SFIO

In the 1930s, mutual concern over fascism drew the communists and socialists together, prompting them to form the Popular Front. The coalition won the 1936 election and formed a government under SFIO leader Léon Blum, which lasted until 1938. After the outbreak of World War II and German conquest of France in 1940, the SFIO was banned, and many of its members took part in the Resistance. The SFIO was part of France's tripartisme government from 1944 to 1947, but after the war faced a resurgent Communist Party, which achieved a higher share of the vote in every election for the next three decades. From 1956 to 1957, SFIO leader Guy Mollet served as prime minister, but the party continued its period of decline and disunity. In 1969, the present Socialist Party of France was formed from a merger of the SFIO and smaller parties.