The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (''Fédération de la gauche démocrate et socialiste'' or FGDS) was a conglomerate of French

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

non-

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

forces. It was founded to support

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

's candidature at the 1965 presidential election and to counterbalance the Communist preponderance over the French left.

Members

It was composed of: *the

SFIO The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...

Socialist party led by

Guy Mollet Guy Alcide Mollet (; 31 December 1905 – 3 October 1975) was a French politician. He led the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) from 1946 to 1969 and was the French Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957. As Prime Minister ...

*the Radical Party headed by

René Billères René Billères (29 August 1910 in Ger, Hautes-Pyrénées – 2 October 2004 in Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées) was a French politician. Billères served as a Radical deputy for the Hautes-Pyrénées from 1946 till 1973 and Senator for the same dep ...

*the

Convention of Republican Institutions The Convention of Republican Institutions (french: Convention des institutions républicaines, CIR) was a socialist and republican party in France led by François Mitterrand. The CIR, founded in early June 1964, transformed from a loosely organ ...

(CIR) of

*the

Union of Socialist Groups and Clubs The Union of Socialist Groups and Clubs (french: Union des groupes et clubs socialistes, UGCS) was a socialist club in France led by Jean Poperen after he was expelled from the Unified Socialist Party. The UGCS joined the Federation of the Democr ...

(UGCS) of

Jean Poperen Jean Poperen (9 January 1925 in Angers – 23 August 1997) was a French politician. Poperen joined the Communist Party (PCF) at 18, and was also a member of the Union of Communist Students. He left the PCF after the Hungarian Revolution of 195 ...

*the

Union of Clubs for the Renewal of the Left The Union of Clubs for the Renewal of the Left (french: Union des clubs pour le renouveau de la gauche, UCRG) was a socialist club in France led by Alain Savary. The UCRG included clubs led by Alain Savary and Pierre Bérégovoy. The UCRG joined t ...

Alain Savary Alain Savary (25 April 191817 February 1988) was a French Socialist politician, deputy to the National Assembly of France during the Fourth and Fifth Republic, chairman of the Socialist Party (PS) and a government minister in the 1950s and ...

History

Before the beginning of the 1965 presidential campaign, the non-Communist left was divided. The Socialist

Gaston Defferre Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French Socialist politician. He served as mayor of Marseille for 33 years until his death in 1986. He was minister for overseas territories in Guy Mollet’s socialist government in 1956� ...

proposed the creation of a "Great Federation" gathering the center-left and the center-right parties in order to resist to the

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withd ...

domination over the country and to the leading role of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

(PCF) over the opposition. He wanted to be its candidate for the presidency. However, this project failed in due to the objections of the Socialist and Christian-Democrat leaders. François Mitterrand then proposed to be candidate with a strategy of union between the left-wing forces, including the PCF. This one accepted to support his candidature. Nevertheless, in order to talk on an equal footing with the Communists, he advocated the constitution of a federation of the left-wing non-Communist forces. This strategy was confirmed by the relatively good electoral result of Mitterrand, who succeeded to prevent a re-election of De Gaulle in the first round, and obtained 45% of the votes against him in the second round. Furthermore, the PCF/FGDS electoral agreements permitted to shrink the Gaullist parliamentary majority after the 1967 legislative election. But the FGDS was divided about question of the relations with the PCF which demanded the elaboration of a

common platform Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

. During the

May 68 Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which h ...

events, François Mitterrand announced his candidature for an anticipated presidential election. He thought

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

would resign after the crisis. Finally, de Gaulle dissolved the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

and his followers won the June 1968 legislative election. Held as responsible for the failure, Mitterrand resigned in November 1968 and the FGDS dissolved itself. Mitterrand then undertook to conquer the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS) which succeeded to the SFIO in 1969.

Election results

Presidential

National Assembly

Defunct political party alliances in France French Section of the Workers' International Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Socialist parties in France François Mitterrand Political parties established in 1965 Political parties disestablished in 1968 1965 establishments in France 1968 disestablishments in France {{France-party-stub