French Communist Party

Foundation

The PCF was founded in 1920 by those in the French Socialist Party (SFIO) who supported the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and opposed the First World War. Tensions within the Socialist Party had emerged in 1914 with the start of the First World War, which saw the majority of the SFIO take what left-wing socialists called a "social-chauvinist" line in support of the French war effort. At the SFIO congress in Tours in 1920, the left-wing faction split away and formed the PCF, taking the party paper ''L'Humanité'' with them. The PCF affiliated itself to the Communist International (Comintern).

The 1920s

Although at first the PCF rivalled the SFIO for leadership of the French socialist movement, within a few years its support declined, and for most of the 1920s it was a small and isolated party. In the late 1920s the policies of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, under which the PCF denounced the SFIO as "social fascists" and refused any co-operation, kept the left weak and divided. Like all Comintern parties, the PCF underwent a process of "Stalinisation" in which a pro-Stalin leadership under Maurice Thorez was installed in 1930 and all internal dissent banned. The rise of Adolf Hitler and the destruction of the German Communist Party led to a change of policy in the early 1930s.

The Popular Front

During the 1930s the PCF grew rapidly in size and influence, its growth fuelled by the popularity of the Comintern's Popular Front strategy, which allowed an Popular Front (France)|alliance with the SFIO and the French Radical Party|Radicals to fight against fascism. The Popular Front won the 1936 elections, and Leon Blum formed a Socialist-Radical government. The PCF supported this government but did not join it. The Popular Front government soon collapsed under the strain of domestic and foreign policy issues. After the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the PCF was declared a proscribed organisation. The PCF pursued an anti-war course during the early part of the Second World War. Thorez deserted from the French Army and fled to the Soviet Union. When the Nazi Germany|Germans invaded France, the PCF took a "neutralist" position, and initially collaborated with the German occupiers.

Wartime influence

This position changed when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The party then took an active part in the French Resistance|Resistance movement, regaining credibility as an anti-fascist force. By 1944 the PCF had reached the height of its influence, controlling large areas of the country through the Resistance units under its command. Some in the PCF wanted to launch a revolution as the Germans withdrew from the country, but the leadership, acting on Stalin's instructions, opposed this and adopted a policy of co-operating with the Allied powers and advocating a new Popular Front government. Many well-known figures joined the party during the war, including Pablo Picasso, who joined the PCF in 1944. With the liberation of France in 1944, the PCF, along with other resistance groups, entered the government of Charles de Gaulle, but were forced to quit the government of Paul Ramadier in 1947. Beginning in 1947, the onset of the Cold War led the PCF to pursue a more militant policy, alienating it from the SFIO and allowing the right-wing parties to stay in power. During the French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic, as the SFIO and the Radicals declined, the PCF consistently received more votes than any other party, although they were not allowed to enter the government and did not want to.

The 1960s and 70s

in Paris, was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and constructed between 1967 and 1972.]] Thorez died in 1964 and was succeeded as PCF leader by Waldeck Rochet. In May 1968 widespread student riots and strikes broke out in France. The PCF supported the general strike but opposed the revolutionary student movement, which was dominated by Trotskyism|Trotskyists, Maoism|Maoists and Anarchists. The PCF also alienated many on the left by supporting the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Nevertheless, the PCF benefited from the left-wing mood of the period, and from the collapse of the socialists. Due to Waldeck Rochet's ill health, Jacques Duclos was the candidate at thee 1969 presidential election. Duclos polled 21% of the vote, completely eclipsing the SFIO. In 1972 Waldeck Rochet was succeeded by Georges Marchais, who had effectively controlled the party since 1970. Marchais began a moderate liberalisation of the party's policies and internal life, although dissident members, particularly intellectuals, continued to be expelled. The PCF entered an alliance with François Mitterrand's new French Socialist Party|Socialist Party (PS), but broke it off again before the 1974 elections, allowing the right to retain power. The PCF remained loyal to Moscow, disapproving of the Eurocommunism of the Italian Communist Party. The alliance with the PS was renewed for the 1981 elections, at which Mitterrand was elected President and the left won a large majority in the French National Assembly|National Assembly.

Decline

Under Mitterrand the PCF held ministerial office for the first time since 1947, but this had the effect of locking the PCF into Mitterrand's reformist agenda, and the PCF's electoral support drained away to the PS. The PCF also suffered from the rise of the National Front (France)|National Front, whose populism|populist slogans appealed to many PCF voters. During the 1980s the PCF vote fell sharply. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a crisis in the PCF, but it did not follow the example of some other European communist parties of dissolving itself or changing its name. In 1994 Marchais retired and was succeeded by Robert Hue. Under Hue the party embarked on a process called ''la mutation''. ''La mutation'', which included the thorough reorganization of party structure and to move away from leninist dogmas, was intended to vitalize the stagnant left and to attract non-affiliated leftists to join the party. But in effect it only resulted in increasing the pace of the decline of the party. Under Lionel Jospin, the PCF again held ministerial offices from 1997 to 2002. The party became riddled with internal conflict, as many sectors opposed ''la mutation'' and policy of co-governing with the Socialists. Hue only received 3.4% of the votes in the 2002 presidential elections. At the 2002 National Assembly elections, the PCF polled 4.8% of the vote and won 21 seats (out of 567). Eventually Hue had to resign, and in 2003 Marie-George Buffet took over the leadership of the party. Under Buffet the party embarked on a process of reconstruction, reversing some of the moves done during ''la mutation''. The victory of the 'No' in the 2005 French plebiscite on the Constitution of the European Union, served as a major boost for the party. Under the referendum campaign the party was vitalized, with a resurgence of the work in the party cells. The PCF main strongholds are in the Paris suburbs, in the industrial areas around Lille, and in some areas of the south such as Marseille.

Publications

The PCF publishes the following:

'''Communistes''' (''Communists'')

'''Info Hebdo''' (''Fortnightly Information'')

'''Economie et Politique''' (''Economics and Politics'') Traditionally, it was also the owner of the French daily ''L'Humanité'' (Humanity). 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 the working class suburbs of Paris.

See also

List of foreign delegations at 24th PCF Congress (1982)

Place du Colonel Fabien

External links

http://www.pcf.fr

http://www.pcf.fr/?iddos=53

http://www.pcf.fr/?iddos=25

http://www.economie-politique.org/

http://www.humanite.fr/

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/gauchecomm/

http://www.initiative-communiste.fr/

http://le.manifeste.free.fr/