The Socialist-Communist Union , later renamed the Socialist-Communist Party , was a socialist political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 between 1923 and 1932.

Founding

The party was founded in Boulogne-sur-Seine on April 29, 1923, through the merger of two splinter-groups of 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...

; the Federal Socialist Union (formed in December 1922, formed by the Raoul Verfeuil-led rightist tendency of the Communist Party which opposed the integration of the party into the Communist International) and L-O Frossard

Ludovic-Oscar Frossard

Ludovic-Oscar Frossard was a French socialist and communist politician, a member of six successive French governments between 1935 and 1940.-Early career and PCF:Born into an anti-clerical family opposed to the antisemitical side during the Dreyfus...

's United Communist Party. Frossard had been the First Secretary of the Communist Party but left the party and founded the United Communist Party on January 2, 1923, taking with him several intellectuals and municipal councillors (especially from the Paris region).

The mayors of the Parisian suburbs of Boulogne-sur-Seine, Issy, Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis....

, Saint-Ouen

Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis

Saint-Ouen is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department. It is located in the northern suburbs of Paris, France 6.6 km from the centre of Paris....

, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais

Le Pré-Saint-Gervais

Le Pré-Saint-Gervais is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. With a density of 23,396 inhabitants per square kilometres at the last French census of 1999, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais is officially the most densely populated municipality in...

 and Pantin

Pantin

Pantin is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. Its post code is 93500.Pantin was once the site of Motobecane's operations...

 belonged to the party. Prominent members of the party included Georges Pioch, Victor Méric and Ernest Lafont.

Crisis

U.S.-C. suffered a major setback Frossard and other prominent members (such as Henri Sellier) returned to the French Section of the Workers International (SFIO) in 1924. Both U.S.-C. parliamentarians rejoined SFIO.

The remaining U.S.-C. had around 1,000 members. The party got around 10,000 votes in the 1928 French National Assembly election

French legislative election, 1928

Legislative elections in France to elect the 14th legislature of the French Third Republic were held on 22 and 29 April 1928.-Popular Vote:-Parliamentary Groups:...

, and a candidate of the party (Ernest Lafont

Ernest Lafont

Louis-Ernest Lafont was a French socialist politician. Lafont represented Loire in the French National Assembly between 1914 and 1928, and then Hautes-Alpes between 1928 and 1936. He served as Minister of Public Health 1935-1936...

) was elected. Before the election the senator

French Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of France, presided over by a president.The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally enjoy less media coverage.-History:France's first...

 André Morizet and his followers had deserted the party.

The party was renamed 'Socialist-Communist Party' in 1927. In 1932 the party merged with Workers and Peasants Party

Workers and Peasants Party (France)

The Workers and Peasants Party was a short lived communist splinter party in France in 1929-1930.On November 24, 1929 six municipal councilors were expelled by the French Communist Party, Louis Sellier , Jean Garchery, Charles Joly, Louis Castellaz, Camille Renault, Louis Gélis...

, forming the Party of Proletarian Unity

Party of Proletarian Unity

The Party of Proletarian Unity was a French socialist political party.-History:It was formed on December 21, 1930 by leftists expelled from the French Communist Party , together with some who had previously belonged to the left-wing of the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière...

.

International linkages

In July 1923 a meeting was held in Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, attended by the U.S.-C., Georg Ledebour's Socialist League

Socialist League (Germany)

The Socialist League was a political party in Germany. The party was a splinter group of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. The party was led by Georg Ledebour...

 from Germany, the Russian Left Socialist-Revolutionaries

Left Socialist-Revolutionaries

In 1917, Russia the Socialist-Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Provisional Government, established after the February Revolution, and those who supported the Bolsheviks who favoured a communist insurrection....

 and the General Jewish Labour Bund

General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland

The General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland was a Jewish socialist party in Poland which promoted the political, cultural and social autonomy of Jewish workers, sought to combat antisemitism and was generally opposed to Zionism.-Creation of the Polish Bund:...

. The meeting decided to set up a joint Information Bureau. The first meeting of the International Bureau of Revolutionary Socialist Parties (the 'Paris Bureau') was held in Berlin in December 1924, in which the U.S.-C. participated.

Press

The party published L'Egalité (started by Frossard's group in January 1923) until April 1924. L'Egalité was a six-page biweekly newspaper. The publishing of L'Egalité was suspended after the crisis in the party that followed the return of Frossard and other prominent members to SFIO. The party launched Bulletin de l'Union Socialiste-Communiste in June 1924. In March 1926 this publication was renamed L'Unité ouvrière. This newspaper was published until December 1931.

In Loire

Loire

Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...

, the party published Le Peuple de la Loire.