Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

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 1956–1957. His main achievement was to establish the framework used to grant independence to France’s African territories. As the Socialist candidate for president in 1969, he received only 5 percent of the vote. He was much more successful in promoting François Mitterrand as leader of 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 t ...

(''Parti Socialiste''; PS) in 1971. He held a series of ministerial portfolios after the Socialist victory in 1981, especially as minister of state for the interior and decentralization.

Biography

A lawyer and member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), Defferre was involved in the

Brutus Network The Brutus Network (french: Réseau Brutus) was a French Resistance movement during World War II. It was founded in 1941 by Pierre Fourcaud, parachuted in France with instructions from Charles de Gaulle to set up an intelligence network,

, a Resistance Socialist group, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. A long-standing member of the National Assembly (1945–1958, 1962–1986) and member of the Senate (1959–1962), he also served for many years as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

(1944–1945, 1953–1986). He was a formidable political force in the South-East, where he owned the major centre-left newspaper ''Le Provençal'' (which he co-founded at the Liberation) and later acquired the right-wing daily ''Le Méridional''. Defferre served as Merchant Marine Minister (1950–1952), then Overseas Minister (1956–1957), and laid the groundwork for the end of

French colonialism The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existe ...

in sub-Saharan Africa through

Loi-cadre Defferre The ''loi-cadre'' (Reform Act) was a French legal reform passed by the French National Assembly on 23 June 1956, named after Overseas minister Gaston Defferre. It marked a turning point in relations between France and its overseas empire. Under p ...

. In his region, he faced a strong

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 Un ...

(PCF) with which he was frequently in conflict. As mayor, he relied on the support of the non-Gaullist center-right in the municipal assembly. In the same way, he advocated a national alliance between the SFIO and the Christian democratic

Popular Republican Movement The Popular Republican Movement (french: Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP) was a Christian-democratic political party in France during the Fourth Republic. Its base was the Catholic vote and its leaders included Georges Bidault, Robert Sc ...

(MRP). Before the 1965 presidential election, '' L'Express'' published an identikit of the best center-left candidate under the name of "Mister X". It corresponded with Defferre's profile (''L'Express'' co-founder

Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, often referred to as JJSS (13 February 19247 November 2006), 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 Radica ...

being a well known advocate of a Third Force alliance of socialists, Christian democrats and Radicals). But, failing to create an SFIO-MRP- Radical Party federation, Defferre had to give way to

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 ...

, whose preferred strategy for the Socialists was the formation of a left-wing coalition including the PCF. His political career was strongly supported by members of the Corsican mafia, not least the Guérini clan. Defferre was a participant in the last duel in France that took place in 1967 when Defferre insulted

René Ribière René Ribière (1922–1998) was a French politician. He took part in the last ever duel in France in 1967 and lost when he was lightly injured by Gaston Defferre, after Defferre insulted Ribière at the French parliament. Defferre yelled ‘Tai ...

at the French parliament and was subsequently challenged to a duel fought with swords. Defferre yelled ‘Taisez-vous, abruti!‘ (‘Shut up, stupid!’) at Ribière following an argument in the French National Assembly. Ribière demanded an apology, Defferre refused, so Ribière demanded satisfaction by duel. René Ribière lost the duel, having been wounded twice. He escaped relatively uninjured, however. In 1969 Defferre was the Socialist candidate once again for the

French presidency The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...

. This time he had the support of ex-Premier

Pierre Mendès-France Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, who would have been Premier again had Defferre been elected. But he was soundly defeated, suffering from the polarisation of French politics following the events of

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) * CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. * RAF Strike ...

, scoring only 5% of the vote, the lowest ever score for a French Socialist candidate. The failure of Defferre prompted the birth of the new Socialist Party (PS) and buried the idea of an alliance with the centre-right. Having been the main opponent of Guy Mollet in the party, and leader of the Socialist group in 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 rep ...

, Defferre helped Mitterrand take the leadership during the

Epinay Congress The Epinay Congress was the third national congress of the French Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), which took place on 11, 12 and 13 June 1971, in the town of Épinay-sur-Seine, in the northern suburbs of Paris. During this congress, n ...

(1971), in spite of his reservations concerning Mitterrand's strategy of an alliance with the Communists. Later, when Mitterrand became President, Defferre served as Mitterrand's interior minister from 1981 to 1984. He was the architect of the 1982 decentralization reforms. Town and Country Planning Minister until 1986, he died in office as Mayor of Marseille. His widow,

Edmonde Charles-Roux Edmonde Charles-Roux (17 April 1920 – 20 January 2016) was a French writer. Early life Charles-Roux was born in 1920 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, the daughter of Francois Charles-Roux, the former French ambassador to Czechoslovakia, a member of t ...

, was president of the literary circle the

Académie Goncourt The Société littéraire des Goncourt (Goncourt Literary Society), usually called the Académie Goncourt (Goncourt Academy), is a French literary organisation based in Paris. It was founded in 1900 by the French writer and publisher Edmond de Go ...

.Unger, ''Gaston Defferre'' (2011).

Political mandates

Governmental functions *Secretary of State for Information : January–June 1946. *Undersecretary of State for Overseas France : 1946–1947. * Minister of Merchant Marine : 1950–1951 / March–August 1951. *

Minister of Overseas France The Minister of the Overseas (french: Ministre des Outre-mer) is the official in charge of the Ministry of the Overseas in the Government of the French Republic, responsible for overseeing Overseas France. The office was titled Minister of ...

: 1956–1957. *Minister of State, Minister of Interior and Decentralization : 1981–1983. *Minister of Interior and Decentralization : 1983–1984. *Minister of State, Minister of Planning and Land Development : 1984–1986. Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' *Member of the National Assembly of France for

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

: 1945–1958 / 1962–1981 (Became minister in 1981) / March–May 1986 (He died in 1986). Elected in 1945, reelected in June 1946, November 1946, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1981, 1986. ''Senate of France'' *Senator of

: 1959–1962 (Reelected member of the National Assembly of France in 1962). Elected in 1959. ''Municipal Council'' *

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

: 1944–1945 / 1953–1986 (He died in 1986). Reelected in 1953, 1959, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1983. * Municipal councillor of

: 1944–1945 / 1953–1986 (He died in 1986). Reelected in 1953, 1959, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1983.

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Biography

Political mandates

Notes

Further reading

External links