tripartite alliance (France)
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Tripartisme () was the mode of government in France from 1944 to 1947, when the country was ruled by a three-party alliance of communists, socialists and Christian democrats, represented by the French Communist Party (PCF), the
French Section of the Workers' International 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 ...
(SFIO) and the Popular Republican Movement (MRP), respectively. The official charter of ''tripartisme'' was signed on 23 January 1946, following the resignation of
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 ...
, who opposed the draft of the constitution. The draft envisioned a parliamentary system, whereas de Gaulle favored a
presidential system A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...
. The traditional political class, which had included all the
right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
parties plus the Radical-Socialist Party that symbolized the Third Republic (1871–1940), was completely discredited by 1944. The reasons for this perceived lack of legitimacy included in the first instance the Collaborationism of several of these actors, as well as the failure in the 1930s to put an end to the economic crisis that had characterized the years of the Great Depression. Thus the Democratic Republican Alliance, the main center-right party after the First World War, had opted for Collaborationism, an option endorsed by its leader Pierre-Étienne Flandin plus other members like
Joseph Barthélémy Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
. Furthermore, the political class was considered jointly responsible for the collapse in 1940 of the Third Republic following the disastrous
Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
, which the historian
Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch (; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on Medieval France ov ...
later described as the "strange defeat" (''l'étrange défaite''). In this way
Gaullism 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 ...
and Communism emerged as the most popular political forces in the country. However, Charles de Gaulle, who favored a presidential system, quit the government in 1946 and henceforth remained in the opposition until his triumphal return during the May 1958 crisis. For their part, the MRP, SFIO and PCF each achieved somewhere between 20% and 30% of the votes, with approximately 150 deputies each between September 1944 and May 1947. Afterwards, the PCF and de Gaulle's Rally of the French People (RPF) became France's main parties; however, both remained in opposition, because on their own they could not muster the absolute majority needed to form a government, and an alliance between them was inconceivable. The Three-Parties Alliance was succeeded in government by the Third Force, which comprised the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), the SFIO and the MRP, with the Gaullists and the Communists forming the opposition.


History


The Provisional Government and the discrediting of the political class

After the liberation of France, the Vichy government was dissolved and the
Provisional Government of the French Republic The Provisional Government of the French Republic (PGFR; french: Gouvernement provisoire de la République française (''GPRF'')) was the provisional government of Free France between 3 June 1944 and 27 October 1946, following the liberation ...
(GPRF) was instituted. With most of the political class discredited, and containing many members who had more or less collaborated with the enemy, Gaullism and Communism became the most popular political forces in France.
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 ...
had led the
Resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...
abroad, while the PCF was nicknamed the "party of the 75,000 executed" (''parti des 75 000 fusillés'') because it had spearheaded the Resistance in metropolitan France. On the other hand, the Radical-Socialist Party, which symbolized by itself the French Third Republic (1871–1940), was completely discredited for the role it had taken both before and during the war; equally, the conservative parties were vilified for their role during the Collaboration. The March 1944 Charter of the Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR), the umbrella organization of the Resistance which was dominated by the Communist Francs-tireurs partisans (FTP), envisioned the establishment of a social democracy, including a
planned economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...
. Classical liberalism had been discredited during the 1929 crisis and its inability to come up with a suitable response to the Depression. The GPRF introduced a program of social reforms and laid the foundations of the French welfare state. It also enacted some
nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
s in strategic or/and Collaborationist-controlled economic sectors (including the 1946 founding of
Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...
electricity company, the 1945 nationalization of the AGF insurance firm, the nationalization of the Crédit Lyonnais bank in 1945 and the Société Générale bank in 1946, as well as the nationalization of the car maker Renault, which had been accused of Collaborationism). Trade union independence was guaranteed by the 1946
Charter of Amiens The Charter of Amiens (french: Charte d'Amiens) was adopted at the 9th Congress of the ''Confédération générale du travail'' (CGT) French trade-union, which took place in Amiens in October 1906. Its main proposal was the separation between the ...
. This program comprised a substantial part of the so-called '' acquis sociaux'' (social rights) established in France during the second half of the twentieth century. Charles de Gaulle led the GPRF from 1944 to 1946. Meanwhile, negotiations took place over the proposed new Constitution, which was to be put to a referendum. De Gaulle advocated a presidential system of government, and criticized the reinstatement of what he pejoratively called "the parties system". He resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Félix Gouin (SFIO). Ultimately only the PCF and the SFIO supported the draft Constitution, which envisaged a form of government based on unicameralism; but this was rejected in the referendum of May 5, 1946.


The 1946 elections

For the 1946 elections, the Rally of the Republican Lefts (''Rassemblement des gauches républicaines''), which encompassed the Radical-Socialist Party, the UDSR and other conservative parties, unsuccessfully attempted to oppose the MRP-SFIO-PCF alliance. The new Constituent Assembly included 166 MRP deputies, 153 PCF deputies and 128 SFIO deputies, giving the Tripartite alliance an absolute majority.
Georges Bidault Georges-Augustin Bidault (; 5 October 189927 January 1983) was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions. He joined the ...
(MRP) replaced Félix Gouin as the head of government. A new draft of the Constitution was written, which this time proposed the establishment of a
bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...
form of government.
Léon Blum André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of French Socialist le ...
(SFIO) headed the GPRF from 1946 to 1947. After a new legislative election in June 1946, the Christian-Democrat
Georges Bidault Georges-Augustin Bidault (; 5 October 189927 January 1983) was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions. He joined the ...
assumed leadership of the cabinet. Despite de Gaulle's so-called
discourse of Bayeux The Bayeux speeches are two speeches delivered by General Charles de Gaulle of France in the context of liberation after the Normandy landings in June 1944 and in the immediate postwar period in June 1946. They were spoken in a public square in ...
of June 16, 1946 in which he denounced the new institutions, the new draft was approved by the French people, with 53% of voters voting in favor (with 31% in
abstention Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with ...
) in the October 13, 1946 referendum. This culminated in the establishment in the following year of the Fourth Republic, an arrangement in which executive power essentially resided in the hands of the President of the Council. The President of the Republic was given a largely symbolic role, although he remained chief of the Army and as a last resort could be called upon to resolve conflicts. The PCF won the most votes of any party in the November 1946 elections, achieving 28.8% of the vote and prompting the Communist Maurice Thorez to make an unsuccessful bid for the presidency of the Council.


The Fourth Republic

The 1946 Constitution establishing the Fourth Republic, (1947–1958) created a
parliamentary Republic A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...
, as distinct from the presidentialism which would characterize the Fifth Republic (1958-). Accordingly, the composition of the government was determined by the make-up of the Parliament, and heavily relied on the formation of alliances between the most popular parties, which in practice meant the MRP, the SFIO and the PCF. The PCF refused to approve war credits for Indochina on March 19, 1947.
Minimum wages A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
were introduced on March 31, while Paul Ramadier's SFIO government heavily repressed the
Madagascar insurrection The Malagasy Uprising (french: Insurrection malgache; mg, Tolom-bahoaka tamin' ny 1947) was a Malagasy people, Malagasy nationalist rebellion against French Madagascar, French colonial rule in Madagascar, lasting from March 1947 to February 1949 ...
, resulting in 90,000 - 100,000 deaths. When Charles de Gaulle created the Rally of the French People (RPF) in April 1947, the MRP prohibited its members from joining it. The MRP ceased to be the party of Gaullism and instead defined itself as Christian Democrat.


End

Tripartisme collapsed with the May 1947 crisis in which Ramadier's government excluded the Communist ministers from participating; this was the event that marked the official start of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
in France. The May 1947 crisis could be described as the result of the Communists' refusal to continue support for the French colonial reconquest of Vietnam on the one hand plus a wage freeze during a period of hyperinflation on the other, which were the immediate causes of Maurice Thorez and his colleagues being dismissed from the ruling coalition in May 1947. From this moment on the Fourth Republic was plagued by parliamentary instability because two of France's most popular parties, de Gaulle's RPF and the PCF, remained on the opposition benches.


See also

* Blum-Byrnes agreement * Marshall Plan *
1947 strikes in France The 1947 strikes in France were a series of insurrectionary labor actions against post-war wage stagnation and Western capitalism. The strikes first emerged as a spontaneous wave in late April at the nation's largest Renault factory. When the Fren ...


References


Wikisource


1946 Constitution
(French) {{Liberation of France Politics of France Coalition governments