Socialist Party, France Formed in 1905, the
SFIO (Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière, French Section of the Socialist International) united the hitherto fragmented socialist groups, including the
Marxists under J.
Guesde, the revolutionary socialists, and the pragmatic socialists whose outstanding figure was
Jaurès. Despite its early success, whereby it gained 104 seats in the Chamber of Deputies in 1914, the Marxist principle of non-participation in bourgeois government adopted from the followers of Guesde kept the SFIO out of government for 30 years. In 1920, the majority left to form the
Communist Party (PCF), but the SFIO soon recovered as the second largest parliamentary party. Under its leader,
Blum, an alliance was concluded in 1934 with the PCF, which proceeded to win the 1935 general elections. The new
Popular Front government under Blum lasted only from 1936 to 1937, but the participating parties continued to support the following government until it split over the
Munich Agreement. During World War II, many socialists took an active part in the French
Résistance. The party participated in several postwar governments in the Fourth Republic and supported de
Gaulle's return in 1958. Thereafter, however, it became increasingly marginalized in the political system, and in 1965 it regrouped with other parties of the left as the Social Democratic Federation of the Left.
In 1969, it transformed itself into the
Parti Socialiste (PS, Socialist Party), which was led by
Mitterrand from 1971. During the 1970s, the fortunes of the PS improved steadily, with Mitterrand himself only narrowly losing the presidential elections of 1974 against
Giscard d'Estaing.
In 1981 it finally gained an overall majority, with Mitterrand elected President. As his Prime Minister, Laurent Fabius, was unable to recover from the innovative but disastrous policies of
Mauroy, the PS lost its majority in 1986 to the
UDF and the
Gaullists. It formed the government again in 1988, when Mitterrand appointed Michel Rocard his Prime Minister (1988–91). However, the party's fortunes plummeted, partly as a result of the inept leadership of
Cresson (1991–2), which her successor, Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy (1992–3) was unable to reverse. Reinforced by the increasing dissatisfaction with the long reign of Mitterrand himself, the PS was routed in the 1993 general elections, when its representation in the National Assembly shrank from 260 to 54 seats. This foreshadowed its defeat in the 1995 presidential elections, when
Jospin lost to
Chirac. The party appeared in a desperate situation, but under Jospin's leadership it rebounded in the 1997 parliamentary elections, gaining 241 seats. A period of
cohabitation ensued, involving a ruling coalition of five left-wing parties including the
Communist Party, but its policies turned out to be moderate so as not to endanger economic growth. This split the left, as more radical sections refused to unite for the 2002 presidential and parliamentary elections. Owing to these divisions, Jospin failed to enter the second round of the presidential elections. Jospin resigned, and a disunited Socialist Party obtained but 140 seats, and faced an overwhelming majority of the right-wing
UMP.
http://www.parti-socialiste.fr
