Guy Mollet
Encyclopedia
Guy Mollet was a French Socialist politician. He led the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) party from 1946 to 1969 and was Prime Minister
in 1956–1957.
, in Normandy
, the son of a textile worker. He was educated in Le Havre
and became a school teacher in Arras
. Like most teachers, he was an active member of the French Socialist Party, then called the SFIO, and in 1928 he became SFIO Secretary for the Pas-de-Calais département. He joined the French Army in 1939 and was taken prisoner by the Germans. Released after seven months, he joined the Resistance
in the Arras area and was three times arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo
.
as representative of Pas-de-Calais. In 1946 he became Secretary-General of the SFIO against Daniel Mayer
, the candidate supported by Léon Blum
. Mollet represented the left-wing of the party which feared the dissolution of the Socialist identity in a centerist conglomerate. However, if he kept a Marxist language, he accepted the alliance with the center and center-right parties during the Fourth Republic
. Besides, his relations with the French Communist Party
(PCF), which had become the largest left-wing party, were very poor. Indeed, in his mind, "the Communist Party in not on the left, but in the East".
In this, he served as vice-Prime minister in 1946. In 1950–51 he was Minister for European Relations in the government of the Radical René Pleven
, and in 1951 he was Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Henri Queuille
. He represented France at the Council of Europe
, and was President of the Socialist Group on the Council's Assembly. From 1951 to 1969 he was Vice-President of the Socialist International
.
with the Radical Party of Pierre Mendès-France
, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
led by François Mitterrand
and the Social Gaullists headed by Jacques Chaban-Delmas
.
It won the election in promising to re-establish the peace in Algeria
. Leader of the main party of the coalition, Mollet led and formed the cabinet in January 1956.
ian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
's continued support for Algerian nationalists, and his nationalisation of the Suez Canal
, which lead to the Suez Crisis
.
As that crisis escalated, previously secret British cabinet papers show that in September 1956, Mollet requested to merge France and the United Kingdom and again, two weeks later, for France to join the Commonwealth of Nations
. Both requests were turned down by the British prime minister
Anthony Eden
, and a year later France signed the Treaty of Rome
with Germany and the other founding nations of the Common market.
In addition to mutual concern for maintaining their foreign possessions, and Mollet's concern with Nasser's Algeria involvement, Eden feared that Nasser intended to cut off oil supplies to Europe. As a result, in October 1956 Mollet, Eden and the Israel
i Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion
met and secretly colluded
to attack Egypt jointly. The Israelis invaded Egypt first, with British and French troops invading the northern Suez Canal area, shortly thereafter. But the scheme met with unexpected opposition from the United States, both at the United Nations
and economically; France and the United Kingdom were forced into a humiliating backdown. Eden resigned as a result; Mollet survived the crisis, despite fierce criticism from the Left, until finally accepting responsibility for the fiasco and resigning.
and Morocco
(whom were granted independence in 1956 by the loi-cadre Deferre). Mollet's government was left with the issue of the three departments of Algeria, where the presence of a million French settlers made a simple withdrawal politically impossible.
At first, Mollet's policy was to negotiate with the National Liberation Front
(FLN). Once in office, however, he changed his mind and argued that the FLN insurgents must be defeated before negotiations could begin. Mollet's visit to Algiers
was a stormy one, with almost everyone against him. He was pelted with rotten tomatoes at a demonstration in Algiers on 6 February 1956, a few weeks after becoming prime minister. The French refer to this memorable event as "la journée des tomates".
He poured French troops into Algeria, where they conducted a campaign of counter-terrorism including torture
, in particular during the Battle of Algiers
which took place from January to October 1957. This was too much for most French, and Mollet's government collapsed in June 1957 on the issue of taxation to pay for the Algerian War. The Secretary of State to Foreign Affairs Alain Savary
, also a SFIO member, resigned because of his opposition to Mollet's hard-stance in Algeria.
In foreign policy, Mollet negotiated and signed the Treaty of Rome
, creating the European Economic Community
. Liberalising reforms were carried out in various parts of the French Empire, although not in Algeria. Gaston Deferre’s loi-cadre of the 23 June 1956 generalized universal suffrage throughout the territories d’outre-mer and based their assemblies on a common voting-roll.
Mollet's cabinet was the last government formed by the SFIO, which was in increasing decline, and also the last stable government of the Fourth Republic
. The Algiers coup of 1958 led by First Indochina War
and Suez Crisis veterans brought Charles de Gaulle
to power from retirement and in effect seized power. Mollet supported him on the grounds that France needed a new constitution which would allow the formation of strong governments. De Gaulle appointed him one of four Secretaries of State in his first cabinet. This caused the creation of the PSU, the Unified Socialist Party
, formed by the PSA Autonomous Socialist Party and the UGS (Union de la Gauche Socialiste, a split of the SFIO).
, it was a powerless opposition party, and by the 1960s it was in terminal decline.
During the 1965 presidential campaign
, he presented himself again like the attendant of the Socialist identity and opposed to the candidacy of Gaston Defferre
, who proposed the constitution of a "Great Federation" with the non-Gaullist center-right. He accepted to support François Mitterrand
's candidacy and participated to the center-left coalition called Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left
. But it split three years later.
His leadership over the party was more and more challenged. He could not prevent the designation of Defferre as SFIO candidate at the 1969 presidential election
. This one obtained a disastrous result (5%) which swallowed up the SFIO and Mollet too. The party merged with left-wing clubs in a new Socialist Party, which Mollet abandoned the leadership to Alain Savary
. However, the internal opposition accused Mollet to be stood the real leader of the party. It allied with François Mitterrand
, who joined the party during the Epinay Congress
and took the lead in 1971.
Mollet and his followers were ejected in the minority of the party. He mocked the Socialist speeches of Mitterrand: "he is not socialist, he has learned to speak socialist".
, although he was not member of the party.
Changes
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
in 1956–1957.
Early life and World War II
He was born in Flers, OrneFlers, Orne
Flers is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.The inhabitants are called Flériens.-Geography:Flers is bordered to the north by the communes of Saint-Georges-des-Groseillers and Aubusson, to the north-east by Ronfeugerai, to the west by La Lande-Patry and Saint-Paul, to the...
, in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, the son of a textile worker. He was educated in Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
and became a school teacher in Arras
Arras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
. Like most teachers, he was an active member of the French Socialist Party, then called the SFIO, and in 1928 he became SFIO Secretary for the Pas-de-Calais département. He joined the French Army in 1939 and was taken prisoner by the Germans. Released after seven months, he joined the Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
in the Arras area and was three times arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
.
Early political career
In October 1945, Mollet was elected to the French National AssemblyFrench National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
as representative of Pas-de-Calais. In 1946 he became Secretary-General of the SFIO against Daniel Mayer
Daniel Mayer
Daniel William Mayer was a member of the French Section of the Workers' International , a socialist party in France, president of the Ligue des droits de l'homme from 1958 to 1975. He founded the Comité d'Action Socialiste in 1941 and was a member of the Brutus Network, a Resistant Socialist group...
, the candidate supported by Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
. Mollet represented the left-wing of the party which feared the dissolution of the Socialist identity in a centerist conglomerate. However, if he kept a Marxist language, he accepted the alliance with the center and center-right parties during the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
. Besides, his relations with the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
(PCF), which had become the largest left-wing party, were very poor. Indeed, in his mind, "the Communist Party in not on the left, but in the East".
In this, he served as vice-Prime minister in 1946. In 1950–51 he was Minister for European Relations in the government of the Radical René Pleven
René Pleven
René Pléven was a notable French politician of the Fourth Republic. A member of the Free French, he helped found the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance , a political party that was meant to be a successor to the wartime Resistance movement...
, and in 1951 he was Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Henri Queuille
Henri Queuille
Henri Queuille was a French Radical politician prominent in the Third and Fourth Republics. After World War II, he served three times as Prime Minister.He was the son of a noblewoman.-First ministry :...
. He represented France at the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
, and was President of the Socialist Group on the Council's Assembly. From 1951 to 1969 he was Vice-President of the Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
.
Premiership
During the 1956 legislative campaign, he created a center-left coalition called the Republican FrontRepublican Front (France)
The Republican Front was a French center-left coalition which won the 1956 legislative election. In the context of the Algerian War, behind Pierre Mendès-France, it gathered the French Section of the Workers' International , the Radical Party, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance...
with the Radical Party of Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...
, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance was a French political party found at the Liberation and in activity during the Fourth Republic...
led by François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
and the Social Gaullists headed by Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
.
It won the election in promising to re-establish the peace in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. Leader of the main party of the coalition, Mollet led and formed the cabinet in January 1956.
Suez
Although Mollet wanted to concentrate on domestic issues, he found himself confronted with a major foreign policy issue, concerning EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's continued support for Algerian nationalists, and his nationalisation of the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
, which lead to the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
.
As that crisis escalated, previously secret British cabinet papers show that in September 1956, Mollet requested to merge France and the United Kingdom and again, two weeks later, for France to join the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
. Both requests were turned down by the British prime minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
, and a year later France signed the Treaty of Rome
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, was an international agreement that led to the founding of the European Economic Community on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany...
with Germany and the other founding nations of the Common market.
In addition to mutual concern for maintaining their foreign possessions, and Mollet's concern with Nasser's Algeria involvement, Eden feared that Nasser intended to cut off oil supplies to Europe. As a result, in October 1956 Mollet, Eden and the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
met and secretly colluded
Protocol of Sèvres
The Protocol of Sèvres was a secret agreement reached between the governments of Israel, France and the United Kingdom during discussions held between 22 and 24 October 1956 at Sèvres, France...
to attack Egypt jointly. The Israelis invaded Egypt first, with British and French troops invading the northern Suez Canal area, shortly thereafter. But the scheme met with unexpected opposition from the United States, both at the United Nations
First emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly
The first emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was convened on 1 November and ended on 10 November 1956 resolving the Suez Crisis by creating the United Nations Emergency Force to provide an international presence between the belligerents in the canal zone...
and economically; France and the United Kingdom were forced into a humiliating backdown. Eden resigned as a result; Mollet survived the crisis, despite fierce criticism from the Left, until finally accepting responsibility for the fiasco and resigning.
Algeria
Like the rest of the French left, Mollet opposed French colonialism, and had supported Mendès-France's efforts in office to withdraw from TunisiaTunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
and Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
(whom were granted independence in 1956 by the loi-cadre Deferre). Mollet's government was left with the issue of the three departments of Algeria, where the presence of a million French settlers made a simple withdrawal politically impossible.
At first, Mollet's policy was to negotiate with the National Liberation Front
National Liberation Front (Algeria)
The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
(FLN). Once in office, however, he changed his mind and argued that the FLN insurgents must be defeated before negotiations could begin. Mollet's visit to Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
was a stormy one, with almost everyone against him. He was pelted with rotten tomatoes at a demonstration in Algiers on 6 February 1956, a few weeks after becoming prime minister. The French refer to this memorable event as "la journée des tomates".
He poured French troops into Algeria, where they conducted a campaign of counter-terrorism including torture
Torture during the Algerian War
Elements of the French Armed Forces as well as of the opposing Algerian National Liberation Front made use of torture during the Algerian War of Independence , creating an ongoing public controversy. Pierre Vidal-Naquet estimates that there were "possibly hundreds of thousands of instances of...
, in particular during the Battle of Algiers
Battle of Algiers
Battle of Algiers or Algiers expedition may refer to:* The Siege of Algiers by Spain leading to the establishment of the Peñón of Algiers* The Capture of Algiers by Aruj Barbarossa* The Capture of Algiers by Hayreddin Barbarossa...
which took place from January to October 1957. This was too much for most French, and Mollet's government collapsed in June 1957 on the issue of taxation to pay for the Algerian War. The Secretary of State to Foreign Affairs Alain Savary
Alain Savary
Alain Savary was a French Socialist politician, deputy to the National Assembly of France during the Fourth and Fifth Republic, chairman of the Socialist Party and a government minister in the 1950s and in 1981, when he was nominated by President François Mitterrand as Minister of National...
, also a SFIO member, resigned because of his opposition to Mollet's hard-stance in Algeria.
Home policy
Mollet's cabinet led a social policy which went unnoticed due to the international context and the Algerian War. Substantial improvements were made in welfare provision for the sick and elderly, funding for regional aid and housing was increased, and a third week of paid holidays was introduced. Mollet's government passed other pieces of social legislation during its time in office, including an increase in wages, improved medical benefits, and a social welfare fund for the elderly. The level and mechanism of state pensions to both the elderly and chronically ill was improved, while working-class housing was also given close attention, with HLM’s receiving top priority in the government’s target of 320,000 houses in 1956. Financial constraints, however, prevented the passage of other planned reforms, such as the refunding of a higher percentage of prescription charges, extended rights for comites d’enterprise, and the compulsory arbitration of works disputes.In foreign policy, Mollet negotiated and signed the Treaty of Rome
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, was an international agreement that led to the founding of the European Economic Community on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany...
, creating the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
. Liberalising reforms were carried out in various parts of the French Empire, although not in Algeria. Gaston Deferre’s loi-cadre of the 23 June 1956 generalized universal suffrage throughout the territories d’outre-mer and based their assemblies on a common voting-roll.
Mollet's cabinet was the last government formed by the SFIO, which was in increasing decline, and also the last stable government of the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
. The Algiers coup of 1958 led by First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
and Suez Crisis veterans brought Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
to power from retirement and in effect seized power. Mollet supported him on the grounds that France needed a new constitution which would allow the formation of strong governments. De Gaulle appointed him one of four Secretaries of State in his first cabinet. This caused the creation of the PSU, the Unified Socialist Party
Unified Socialist Party (France)
The Unified Socialist Party was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. It was originally led by Édouard Depreux , and by Michel Rocard .- History :...
, formed by the PSA Autonomous Socialist Party and the UGS (Union de la Gauche Socialiste, a split of the SFIO).
Late political career
Mollet resigned from de Gaulle's cabinet in 1959 and did not hold office again. He remained Secretary General of the SFIO, but under de Gaulle's new system, the Fifth RepublicFrench Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
, it was a powerless opposition party, and by the 1960s it was in terminal decline.
During the 1965 presidential campaign
French presidential election, 1965
The 1965 French presidential election was the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage of the Fifth Republic. It was also the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage since the Second Republic in 1848. It was won by incumbent president Charles de Gaulle who resigned...
, he presented himself again like the attendant of the Socialist identity and opposed to the candidacy of Gaston Defferre
Gaston Defferre
Gaston Defferre was a French socialist politician.-Biography:Lawyer and member of the French Section of the Workers' International political party, he was a member of the Brutus Network, a Resistance Socialist group during World War II...
, who proposed the constitution of a "Great Federation" with the non-Gaullist center-right. He accepted to support François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
's candidacy and participated to the center-left coalition called Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left
Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left
The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left was a conglomerate of French left-wing non-Communist forces. It was founded to support François Mitterrand's candidature at the 1965 presidential election and to couter-balance the Communist preponderance over the French left...
. But it split three years later.
His leadership over the party was more and more challenged. He could not prevent the designation of Defferre as SFIO candidate at the 1969 presidential election
French presidential election, 1969
The 1969 French presidential election took place on 1 June and 15 June 1969. It occurred due to the resignation of President Charles de Gaulle on 28 April 1969. Indeed, De Gaulle had decided to consult the voters by referendum about regionalisation and the reform of the Senate, and he had announced...
. This one obtained a disastrous result (5%) which swallowed up the SFIO and Mollet too. The party merged with left-wing clubs in a new Socialist Party, which Mollet abandoned the leadership to Alain Savary
Alain Savary
Alain Savary was a French Socialist politician, deputy to the National Assembly of France during the Fourth and Fifth Republic, chairman of the Socialist Party and a government minister in the 1950s and in 1981, when he was nominated by President François Mitterrand as Minister of National...
. However, the internal opposition accused Mollet to be stood the real leader of the party. It allied with François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, who joined the party during the Epinay Congress
Epinay Congress
The Epinay Congress was the third national congress of the French Socialist Party , which took place on 11, 12 and 13 June 1971, in the town of Épinay-sur-Seine, in the northern suburbs of Paris...
and took the lead in 1971.
Mollet and his followers were ejected in the minority of the party. He mocked the Socialist speeches of Mitterrand: "he is not socialist, he has learned to speak socialist".
Death
Guy Mollet died in Paris in 1975 of a heart attack. He is, until today, the more controversial of the French Socialist leaders. His name is tied up to the SFIO decline and his repressive policy in Algeria. In the French political language, the word molletisme means a duplicity consisting to do left-wing speeches to win the elections then lead a conservative policy. Currently, the French Socialist politicians preferred refer to the moral authority of Pierre Mendès-FrancePierre Mendès-France
Pierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...
, although he was not member of the party.
Biographies
His biography, by Denis Lefebvre, was called Guy Mollet: Le mal aimé (Guy Mollet: The Unpopular Man).Further reading
Aussaresses, General Paul, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955–1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 978-1-929631-30-8.Mollet's Ministry, 1 February 1956 – 13 June 1957
- Guy Mollet – President of the Council
- Christian PineauChristian PineauChristian Pineau was a noted French Resistance fighter.He was born in Chaumont-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne, France and died in Paris.His father-in-law was the writer Jean Giraudoux, who was married to Pineau's mother...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Maurice Bourgès-MaunouryMaurice Bourgès-MaunouryMaurice Jean Marie Bourgès-Maunoury was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister in the Fourth Republic during 1957.He is famous, especially, for fulfilling prominent ministerial role in the government during the Suez Crisis....
– Minister of National Defense - Jean Gilbert-Jules – Minister of the Interior
- Robert LacosteRobert LacosteRobert Lacoste was French politician. He was a socialist MP of the Dordogne from 1945 to 1958 and from 1962 to 1967, then senator from 1971 to 1980.- Biography :...
– Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs - André Morice – Minister of Industry
- François MitterrandFrançois MitterrandFrançois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
– Minister of Justice - René BillèresRené BillèresRené Billères was a French politician.Billères served as a Radical-Socialist deputy for the Hautes-Pyrénées from 1946 till 1973 and Senator for the same department from 1973 till 1983...
– Minister of National Education, Youth, and Sport - François Tanguy-PrigentFrançois Tanguy-PrigentFrançois Tanguy-Prigent was a French politician and resistance fighter. ....
– Minister of Veterans and War Victims - Gaston DefferreGaston DefferreGaston Defferre was a French socialist politician.-Biography:Lawyer and member of the French Section of the Workers' International political party, he was a member of the Brutus Network, a Resistance Socialist group during World War II...
– Minister of Overseas France - Albert Gazier – Minister of Social Affairs
- Pierre Mendès-FrancePierre Mendès-FrancePierre Mendès France was a French politician. He descended from a Portuguese Jewish family that moved to France in the sixteenth century.-Third Republic and World War II:...
– Minister of State
Changes
- 14 February 1956 – Paul RamadierPaul RamadierPaul Ramadier was a prominent French politician of the Third and Fourth Republics. Mayor of Decazeville starting in 1919, he served as the first Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic in 1947. On 10 July 1940, he voted against the granting of the full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain, who...
succeeds Lacoste as Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs. Morice leaves the ministry and is not replaced as Minister of Industry. - 21 February 1956 – Jacques Chaban-DelmasJacques Chaban-DelmasJacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
enters the Ministry as Minister of State. - 23 May 1956 – Mendès-France leaves the ministry