The French India Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste de l'Inde française) was a political party in

French India French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...

. The party was led by

Édouard Goubert Édouard Goubert (29 July 1894 – 14 August 1979) was mayor and first List of Chief Ministers of Puducherry, chief minister of Pondicherry (union territory), Pondicherry between 1 July 1963 and 11 September 1964. Initially a strongly pro-Fren ...

, Minister for General Administration for French India.Mukherjee, Amiya Ranjan.
Current Affairs: India, Pakistan and the World
'. N. pl.: Mukherjee, 1954, 311. The party played a dominant role in the political life in the colony, being backed by the French administration. The party favoured retaining links with France, but would eventually turn against French rule.

Founding

The party was founded in July 1947, after a split in the National Democratic Front. The Socialist Party was founded by

, P. Counouma and

Lambert Saravane Lambert Saravane (1907-1979) was a deputy in the National Assembly of France between 2 June 1946 and 4 July 1951. He was born on 17 September 1907 at Rettiarpaleom in Ozhukarai, in the territory of Puducherry, then part of French India; and ...

, who left it shortly later.David, Georgette.
Pondichéry: des comptoirs français à l'Inde d'aujourd'hui
'. Paris: Éd. Kailash, 2004, 66.Markovits, Claude.
A history of modern India, 1480-1950
'. London: Anthem, 2004, 518. The party was able to gain strong support from anti-communist urban middle-class Pondycherrites, who were opposed to the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

leader

V. Subbiah Varadarajulu Kailasa Subbiah (7 February 1911 – 12 October 1993) was an Indian communist politician from Pondicherry (now Puducherry). Subbiah was the secretary of the Communist Party of French India. He is regarded as the founder of the trade ...

Role in Pondicherry politics

The new party quickly gained the support of the French colonial administration. Under Goubert's leadership, the French India Socialist Party avoided taking any clear position on the issue of merger with the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

claiming that such a question was up to the people of the colony to decide.Madhava Menon, NR, and D Banerjea.
Criminal Justice India Series
'. Ahmedabad: Allied Publishers in collaboration with National University of Juridical Sciences, 2002, 16–7. The party fielded candidates for all of the 102 seats in the

Pondicherry district The Puducherry district, also known by its former name Pondicherry district, is one of the four districts of the union territory of Puducherry in South India. The district occupies an area of , spread over 11 non-contiguous enclaves lying on o ...

for the August 1948 municipal polls. The elections were reportedly heavily rigged in Goubert's favour. All 102 French India Socialist Party candidates emerged victorious. The pro-Merger parties boycotted the 16 December 1951 general and municipal polls, and thus the elections were easily won by the French India Socialist Party. Goubert continued as the Minister for General Administration.

Turn towards Merger

Goubert had established a vast smuggling enterprise in Pondicherry, a fact that was well-known at the time. On 6 March 1954 French authorities charged Goubert with fiscal fraud. Other Socialist Party leaders were booked under corruption charges as well. Rapidly the relations between the colonial administration and the Socialist Party went sour.Marsh, Kate.
Fictions of 1947: Representations of Indian Decolonization 1919–1962
'. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2007, 37. Politically, the French India Socialist Party made a sharp turn in its policy towards favouring a merger with India. The French authorities replied by stepping up the pressure on the party and its leaders. In some instances party members were attacked. Goubert and Mouttoupoulle (mayor of Pondicherry) went underground to evade capture. The party began planning to build a parallel administration in the peripheries of the Pondicherry district.Madhava Menon, N. R., and D. Banerjea.
Criminal Justice India Series
'. Ahmedabad: Allied Publishers in collaboration with National University of Juridical Sciences, 2002, 22. The party was able to use its dominance of local communities, which had been established with French patronage, to mobilize resistance against French rule. The civil disobedience campaign of the Socialist Party (with support from other nationalist parties) was launched on 27 March 1954. The Socialist Party resistance campaign was crucial in destabilizing French control over the colony. In May 1954, following the formation of the French India Liberation Council in Nettapakkam on 17 May, the party adopted the name French India Liberation Congress.

Affiliations

The French India Socialist Party was affiliated with neither the

Socialist Party of India Socialist Party has been the name of several political parties in India, all of which have their roots in the Congress Socialist Party during the freedom struggle. Background Socialism had a late appearance in Indian politics and this was at ...

nor the French Socialist Party (SFIO).
Eastern World
', Volume 8. London: .n. 1954, 17. During his parliamentary mandate, Goubert was attached to the

Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (french: Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance or UDSR) was a French political party founded after the liberation of France from German occupation and mainly active during the Fo ...

(UDSR) group of

René Pléven René ('' born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the femin ...

and

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 ...

, whereas Saravane had always stayed among the ''Indépendants d'outre-mer'' (Overseas Unaffiliated) parliamentary group. In Mahé there was a local

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 ...

, affiliated with the

, with no links to Goubert's French India Socialist Party.Weber, Jacques.
La révolte de Mahé en 1948, de J.B.P. More
''. Lettres du C.I.D.I.F. — Lettre n°28/29.

References

{{reflist Political parties in French India Political parties established in 1947 1947 establishments in French India Defunct socialist parties in India Political parties in Puducherry