Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party

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Parti Radical
Leader	Jean-Louis Borloo and André Rossinot (co-presidents)
Founded	1901
Headquarters	1, place de Valois 75001 Paris
Political Ideology	Radicalism, Liberalism, Social liberalism, Secularism
European Affiliation	none
International Affiliation	none
Colours	Blue, Red
2007 Presidential candidate
Website	www.partiradical.net
See also	Constitution of France France Politics French Parliament French Government French President Political parties Elections

The Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (Parti Républicain, Radical et Radical-Socialiste, Rad.), more commonly called Radical Party, is a French liberal party.

Part of the radical Republican tradition, it was a major political force from 1901 to the 1950s. The Radical Party represented one of Third Republic's mainstream parties. The name became rather famously a misnomer, as by the 1920s the Radicals, then led by Edouard Herriot were generally a moderate centre-left party, and continued to move to the right over the course of the second half of the 20th century.

The Radicals were replaced first by the SFIO, created in 1905, and then by the French Communist Party (PCF) as main representatives of the left-wing in France. Radicals took part in most governments during the interwar period, including two left-wing alliances with the SFIO during the Cartel des Gauches and the Popular Front in 1936. But they also supported conservative governments during this time.

Following the Liberation, they first took part in the Rally of the Republican Lefts (RGR) alongside the UDSR center-right party, which opposed the tripartisme alliance between the Christian-Democrat Popular Republican Movement (MRP), the PCF and the SFIO. Following the dissolving of this alliance between these three parties during the May 1947 crisis, the Radicals joined the Third Force which governed France from 1947 to 1951. Most of them then supported Pierre Mendès-France's attempt to anchor the party in the left-wing in the Republican Front coalition in 1956, and then supported Charles de Gaulle's return to power during the May 1958 crisis.

Under the Fifth Republic (1958-), the Radicals continued to exist as a minor liberal party under the umbrella of centre-right Union for French Democracy (UDF) from 1978, then of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), while left-wingers of the party split off in 1973 to form the Left Radical Party (Parti radical de gauche, PRG), which exists to this day as a small ally of the Socialist Party (PS).

Even today, Radical senators of both left and right-wing sit in the same group, the "Democratic, Social and European Rally", and their anti-clericalism, although softened, still separates them from the conservatives on specific and exceptional issues (such as the conservatives' demonstrations in the 1980s against president François Mitterrand's bill on private schools, which are mostly Roman Catholic).

Contents 1 History 1.1 Radicals before the Radical Party 1.2 The Radical Republic and the Sacred Union (1901-1919) 1.3 After World War I: from the Cartels des Gauches to the overthrow of the Republic 1.4 The Fourth Republic (1940-1958) 1.5 The Fifth Republic (1958) 2 Presidents 3 References 4 See also 5 External link

[edit] History

[edit] Radicals before the Radical Party

After the collapse of Napoleon's Empire (1815), a monarchic Restoration took place. The Republicans constitued the left-wing opposition. During the reign of Louis-Philippe (1830-1848), the word "Radical" was used to name the uncompromising part of the Republican left. It advocated democratic reforms, notably universal suffrage, freedom of press, right of meeting, etc. Led by Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, it took a major part in the 1848 Revolution and the foundation of the Second Republic. The first election by universal suffrage was won by the conservatives, and Napoléon III was elected President of France and then established the Second Empire.

From opposition, Radicals criticized personal power and the attacks on freedoms. At the end of the 1860s, with the Belleville Programme, they advocated the election of civil servants and mayors, the proclamation of the so-called "great liberties", free public teaching, and the separation between Church and State.

After the collapse of the Second Empire (1870), the Third Republic was proclaimed. Republicans conquered legislative power in 1876, then executive power in 1879. Radicals formed the far-left opposition to the moderate Republican governments. Georges Clemenceau was the leader of the parliamentary group, criticized colonial policy and, due to his ability, was a protagonist of the collapse of many governments.

In the 1890s, Léon Bourgeois renewed the Radical doctrine in including social reforms such as progressive income tax and social insurances. After the Dreyfus Affair, Radicals joined forces with other Republicans and some Socialists in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet (1899-1902). The right of association was voted and Radicals created their party in 1901 in order to defend governmental policy from the Roman Catholic Church's influence and the conservative opposition.

[edit] The Radical Republic and the Sacred Union (1901-1919)

At 1902 legislative election, the Radical Party became the main political force. Émile Combes took the head of the cabinet and led a resolute anti-clerical policy culminating in the 1905 secularity law which, along with the Jules Ferry laws on public education voted in the 1880s, formed the backbone of laïcité, France's separation of Church and State.

For the latter part of the Third Republic (1870-1940), Radicals, generally representing anti-clerical peasant and bourgeois voters, were usually the largest party in parliament, but with their anti-clerical agenda accomplished, the party lost their driving force. Its leader before World War I (1914-18), Joseph Caillaux, was generally more noted for his advocacy of better relations with Germany than for his reformist agenda.

During World War I, the Radical Party was the keystone of the Sacred Union and its historical leader, Georges Clemenceau, led the cabinet from 1917 to 1919. He appeared as the architect of the victory, but his relation with the party deteriorated and Radicals lost 1919 legislative election

[edit] After World War I: from the Cartels des Gauches to the overthrow of the Republic

By the end of the First World War the Radical Party, now led by Édouard Herriot, were generally a moderate centre-left party, faced with the rise, on its left, of SFIO and PCF. With these political forces, Radicals shared anti-clericalism and the struggle for "social progress" but, differently from them, they defended the principle of private property.

In 1924 and again in 1932, Radicals formed electoral alliances with the Socialists, but then gradually drifted to the right, moving from Radical governments supported by the non-participating Socialists (called "Cartels des gauches" or "Coalitions of the Left" - 1924-1926, 1932-1934) to coalitions with more conservative parties (1926-1928, 1934-1936). The second Cartel des gauches fell on 7 February 1934, following riots organized by the far-right leagues of the night before. Radical Camille Chautemps's government had been replaced by a government led by his popular party rival Édouard Daladier in January, after accusations of corruption against Chautemps' government in the wake of the Stavisky Affair and other similar scandals.

This pattern of initial alliance with a socialist party unwilling to join in active government, followed by disillusionment and alliance with the right seemed to be broken in 1936, when the Popular Front electoral alliance with the Socialists and the Communists led to the accession of Socialist leader Léon Blum as Prime Minister in a coalition government in which the Radical leaders Camille Chautemps and Édouard Daladier (representing respectively left and right of the Radical Party) took important roles. For the first time of its history, the Radical Party obtained less votes than the SFIO.

Over the tempestuous life of the coalition, however, the Radicals began to become concerned at the perceived radicalism of their coalition partners. Hence, they opposed themselves to Blum's intention to help the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), forcing him to adopt a non-interventionist policy. Following the failure of Blum's second government in April 1938, Daladier formed a new government in coalition with conservative parties.

After the 29 September 1938 Munich Agreement, which handed over Sudetenland to Germany in exchange for what proved to be a temporary peace, Daladier was acclaimed at his return to Paris as the man who had avoided the war. However, with the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the French government led by Daladier, making goods its guarantees to Poland, declared war alongside Britain two days later. Following the 23 August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, Daladier engaged in an anti-communist policy, prohibiting PCF's activities and the party's newspaper, L'Humanité.

Furthermore, Daladier moved increasingly to the right, notably repealing the 40 hour work week which had been the Popular Front's most visible accomplishment. Daladier would eventually resign on March 1940, and take part in Paul Reynaud's (Democratic Republican Alliance, center-right) government as minister of National Defense and of War. After the defeat of the Battle of France, the French army being overwhelmed by the Nazi Blitzkrieg, the French government declared Paris an "open city" on 10 June and flew to Bordeaux. The same month, Daladier would escape to Morocco in the Massilia. Thus, he wasn't there during the controversial 10 July 1940 vote of the full powers to Marshall Pétain. Charles de Gaulle and several historians (Michel Winock, etc.) refused to recognize this vote, arguing that although it had superficially respected legality, it had taken place amid lies from Pierre Laval, pressions on deputies, and the absence of main political figures such as Daladier, notwithstanding the breach of the 1875 Constitutional amendments prohibiting to put in question the Republican nature of the regime (see Vichy France).

[edit] The Fourth Republic (1940-1958)

After World War II (1939-45), Radicals, like many of the other political parties, were discredited by their support for granting emergency powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain on 10 July 1940, which led to the instauration of the Vichy regime (Etat Français), this despite the ambivalence of such senior Radical leaders as Edouard Herriot, then President of the Chamber of Deputies.

Edouard Daladier was judged in 1942 by the Vichy regime during the Riom Trial, which accused him of being morally and strategically responsible of the Battle of France's defeat, among others political leaders such as Socialist Léon Blum and conservative Paul Reynaud.

After the war, the Radical Party was reconstituted, and formed one of the important parties of the Fourth Republic (1946-58), but never recovered the dominant pre-war position. Along with Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance, it formed an electoral entity, the Rally of the Republican Lefts. It participated to the Third Force coalition with the SFIO, the christian-democratic Popular Republican Movement and the liberal-conservative National Centre of Independents and Peasants.

In the early years of the Fourth Republic the party returned to the moderate left under the leadership of Pierre Mendès-France, a strong opponent of French colonialism whose premiership from 1954 to 1955 saw France's withdrawal from Indochina and the agreement for French withdrawal from Tunisia. Mendès-France, a very popular figure who helped renew the Radical Party after its discredit, was indeed elected on the pledge to stop Indochina War (1946-54).

Mendès-France hoped to make the Radicals the party of the mainstream centre-left in France, taking advantage of the difficulties of the SFIO. The more conservative elements in the party, led by Edgar Faure, resisted these policies, leading to the fall of Mendès-France's government in 1955. Another split, this time over France's policy at the beginning of the Algerian War (1954-62), led to his resignation as party leader and the party's move in a distinctly conservative direction.

The Fourth Republic was characterized by constant parliamentary instability because of divisions between major parties over the Algerian War, which was officially called a "public order operation" until 1990s. Mendès-France opposed the war and colonialism, while the SFIO led by prime minister Guy Mollet supported it. Because of the start of the Cold War, all political parties, even the SFIO, opposed the French Communist Party (PCF), which was very popular due to its role during the Resistance (it was known as the parti des 75,000 fusillés, "party of the 75,000 executed people"). The PCF was also opposed to French Algeria and supported its independence.

In the midst of this parliamentary instability and divisions of the political class, Charles de Gaulle took advantage of the May 13, 1958 crisis to return to power. On 13 May European colonists seized the governor general's building in Alger, while Opération Résurrection was launched by the right-wing insurrectionary Comité de Salut Public. De Gaulle, who had deserted the political arena during a decade by disgust over the parliamentary system and its chronic unstability (the système des partis which he severely criticized), appeared on this day as the only man able to reconciliate the far-right and the European settlers, which were threatening Paris of a coup d'état, with the Republic. He was thus called to power and proclaimed the end of the Fourth Republic, according to him too weak because of its parliamentarism, and replaced it by the Fifth Republic, a hybrid presidential-parliamentary system tailored for himself.

The Radical Party supported de Gaulle at this crucial moment, leading Pierre Mendès-France to quit the party. Opposed to the proposed constitution, Mendès-France campaigned for the "no" at the 28 September 1958 referendum. However, the new Constitution was finally adopted and proclaimed on 4 October 1958.

[edit] The Fifth Republic (1958)

Popular figure Pierre Mendès-France (or PMF as he was familiarly called) thus quit the Radical Party, which had crossed the threshold to the centre-right, as early moderate Republicans did at the beginning of the Third Republic, when the appearing of the Radical Party to their left pushed them over the border between the left-wing and the right-wing, a process dubbed sinistrisme.

Mendès-France then founded the Centre d'Action Démocratique (CAD), which would later join the Autonomous Socialist Party (PSA, which had split from the SFIO), which in turn would fuse into the Unified Socialist Party (PSU) on 3 April 1960. This new socialist party thus gathered all the dissidents from the Radical Party and the SFIO whom were opposed both to the Algerian War and to the proclamation of the new presidential regime. Mendès-France would become officially member of the PSU in 1961, a year before the 18 March 1962 Evian Accords which put an end to the Algerian War.

The Radical Party returned from support of the government to opposition in 1959 and declined throughout all the 1960s. Allied with the SFIO in the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left, it supported François Mitterrand at the 1965 presidential election. This federation split in 1968.

Under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, the party again made tentative moves to the left in the 1970s, but stopped short of an alliance with Socialist François Mitterrand and his Communist allies, leading to a final split in 1972, when the remaining left-wing Radicals left the party, becoming eventually the Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left

The remainder of the party continued in a conservative direction. After the failure of the alliance with the Christians Democrats into the Reforming Movement, it joined President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's Union for French Democracy (UDF), an umbrella organization for the non-Gaullist right, in 1978.

In 2002 Radicals decided to leave UDF and they are an associate party of the Union for a Popular Movement so far it was founded. Anyway some members, as Thierry Cornillet, continue to be part of UDF.

After the rise of Nicolas Sarkozy to the leadership of UMP, Radicals launched a sort of re-foundation of their party in order create a counterbalancing moderate and social wing within the UMP. The party soon started to attract other centrists (as Jean-Louis Borloo, Renaud Dutreil and Véronique Mathieu) and even some anti-Sarkozy Gaullistes (as Serge Lepeltier and Alain Ferry).

As a result the Radical Party is having an unexpected comeback in French politics and has now 17 deputies (8 more from those elected in 2002), 6 senators (one more from 2002) and three ministers in Dominique de Villepin's government: François Loos, Jean-Louis Borloo and Renaud Dutreil.

[edit] Presidents

• 1901-1902 : Gustave Mesureur
• 1902-1903 : Jean Dubief
• 1903-1904 : Maurice Faure
• 1904-1905 : Maurice Berteaux
• 1905-1906 : Émile Combes
• 1906-1907 : Camille Pelletan
• 1907-1908 : Auguste Delpech
• 1908-1909 : Louis Lafferre
• 1909-1910 : Ernest Vallé
• 1910-1913 : Émile Combes
• 1913-1914 : Joseph Caillaux
• 1917-1918 : Charles Debierre
• 1918-1919 : André Renard
• 1919-1926 : Édouard Herriot
• 1926-1927 : Maurice Sarraut
• 1927-1931 : Édouard Daladier
• 1931-1936 : Édouard Herriot
• 1936-1939 : Édouard Daladier
• 1944-1948 : Théodore Steeg
• 1948-1953 : Édouard Herriot (executive president: Léon Martinaud-Déplat)
• 1955-1957 : Édouard Herriot (first vice-president: Pierre Mendès-France)
• 1957-1958 : Édouard Daladier
• 1958-1961 : Félix Gaillard
• 1961-1965 : Maurice Faure
• 1965-1969 : René Billères
• 1969-1971 : Maurice Faure
• 1971-1975 : Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber
• 1975-1977 : Gabriel Péronnet
• 1977-1979 : Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber
• 1979-1983 : Didier Barani
• 1983-1988 : André Rossinot
• 1988-1994 : Yves Galland
• 1994-1997 : André Rossinot
• 1997-1999 : Thierry Cornillet
• 1999-2003 : François Loos
• 2003-2005 : André Rossinot
• 2005-...  : Jean-Louis Borloo and André Rossinot (co-presidents)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• French Third Republic (1871-1940)
• French Fourth Republic (1946-1958)
• French Fifth Republic (1958)
• France in Modern Times I (1792-1920)
• France in Modern Times II (1920-today)
• Liberalism
• Liberalism and radicalism in France
• Radicalism

[edit] External link

• Radical Party official site