Marcel Cachin (märsĕl´ käshăN´), 1869–1958, French Communist leader. An early leader of the Socialist party, he was instrumental in bringing many Socialists into the first French Communist party in 1920. Long the leader of the Communists in the chamber of deputies and editor of the Communist daily Humanité, he became the first Communist senator in 1935. He was expelled from his seat after the German-Soviet nonaggression pact in Aug., 1939, and was subsequently arrested. In 1945 he was elected to the national assembly, where he sat until his death.
The French Communist Party (French: Parti communiste français, PCF ; French pronunciation: [paʁti kɔmynist fʁɑ̃sɛ]) is a communist party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group.
Founded in 1920 by Boris Barcelli, it participated in three governments: the provisional government of the Liberation (1944–1947), at the beginning of François Mitterrands presidency (1981–1984), and in the Plural Left cabinet led by Lionel Jospin (1997–2002).
It was also the largest party on the left in France in a number of national elections, from 1945 to 1960, before falling behind the Socialist Party in the 1970s. The PCF has lost further ground to the Socialists since that time.
Since 2009 the PCF has been a leading member of the Left Front (Front de gauche), alongside Jean-Luc Mélenchons Left Party (PG). During the 2017 presidential election, the PCF supported Mélenchons candidature; however, tensions between the PCF and Mélenchons movement, La France Insoumise, have led the two movements to campaign separately for the general elections.[5] 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.[6]
Contents
1History
2Doctrine
2.12012 platform
2.2French nationalism
3Elected officials
4Internal organization
4.1Leadership
4.2Factions
4.2.1Factional strength
5Popular support and electoral record
5.1Presidential
5.2Legislative
5.3European Parliament
6Publications
7See also
8References
9Further reading
10External links
History
Main article: History of the French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (PCF) originated in 1920, when 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; Ho Chi Minh, liberator of Vietnam, was one of the notable agitators who participated in its creation.[7] The new SFIC defined itself as revolutionary and democratic centralist. The 1920s saw a number of splits within the party over relations with other left-wing parties and over adherence to Cominterns dictates. The party entered the French parliament, but also promoted strike action and opposed colonialism. Pierre Sémard, leader from 1924 to 1928, sought party unity and alliances with other parties; but leaders including Maurice 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 Spanish Republicans, and opposed the 1938 Munich agreement with Hitler.
The party was banned by the government of Édouard Daladier (centre-left) 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 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 Gaulles "Free France" government in exile, and later took part in 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, 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 the PCF opposed de Gaulles 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 Mitterrands unsuccessful presidential bid in 1965. During the student riots and strikes of May 1968, the party supported the strikes while denouncing 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 Mitterrands reconstituted Socialist Party (PS). Under the Common Programme, however, the PCF steadily lost ground to the PS, a process that continued after Mitterrands victory in 1981. Initially allotted a minor share in Mitterrands government, 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 partys 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 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 partys 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), United Left, and others. The FG has brought the French communists somewhat better electoral results. Pierre Laurent was leader from 2010 to 2018.
Doctrine
PCF rallying for a 6th republic, 2012 in Paris
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 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 1934–39). Nonetheless, some observers and analysts classify 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, however, the PCF—still run on democratic centralist lines—still structured itself as a revolutionary party in the Leninist sense and rejected criticism of the Soviet Union. Under Robert Hues leadership after 1994, the PCFs ideology and internal organization underwent major changes.[8]:174 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.[8]:174 Today, the PCF considers the Soviet Union as a perversion of the communist model and unambiguously rejects Stalinism. That being said, 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.[8]:176–177 It also tried to downplay the PCFs historic attachment to Moscow and the Soviet Union.[8]:176–177
Since then, the PCFs 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 fully supports both gay rights and feminism.[8]:174 In the 1980s, the PCF supported reducing the age of consent for homosexual relationships and opposed attempts to repenalize homosexuality. In 1998, the PCF voted in favour of the civil solidarity pact (PACS), civil unions including homosexual couples. The PCF currently 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,[9] though PCF deputy Patrice Carvalho voted against.[10] The PCF also supports feminist movements and supports policies to further promote gender equality and parity.
On the issue of immigration, the PCFs 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 the time. In 1980, the PCFs 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.[11] The Libération newspaper also alleged that PCF municipal administrations had been working to limit the number of immigrants in housing projects. However, today the PCF supports the regularization of illegal immigrants.
One consistency in the PCFs 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".[8]:177 The PCF has interpreted the current course of globalization as a confirmation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engelss 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.[8]:177 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.[8]:178
The text adopted at the XXXVI Congress in February 2013 reiterated the partys 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".[12] 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", the right to happiness and the equal dignity of each human being regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation.[12] The party further posits that such an egalitarian society is impossible within capitalism, which "unleashes domination and hatred".[12]
2012 platform
Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the FGs platform in the 2012 presidential election was broken up into nine overarching themes.[13]
"Sharing the wealth and abolishing social insecurity" – banning market-based layoffs (licenciements boursiers) for companies which make profits, raise the minimum wage (SMIC) to €1,700, setting a maximum wage differential of 1 to 20 in all businesses, right to retirement with a full pension at 60, defending public services, stopping public sector spending cuts (RGPP), setting a maximum wage at €360,000 and a 35-hour workweek.
"Reclaiming power from banks and financial markets" – changing the European Central Banks policy to favour job creation and public services, controlling financial speculation, raising the capital gains tax and the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), abolishing fiscal loopholes and privileges, taxing corporations financial revenues and creating a "public financial pole" to reorient credit towards jobs, innovation and sustainable development.
"Ecological planning" – nationalizing Électricité de France, Gaz de France and Areva to create a publicly owned energy sector, creating a national public water service, a new transportation policy promoting public transportation and taxing the transportation of non-vital merchandise.
"Producing differently" – a new model of development and economic growth which respects the environment and individuals, redefining industrial priorities, new rights for employees and creating a gross national happiness indicator.
"The Republic, for real" – reaffirming the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, creating a ministry for women and equality, repealing the HADOPI law, regularizing illegal immigrants, opposition to the golden rule of fiscal balance and creating jobs in the public sector.
"Convene a constituent assembly for the Sixth Republic" – convening a constituent assembly, repealing the 2010 local and regional government reform, proportional representation in all elections, reducing presidential powers and strengthening parliamentary powers, and guaranteeing judicial and press freedom.
"Repealing the Lisbon Treaty and creating another Europe" – repealing the Treaty of Lisbon, opposition to the European Fiscal Compact, proposing and adopting a new European treaty which would "prioritize social progress and democracy" and reforming the statutes of the European Central Bank.
"To change the course of globalization" – withdrawing French troops from the war in Afghanistan, French withdrawal from NATO, recognizing the independence of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, creation of a Tobin tax to finance international development and cooperation, debt forgiveness for low-income countries.
"Prioritizing human emancipation" – creating jobs in public education, spending 1% of GDP on arts and culture, and doubling investment in research.
The platform also supported same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption, voting rights for resident foreigners, euthanasia, and constitutional recognition of abortion.
French nationalism
Main articles: Demographics of France and Separatism in Europe
The French Communist Party inherited from 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 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.[14]
France is one country, one nation, one people. We protest indignantly against such ridiculous and odious allegations. For us, as for all 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.
— George Marchais, Letter to the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the USSR, February 1984.[15]
Elected officials
Ambox current red.svg
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2020)
Departments with PCF general councillors
One or more PCF general councillor
No PCF general councillor
Deputies: Alain Bocquet, Marie-George Buffet, Jean-Jacques Candelier, André Chassaigne, Jean-Paul Dufrègne, Jacqueline Fraysse, Nicolas Sansu, Gaby Charroux, Patrice Carvalho (GDR Group)
Senators: Éliane Assassi, Marie-France Beaufils, Michel Billout, Dominique Watrin, Annie David, Michelle Demessine, Évelyne Didier, Guy Fischer, Thierry Foucaud, Brigitte Gonthier-Maurin, Pierre Laurent, Gérard Le Cam, Cécile Cukierman, Isabelle Pasquet, Éric Bocquet, Mireille Schurch, Laurence Cohen, Christian Favier, Michel Le Scouarnec (CRC Group)
MEPs: Patrick Le Hyaric, Jacky Hénin (EUL-NGL Group)
The PCF has two Presidents of the General Council – in the Val-de-Marne and Allier. It lost Seine-Saint-Denis, which it had held since the 1960s, to the PS in 2008.
Internal organization
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 a large base of members and the partys political and electoral actions were supported in society by a trade union, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT); a newspaper, LHumanité; 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.[8]:166 One such activity which still exists today is the annual Fête de lHumanité organized by the LHumanité. French and foreign left-wing parties, organizations or movements are represented and the activities feature musical performances.
Since the PCFs 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.[8]:166 In 2008, the party claimed that it had 134,000 members of which 79,000 were up to date on their membership fees.[8]:166 In the 2011 internal primary, 69,277 members were registered to vote and 48,631 (70.2%) did so.[8]:166 The party likely has about 70,000 members as of today, but only about 40 to 50 thousand seem to actively participate in the partys organization and political activities.
According to studies by the CEVIPOF in 1979 and 1997, the makeup of the PCFs membership has also changed significantly since 1979. The most marked change was a major decline in the share of manual workers (ouvriers) in the partys membership, with a larger number of employees and middle-classes, especially those who work in the public sector.[8]:175 The form of political action taken by members has also changed, with less emphasis on direct political or electoral action but a greater emphasis on social work and protests.
The partys 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 partys top posts, like that of secretary-general, were renamed (secretary-general became national-secretary). The party, since 2000, is now led by a national council, which serves as the leadership between congresses; and the executive committee, which is charged with applying the national councils 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 the PCF leadership - to be presented and voted on; dissident lists to those backed by the leadership may also run for the national council.[8]:170–171
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 PCFs national leadership structures. For years, 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, the CGTs leader between 1999 and 2013, left the PCFs national council in 2001.
LHumanité has retained closer ties with the PCF. The newspaper was founded by Jean Jaurès in 1904 as the socialist movements 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 newspapers readership and sales declined substantially partly due to the PCFs concomitant decline. In 1999, the mention of the newspapers 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.[16]
Leadership
Secretaries-general (1921–1994) and national-secretaries (since 1994)
Ludovic-Oscar Frossard: 4 January 1921 – 1 January 1923
Louis Sellier and Albert Treint, interim secretaries-general: 21 January 1923 – 23 January 1924
Louis Sellier: 23 January 1924 – 1 July 1924
Pierre Semard: 8 July 1924 – 8 April 1929
Collective secretariat (Henri Barbé, Pierre Celor, Benoît Frachon, Maurice Thorez): 8 April 1929 – 18 July 1930
Maurice Thorez: 18 July 1930 – 17 May 1964 (president between 17 May and his death on 11 July 1964)
Jacques Duclos, interim secretary-general: 17 June 1950 – 10 April 1953
Waldeck Rochet: 17 May 1964 – 17 December 1972 (deputy secretary-general from 14 May 1961 to 17 May 1964)
Georges Marchais, interim secretary-general later deputy secretary-general from June 1969 to 17 December 1972
Georges Marchais: 17 December 1972 – 29 January 1994
Robert Hue: 29 January 1994 – 28 October 2001 (president between 28 October 2001 and 8 April 2003)
Marie-George Buffet: 28 October 2001 – 20 June 2010
Pierre Laurent: 20 June 2010 – 24 November 2018
Fabien Roussel: since 24 November 2018
Factions
There are no formal organized factions or political groupings within the PCF. This was originally due to 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".[17] Nevertheless, certain factions and groups are easily identifiable within the PCF and they are de facto expressed officially by different orientation texts or lists for leadership elections at party congresses.
Majority: the current leadership of the PCF since 2003 is around Marie-George Buffet and Pierre Laurent and supports the continued existence of the PCF, but with the need for internal transformations. Vis-à-vis the PS, the PCF leadership has taken a more autonomous stance but it still sees the PS as a potential electoral partner (in runoff elections or in local elections) and even as a potential governing partner. The leadership has been generally strongly supportive of the Left Front alliance with other parties, which it sees as a "new Popular Front" as a culmination of its attempts, undertaken since 2003, to broaden the PCFs base to social movements, associations, unions and other left-wing or far-left parties.
Orthodox: the heterogeneous faction of PCF "orthodox" refers to those traditionalist members who opposed the mutation of the 1990s and wish to return to Marxist–Leninist fundamentals. The orthodox faction opposes electoral alliances or governing coalitions with the PS, and it has also proven fairly lukewarm to the Left Front and has often been critical of Jean-Luc Mélenchons influence over the FG and his 2012 candidacy. Unlike the majority which supports European integration under the form "social Europe" or "another Europe", the orthodox wish to withdraw from the European Union and the Eurozone. Prominent orthodox factions and leaders include Jean-Jacques Karmans Communist Left, Emmanuel Dang Trans PCF section in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, André Gerin, Alain Bocquet and Patrice Carvalho. The PCF orthodox factions has strong support in the old PCF federations in northern France (Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Seine-Maritime) or other federations such as the Meurthe-et-Moselle, the Haute-Saône, Aisne and Tarn.
Some orthodox communists have chosen to leave the PCF. In 2004, the FNARC group around Georges Hage founded the small Pole of Communist Revival in France (PRCF). Maxime Gremetz was sidelined from the PCF in 2006, after major disagreements with the leadership, and has since founded a small political movement (Anger and Hope, Colère et espoir) active only in his native Picardy. A group of hardline orthodox around former PCF senator Rolande Perlican founded the Communistes party.
Novateurs, also known as conservatives: a small faction led by supporters of Georges Marchais old political line (i.e. traditional Marxism adapted to modern circumstances) as developed by PCF economist and historian Paul Boccara, who developed the idea of state monopoly capitalism). Leaders of the faction include Nicolas Marchand and Yves Dimicoli.
La Riposte: a political association within the PCF which is the French section of the International Marxist Tendency, a Trotskyist entryist organization. They are ideologically close to the orthodox faction on rejecting alliances with the PS or a return to Marxist fundamentals but they differ significantly from the orthodox faction in their severe condemnations of Stalinism and the later Soviet Union. They also support the Left Front.
Huistes: the allies of former secretary-general Robert Hue (1994–2001) have mostly left the PCF. Hues leadership was marked by internal democratizations as part of his mutation, but also close cooperation and alliances with the PS. The Huistes tend to be the most supportive of electoral and government alliances with the PS. Hue remains, technically, a member of the PCF; but he has broken with the current leadership. As a senator, he sits in the European Democratic and Social Rally (RDSE) and leads a small political movement, the Progressive Unitary Movement (MUP) which has one deputy elected in 2012 with PS support and who sits with the Radical Party of the Left (PRG) group in the National Assembly. The MUP supports the creation of a broad alliance with the PS, the Greens (EELV), the PRG and even some centrists. Besides Hue, some of prominent followers include Jean-Claude Gayssot, Jack Ralite or Ivan Renar.
Refondateurs/Rénovateurs: the reformist faction of the PCF, known either as refondateurs or rénovateurs, has mostly left the PCF today, but they played an important role in the PCFs internal politics for decades and they continue to be closely associated to the PCF through the Left Front. The reformist faction, ideologically aligned with the New Left, eurocommunism, ecosocialism, feminism and democratic socialism, has long been at odds with the PCFs leadership. Under Marchais, they opposed the traditionalist Marxist and pro-Soviet direction of the party and chafed at the partys democratic centralism.
Many dissident Communist reformists supported Pierre Juquins candidacy in the 1988 presidential election, alongside red-green ecosocialists, the remnants of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU) and the LCR. PCF dissidents who had backed Juquins candidacy, including former cabinet ministers Marcel Rigout and Charles Fiterman participated in the foundation of the Convention for a Progressive Alternative (CAP) in 1994, which has since obtained limited support only in a few departments. Jean-Pierre Brard, the CAPs sole parliamentarian until his defeat in 2012, sat with the PCF in the National Assembly.
Reformists who remained within the PCF, such as Patrick Braouezec, François Asensi and Jacqueline Fraysse, opposed Hue and Buffets leadership: they did not support the PCFs presidential candidates in 2002 and 2007, and they clamored for the re-foundation of the PCF as part of a broader left-wing movements including left-wing Greens, ecosocialists, the far-left, social movements and left-wing associations. Despite the creation of the Left Front, the reformists led by Braouezec left the PCF in 2010 and joined the small Federation for a Social and Ecological Alternative (FASE) which is now a component of the Left Front.
Factional strength
Preparatory votes on orientation texts for PCF Congresses since 2003:
FactionXXXII (2003)[18]XXXIII (2006)[18]XXXIV (2008)[19]XXXVI (2013)[20]XXXVII (2016)[21]
Majority55.02%63.38%60.9%73.16%51,20%
Orthodox23.60%13.25%[22]
8.22%[23]
3.71%[24]24.02%10.99%
5.81%[25]23,68%
12,87%
6,86%
Novateurs21.38%11.44%–––
La Riposte––15.05%10.05%5,40%
At the XXXIV Congress in 2008, for the election of the national council, the majoritys list won 67.73% from the congress delegates against 16.38% for Marie-Pierre Vieus huiste list backed by the refondateurs, 10.26% for André Gerins orthodox list and 5.64% for Nicolas Marchands novateur list.[18]
Popular support and electoral record
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), 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.[26] The PCF is also strong in the Cévennes mountains, a left-wing rural anti-clerical stronghold with a strong Protestant minority.
Communist traditions in 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 a Progressive Alternative, a party of reformist communists, in the Limousin and Val-de-Marne).
There exists isolated Communist bases in the rural anti-clerical areas of southwestern Côtes-dArmor 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 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 Twentieth 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.[27] In 1976, for instance, 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.[28] Education also became, in the words of one text, an "identifiable characteristic of Communist government at 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.[29]
Presidential
Election yearCandidate1st round2nd round
# of overall votes% of overall vote# of overall votes% of overall vote
1969Jacques Duclos4,808,28521.27 (#3)
1981Georges Marchais4,456,92215.35 (#4)
1988André Lajoinie2,056,2616.76 (#5)[30]
1995Robert Hue2,638,9368.66 (#5)
2002Robert Hue960,4803.37 (#11)
2007Marie-George Buffet707,2681.93 (#7)
2012Jean-Luc Mélenchon (as Left Front candidate)3,985,08911.10 (#4)
Legislative
National Assembly
ElectionVotes (first round)Seats
#%#±
1924885,9939.8
26 / 581Steady
19281,066,09911.3
11 / 604Decrease 15
1932796,6308.3
10 / 607Decrease 1
19361,502,40415.3
72 / 610Increase 62
19455,024,17426.2
159 / 586Increase 87
1946 (Jun)5,145,32526.0
153 / 586Decrease 6
1946 (Nov)5,430,59328.3
182 / 627Increase 29
19514,939,38026.3
103 / 625Decrease 79
19565,514,40323.6
150 / 595Increase 47
19583,882,20418.9
10 / 546Decrease 140
19624,003,55320.8
41 / 465Increase 31
19675,039,03222.5
73 / 487Increase 32
19684,434,83220.0
34 / 487Decrease 39
19735,085,10821.4
73 / 488Increase 39
19785,870,40220.6
86 / 488Increase 13
19814,065,54016.2
44 / 491Decrease 42
19862,739,2259.8
35 / 573Decrease 9
19882,765,76111.3
27 / 575Decrease 8
19932,331,3399.3
24 / 577Decrease 3
19972,523,4059.9
35 / 577Increase 11
20021,216,1784.8
21 / 577Decrease 14
20071,115,6634.3
15 / 577Decrease 6
20121,792,9236.9
7 / 577Decrease 8
2017615,4872.7
10 / 577Increase 3
European Parliament
European Parliament
ElectionVotesSeats
#%#±
19794,153,71020.5
19 / 81Steady
19842,261,31211.2
10 / 81Decrease 9
19891,401,1717.7
7 / 81Decrease 3
19941,342,2226.9
7 / 87Steady
19991,196,3106.8
6 / 87Decrease 1
20041,009,9765.9
2 / 74Decrease 4
20091,115,0216.5
3 / 72Increase 1
20141,252,7306.6
1 / 74Decrease 2
2019564,9492.5
0 / 74Decrease 1
Publications
The PCF publishes the following:
Communistes (Communists)
Info Hebdo (Weekly News)
Economie et Politique (Economics and Politics)
Traditionally, it was also the owner of the French daily LHumanité (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 LHumanité festival, held in La Courneuve, a working class suburb of Paris. This event remains the biggest festival in France, with 600,000 attendees during a three-day period.
During the 1970s, the PCF registered success with the childrens magazine it founded, Pif gadget.
See also
Communism in France
List of foreign delegations at 24th PCF Congress (1982)
Place du Colonel Fabien
Louis Althussers Reading Capital (1965)
MRAP anti-racist NGO, created in 1941
Roger Roche, founder of a cell of the French Communist Party in Rufisque in 1925.
France, officially French Republic, French France or République Française, country of northwestern Europe. Historically and culturally among the most important nations in the Western world, France has also played a highly significant role in international affairs, with former colonies in every corner of the globe. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps and the Pyrenees, France has long provided a geographic, economic, and linguistic bridge joining northern and southern Europe. It is Europe's most important agricultural producer and one of the world's leading industrial powers.
France
France
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
France is among the globe's oldest nations, the product of an alliance of duchies and principalities under a single ruler in the Middle Ages. Today, as in that era, central authority is vested in the state, even though a measure of autonomy has been granted to the country's régions in recent decades. The French people look to the state as the primary guardian of liberty, and the state in turn provides a generous program of amenities for its citizens, from free education to health care and pension plans. Even so, this centralist tendency is often at odds with another long-standing theme of the French nation: the insistence on the supremacy of the individual. On this matter historian Jules Michelet remarked, “England is an empire, Germany is a nation, a race, France is a person.” Statesman Charles de Gaulle, too, famously complained, “Only peril can bring the French together. One can't impose unity out of the blue on a country that has 265 kinds of cheese.”
This tendency toward individualism joins with a pluralist outlook and a great interest in the larger world. Even though its imperialist stage was driven by the impulse to civilize that world according to French standards (la mission civilisatrice), the French still note approvingly the words of writer Gustave Flaubert:
I am no more modern than I am ancient, no more French than Chinese; and the idea of la patrie, the fatherland—that is, the obligation to live on a bit of earth coloured red or blue on a map, and to detest the other bits coloured green or black—has always seemed to me narrow, restricted, and ferociously stupid.
At once universal and particular, French culture has spread far and greatly influenced the development of art and science, particularly anthropology, philosophy, and sociology.
7:023 Geography: Think of Something Big, globe showing Africa, Europe, and Eurasia
BRITANNICA QUIZ
Which Country Is Larger By Area? Quiz
This quiz will show you two countries. Pick the one that's bigger, as measured by total area. The statistics come from this list, so study it for an unfair advantage!
France has also been influential in government and civil affairs, giving the world important democratic ideals in the age of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution and inspiring the growth of reformist and even revolutionary movements for generations. The present Fifth Republic has, however, enjoyed notable stability since its promulgation on September 28, 1958, marked by a tremendous growth in private initiative and the rise of centrist politics. Although France has engaged in long-running disputes with other European powers (and, from time to time, with the United States, its longtime ally), it emerged as a leading member in the European Union (EU) and its predecessors. From 1966 to 1995 France did not participate in the integrated military structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), retaining full control over its own air, ground, and naval forces; beginning in 1995, however, France was represented on the NATO Military Committee, and in 2009 French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that the country would rejoin the organization's military command. As one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—together with the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and China—France has the right to veto decisions put to the council.
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
Subscribe Now
Paris skyline
Paris skyline
© Digital Vision/Getty Images
The capital and by far the most important city of France is Paris, one of the world's preeminent cultural and commercial centres. A majestic city known as the ville lumière, or “city of light,” Paris has often been remade, most famously in the mid-19th century under the command of Georges-Eugène, Baron Haussman, who was committed to Napoleon III's vision of a modern city free of the choleric swamps and congested alleys of old, with broad avenues and a regular plan. Paris is now a sprawling metropolis, one of Europe's largest conurbations, but its historic heart can still be traversed in an evening's walk. Confident that their city stood at the very centre of the world, Parisians were once given to referring to their country as having two parts, Paris and le désert, the wasteland beyond it. Metropolitan Paris has now extended far beyond its ancient suburbs into the countryside, however, and nearly every French town and village now numbers a retiree or two driven from the city by the high cost of living, so that, in a sense, Paris has come to embrace the desert and the desert Paris.
small thistle New from Britannica
ONE GOOD FACT
The planet Venus goes around the Sun every 224.7 Earth days, but takes 243 Earth days to spin on its axis, making its year shorter than its day.
See All Good Facts
Among France's other major cities are Lyon, located along an ancient Rhône valley trade route linking the North Sea and the Mediterranean; Marseille, a multiethnic port on the Mediterranean founded as an entrepôt for Greek and Carthaginian traders in the 6th century BCE; Nantes, an industrial centre and deepwater harbour along the Atlantic coast; and Bordeaux, located in southwestern France along the Garonne River.
Land of France
Château Gaillard
Château Gaillard
© Sylvain Verlaine (CC BY-SA 3.0)
France lies near the western end of the great Eurasian landmass, largely between latitudes 42° and 51° N. Roughly hexagonal in outline, its continental territory is bordered on the northeast by Belgium and Luxembourg, on the east by Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, on the south by the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and Andorra, on the west by the Bay of Biscay, and on the northwest by the English Channel (La Manche). To the north, France faces southeastern England across the narrow Strait of Dover (Pas de Calais). Monaco is an independent enclave on the south coast, while the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean is treated as an integral part of the country.
Relief
The French landscape, for the most part, is composed of relatively low-lying plains, plateaus, and older mountain blocks, or massifs. This pattern clearly predominates over that of the younger, high ranges, such as the Alps and the Pyrenees. The diversity of the land is typical of Continental Europe.
Three main geologic regions are distinguishable.
AUTOGRAPHE FRANÇAIS MARCEL CACHIN 1946 COMMUNISTE LETTRE SIGNÉE VINTAGE points de vente 8,5X11
