the 1994 Congress, dropping democratic centralism and allowing for the public expression of disapproval or dissent with the party line or leadership. The party's top posts, like that of 'secretary-general', were renamed (secretary-general became national-secretary). The party, since 2000, is now led by
1232-453: A highly developed system of social benefits. According to various studies, the real purchasing power of the average French worker's salary went up by 170% between 1950 and 1975, while overall private consumption increased by 174% in the period 1950-1974. The French standard of living, which had been damaged by both World Wars , became one of the world's highest. The population also became far more urbanized; many rural départements experienced
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#17328766737181344-474: A large base of members and the party's political and electoral actions were supported in society by a trade union , the General Confederation of Labour (CGT); a newspaper , L'Humanité ; and a large number of front organizations or associations in civil society which organized a large number of political or non-political social activities for PCF members. One such activity which still exists today
1456-404: A lot!' They all threw flowers on us, the better to bury us. I knew that Ramadier was cooking up something bad, but never did I think he'd go this far… In 1950, at the height of his popularity among party members, Thorez suffered a stroke and remained in the Soviet Union for medical care until 1953. That March, Stalin died and Thorez was a member of the French delegation to Stalin's funeral. During
1568-549: A majority of members resigned from the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) party to set up the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC) with Ludovic-Oscar Frossard as its first secretary-general, with the involvement of Ho Chi Minh as one of the notable agitators participating in its creation. The new SFIC defined itself as revolutionary and democratic centralist . The 1920s saw
1680-487: A modernization of French industrial and managerial systems, free trade, and friendly economic relations with West Germany. The French economy grew rapidly like economies of other developed countries within the framework of the Marshall Plan such as West Germany , Italy , and Japan . These decades of economic prosperity combined high productivity with high average wages and high consumption, and were also characterised by
1792-401: A national council, which serves as the leadership between congresses; and the executive committee, which is charged with applying the national council's decisions. The national-secretary is elected by delegates at the congress. Likewise, the national council is elected by list voting at every congress. A reform of statutes in 2001 has allowed "alternative texts" – dissent from the text proposed by
1904-604: A number of splits within the party over relations with other left-wing parties and over adherence to Comintern 's dictates. The party entered the French parliament , but also promoted strike action and opposed colonialism , a position that was isolated in the French political landscape at the time. The Intercolonial Union, created in 1922, brought together activists from the French colonies around demands for political equality (the right to vote) and social equality ("equal pay for equal work"). The communists thus called for fraternization with
2016-545: A pardon. After the Liberation , Thorez was ordered by Stalin to lead the PCF immediately after the Second World War to a non-revolutionary road to power. The instructions were not to seize power as had been done elsewhere, but have the reluctant wartime Communist partisans surrender their weapons, and the party would become a powerful force in the post-war governments since it thought that it would soon win legally. In November 1944, Thorez returned to France from his exile in
2128-411: A population decline while the larger metropolitan areas grew considerably, especially that of Paris . Ownership of various household goods and amenities increased considerably, while the wages of the French working class rose significantly as the economy became more prosperous. As noted by the historians Jean Blondel and Donald Geoffrey Charlton in 1974, If it is still the case that France lags in
2240-718: A reestablishment and continuation of the French Third Republic which governed from 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War to 1940 during World War II , it suffered many of the same problems which led to its end. The French Fourth Republic was a parliamentary republic . Despite political dysfunction, the Fourth Republic saw an era of great economic growth in France and the rebuilding of the nation's social institutions and industry after World War II, with assistance from
2352-588: A section of the French Army rebelled and openly backed the Algérie française movement to defeat separation. Revolts and riots broke out in 1958 against the French government in Algiers, but there were no adequate and competent political initiatives by the French government in support of military efforts to end the rebellion owing to party politics. The feeling was widespread that another debacle like that of Indochina in 1954
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#17328766737182464-421: A three-day period. During the 1970s, the PCF registered success with the children's magazine it founded, Pif gadget . French Fourth Republic In Alsace-Moselle : The French Fourth Republic ( French : Quatrième république française ) was the republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution of 13 October 1946. Essentially
2576-643: A way to prevent further war between France and Germany . Though the United Kingdom was invited, its Labour government , then preparing for a re-election fight, did not join the initiative. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris , signed by France, Italy , West Germany , Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands . Between these countries the ECSC would create a common market for coal and steel. The ECSC
2688-705: Is a communist party in France . The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left , and its MEPs sit with The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL group. The PCF was founded in 1920 by Marxist–Leninist members of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) who supported the Bolsheviks in the 1917 Russian Revolution . It became a member of the Communist International , and followed
2800-483: Is the annual Fête de l'Humanité organized by the L'Humanité . French and foreign left-wing parties, organizations or movements are represented and the activities feature musical performances. Since the PCF's decline began in the 1970s, however, it has seen its membership base slowly dry up and its allied organizations disappear or distance themselves from the party. The PCF claimed 520,000 members in 1978; 330,000 in 1987; 270,000 in 1996; and 133,000 in 2002. In 2008,
2912-548: The 2017 presidential election , the PCF supported Mélenchon's candidature; however, tensions between the PCF and Mélenchon's movement, La France Insoumise , have led the two parties to campaign separately for the general elections. Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a strong influence in French politics, especially at the local level. In 2012, the PCF claimed to have had 138,000 members, 70,000 of whom had paid their membership fees. The French Communist Party (PCF) originated in 1920, when
3024-635: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union . In 1932 Thorez became the companion of Jeannette Vermeersch ; they had three sons before marrying in 1947, and remained married until his death. Thorez was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1932 and reelected in 1936. In 1934, following a Comintern directive, he helped form the Popular Front , an alliance between Communists, Socialists, and radical Socialists. The Front, because of strong popular support as France
3136-557: The Council of the Republic ), played a symbolic role. His main power was to propose a Prime Minister, who was subject to election by the National Assembly before forming a Cabinet. Only the Prime Minister could invoke a parliamentary vote on legitimacy of the Cabinet. The Prime Minister was also the only member of the executive able to demand a vote of confidence from the National Assembly (in
3248-632: The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance and other conservative parties, unsuccessfully attempted to oppose the Christian democrat and socialist MRP –SFIO–PCF alliance. The new constituent assembly included 166 MRP deputies, 153 PCF deputies and 128 SFIO deputies, giving the tripartite alliance an absolute majority. Georges Bidault of the MRP replaced Felix Gouin as the head of government. A new draft of
3360-582: The European Union , created in 1993 through the Maastricht Treaty ). The trigger for the collapse of the Fourth Republic was the Algiers crisis of 1958 . France was still a colonial power, although conflict and revolt had begun the process of decolonization . French West Africa , French Indochina , and French Algeria still sent representatives to the French parliament under systems of limited suffrage in
3472-517: The French Communist Party ( Parti communiste français , PCF) and the socialist SFIO supported the draft constitution, which envisaged a form of government based on unicameralism ; but this was rejected in the referendum of 5 May 1946 . For the 1946 elections , the Rally of Left Republicans ( Rassemblement des gauches républicaines , RGR), which encompassed the Radical-Socialist Party ,
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3584-680: The French Union . Algeria in particular, despite being the colony with the largest French-identifying population, saw rising pressure for separation from the Métropole . The situation was complicated by those in Algeria, such as the Pieds-Noirs , who wanted to stay part of France, so the Algerian War became not just a separatist movement but had elements of a civil war . Further complications came when
3696-558: The Jacobins the concept of France as a centralised, French-speaking , unitary state, with a unitary culture and it is opposed to the separatism and regional identity of other European minority groups native to the area of what consists the French Republic. For instance in 1984, the Soviet ethnographer Solomon Bruk (who had worked under Sergey Tolstov ) published a study on France and mentioned
3808-625: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 and the subsequent Soviet participation in the invasion of Poland , the Communist Party was against the French war effort and so was outlawed: the Communist Party did not support what the Nazis stood for but points of similarity were stressed. The Party supported the Soviet Union 's tactical treaty with Germany in order to direct German aggression away from
3920-519: The National Council of the Resistance (CNR). By the time the German occupation ended in 1944, the party had become a powerful force in many parts of France. It was among the leading parties in elections in 1945 and 1946, and entered into the governing Tripartite alliance, which pursued social reforms and statism . However, amid concerns within France and abroad over the extent of communist influence,
4032-400: The Soviet Union . Under Robert Hue 's leadership after 1994, the PCF's ideology and internal organization underwent major changes. Hue clearly rejected the Soviet model, and reserved very harsh criticism for Soviet leaders who had "rejected, for years, human rights and 'bourgeois' democracy" and had oppressed individual liberties and aspirations. Today, the PCF considers the Soviet Union as
4144-467: The Third Republic any minister could call for a vote of confidence). The Cabinet could be dismissed if an absolute majority of the National Assembly's members voted against the Cabinet. Finally, the National Assembly could be dissolved after two ministerial crises in the legislature . However, these constitutional measures did not work. In January 1947, after his election by the National Assembly and
4256-568: The abolition of the death penalty and nuclear disarmament . In 1979 it was proposed by revisionists in France that party documents should omit Marxism–Leninism and use scientific socialism in its place. Under the Common Programme, however, the PCF steadily lost ground to the PS, a process that continued after Mitterrand's victory in 1981. Initially allotted a minor share in Mitterrand's government,
4368-622: The refondateurs , 10.26% for André Gerin's orthodox list and 5.64% for Nicolas Marchand's novateur list. Currently, the PCF retains some strength in suburban Paris, in the Nord section of the old coal mining area in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais , the industrial harbours of Le Havre and Dieppe , in some departments of central France, such as Allier and Cher (where a form of sharecropping existed, in addition to mining and small industrial-mining centres such as Commentry and Montceau-les-Mines ),
4480-567: The "Red Limousin ", the Pas-de-Calais , Paris proper, Nièvre , Finistère, Alpes-Maritimes and Var have been hurt significantly by demographic changes (Var, Alpes-Maritimes, Finistère), a loss of voters to the Socialist Party due to good local Socialist infrastructure or strongmen (Nièvre, Pas-de-Calais, Paris) or due to the emergence of rival parties on the radical left (the Convention for
4592-447: The 1930s and 1960s, in 1946, it elected seventeen of the first thirty-three women deputies. In 1956, there were only nineteen women in the National Assembly, but fifteen were Communists. On the issue of immigration, the PCF's positions have also evolved significantly since the 1980s. In the 1981 presidential election , Georges Marchais ran a controversial campaign on immigration which was harshly criticized by anti-racism organizations at
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4704-534: The 1945 elections, Thorez became vice premier of France from 1946 to 1947. By 1947 a combination of the emerging Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and growing social conflicts in France, linked to the increasing gap between wages and prices, put the three party union (SFIO, PCF and MRP ) under heavy pressure, culminating in the May 1947 crisis . Prime Minister Paul Ramadier received threats from
4816-507: The CEVIPOF in 1979 and 1997, the makeup of the PCF's membership has also changed significantly since 1979. The most marked change was a major decline in the share of manual workers ( ouvriers ) in the party's membership, with a larger number of employees and middle-classes, especially those who work in the public sector . The form of political action taken by members has also changed, with less emphasis on direct political or electoral action but
4928-544: The CGT and the PCF were close and almost indissociable allies – notably in May 1968 when both the CGT and PCF were eager for a restoration of social order and welcomed the Grenelle agreements . While the CGT has remained the largest trade union in France, it has taken its independence vis-à-vis the PCF. Louis Viannet spectacularly quit the national bureau of the PCF in 1996 and Bernard Thibault ,
5040-464: The CGT's leader between 1999 and 2013, left the PCF's national council in 2001. L'Humanité has retained closer ties with the PCF. The newspaper was founded by Jean Jaurès in 1904 as the socialist movement's mouthpiece, and it followed the communist majority following the split in 1920. After having been the official newspaper of the PCF, with a readership of up to 100,000 in 1945, the newspaper's readership and sales declined substantially partly due to
5152-586: The Cabinet and to reinforce the authority of the Prime Minister of France, who led the Cabinet. The goal of the new constitution was to reconcile parliamentary democracy with ministerial stability. For instance, under the new Constitution, the President of the Council was the leader of the executive branch (Prime Minister of France). The President of the French Republic, elected by the Parliament (the National Assembly and
5264-546: The Communist Minister of Defence. The crisis was also escalated by the beginnings of the colonial war in Vietnam , with the communist deputies in the National Assembly voting against the war. Combined, that led Ramadier to look for a pretext to dismiss Thorez and his colleagues from the ruling coalition. On 4 May, the PCF ministers voted against the government over deflationary policies such as wage and price controls, which
5376-449: The Communist Party organized a demonstration of thousands of students and workers against the occupation on 11 November 1940, and in May 1941 organized a strike of 100,000 miners in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. During this time, articles written by and ghostwritten for Thorez appeared frequently in the party's underground newspaper, Humanité Clandestine . Each of these letters was signed 'Maurice Thorez, somewhere in France'. It
5488-707: The Constitution was written, which this time proposed the establishment of a bicameral form of government. Leon Blum of the SFIO headed the GPRF from 1946 to 1947. After a new legislative election in June 1946, the Christian democrat Georges Bidault assumed leadership of the Cabinet . Despite De Gaulle's so-called discourse of Bayeux of 16 June 1946 in which he denounced the new institutions,
5600-477: The French communists somewhat better electoral results. Pierre Laurent was leader from 2010 to 2018, being succeeded by Fabien Roussel who stood as the party's candidate at the 2022 French presidential election . Roussel received 2.28% of votes cast, coming in eighth place. The PCF, in contrast to weaker and more marginal communist parties in Europe, is usually seen as a left wing , rather than far-left, party in
5712-416: The French context. While the French far-left ( LCR / NPA , LO ) has refused to participate in government or engage in electoral alliances with centre-left parties such as the PS, the PCF has participated in governments in the past, and still enjoys a de facto electoral agreement with the PS (mutual withdrawals, the common practice since 1962 and in 1934–1939). Nonetheless, some observers and analysts classify
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#17328766737185824-643: The French people wanted to continue the fight in Indochina against the Communists, led by Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh movement. Pierre Mendès France was a Radical Party leader who was Prime Minister for eight months in 1954–55, working with the support of the Socialist and Communist parties. His top priority was ending the war in Indochina, which had already cost 92,000 dead, 114,000 wounded and 28,000 captured in
5936-511: The General Council – in the Val-de-Marne and Allier . The PCF lost Seine-Saint-Denis , which it had held since the 1960s, to the PS in 2008. The PCF has traditionally been a "mass party", although Maurice Duverger had differentiated it from other mass parties because the PCF kept a tight control over membership and regularly expelled unsuitable members. In its heyday, the PCF maintained
6048-411: The Moroccan insurgents during the Rif War (1925–1926) and to the evacuation of Morocco by the French army, they called for an end to the fighting and the independence of French Syria during the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–1927, and denounced the festivities of the centenary of the colonization of Algeria, organizing in particular a campaign to boycott the Paris Colonial Exposition (1931). The party
6160-408: The PCF and they are de facto expressed officially by different orientation texts or lists for leadership elections at party congresses. Preparatory votes on orientation texts for PCF Congresses since 2003: At the XXXIV Congress in 2008, for the election of the national council, the majority's list won 67.73% from the congress' delegates against 16.38% for Marie-Pierre Vieu's huiste list backed by
6272-433: The PCF as a far-left party, noting their political proximity to other far-left parties. In the 1980s, under Georges Marchais , the PCF mixed a partial acceptance of "bourgeois" democracy and individual liberties with more traditional Marxist–Leninist ideas. During this same period the PCF was run on democratic centralist lines and structured itself as a revolutionary party in the Leninist sense and rejected criticism of
6384-414: The PCF leadership – to be presented and voted on; dissident lists to those backed by the leadership may also run for the national council. The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) was dominated by the PCF after 1946, with almost all its leaders between 1947 and 1996 ( Benoît Frachon , Georges Séguy , Henri Krasucki , Louis Viannet ) also serving in the PCF's national leadership structures. For years,
6496-420: The PCF opposed de Gaulle's formation of the Fifth Republic in 1958, the following years saw a rapprochement with other left-wing forces and an increased strength in parliament. With Waldeck Rochet as its new secretary-general, the party supported François Mitterrand 's unsuccessful presidential bid in 1965. During the student riots and strikes of May 1968 , the party supported the strikes while denouncing
6608-441: The PCF resigned in 1984 as the government turned towards fiscal orthodoxy. Under Marchais the party largely maintained its traditional communist doctrines and structure. Extensive reform was undertaken after 1994, when Robert Hue became leader. This did little to stem the party's declining popularity, although it entered government again in 1997 as part of the Plural Left coalition. Elections in 2002 gave worse results than ever for
6720-498: The PCF voted in favour of the civil solidarity pact (PACS), civil unions, including for homosexual couples. The PCF supports both same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption . On 12 February 2013, PCF deputies voted in favour of same-sex marriage and adoption rights in the National Assembly, though PCF deputy Patrice Carvalho voted against. The PCF also supports feminist movements, and supports policies to further promote gender equality and parity. Despite its moral conservatism in
6832-401: The PCF was excluded from government in May 1947 . Under pressure from Moscow, the PCF thereafter distanced itself from other parties and focused on agitation within its trade union base. For the rest of the Fourth Republic period the PCF, led by Thorez and Jacques Duclos, remained politically isolated, still taking a Stalinist line, though retaining substantial electoral support. Although
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#17328766737186944-416: The PCF's concomitant decline. In 1999, the mention of the newspaper's link to the PCF was dropped and the PCF no longer determines its editorial stance. It sold an average of 46,929 newspapers per day in 2012; down from 53,530 in 2007. Secretaries-general (1921–1994) and national-secretaries (since 1994) There are no formal organized factions or political groupings within the PCF. This was originally due to
7056-494: The PCF's ideology has been marked by significant ideological evolution on some topics, but consistency on other issues. Some of the most marked changes have come on individual rights and immigration. After having vilified homosexuality and feminism as "the rubbish of capitalism" in the 1970s, the PCF now supports gay rights and feminism. In the 1980s, the PCF supported reducing the age of consent for homosexual relationships, and opposed attempts to re-penalize homosexuality. In 1998,
7168-445: The PCF. Under Marie-George Buffet , the PCF turned away from parliamentary strategy and sought broader social alliances. To maintain a presence in parliament after 2007 the party's few remaining deputies had to join others in the Democratic and Republican Left group (GDR). Subsequently, a broader electoral coalition, the Left Front (FG), was formed including the PCF, the Left Party (PG), Unitary Left , and others. The FG has brought
7280-417: The Soviet Union, and in 1945 his citizenship was restored. The PCF emerged from the Second World War as the largest political party in France based on its role in the anti-Nazi resistance movement during the occupation of France, at least after 1941. Thorez was again elected to the Chamber of Deputies and reelected throughout the Fourth Republic (1946–1958). Forming a popular front with the Socialist Party in
7392-414: The Trente Glorieuses as an exceptional "catch up" period following the world wars. He cites statistics showing that normal growth in wealthy countries is about 1.5–2%, whereas in Europe growth dropped to 0.5% between 1913 and 1950, and then "caught up" with a growth rate of 4% between 1950 and 1970, until settling back to 1.5–2% from 1970 onward. Public opinion polls showed that in February 1954, only 7% of
7504-419: The USSR and toward Great Britain and France. For impeding the fight against the Nazis, the Party's publications were banned and many Party members were interned. Thorez himself had his passport revoked. Shortly thereafter, he was drafted. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the French Communist Party openly declared it would violently resist the German occupation; even before this,
7616-411: The United States that the presence of Communist ministers in the government would have consequences, such as the blocking of U.S. aid from the coming Marshall Plan , or worse: "I told Ramadier," Jefferson Caffery , then U.S. ambassador to France , wrote in his diary, "no Communists in gov. or else." Simultaneously, the 1947 strikes in France caused rumours to spread among the non-Communist members of
7728-515: The United States through the Marshall Plan . It also saw the beginning of the rapprochement with France's longtime enemy Germany , which led to Franco-German co-operation and eventually to the European Union . The new constitution made some attempts to strengthen the executive branch of government to prevent the unstable situation before the war, but instability remained and the French Fourth Republic saw frequent changes of government – there were 21 administrations in its 12-year history. Moreover,
7840-431: The Workers' International (SFIO) in 1919 and was imprisoned several times for his political activism. After the 1920 split in the SFIO led to the formation of the French Communist Party (PCF) in December 1920, Thorez became party secretary in 1923 and, in 1930, general secretary of the party, a position he held until his death. After he took office as secretary general, he was supported by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and
7952-437: The XXXVI Congress in February 2013 reiterated the party's call on the need to "overcome" capitalism, fiercely denounced by the PCF as having led to "savage competition", "the devastation of the planet" and "barbarism". It contrasts its vision of capitalism with its proposed alternative, described as an egalitarian , humanist , and democratic alternative. It emphasizes human emancipation, the development of "each and every one",
8064-483: The absence of Thorez, the party was de facto controlled by Jacques Duclos . Thorez resumed his duties upon returning to France. Although his health had deteriorated, Thorez remained party leader until shortly before his death in 1964 on a Black Sea cruise. He published in 1937 an autobiography, Fils du peuple ( Son of the People , 1938). The book had been written with the help of fr:Jean Fréville , who had inserted in
8176-452: The alliance, they were the only party to support nuclear energy. Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the FG's platform in the 2012 presidential election was broken up into nine overarching themes. The platform also supported same-sex marriage , same-sex adoption , voting rights for resident foreigners , euthanasia , and constitutional recognition of abortion . The French Communist Party inherited from
8288-429: The citizens of our country, every man and woman of French nationality is French. Every attempt using hazardous criteria which borders on racism in an ill-defined way, seeking to define as not purely French such and such members of the French community, is offensive to the national consciousness. Nobody here can accept that, our Party least of all. The PCF does not, as of May 2022 , have any MEPs . It has two Presidents of
8400-660: The city was given back the former name of Chystyakove by decision of the Ukrainian Parliament . The Moscow State Linguistic University was named the Maurice Thorez Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages ( Russian : Московский институт иностранных языков имени Мориса Тореза) between 1964 and 1990. French Communist Party Former parties Former parties Former parties The French Communist Party ( French : Parti communiste français , pronounced [paʁti kɔmynist fʁɑ̃sɛ] , PCF )
8512-469: The communist mayor of Sarcelles, Henry Canacos, was named "best mayor in the Paris region" by Vie Publique (a trade periodical for urban planners and administrators) for enriching Sarcelles' public spaces with new restaurants, movie theatres, cafes, more parks, a large shopping mall, and better transportation. Education also became, in the words of one text, an "identifiable characteristic of Communist government at
8624-576: The existence of other ethnic groups in the state such as Bretons , Corsicans , Alsatians , Basques , Catalans , Flemish and others. In response to this work, General Secretary Georges Marchais wrote a letter of protest in February 1984, complaining bitterly to the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . France is one country, one nation, one people. We protest indignantly against such ridiculous and odious allegations. For us, as for all
8736-460: The following: Traditionally, it was also the owner of the French daily L'Humanité ( Humanity ), founded by Jean Jaurès . Although the newspaper is now independent, it remains close to the PCF. The paper is sustained by the annual Fête de L'Humanité festival, held in La Courneuve , a working class suburb of Paris. This event remains the biggest festival in France, with 600,000 attendees during
8848-529: The government proved unable to make effective decisions regarding decolonization of the numerous remaining French colonies . After a series of crises culminating in the Algerian crisis of 1958 , the French Fourth Republic collapsed. Wartime leader Charles de Gaulle returned from retirement to preside over a transitional administration empowered to design a new French constitution . The Fourth Republic
8960-487: The government that the PCF would attempt a coup d'état on 1 May: Jules Moch , SFIO Public Works Minister, claimed to have "certain information" on preparations of a coup by the PCF. Ramadier is alleged to have worked secretly with Georges Revers, the Army Chief of Staff, to set up a secret transport and communications network within the military to safeguard against such a coup, all without the knowledge of François Billoux ,
9072-504: The industrial mining region of northern Meurthe-et-Moselle ( Longwy ) and in some cities of the south, such as the industrial areas of Marseille and nearby towns, as well as the working-class suburbs surrounding Paris (the ceinture rouge ), Lyon , Saint-Étienne , Alès and Grenoble . The PCF is also strong in the Cévennes mountains, a left-wing rural anti-clerical stronghold with a strong Huguenot minority. Communist traditions in
9184-429: The local level". A study of municipal budgets that was completed in 1975 (but using data from 1968) found that while Communist local government spent 34% less than non-Communist Left governments and 36% less than moderate-Right governments for maintenance, it nevertheless spent 49% more than moderate Right governments and 36% more than non-Communist Left governments for education and educational support. The PCF publishes
9296-570: The nationalist leader in Tunisia, for the independence of that colony by 1956, and began discussions with the nationalist leaders in Morocco for a French withdrawal. The intention of the new Constitution's authors was to rationalize the parliamentary system . Ministers were accountable to the legislative body, the French National Assembly , but some measures were introduced in order to protect
9408-537: The new proportional representation did not create conditions for ministerial stability. Governmental coalitions were composed of an undisciplined patchwork of center-left and center-right parties. Finally, the Fourth Republic was confronted with the collapse of the French colonial empire . The creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was first proposed by French foreign minister Robert Schuman and French economist Jean Monnet on 9 May 1950 as
9520-503: The new draft was approved by 53% of voters voting in favor (with an abstention rate of 31%) in the referendum held on 13 October 1946 and the Constitution of 27 October 1946 came into force two weeks later as the Fourth Republic, in an arrangement in which executive power essentially resided in the hands of the President of the Council (the prime minister). The President of the Republic
9632-648: The next 30 years was excluded from government despite consistently winning more than 20 percent of the vote in elections. It fell behind the Socialist Party in the 1970s, though entered government early in François Mitterrand 's presidency (1981–1984) and participated in the Plural Left cabinet led by Lionel Jospin (1997–2002). From 2009, the PCF was a leading member of the Left Front ( Front de gauche ), alongside Jean-Luc Mélenchon 's Left Party (PG). During
9744-451: The nomination of his ministers, Prime Minister Paul Ramadier called for a vote of confidence in order to verify that the Assembly approved the composition of his Cabinet. This initiated a custom of double election, a vote for the Prime Minister followed by a vote of confidence in the chosen Cabinet, that weakened the Prime Minister's authority over the Cabinet. Cabinets were dismissed with only
9856-412: The number of immigrants in housing projects. However, today the PCF supports the regularization of illegal immigrants . One historical consistency in the PCF's ideology has been its staunch opposition to capitalism , which must be "overcome" because according to the PCF the capitalist system is "exhausted" and "on the verge of collapse". The PCF has interpreted the current course of globalization as
9968-416: The number of its telephones, working-class housing has improved beyond recognition and the various 'gadgets' of the consumer society–from television to motor cars–are now purchased by the working class on an even more avid basis than in other Western European countries. The worldwide 1973 oil crisis slowed down its explosive growth. Thus, the mid-1970s marked the end of the period. Thomas Piketty describes
10080-465: The old Paris-Lyon railway (the urban core of Romilly-sur-Seine , Aube has elected a Communist general councillor since 1958). During the course of the 20th century, the French communists were considered to be pioneers in local government, providing not only efficient street lighting and clean streets, but also public entertainment, public housing, municipal swimming pools, day nurseries, children's playgrounds, and public lavatories. In 1976, for instance,
10192-457: The party began to organise opposition to the occupation. Shortly before Germany invaded the Soviet Union the next year, the PCF formed, in May 1941, the National Front movement within the broader Resistance , together with the armed Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP) group. At the same time the PCF began to work with de Gaulle 's " Free France " government in exile, and later took part in
10304-400: The party claimed that it had 134,000 members of which 79,000 were up to date on their membership fees. In the 2011 internal primary, 69,277 members were registered to vote and 48,631 (70.2%) did so. The party likely has about 70,000 members as of today, but only about 40 to 50 thousand seem to actively participate in the party's organization and political activities. According to studies by
10416-554: The party from 1924 to 1929. Semard sought party unity and alliances with other parties; but leaders including Thorez (party leader from 1930 to 1964) imposed a Stalinist line from the late 1920s. With the rise of fascism after 1934 the PCF supported the Popular Front , which came to power under Léon Blum in 1936. The party supported the Second Spanish Republic and opposed the 1938 Munich Agreement with Hitler. It
10528-412: The practice of democratic centralism, but even after the democratization of the PCF structure after 1994 the ban on the organization of formal factions within the party remained. According to party statutes, the PCF supports the "pluralism of ideas" but the right to pluralism "may not be translated into an organizations of tendencies". Nevertheless, certain factions and groups are easily identifiable within
10640-460: The proposed new constitution, which was to be put to a referendum. De Gaulle advocated a presidential system of government, and criticized the reinstatement of what he pejoratively called "the parties system". He resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Felix Gouin of the French Section of the Workers' International ( Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière , SFIO). Ultimately only
10752-437: The revolutionary student movements. After heavy losses in the ensuing parliamentary elections, the party adopted Georges Marchais as leader and in 1973 entered into a "Common Programme" alliance with Mitterrand's reconstituted Socialist Party (PS). It provided for an increase in wages and social benefits, a reduction in working hours, a retirement age of 60 for men and 55 for women, the expansion of workers' rights and freedoms,
10864-507: The right to happiness and the equal dignity of each human being regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. The party further posits that such an egalitarian society is impossible within capitalism, which "unleashes domination and hatred". The party is generally seen as Eurosceptic . For the 2022 French legislative election , the party joined the New Ecologic and Social People's Union (NUPES) bloc of left-wing and green parties. In
10976-449: The story a passage where the initials of the words formed the phrase "Fréville a écrit ce livre" ("Fréville wrote this book"). The passage, present on pages 36-37 of the first edition, was deleted in the following editions. In 1945, he published Une politique de grandeur française (1945; "Politics of French Greatness"). The city of Torez in Ukraine was named after him in 1964. In 2016,
11088-488: The time. In 1980, the PCF's leadership voted in favour of limiting immigration. The same year, Marchais supported the PCF mayor of Vitry-sur-Seine who had destroyed a home for Malian migrant workers; the PCF claimed that the right-wing government was trying to push immigrants into ghettos in Communist working-class cities. The Libération newspaper also alleged that PCF municipal administrations had been working to limit
11200-702: The wake of the humiliating defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in early May 1954. At the Geneva Conference (1954) , he made a deal that gave the Viet Minh control of Vietnam north of the 17th parallel, and allowed him to pull out all French forces. That left South Vietnam standing alone. However, the United States moved in and provided large-scale financial, military and economic support for South Vietnam. Mendès France next came to an agreement with Habib Bourguiba ,
11312-592: Was dissolved on 5 October 1958 following a public referendum which established the current French Fifth Republic with a strengthened presidency . After the liberation of France in 1944, the Vichy government was dissolved and the Provisional Government of the French Republic ( French : Gouvernement provisoire de la République française , GPRF), also known as the French Committee of National Liberation ,
11424-625: Was given a largely symbolic role, although he remained chief of the French Army and as a last resort could be called upon to resolve conflicts. After the expulsion of the Communists from the governing coalition, France joined the Cold War against Stalin, as expressed by becoming a founding member of NATO in April 1949. France now took a leadership position in unifying western Europe, working closely with Konrad Adenauer of West Germany. Robert Schuman , who
11536-406: Was given as the reason for the PCF ministers being forced out of the ruling coalition on 7 May 1947. Thorez later recalled the May 1947 events: All my colleagues were full of praises and kindnesses for us – they were prodigal with their declarations of appeasement. Ramadier told us: 'I have no reproaches to make of you. You have always been loyal.' And Teitgen came forward to say 'We shall miss you
11648-471: Was governed by a 'High Authority', checked by bodies representing governments; representatives of the peoples of the member States (selected from each state's Members of Parliament ); and an independent judiciary . The Treaty of Paris (1951) , which created the ECSC, was superseded on 25 March 1957 by the Treaty of Rome , which established the European Economic Community (the forerunner to
11760-587: Was in the offing and that the government would order another precipitous pullout and sacrifice French honour to political expediency. This prompted General Jacques Massu to create a French settlers' committee to demand the formation of a new national government under General De Gaulle, who was a national hero and had advocated a strong military policy, nationalism and the retention of French control over Algeria. General Massu, who had gained prominence and authority when he ruthlessly suppressed Algerian militants, famously declared that unless General De Gaulle
11872-486: Was instituted after a unanimous request of the Provisional Consultative Assembly to be properly represented. With most of the political class discredited and containing many members who had more or less collaborated with Nazi Germany, Gaullism and communism became the most popular political forces in France. Charles de Gaulle led the GPRF from 1944 to 1946. Meanwhile, negotiations took place over
11984-532: Was not until several years after the war that the party admitted that this was false, and that Thorez had been in Moscow for the entire war. In his absence, the affairs of the PCF and of the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans , the party's resistance movement, in France were organised by his second in command, Jacques Duclos . When General Charles de Gaulle 's Free French Forces liberated France in 1944, Thorez received
12096-462: Was organized around leaders who were mostly from the working class, setting up training and promotion schemes and encouraging the presentation of working-class candidates in elections. The Maurice Thorez , Jacques Duclos and Benoît Frachon team, who had been miners, metalworkers and pastry cooks respectively, had an exceptional longevity and led the French party for almost three decades. The railroad worker Pierre Semard had been secretary general of
12208-505: Was reeling from the impact of the Great Depression , won the 1936 election . With the support of the Communists under Thorez, the socialist Léon Blum became Prime Minister of a Popular Front government and managed to enact much of the Front's social-legislation programme. Meanwhile, Thorez presided over massive growth of the Communist Party, beginning with the elections of 1936. Following
12320-462: Was returned to power, the French Army would openly revolt; General Massu and other senior generals covertly planned the takeover of Paris with 1,500 paratroopers preparing to take over airports with the support of French Air Force units. Armoured units from Rambouillet prepared to roll into Paris. On 24 May, French paratroopers from the Algerian corps landed on Corsica , taking the French island in
12432-583: Was the only political party in France to denounce this agreement. The party was banned in 1939 by the government of Édouard Daladier as a result of the German–Soviet Non-aggression Pact , due to its membership in the Comintern , which opposed the War (prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany). The leadership, threatened with execution, fled abroad. After the German invasion of 1940
12544-506: Was twice Prime Minister and at other times Minister of Finance and Foreign Minister, was instrumental in building post-war European and trans-Atlantic institutions. A devout Catholic and anti-Communist, he led France to be a member of the European Communities , the Council of Europe and NATO. Les Trente Glorieuses ('The Glorious Thirty') was the high prosperity in the 30 years from 1945 to 1975. In 1944, De Gaulle introduced
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