Socialist Party, French

(Parti socialiste français)

   The Parti socialiste français, or the Section française de l'internationale ouvrière (SFIO) as it was known (1905-69), evolved from several socialist political organizations after 1877, including the Parti ouvrier français of jules guesde and paul lafar-gue, which of a Marxist orientation proclaimed the taking of political power by the proletariat, and the Fédération des travailleurs socialistes (or Parti pos-sibiliste), which, created by paul brousse, envisioned a progressive realization of socialism by transitional measures. it separated itself from the Parti ouvrier socialiste révolutionnaire (which favored the subordination of electoral and political actions to revolutionary syndicalist ones). After 1901, the Parti ouvrier français and the Parti socialiste révolutionnaire formed the Parti socialiste de France (PSDF); the independent Socialists, the Broussistes, and others formed the Paris socialiste française (PSF) with jean jaurès. After the International Socialist Congress of Amsterdam (1904), French socialist unity was realized (Congress of Paris, 1905) by the joining of the PSDF, the PSF, and several autonomous federations, all under the SFIO (led by Jules Guesde, Jean Jaurès, and Edouard vaillant). The new party, in which the Guesdist faction was in the minority after 1906, took a position against the government's colonial policy (especially in Morocco) and against the militant nationalists. But after World War I, party unity was ended at the Congress of Tours (1920). The majority Socialists, who favored the Russian Revolution of 1917, left the SFIO (their organ would henceforth be Le Populaire) to form the Section française de l'internationale communiste (SFiC), or Parti communiste français; this political schism was replicated by a labor union schism (Conféderation générale du travail). Led by léon blum and paul faure, the SFIO was the driving force behind the reorganization of the leftist parties (cartel des gauches) and their victory in 1924. After the exclusion in 1933 of the supporters of ministerial participation, the Parti socialiste de France was formed, which joined with the Communists (1934) and became the main basis for the leftist coalition Front populaire (1936), before a Trotskyite group broke away and formed the Parti socialiste ouvrier et paysan (1938). During world war II, while some Socialists supported the vichy regime, the majority joined the resistance. After the Liberation, the SFio played an important role in the French government, with the Communists and the MRP (mouvement républicain populaire) (1946-47), then, after the exclusion of the Communists, with the MRP and the liberals (1947-50). Joining the opposition, the Socialists returned to power in the cabinet of guy mollet (reversed in May 1957). The Suez affair, financial difficulties, and the Algerian War brought new divisions within the SFIO, resulting in the formation of the Union de la gauche socialiste (UGS) and the autonomous Parti socialiste, which became the Parti socialiste unifié (PSu) in 1960. in the opposition since 1958-59, the Socialists regrouped (under the leadership of François Mitterrand) to form the Fédération de la gauche démocrate et socialiste (1965). At the Congress of Issy-les-Moulineaux (July 11-13, 1969), the SFIO was replaced by the Parti socialiste.