- Three-parties
The Three-parties alliance ("Tripartisme" in French) was a coalition which governed in France from 1944 to 1947, composed of the Communists (PCF), the Socialists (
SFIO ) and the Christian-Democrats (MRP), which at the beginning regrouped Gaullists. The official charter of Tripartisme was signed on January 23, 1946, following the resignation ofCharles de Gaulle who opposed the draft of the Constitution, which envisioned aparliamentary system whereas de Gaulle favoured a presidential system.The traditional political class, which included all
right-wing parties and theRadical-Socialist Party which symbolized all by itself theThird Republic (1871-1940), was completely discredited in 1944. Reasons of this lack of legitimacy include first of allCollaborationism of a number of these notables, but also the failure in the 1930s to put an end to the economic crisis. Thus, theDemocratic Republican Alliance , the main center-right party after theFirst World War , had chosen Collaborationism, an option endorsed by its leaderPierre-Etienne Flandin and other members such asJoseph Barthélémy .Furthermore, the political class was considered jointly responsible for the 1940 collapse of the Third Republic after the disastrous Battle of France, qualified by historian
Marc Bloch as the "strange defeat" ("l'étrange défaite"). Thus,Gaullism and Communism appeared as the most popular forces.However,
Charles de Gaulle , who was in favor of a presidential regime, quit the government in 1946 and from then on remained in the opposition until his triumphal return during theMay 1958 crisis . On their side, MRP, SFIO and PCF were credited of between 20 to 30% of the votes each and approximatively 150 deputies between September 1944 and May 1947. Afterward, the PCF and de Gaulle'sRally of the French People (RPF) became the main parties in France, both, however, in the opposition as they could not gather by themselves theabsolute majority necessary to invest a government — and an alliance between them was of course impossible to conceive. The three-parties alliance was succeeded in government by the Third Force, which gathered theUDSR , the SFIO and the MRP against Gaullists and Communists.The Provisional Government (GPRF) and the discredit of the political class
After the
liberation of France , theVichy government was dissolved and theProvisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) instituted. With the discredit of most of the political class, whom a large part had more or less collaborated with the enemy,Gaullism and Communism incarnated the most popular forces.Charles de Gaulle had directed the Resistance abroad, while the PCF was nicknamed the "party of the 75,000 executed" ("parti des 75 000 fusillés") because it had spearheaded the Resistance inmetropolitan France . On the other hand, theRadical-Socialist Party , which symbolized by itself theThird Republic (1871-1940), was completely discredited for its role before and during the war, while conservative parties were vilified for their role during the Collaboration.Furthermore, the March 1944 Charter of the
Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR), theumbrella organization of the Resistance dominated by the CommunistFrancs-tireurs partisans (FTP), envisioned the establishment of asocial democracy includingplanned economy .Classical liberalism had been discredited with the 1929 crisis and its incapacity to find a response to the Depression.Thus, the GPRF led a policy of social reforms and laid the fundations of the French
Welfare State . Besides, it decided somenationalization s in strategic or/and Collaborationists economic sectors (1946 founding of EDF electricity company, 1945 nationalization of AGF insurance firm, nationalization ofCrédit Lyonnais bank in 1945 and of theSociété Générale in 1946, and also ofRenault accused of Collaborationism, etc.)Trade union s independence was guaranteed by the 1946Charter of Amiens . This social program constitute a large part of the so-called "acquis sociaux" of the second half of the twentieth century in France.The GPRF was led from 1944 to 1946 by Charles de Gaulle, while negotiations were made about the new Constitution to be voted for. De Gaulle advocated a presidential government and criticized the restoring of what he stigmatized as the "parties system". He resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by
Félix Gouin (SFIO). Finally, only the PCF and the SFIO supported the Constitution's draft, based onunicameralism , but it was rejected by referendum on May 5, 1946.The 1946 elections
For the 1946 elections, the "Rassemblement des gauches républicaines" (Rally of the Republican Lefts), which gathered the
Radical-Socialist Party , the UDSR and other conservative parties unsuccessfully attempted to oppose them to the MRP-SFIO-PCF alliance. The newConstitutional Assembly included 169 MRP deputies, 153 PCF deputies and 127 SFIO deputies, giving to the Tripartiste alliance theabsolute majority .Georges Bidault (MRP) replaced Félix Gouin as head of government.A new draft of the Constitution, this time creating a
bicameralism regime, was written.Léon Blum (SFIO) headed the GPRF from 1946 to 1947. After a new legislative election in June 1946, the Christian-DemocratGeorges Bidault took the lead of the cabinet. Despite de Gaulle's June 16, 1946discourse of Bayeux denouncing the new institutions, the new draft was approved by theFrench people with 53% of "yes" (and 31% ofabstention ) on October 13, 1946, leading to the institution of theFourth Republic the following year, where the executive power essentially resided in the hands of thePresident of the Council . ThePresident of the Republic given an essentially symbolic role, although he remained chief of the Army and was called upon on last instance to set up conflicts.The PCF arrived first in the November 1946 elections, with 28,8% of the votes, allowing Communist
Maurice Thorez to unsuccessfully reinvidicate the presidency of the Council.The Fourth Republic
The 1946 Constitution instituting the Fourth Republic (1947-1958) created a
parliamentary Republic , distinct from thepresidentialism which would characterize theFifth Republic (1958-). Thus, governments had to be invested by the Parliament, and heavily relied on alliances between the more popular parties, that is the MRP, the SFIO and the PCF.The PCF refused to vote war credits for Indochina on March 19, 1947.
Minimum wages were introduced on March 31, whilePaul Ramadier (SFIO)'s government heavily repressed theMadagascar insurrection , leading to 90,000 to 100,000 dead. After the April 1947 creation of theRally of the French People (RPF) by Charles de Gaulle, the MRP prohibited its members from joining it. The MRP stopped being the Gaullist party, becoming Christian-democrat.Tripartisme blew up with the
May 1947 crisis , during whichPaul Ramadier (SFIO)'s government excluded the Communist ministers from government, marking the official beginning of theCold War in France. The May 1947 crisis could be summarized as: "The Communists' refusal to continue support for the French colonial reconquest of Vietnam on one hand and a wage-freeze during a period of hyperinflation on the other were the immediate triggers to the dismissal of Thorez and his colleagues from the ruling coalition in May 1947." Hereupon, the Fourth Republic was plagued with parliamentary unstability, as two of the most popular parties, de Gaulle's RPF and the PCF, sat in the benches of the opposition.See also
*
Blum-Byrnes agreement
*Marshall Plan
*French Fourth Republic
*Gaullism ,Rally of the French People , andFrench Communist Party
*May 1947 crisis
*1947 strikes in France
*Third ForceWikisource
* [http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_de_la_France_(IVe_R%C3%A9publique) 1946 Constitution] (French)
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