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Radical-Socialist Party (France)
Encyclopedia
The Radical Party is a liberal
and centrist
political party in France. The Radicals are currently the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly, with 21 seats. Between 2002 and 2011 they were an associate party of the centre-right
Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP) and were represented on the Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority
, prior to launching the The Alliance (ARES).
Founded in 1901 as Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste), it is the oldest active political party in France. The Radicals were originally a left-wing group, but with the emergence of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) in 1905, they shifted towards the centre. Since then, they have affiliated more with the centre-right, becoming one of the founder parties of the Union for French Democracy
(UDF) in 1978. In 2002 the party split from the UDF and affiliated with the UMP.
Coming from the Radical Republican
left-wing tradition, the Radical Party upholds the principles of private property
and secularism
. In the European Parliament
, along with the UMP, the four Radical MEPs
sit with the Christian-democratic
European People's Party. Since 2007, the party leader has been Jean-Louis Borloo
.
's empire in 1815, a monarchic Restoration
took place. The Republicans constituted the left-wing opposition, but they were also named "Radicals", a word coming from the British political language. It was systematically used during the July Monarchy
(1830–1848) because the law forbade parties to define themselves as "Republican". The conservative turn of the July Monarchy reinforced the audience of the radical opposition. Some politicians such as Alexandre Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc
formulated a Radical doctrine. They advocated democratic
reforms (notably universal suffrage, freedom of the press, right of assembly, etc.) as a vehicle of social progress. They defended the small private property against the socialist projects and the great landowners.
The Radicals took a major part in the 1848 Revolution and the foundation of the Second Republic
. For a few months, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin was Interior Minister in the provisional government. However, the conservatives won the 1848 legislative election
, the first election by universal suffrage. The repression of the June 1848 workers' demonstrations disappointed the left-wing supporters of the new regime. Alexandre Ledru-Rollin obtained only 5% of votes at the December 1848 presidential election
, which was won by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte
, who established the Second Empire after the 1851 coup.
From opposition, Radicals criticized personal power and the attacks on freedoms. At the end of the 1860s, with the Belleville Programme (supported by Léon Gambetta
), they advocated the election of civil servants and mayors, the proclamation of the so-called "great liberties", free public teaching, and the separation of Church and State.
After the collapse of the Second Empire following the 1870 Franco-Prussian War
, the Third Republic
was proclaimed in September 1870. The Orléanist
and Legitimist monarchists won the first elections in February 1871, but eventually the Republicans won the 1876 elections
, leading to the firm establishment of the Republic. The word "Radicals" defined the uncompromising part of the Republican Left. In this, Radicals formed the far-left opposition to the moderate Republican ("Opportunist Republicans
") governments. Georges Clemenceau
was the leader of the parliamentary group, who criticized colonial policy as a form of diversion from "revenge" against Prussia
, and, due to his ability, was a protagonist of the collapse of many governments.
In the 1890s, Léon Bourgeois
renewed the Radical doctrine, including social reforms such as the progressive income tax
and social insurance
schemes. After the Dreyfus Affair
, Radicals joined forces with other Republicans and some Socialists in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet (1899–1902). The 1901 Act on the right of association was voted, and the Radicals created their party in 1901 in order to defend governmental policy from the Roman Catholic Church
's influence and the conservative opposition.
The Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party was the first large political party established at a national level in France, which contrasted with previous parliamentary groups or local electoral committees. The idea of establishing a national party deeply modified the political scene. Several Radical figures had already been presidents of the Council (Ferdinand Buisson
, Emile Combes
, Charles Floquet
, etc.) and the Radicals already benefited from a strong implantation in the country. The party was composed of an heterogeneous alliance of electoral committees, masonic lodges
, sections of the Ligue des droits de l'homme
(Human Rights League) and of the Ligue française de l'enseignement (French Teaching League, which was active in favor of public, secular education, an aim achieved first by the Jules Ferry Laws
and then by Combes
' cabinet at the turn of the century).
, the Radicals allied themselves with the moderates of the Democratic Republican Alliance
and with the Socialists in the Bloc des gauches
(Left-Wing Block) coalition and became the main political force. Émile Combes
took the head of the Bloc des gauches 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.
After the withdrawal of the Socialist ministers from the government following the International Socialist Congress of Amsterdam in 1904, the coalition dissolved and the Radicals went alone into the 1906 legislative elections
. Nevertheless, the Radical Party remained the axis of the parliamenary majorities and of the governments. The cabinet led by Georges Clemenceau
(1906–1909) introduced the income tax
and workers' pensions, but is also remembered for the repression of industrial strikes.
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, Joseph Caillaux
, was generally more noted for his advocacy of better relations with Germany than for his reformist agenda.
During World War I (1914–1918), the Radical Party was the keystone of the Sacred Union and its historical leader, Georges Clemenceau
, led the cabinet again from 1917 to 1919. He appeared as the "architect of victory", but his relationship with the party deteriorated and Radicals lost the 1919 legislative election
.
, were generally a moderate centre-left party, faced with the rise, on its left, of the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and French Communist Party
(PCF). With these political forces, Radicals shared anti-clericalism
and the struggle for "social progress". But, unlike the other left parties, the Radicals defended the principle of private property. Besides, the Radical Party faced conservative groupings which were reinforced after World War I. In this, some Radicals participated in governments dominated by right-wing politicians after the 1919 election
.
In 1924, Radicals formed electoral alliances with the SFIO: the Cartel des Gauches
(Coalition of the Left). It won the 1924 legislative election and Édouard Herriot took the head of the cabinet. But then Radicals gradually drifted to the right, moving from Radical governments supported by the non-participating Socialists to a coalition of "Republican concentration" with more conservative parties in 1926.
Two years later, at the Angers Congress, the left wing of the party obtained the withdrawal of Radicals from the cabinet and the return to a policy of alliance with the Socialists. Édouard Daladier
was elected party leader. However, a section of the party's right wing defected and formed the Independent Radicals
group, who opposed left-wing alliances and were close to the conservative Democratic Alliance.
The second Cartel des gauches won the 1932 legislative election but its two main components were not able to establish a common agenda and, consequently, the SFIO chose to support the second government led by Édouard Herriot without participation. The coalition fell on 7 February 1934, following riots organized by the far-right leagues
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 left and right of the Radical Party respectively) took important roles. For the first time in 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 29 September 1938 Munich Agreement
, which handed over Sudetenland
to Germany in exchange for what proved to be a temporary peace, Daladier was acclaimed upon his return to Paris as the man who had avoided war. However, with the invasion of Poland
on 1 September 1939, two days later the French government led by Daladier made good on its guarantees to Poland, by declaring war alongside Britain. 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 escaped to Morocco
in the Massilia
. Thus, he was not there during the controversial 10 July 1940 vote of full powers to Marshal Philippe 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
, pressure on deputies, and the absence of the main political figures such as Daladier, despite the 1875 Constitutional amendments which prohibited any interference with the Republican nature of the regime (see Vichy France
).
on 10 July 1940, which led to the establishment of the Vichy regime
(État Français), although such senior Radical leaders as Édouard Herriot, then President of the Chamber of Deputies, had been ambivalent.
Daladier was tried in 1942 by the Vichy regime (see the Riom Trial
), which accused him, as well as other political leaders such as Socialist Léon Blum
and conservative Paul Reynaud
, of being morally and strategically responsible for the loss of the Battle of France
.
After the war, the Radical Party was reconstituted, and formed one of the important parties of the Fourth Republic
(1946–58), but never recovered its dominant pre-war position. It failed to prevent the adoption of the projects of the Three-parties
coalition (nationalizations, Welfare State
...). Along with Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
, it formed an electoral entity, the Rally of the Republican Lefts (RGR). From 1947, after the split of the governmental coalition, 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. They split and transformed the RGR in a centre-right party distinct from the Radical Party. Under Pierre Mendès-France
's leadership, the Radical Party participated to a centre-left coalition, the Republican Front
, which won the 1956 legislative election. Another split, this time over France's policy about 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 the 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 1958 crisis
to return to power. On 13 May European colonists seized the Governor-General's building in Algiers
, while Opération Résurrection
was launched by the right-wing insurrectionary Comité de Salut Public
. De Gaulle, who had deserted the political arena for a decade by disgust over the parliamentary system and its chronic instability (the système des partis which he severely criticized), now appeared as the only man able to reconcile the far-right and the European settlers, which were threatening 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" on the 28 September 1958 referendum. However, the new Constitution
was finally adopted and proclaimed on 4 October 1958.
.
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 fused 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 who were opposed to both the Algerian War and the proclamation of the new presidential regime. Mendès-France would officially become a 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
for the 1965 presidential election
. This federation later split, in 1968.
Under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber
, President since 29 October 1969 issued from the left-wing, 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 and eventually became the Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left. This group, which wanted to be a part of the left-wing Common Program, broke away to create the Movement of the Left Radicals (MRG) and supported the candidate of the left-wing, François Mitterrand, at the 1974 presidential election
.
s. They allied with the Christian Democrats
in the Reforming Movement
in order to propose another way between the Common Program 's parties and the "Presidential Majority" led by Gaullists. Finally, they joined it after the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
to the presidency of France in 1974. They supported most reforms of Giscard d'Estaing's presidency (in particular the authorization of the contraceptive pill
, recognition of women's rights
, etc.). This evolution, brought by Servan-Schreiber's influence, would end with the latter's failure during the 1979 European elections.
Following the left-wing scission in 1971, the Radical Party valoisien maintained the judicial rights to the official name of Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and is its legal continuation. The Valoisien Radicals do not use the term "Socialist" anymore since 1981, although the term is still present in their official denomination.
After the failure of the alliance with the Christians Democrats into the Reforming Movement, the Radical Party maintained its influence by participating in the foundation of Giscard d'Estaing's Union for French Democracy
(UDF) in 1978. The Radical Party was one of its six components, along with the centrists of the Centre of Social Democrats, the liberals of the Republican Party
and of the National Federation of Perspectives and Realities Clubs, the social democrats of the Socialist-Democratic Movement and of the new members of the UDF. Through the UDF, the Radical Party participated to all of the governments issued from parliamentary majorities of the Rally for the Republic
(RPR).
during which some members of the party composed electoral alliances with the far-right National Front party. Those members created the Liberal Democratic Party
, while the Radical Party remained a member of the UDF. During the 2002 presidential election, François Bayrou
presented himself as a candidate for the UDF, while the Radical Party supported his rival, Jacques Chirac
(RPR).
After Chirac's re-election in 2002, most radicals participated to the creation of his new party, the Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP). The Radical Party then quit the UDF to associate itself with the UMP, sharing its memberships and budget with the latter. Some members, however, such as Thierry Cornillet
, continue to be part of UDF. It was then headed by Jean-Louis Borloo
and André Rossinot
.
After the rise of Nicolas Sarkozy
to the leadership of UMP, Radicals launched a sort of re-foundation of their party in order to create a counterbalancing moderate and social wing within the UMP. The party soon started to attract other centrists (as Jean-Louis Borloo, Renaud Dutreil
, Véronique Mathieu
and Françoise Hostalier
) and even some anti-Sarkozy neo-Gaullists (as Serge Lepeltier
and Alain Ferry
). As a result, the Radical Party is having an unexpected comeback in French politics. It now has 21 deputies (four more from those elected in 2002), 6 senators (two more from 2002), 4 MEPs and 8,000 members. Jean-Louis Borloo was a high-ranking minister in François Fillon
's second government as minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Trasports and minister of State from 2007 to 2010, when he chose not take part to Fillon's third government. It was the first time since 1974 that Radicals were not represented in a centre-right government.
On 7 April 2011 Borloo announced the creation of a centrist coalition. On 14–15 May, during a party congress, the Radicals decided to cut their ties with Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP), of which they had been an associate party since 2002. On 26 June, during a convention, the party officially joined The Alliance, alongside with New Centre
and other centrist parties, as an alternative to the UMP.
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and centrist
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
political party in France. The Radicals are currently the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly, with 21 seats. Between 2002 and 2011 they were an associate party of the centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
(UMP) and were represented on the Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority
Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority
The Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority is a structure initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy to coordinate the political parties that support his action....
, prior to launching the The Alliance (ARES).
Founded in 1901 as Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party (Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste), it is the oldest active political party in France. The Radicals were originally a left-wing group, but with the emergence of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) in 1905, they shifted towards the centre. Since then, they have affiliated more with the centre-right, becoming one of the founder parties of the Union for French Democracy
Union for French Democracy
The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...
(UDF) in 1978. In 2002 the party split from the UDF and affiliated with the UMP.
Coming from the Radical Republican
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
left-wing tradition, the Radical Party upholds the principles of private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
and secularism
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
. In the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, along with the UMP, the four Radical MEPs
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
sit with the Christian-democratic
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
European People's Party. Since 2007, the party leader has been Jean-Louis Borloo
Jean-Louis Borloo
Jean-Louis Borloo is a French politician, and was the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning between 2007 and 2010.-Professional résumé:Education...
.
Radicals before the party (1830–1901)
After the collapse of Napoleon INapoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's empire in 1815, a monarchic Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
took place. The Republicans constituted the left-wing opposition, but they were also named "Radicals", a word coming from the British political language. It was systematically used during the July Monarchy
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
(1830–1848) because the law forbade parties to define themselves as "Republican". The conservative turn of the July Monarchy reinforced the audience of the radical opposition. Some politicians such as Alexandre Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc
Louis Blanc
Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor....
formulated a Radical doctrine. They advocated democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
reforms (notably universal suffrage, freedom of the press, right of assembly, etc.) as a vehicle of social progress. They defended the small private property against the socialist projects and the great landowners.
The Radicals took a major part in the 1848 Revolution and the foundation of the Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
. For a few months, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin was Interior Minister in the provisional government. However, the conservatives won the 1848 legislative election
French Constituent Assembly election, 1848
The 1848 general election held on 23 and 24 April 1848 elected the Constituent Assembly of the new Republic. Over 9 million voters were eligible to vote in the first French election since 1792 held under male universal suffrage.-Results:- Sources :...
, the first election by universal suffrage. The repression of the June 1848 workers' demonstrations disappointed the left-wing supporters of the new regime. Alexandre Ledru-Rollin obtained only 5% of votes at the December 1848 presidential election
French presidential election, 1848
The first-ever French presidential election of 1848 elected the first—and only—President of the Second Republic. The election was held on 10 December 1848 and led to the surprise victory of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte with 74% of the vote.-Election:...
, which was won by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
, who established the Second Empire after the 1851 coup.
From opposition, Radicals criticized personal power and the attacks on freedoms. At the end of the 1860s, with the Belleville Programme (supported by Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
), they advocated the election of civil servants and mayors, the proclamation of the so-called "great liberties", free public teaching, and the separation of Church and State.
After the collapse of the Second Empire following the 1870 Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
was proclaimed in September 1870. The Orléanist
Orléanist
The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
and Legitimist monarchists won the first elections in February 1871, but eventually the Republicans won the 1876 elections
French legislative election, 1876
The 1876 general election held to elect the second legislature of the French Third Republic was held on 20 February and 5 March 1876. 75.90% of eligible voters voted.-Parliamentary Groups:- Sources :*...
, leading to the firm establishment of the Republic. The word "Radicals" defined the uncompromising part of the Republican Left. In this, Radicals formed the far-left opposition to the moderate Republican ("Opportunist Republicans
Opportunist Republicans
The Opportunist Republicans , also known as the Moderates , were a faction of French Republicans who believed, after the proclamation of the Third Republic in 1870, that the regime could only be consolidated by successive phases...
") governments. Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
was the leader of the parliamentary group, who criticized colonial policy as a form of diversion from "revenge" against Prussia
Revanchism
Revanchism is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or...
, and, due to his ability, was a protagonist of the collapse of many governments.
In the 1890s, Léon Bourgeois
Léon Bourgeois
-Biography:He was born in Paris, and was trained in law. After holding a subordinate office in the department of public works, he became successively prefect of the Tarn and the Haute-Garonne , and then returned to Paris to enter the ministry of the interior...
renewed the Radical doctrine, including social reforms such as the progressive income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
and social insurance
Social insurance
Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:* the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;...
schemes. After the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
, Radicals joined forces with other Republicans and some Socialists in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet (1899–1902). The 1901 Act on the right of association was voted, and the Radicals created their party in 1901 in order to defend governmental policy from the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
's influence and the conservative opposition.
The Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party was the first large political party established at a national level in France, which contrasted with previous parliamentary groups or local electoral committees. The idea of establishing a national party deeply modified the political scene. Several Radical figures had already been presidents of the Council (Ferdinand Buisson
Ferdinand Buisson
Ferdinand Édouard Buisson was a French academic, educational bureaucrat, pacifist and Socialist politician...
, Emile Combes
Émile Combes
Émile Combes was a French statesman who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 – January 1905.-Biography:Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea before ordination. His anti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a...
, Charles Floquet
Charles Floquet
-Biography:He was born at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port . He studied law in Paris, and was called to the bar in 1851. The coup d'état of that year aroused the strenuous opposition of Floquet, who had, while yet a student, given proof of his republican sympathies by taking part in the fighting of 1848...
, etc.) and the Radicals already benefited from a strong implantation in the country. The party was composed of an heterogeneous alliance of electoral committees, masonic lodges
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, sections of the Ligue des droits de l'homme
Human Rights League (France)
The Human Rights League of France, is a Human Rights NGO founded on 4 June 1898 by the republican Ludovic Trarieux to defend captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew wrongly convicted for treason - this would be known as the Dreyfus Affair...
(Human Rights League) and of the Ligue française de l'enseignement (French Teaching League, which was active in favor of public, secular education, an aim achieved first by the Jules Ferry Laws
Jules Ferry laws
The Jules Ferry Laws are a set of French Laws which established free education , then mandatory and laic education . Jules Ferry, a lawyer holding the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s, is widely credited for creating the modern Republican School...
and then by Combes
Émile Combes
Émile Combes was a French statesman who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 – January 1905.-Biography:Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea before ordination. His anti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a...
' cabinet at the turn of the century).
Early years and heyday (1901–1919)
At 1902 legislative electionFrench legislative election, 1902
Legislative elections were held in France on 27 April and 11 May 1902.This was a success for the Left Block which was composed by alliance between Socialists, Radicals, and the left-wing of the old Opportunist Republicans which merged after the Affaire Dreyfus crisis, to save the parlementary form...
, the Radicals allied themselves with the moderates of the Democratic Republican Alliance
Democratic Republican Alliance
The Democratic Republican Alliance was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta, such as Raymond Poincaré who would be president of the Council in the 1920s...
and with the Socialists in the Bloc des gauches
Bloc des gauches
The Bloc des gauches , aka Bloc républicain was a coalition of Republican political forces created during the French Third Republic in 1899 to contest the 1902 legislative elections...
(Left-Wing Block) coalition and became the main political force. Émile Combes
Émile Combes
Émile Combes was a French statesman who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 – January 1905.-Biography:Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea before ordination. His anti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a...
took the head of the Bloc des gauches cabinet and led a resolute anti-clerical policy culminating in the 1905 secularity law
1905 French law on the separation of Church and State
The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and State was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1905. Enacted during the Third Republic, it established state secularism in France...
which, along with the Jules Ferry laws
Jules Ferry laws
The Jules Ferry Laws are a set of French Laws which established free education , then mandatory and laic education . Jules Ferry, a lawyer holding the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s, is widely credited for creating the modern Republican School...
on public education voted in the 1880s, formed the backbone of laïcité
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...
, France's separation of Church and State.
After the withdrawal of the Socialist ministers from the government following the International Socialist Congress of Amsterdam in 1904, the coalition dissolved and the Radicals went alone into the 1906 legislative elections
French legislative election, 1906
The 1906 general election was held on 6 and 20 May 1906.-Popular Vote:-Parliamentary Groups:- Sources :*...
. Nevertheless, the Radical Party remained the axis of the parliamenary majorities and of the governments. The cabinet led by Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
(1906–1909) introduced the income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
and workers' pensions, but is also remembered for the repression of industrial strikes.
For the latter part of the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
(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, Joseph Caillaux
Joseph Caillaux
Joseph-Marie–Auguste Caillaux was a major French politician of the Third Republic. The leader of the Radicals, he favored a policy of conciliation with Germany during his premiership from 1911 to 1912, which led to the maintenance of the peace during the Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911...
, was generally more noted for his advocacy of better relations with Germany than for his reformist agenda.
During World War I (1914–1918), the Radical Party was the keystone of the Sacred Union and its historical leader, Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
, led the cabinet again from 1917 to 1919. He appeared as the "architect of victory", but his relationship with the party deteriorated and Radicals lost the 1919 legislative election
French legislative election, 1919
The 1919 legislative election, the first election held after World War I, was held on 16 and 30 November 1919.Proportional representation by department replaced the Two-round system by arrondissements in use since 1889...
.
Between World Wars (1919–1946)
By the end of the First World War the Radical Party, now led by Édouard HerriotÉdouard Herriot
Édouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
, were generally a moderate centre-left party, faced with the rise, on its left, of the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
(PCF). With these political forces, Radicals shared anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
and the struggle for "social progress". But, unlike the other left parties, the Radicals defended the principle of private property. Besides, the Radical Party faced conservative groupings which were reinforced after World War I. In this, some Radicals participated in governments dominated by right-wing politicians after the 1919 election
French legislative election, 1919
The 1919 legislative election, the first election held after World War I, was held on 16 and 30 November 1919.Proportional representation by department replaced the Two-round system by arrondissements in use since 1889...
.
In 1924, Radicals formed electoral alliances with the SFIO: the Cartel des Gauches
Cartel des Gauches
The Cartel des gauches was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party and the socialist French Section of the Workers' International after World War I , which lasted until the end of the Popular Front . The Cartel des gauches twice won general elections, in 1924 and...
(Coalition of the Left). It won the 1924 legislative election and Édouard Herriot took the head of the cabinet. But then Radicals gradually drifted to the right, moving from Radical governments supported by the non-participating Socialists to a coalition of "Republican concentration" with more conservative parties in 1926.
Two years later, at the Angers Congress, the left wing of the party obtained the withdrawal of Radicals from the cabinet and the return to a policy of alliance with the Socialists. Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
was elected party leader. However, a section of the party's right wing defected and formed the Independent Radicals
Independent Radicals
The Independent Radicals were a center-right French political current during the French Third Republic, which refused the Radical-Socialist Party's alliance to the Left. It was formed after the fall of the first Cartel des gauches, in 1926. Starting in 1928, the group of the Independent Radicals...
group, who opposed left-wing alliances and were close to the conservative Democratic Alliance.
The second Cartel des gauches won the 1932 legislative election but its two main components were not able to establish a common agenda and, consequently, the SFIO chose to support the second government led by Édouard Herriot without participation. The coalition fell on 7 February 1934, following riots organized by the far-right leagues
6 February 1934 crisis
The 6 February 1934 crisis refers to an anti-parliamentarist street demonstration in Paris organized by far-right leagues that culminated in a riot on the Place de la Concorde, near the seat of the French National Assembly...
the night before. Radical Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic, three times President of the Council .-Career:Described as "intellectually bereft", Chautemps nevertheless entered politics and became Mayor of Tours in 1912, and a Radical deputy in 1919...
'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
Stavisky Affair
The Stavisky Affair was a 1934 financial scandal generated by the actions of embezzler Alexandre Stavisky. It had political ramifications for the French Radical Socialist moderate government of the day...
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
Popular Front (France)
The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...
electoral alliance with the Socialists and the Communists led to the accession of Socialist leader Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
as Prime Minister in a coalition government in which the Radical leaders Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic, three times President of the Council .-Career:Described as "intellectually bereft", Chautemps nevertheless entered politics and became Mayor of Tours in 1912, and a Radical deputy in 1919...
and Édouard Daladier (representing left and right of the Radical Party respectively) took important roles. For the first time in 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
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
(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 29 September 1938 Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
, which handed over Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
to Germany in exchange for what proved to be a temporary peace, Daladier was acclaimed upon his return to Paris as the man who had avoided war. However, with the invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
on 1 September 1939, two days later the French government led by Daladier made good on its guarantees to Poland, by declaring war alongside Britain. Following the 23 August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
between Germany and the Soviet Union, Daladier engaged in an anti-communist policy, prohibiting PCF's activities and the party's newspaper, L'Humanité
L'Humanité
L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
.
Furthermore, Daladier moved increasingly to the right, notably repealing the 40 hour work week
Matignon Accords (1936)
The Matignon Agreements were signed on June 7, 1936, at one o'clock in the morning, between the CGPF employers trade union confederation, the CGT trade union and the French state...
which had been the Popular Front's most visible accomplishment. Daladier would eventually resign on March 1940, and take part in Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. He was the penultimate Prime Minister of the Third Republic and vice-president of the Democratic Republican Alliance center-right...
's (Democratic Republican Alliance
Democratic Republican Alliance
The Democratic Republican Alliance was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta, such as Raymond Poincaré who would be president of the Council in the 1920s...
', center-right) government as minister of National Defense and of War. After the defeat of the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, the French army being overwhelmed by the Nazi Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
, the French government declared Paris an "open city" on 10 June and flew to Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. The same month, Daladier escaped to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
in the Massilia
The Vichy 80
The Vichy 80 were a group of elected French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted against the constitutional change that dissolved the Third Republic and established an authoritarian regime known as Vichy France....
. Thus, he was not there during the controversial 10 July 1940 vote of full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
. Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
and several historians (Michel Winock
Michel Winock
Michel Winock is a French historian, specializing in the French Republic, intellectual movements, anti-Semitism, nationalism and the far right movements of France. He is a professeur des universités in contemporary history at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and member of L'Histoire...
, etc.) refused to recognize this vote, arguing that although it had superficially respected legality, it had taken place amid lies from Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of...
, pressure on deputies, and the absence of the main political figures such as Daladier, despite the 1875 Constitutional amendments which prohibited any interference with the Republican nature of the regime (see Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
).
The Fourth Republic (1946–1958)
After World War II the Radicals, like many of the other political parties, were discredited by their earlier support for granting emergency powers to Marshal Philippe PétainPhilippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
on 10 July 1940, which led to the establishment of the Vichy regime
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
(État Français), although such senior Radical leaders as Édouard Herriot, then President of the Chamber of Deputies, had been ambivalent.
Daladier was tried in 1942 by the Vichy regime (see the Riom Trial
Riom Trial
The Riom Trial was an attempt by the Vichy France regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic had been responsible for France's defeat by Germany in 1940...
), which accused him, as well as other political leaders such as Socialist Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
and conservative Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. He was the penultimate Prime Minister of the Third Republic and vice-president of the Democratic Republican Alliance center-right...
, of being morally and strategically responsible for the loss of the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
.
After the war, the Radical Party was reconstituted, and formed one of the important parties of the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
(1946–58), but never recovered its dominant pre-war position. It failed to prevent the adoption of the projects of the Three-parties
Three-parties
The Three-Parties Alliance was a coalition which governed in France from 1944 to 1947, and was composed of the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Christian Democrat Popular Republican Movement , which to begin with contained the regrouped Gaullists...
coalition (nationalizations, Welfare State
Welfare State
The Welfare State is a commitment to health, education, employment and social security in the United Kingdom.-Background:The United Kingdom, as a welfare state, was prefigured in the William Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness...
...). Along with Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance was a French political party found at the Liberation and in activity during the Fourth Republic...
, it formed an electoral entity, the Rally of the Republican Lefts (RGR). From 1947, after the split of the governmental coalition, it participated to the Third Force
Third Force (France)
The Third Force was a French coalition during the Fourth Republic which gathered the French Section of the Workers' International party, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance centre-right party, the Radicals, the Christian democrat Popular Republican Movement and other centrist...
coalition with the SFIO, the Christian-democratic Popular Republican Movement
Popular Republican Movement
The Popular Republican Movement was a French Christian democratic party of the Fourth Republic...
and the liberal-conservative National Centre of Independents and Peasants
National Centre of Independents and Peasants
The National Centre of Independents and Peasants is a liberal-conservative and conservative-liberal political party in France, founded in 1949 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents with the...
.
In the early years of the Fourth Republic the party returned to the moderate left under the leadership of Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...
, a strong opponent of French colonialism
French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
whose premiership from 1954 to 1955 saw France's withdrawal from Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
and the agreement for French withdrawal from Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
. 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
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
(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
Edgar Faure
Edgar Faure was a French politician, essayist, historian, and memoirist.-Career:Faure was born in Béziers, Languedoc-Roussillon. He trained as a lawyer in Paris and became a member of the Bar at 27, the youngest lawyer in France to do so at the time...
, resisted these policies, leading to the fall of Mendès-France's government in 1955. They split and transformed the RGR in a centre-right party distinct from the Radical Party. Under Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...
's leadership, the Radical Party participated to a centre-left coalition, the Republican Front
Republican Front
The Republican Front Party was a political party in Zimbabwe in the 1980s, led by Ian Smith as the continuation of the Rhodesian Front. The name change came on June 6, 1981, as an attempt to distance itself from its policies of the past....
, which won the 1956 legislative election. Another split, this time over France's policy about 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 the 1990s. Mendès-France opposed the war and colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, while the SFIO led by prime minister Guy Mollet
Guy Mollet
Guy Mollet was a French Socialist politician. He led the French Section of the Workers' International party from 1946 to 1969 and was Prime Minister in 1956–1957.-Early life and World War II:...
supported it. Because of the start of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, all political parties, even the SFIO, opposed the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
(PCF), which was very popular due to its role during the Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
(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
French rule in Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
and supported its independence.
In the midst of this parliamentary instability and divisions of the political class, Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
took advantage of the May 1958 crisis
May 1958 crisis
The May 1958 crisis was a political crisis in France during the turmoil of the Algerian War of Independence which led to the return of Charles de Gaulle to political responsibilities after a ten year absence...
to return to power. On 13 May European colonists seized the Governor-General's building in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, while Opération Résurrection
Operation Resurrection
Operation Resurrection was a planned military operation of the French Army that sought to take over the capital Paris in order to force the return of French leader Charles de Gaulle to head the government. Masterminded by Gen. Jacques Massu, the operation was preceded by the "Operation Corse",...
was launched by the right-wing insurrectionary Comité de Salut Public
Committee of Public Safety (disambiguation)
Committee of Public Safety may refers to:*the Committee of Public Safety proclaimed during the French Revolution*the Committee of Public Safety proclaimed by General Salan during the Algiers putsch of 1958...
. De Gaulle, who had deserted the political arena for a decade by disgust over the parliamentary system and its chronic instability (the système des partis which he severely criticized), now appeared as the only man able to reconcile the far-right and the European settlers, which were threatening 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
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
, 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" on the 28 September 1958 referendum. However, the new Constitution
Constitution of France
The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and replaced that of the Fourth Republic dating from 1946. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth...
was finally adopted and proclaimed on 4 October 1958.
The Fifth Republic (1958–present)
Popular figure Pierre Mendès-France thus quit the Radical Party, which had crossed the threshold to the center-right, as early moderate Republicans did at the beginning of the Third Republic, when the Radical Party, appearing to their left, pushed them over the border between the left-wing and the right-wing, a process dubbed sinistrismeSinistrisme
Sinistrisme is a neologism invented by Albert Thibaudet in Les idées politiques de la France . He referred to the progressive substitution of left wing parties by new, more radical parties, which in turn pushed each party towards the center Sinistrisme is a neologism invented by Albert Thibaudet in...
.
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 fused into the Unified Socialist Party
Unified Socialist Party (France)
The Unified Socialist Party was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. It was originally led by Édouard Depreux , and by Michel Rocard .- History :...
(PSU) on 3 April 1960. This new socialist party thus gathered all the dissidents from the Radical Party and the SFIO who were opposed to both the Algerian War and the proclamation of the new presidential regime. Mendès-France would officially become a member of the PSU in 1961, a year before the 18 March 1962 Evian Accords
Évian Accords
The Évian Accords comprise a treaty which was signed in 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France by France and the F.L.N. . The Accords put an end to the Algerian War with a formal cease-fire proclaimed for March 19, and formalized the idea of cooperative exchange between the two countries...
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
Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left
The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left was a conglomerate of French left-wing non-Communist forces. It was founded to support François Mitterrand's candidature at the 1965 presidential election and to couter-balance the Communist preponderance over the French left...
, it supported François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
for the 1965 presidential election
French presidential election, 1965
The 1965 French presidential election was the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage of the Fifth Republic. It was also the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage since the Second Republic in 1848. It was won by incumbent president Charles de Gaulle who resigned...
. This federation later split, in 1968.
Under the leadership of Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber
Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber
Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, often referred to as JJSS was a French journalist and politician. He co-founded L'Express in 1953 with Françoise Giroud, and then went on to become president of the Radical Party in 1971...
, President since 29 October 1969 issued from the left-wing, the party again made tentative moves to the left in the 1970s, but stopped short of an alliance with Socialist
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
and his Communist
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
allies, leading to a final split in 1972 when the remaining left-wing Radicals left the party and eventually became the Movement of the Radical-Socialist Left. This group, which wanted to be a part of the left-wing Common Program, broke away to create the Movement of the Left Radicals (MRG) and supported the candidate of the left-wing, François Mitterrand, at the 1974 presidential election
French presidential election, 1974
Presidential elections were held in :France in 1974, following the death of President Georges Pompidou. They went to a second round, and were won by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing by a margin of 1.6%...
.
Radical Party valoisien
Henceforth, the Radical Party began to be known as valoisien, from the location of its national headquarters at the Place de Valois in Paris, in order to distinguish it from the MRG. Opposed to an electoral alliance with the PCF, which was the foundation of the 1972 Common Program, the Radicals were still anti-GaullistGaullism
Gaullism is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Resistance leader then president Charles de Gaulle.-Foreign policy:...
s. They allied with the Christian Democrats
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
in the Reforming Movement
Reforming Movement
The Reforming Movement was a French centrist political group created in 1972 by the alliance between the Radical Party led by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber and the Christian-democratic Democratic Centre headed by Jean Lecanuet....
in order to propose another way between the Common Program 's parties and the "Presidential Majority" led by Gaullists. Finally, they joined it after the election of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
to the presidency of France in 1974. They supported most reforms of Giscard d'Estaing's presidency (in particular the authorization of the contraceptive pill
Contraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
, recognition of women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, etc.). This evolution, brought by Servan-Schreiber's influence, would end with the latter's failure during the 1979 European elections.
Following the left-wing scission in 1971, the Radical Party valoisien maintained the judicial rights to the official name of Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and is its legal continuation. The Valoisien Radicals do not use the term "Socialist" anymore since 1981, although the term is still present in their official denomination.
After the failure of the alliance with the Christians Democrats into the Reforming Movement, the Radical Party maintained its influence by participating in the foundation of Giscard d'Estaing's Union for French Democracy
Union for French Democracy
The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...
(UDF) in 1978. The Radical Party was one of its six components, along with the centrists of the Centre of Social Democrats, the liberals of the Republican Party
Republican Party (France)
The Republican Party was a French right-wing political party founded in 1977. It replaced the National Federation of the Independent Republicans that was founded in 1966. It was created by former President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing...
and of the National Federation of Perspectives and Realities Clubs, the social democrats of the Socialist-Democratic Movement and of the new members of the UDF. Through the UDF, the Radical Party participated to all of the governments issued from parliamentary majorities of the Rally for the Republic
Rally for the Republic
The Rally for the Republic , was a French right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism...
(RPR).
Associate party of the UMP
An important split took place after the 1998 regional electionsFrench regional elections, 1998
Regional elections were held in France on 15 March 1998. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 régions, which, though they don't have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets...
during which some members of the party composed electoral alliances with the far-right National Front party. Those members created the Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party (France)
The Liberal Democratic Party is a French liberal party, created by a split in the Liberal Alternative....
, while the Radical Party remained a member of the UDF. During the 2002 presidential election, François Bayrou
François Bayrou
François Bayrou is a French centrist politician, president of Union for French Democracy since 1998 and was a candidate in the 2002 and 2007 French presidential elections. In the first round, he received 18.6% of the vote, finishing in 3rd place and therefore was eliminated from the race....
presented himself as a candidate for the UDF, while the Radical Party supported his rival, Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
(RPR).
After Chirac's re-election in 2002, most radicals participated to the creation of his new party, the Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
(UMP). The Radical Party then quit the UDF to associate itself with the UMP, sharing its memberships and budget with the latter. Some members, however, such as Thierry Cornillet
Thierry Cornillet
Thierry Cornillet is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the south-east of France. He is a member of the Union for French Democracy, which is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Development...
, continue to be part of UDF. It was then headed by Jean-Louis Borloo
Jean-Louis Borloo
Jean-Louis Borloo is a French politician, and was the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning between 2007 and 2010.-Professional résumé:Education...
and André Rossinot
André Rossinot
André Rossinot is a French politician. He is a medical doctor specialist in Otolaryngology. He is a member of the Radical Party....
.
After the rise of Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
to the leadership of UMP, Radicals launched a sort of re-foundation of their party in order to create a counterbalancing moderate and social wing within the UMP. The party soon started to attract other centrists (as Jean-Louis Borloo, Renaud Dutreil
Renaud Dutreil
Renaud Dutreil , is a French politician. He was Minister for the Civil Service 2004–2005 and previously Minister for Small Businesses and Enterprise, from 2002 to 2004. He was born in Chambéry, Savoie....
, Véronique Mathieu
Véronique Mathieu
Véronique Mathieu is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the East of France. She is a member of the Radical Party, associated to the Union for a Popular Movement, part of the European People's Party.-References:...
and Françoise Hostalier
Françoise Hostalier
Françoise Hostalier is a member of the National Assembly of France. She represents the Nord department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
) and even some anti-Sarkozy neo-Gaullists (as Serge Lepeltier
Serge Lepeltier
Serge Lepeltier is a French politician.He studied at École des Hautes Études Commerciales.He was mayor of Bourges in 1995 and again in 2001...
and Alain Ferry
Alain Ferry
Alain Ferry is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Bas-Rhin department, and is a member of the Radical Party. He is the mayor of Wisches, Bas-Rhin.-References:...
). As a result, the Radical Party is having an unexpected comeback in French politics. It now has 21 deputies (four more from those elected in 2002), 6 senators (two more from 2002), 4 MEPs and 8,000 members. Jean-Louis Borloo was a high-ranking minister in François Fillon
François Fillon
François Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...
's second government as minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Trasports and minister of State from 2007 to 2010, when he chose not take part to Fillon's third government. It was the first time since 1974 that Radicals were not represented in a centre-right government.
On 7 April 2011 Borloo announced the creation of a centrist coalition. On 14–15 May, during a party congress, the Radicals decided to cut their ties with Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
(UMP), of which they had been an associate party since 2002. On 26 June, during a convention, the party officially joined The Alliance, alongside with New Centre
New Centre
New Centre , also known as the European Social Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in France, formed by the members of the Union for French Democracy – including a majority of former parliamentarians – who did not agree with François Bayrou's...
and other centrist parties, as an alternative to the UMP.
Elected officials
- Deputies: Alfred AlmontAlfred AlmontAlfred Almont is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the island of Martinique, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:*...
(Martinique), Edwige Antier (Paris), Jean-Louis BernardJean-Louis BernardJean-Louis Bernard is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Loiret department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Loiret), Jean-Louis BorlooJean-Louis BorlooJean-Louis Borloo is a French politician, and was the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning between 2007 and 2010.-Professional résumé:Education...
(Nord), Alain FerryAlain FerryAlain Ferry is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Bas-Rhin department, and is a member of the Radical Party. He is the mayor of Wisches, Bas-Rhin.-References:...
(Bas-Rhin), Jean GrenetJean GrenetJean Grenet is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Laurent HénartLaurent HénartLaurent Hénart is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Meurthe-et-Moselle), Françoise HostalierFrançoise HostalierFrançoise Hostalier is a member of the National Assembly of France. She represents the Nord department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Nord), Yves JégoYves JégoYves Jégo is a French politician who was appointed Secretary of State for Overseas in the government of François Fillon on March 18, 2008. He was replaced by Marie-Luce Penchard on June 23, 2009 and was not given another portfolio...
(Seine-et-Marne), Robert LecouRobert LecouRobert Lecou is a French politician.He was elected a Deputy of the National Assembly of France on 16 June 2002, for the 4th circumscription in the Hérault department...
(Hérault), Jean LeonettiJean LeonettiJean Leonetti is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Alpes-Maritimes department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Alpes-Maritimes), François LoosFrançois LoosFrançois Loos was appointed Minister Delegate for Industry on 2 June 2005, following a term as Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade...
(Bas-Rhin), Alain MarcAlain MarcAlain Marc is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the third constituency of the Aveyron department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Aveyron), Franck MarlinFranck MarlinFranck Marlin is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the 2nd constituency of the Essonne département, and is a member of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire .-References:...
(Essonne), Frédéric ReissFrédéric ReissFrédéric Reiss is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Bas-Rhin department, and is a member of the Radical Party. He is the mayor of Niederbronn-les-Bains, Bas-Rhin.-References:...
(Bas-Rhin), Franck ReynierFranck ReynierFranck Reynier is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Drôme department, and has been the vice president of the Radical Party since 2007.-References:...
(Drôme), Arnaud Richard (Yvelines), François ScellierFrançois ScellierFrançois Scellier is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Val-d'Oise department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Val-d'Oise), André WojciechowskiAndré WojciechowskiAndré Wojciechowski is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Moselle department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Moselle), Michel ZumkellerMichel ZumkellerMichel Zumkeller is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Territoire de Belfort department, and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:...
(Territoire de Belfort) - Senators: Jean-Paul AlduyJean-Paul AlduyJean-Paul Alduy is a French politician. He is member of the Senate of France, representing the department of Pyrénées-Orientales as well as the president of the Urban Community of Mediterranean Perpignan. An engineer by profession, he was a member of the Union for French Democracy and then the...
(Pyrénées-Orientales), Alain ChatillonAlain ChatillonAlain Chatillon is a member of the Senate of France. He represents the Haute-Garonne department and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:*...
(Haute-Garonnne), Sylvie Goy-ChaventSylvie Goy-ChaventSylvie Goy-Chavent is a French politician and a member of the Senate of France. She represents the Ain department and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement Party.-References:*...
(Ain), Pierre JarlierPierre JarlierPierre Jarlier is a French politician and a member of the Senate of France. He represents the Cantal department and is a member of the Radical Party.-References:*...
(Cantal), Sophie JoissainsSophie JoissainsSophie Joissains is a French politician and a member of the Senate of France. She represents the Bouches-du-Rhône department and is a member of the Radical Party.-Biography:...
(Bouches-du-Rhône), Aymeri de MontesquiouAymeri de MontesquiouAymeri de Montesquiou is a member of the Senate of France, representing the Gers department. He is a member of the Radical Party. Since 1976, he is the mayor of Marsan.-References:*...
(Gers) - MEPs: Véronique MathieuVéronique MathieuVéronique Mathieu is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the East of France. She is a member of the Radical Party, associated to the Union for a Popular Movement, part of the European People's Party.-References:...
(Est), Tokia SaïfiTokia SaïfiTokia Afféda Saïfi is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the North-West of France. She is a member of the Radical party and of the Union for a Popular Movement, part of the European People's Party. She is a former member of Ecology Generation.- References :* European...
(Nord-Ouest), Dominique RiquetDominique RiquetDominique Riquet is a French politician who is a Christian Democrat Member of the European Parliament and mayor of Valenciennes elected in the 2009 European election for the North-West constituency...
(Nord-Ouest)
Leadership
Party presidents:- Gustave Mesureur (1901–1902)
- Jean Dubief (1902–1903)
- Maurice FauréMaurice FaureMaurice Faure at Azerat, Dordogne is a former member of the French Resistance and a former minister in several French governments....
(1903–1904) - Maurice Berteaux (1904–1905)
- Émile CombesÉmile CombesÉmile Combes was a French statesman who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 – January 1905.-Biography:Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea before ordination. His anti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a...
(1905–1906) - Camille PelletanCamille PelletanCharles Camille Pelletan was a French politician and journalist, Minister of Marine in Emile Combes' Bloc des gauches cabinet from 1902 to 1905...
(1906–1907) - Auguste Delpech (1907–1908)
- Louis Lafferre (1908–1909)
- Ernest Vallé (1909–1910)
- Émile CombesÉmile CombesÉmile Combes was a French statesman who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 – January 1905.-Biography:Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the priesthood, but abandoned the idea before ordination. His anti-clericalism would later lead him into becoming a...
(1910–1913) - Joseph CaillauxJoseph CaillauxJoseph-Marie–Auguste Caillaux was a major French politician of the Third Republic. The leader of the Radicals, he favored a policy of conciliation with Germany during his premiership from 1911 to 1912, which led to the maintenance of the peace during the Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911...
(1913–1917) - Charles Debierre (1917–1918)
- André RenardAndré RenardAndré Renard , was the leader of an important tendency in the Walloon tradeunionism-Resistance and a new faction in the Syndicalism:...
(1918–1919) - Édouard HerriotÉdouard HerriotÉdouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
(1919–1920) - Maurice Sarraut (1920–1927)
- Édouard DaladierÉdouard DaladierÉdouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
(1927–1931) - Édouard HerriotÉdouard HerriotÉdouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
(1931–1936) - Édouard DaladierÉdouard DaladierÉdouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
(1936–1944) - Édouard HerriotÉdouard HerriotÉdouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....
(1944–1957) - Édouard DaladierÉdouard DaladierÉdouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
(1957–1958) - Félix GaillardFélix GaillardFélix Gaillard d'Aimé was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister under the Fourth Republic from 1957 to 1958. He was the youngest head of a French government since Napoleon.-Career:...
(1958–1961) - Maurice FaureMaurice FaureMaurice Faure at Azerat, Dordogne is a former member of the French Resistance and a former minister in several French governments....
(1961–1965) - René BillèresRené BillèresRené Billères was a French politician.Billères served as a Radical-Socialist deputy for the Hautes-Pyrénées from 1946 till 1973 and Senator for the same department from 1973 till 1983...
(1965–1969) - Maurice FaureMaurice FaureMaurice Faure at Azerat, Dordogne is a former member of the French Resistance and a former minister in several French governments....
(1969–1971) - Jean-Jacques Servan-SchreiberJean-Jacques Servan-SchreiberJean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, often referred to as JJSS was a French journalist and politician. He co-founded L'Express in 1953 with Françoise Giroud, and then went on to become president of the Radical Party in 1971...
(1971–1975) - Gabriel Péronnet (1975–1977)
- Jean-Jacques Servan-SchreiberJean-Jacques Servan-SchreiberJean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, often referred to as JJSS was a French journalist and politician. He co-founded L'Express in 1953 with Françoise Giroud, and then went on to become president of the Radical Party in 1971...
(1977–1979) - Didier Bariani (1979–1983)
- André RossinotAndré RossinotAndré Rossinot is a French politician. He is a medical doctor specialist in Otolaryngology. He is a member of the Radical Party....
(1983–1988) - Yves GallandYves GallandYves Galland, born on 8 March 1941 in Paris, is a French politician and entrepreneur.- Biography :After his studies in law, Yves Galland started his career in the world of business before also starting his political career...
(1988–1993) - André RossinotAndré RossinotAndré Rossinot is a French politician. He is a medical doctor specialist in Otolaryngology. He is a member of the Radical Party....
(1993–1997) - Thierry CornilletThierry CornilletThierry Cornillet is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the south-east of France. He is a member of the Union for French Democracy, which is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Development...
(1997–1999) - François LoosFrançois LoosFrançois Loos was appointed Minister Delegate for Industry on 2 June 2005, following a term as Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade...
(1999–2003) - André RossinotAndré RossinotAndré Rossinot is a French politician. He is a medical doctor specialist in Otolaryngology. He is a member of the Radical Party....
(2003–2005) - Jean-Louis BorlooJean-Louis BorlooJean-Louis Borloo is a French politician, and was the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning between 2007 and 2010.-Professional résumé:Education...
and André RossinotAndré RossinotAndré Rossinot is a French politician. He is a medical doctor specialist in Otolaryngology. He is a member of the Radical Party....
(co-presidents, 2005–2007) - Jean-Louis BorlooJean-Louis BorlooJean-Louis Borloo is a French politician, and was the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning between 2007 and 2010.-Professional résumé:Education...
(2007–...)
See also
- Radicalism (historical)Radicalism (historical)The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
- History of the Left in FranceHistory of the Left in FranceThe Left in France at the beginning of the 20th century was represented by two main political parties, the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and the French Section of the Workers' International , created in 1905 as a merger of various Marxist parties...
- Liberalism and radicalism in FranceLiberalism and radicalism in FranceLiberalism and radicalism in France do not form the same type of ideology. In fact, the main line of conflict in France during the 19th century was between monarchist opponents of the Republic and supporters of the Republic...
Further reading
- Botsiou Konstantina E. "The European Centre-Right and European Integration: The Formative Years," in Reforming Europe (2009) online abstract
- De Tarr, F. The French Radical Party: from Herriot to Mendès-France (1980)
- Larmour, Peter. The French Radical Party in the 1930's (1964)