Socialist economics
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Part of the Politics series on Socialism
Socialist economics are the economics of socialism. According to many proponents, socialist economic theories and arrangements are united by the desire to: produce for use rather than profit, achieve greater equality, give workers greater control of the means of production, use rational scientific planning to create a more effective mechanism for producing and distributing goods and services, and to direct the economy towards social goals rather than individual profit. The term socialist economics may also be applied to analyses of the economics of existing socialist systems, such as the works of Hungarian economist János Kornai.[1]
Within the broad scope of socialist economics are various economic theories, sometimes in opposition to one another. Some of these are: Marxian economics, the Lange Model, participatory economics, cooperative economics and mixed economies (as championed by social democrats and some democratic socialists).
[edit] Development of socialist economic thought
Main article: History of socialism
values of socialism have roots in pre-capitalist institutions such as the religious communes, reciprocal obligations, and communal charity of Mediaeval Europe, the development of its economic theory primarily reflects and responds to the monumental changes brought about by the dissolution of feudalism and the emergence of specifically capitalist social relations.[2] As such it is commonly regarded as a movement belonging to the modern era. Many socialists have considered their advocacy as the preservation and extension of the radical humanist ideas expressed in Enlightenment doctrine such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality, Wilhelm von Humboldt's Limits of State Action, or Immanuel Kant's insistent defense of the French Revolution.[3]
Capitalism appeared in mature form as a result of the problems raised when an industrial factory system requiring long-term investment and entailing corresponding risks was introduced into an internationalized commercial (mercantilist) framework. Historically speaking, the most pressing needs of this new system were an assured supply of the elements of industry – land, elaborate machinery, and labour – and these imperatives led to the commodification of these elements.[4] According to influential socialist economic historian Karl Polanyi's classic account, the forceful transformation of land, money and especially labour into commodities to be allocated by an autonomous market mechanism was an alien and inhuman rupture of the pre-existing social fabric. Marx had viewed the process in a similar light, referring to it as part of the process of "primitive accumulation" whereby enough initial capital is amassed to begin capitalist production. The dislocation that Polyani and others describe, triggered natural counter-movements in efforts to re-embed the economy in society. These counter-movements, that included, for example, the Luddite rebellions, are the incipient socialist movements. Over time such movements gave birth to or acquired an array of intellectual defenders who attempted to develop their ideas in theory.
As Polanyi noted, these counter-movements were mostly reactive and therefore not full-fledged socialist movements. Some demands went no further than a wish to mitigate the capitalist market's worst effects. Later, a full socialist program developed, arguing for systemic transformation. Its theorists believed that even if markets and private property could be tamed so as not to be excessively "exploitative", or crises could be effectively mitigated, capitalist social relations would remain significantly unjust and anti-democratic, suppressing universal human needs for fulfilling, empowering and creative work, diversity and solidarity.
Within this context socialism has undergone four periods: the first in the 19th century was a period of utopian visions (1780s-1850s); then occurred the rise of revolutionary socialist and Communist movements in the 19th century as the primary opposition to the rise of corporations and industrialization (1830–1916); the polarisation of socialism around the question of the Soviet Union, and adoption of socialist or social democratic policies in response (1916–1989); and the response of socialism in the neo-liberal era (1990- ). As socialism developed, so did the socialist system of economics. What if i really like men.
[edit] Utopian socialism
Main article: Utopian socialism
The first theories which came to hold the term "socialism" began to be formulated in the late 18th century, and were termed "socialism" early in the 19th century. The central beliefs of the socialism of this period rested on the exploitation of those who labored by those who owned capital or rented land and housing. The abject misery, poverty and disease to which laboring classes seemed destined was the inspiration for a series of schools of thought which argued that life under a class of masters, or "capitalists" as they were then becoming to be called, would consist of working classes being driven down to subsistence wages. (See Iron law of wages).
Socialist ideas found expression in utopian movements, which often formed agricultural communes aimed at being self-sufficient on the land. These included many religious movements, such as the Shakers in America.
Utopian socialism had little to offer in terms of a systematic theory of economic phenomena. In theory, economic problems were dissolved by a utopian society which had transcended material scarcity. In practice, small communities with a common spirit could sometimes resolve allocation problems.
[edit] Socialism and political economy
The first organized theories of socialist economics were significantly impacted by classical economic theory, including elements in Adam Smith, Robert Malthus and David Ricardo. In Smith there is a conception of a common good not provided by the market, a class analysis, a concern for the dehumanizing aspects of the factory system, and the concept of rent as being unproductive. Ricardo argued that the renting class was parasitic. This, and the possibility of a "general glut", an over accumulation of capital to produce goods for sale rather than for use, became the foundation of a rising critique of the concept that free markets with competition would be sufficient to prevent disastrous downturns in the economy, and whether the need for expansion would inevitably lead to war.
[edit] Socialist political economy before Marx
A key early socialist theorist of political economy was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. He was the most well-known of nineteenth century mutualist theorists. Others were: Technocrats like Henri de Saint Simon, agrarian radicals like Thomas Spence, William Ogilvie and William Cobbett; anti-capitalists like Thomas Hodgskin; communitarian and utopian socialists like Robert Owen, William Thompson and Charles Fourier; anti-market socialists like John Gray and John Francis Bray; the Christian mutualist William Batchelder Greene; as well as the theorists of the Chartist movement and early proponents of syndicalism.[5]
The first advocates of socialism promoted social leveling in order to create a meritocratic or technocratic society based upon individual talent. Count Henri de Saint-Simon was the first individual to coin the term "socialism".[6] Simon was fascinated by the enormous potential of science and technology, which led him to advocate a socialist society that would eliminate the disorderly aspects of capitalism and which would be based upon equal opportunities.[7] Simon advocated a society in which each person was ranked according to his or her capacities and rewarded according to his or her work.[6] This was accompanied by a desire to implement a rationally-organized economy based on planning and geared towards large-scale scientific and material progress, which embodied a desire for a semi-planned economy.[6]
Other early socialist thinkers were influenced by the classical economists. The Ricardian socialists, such as Thomas Hodgskin and Charles Hall, were based on the work of David Ricardo and reasoned that the equilibrium value of commodities approximated producer prices when those commodities were in elastic supply, and that these producer prices corresponded to the embodied labor. The Ricardian socialists viewed profit, interest and rent as deductions from this exchange-value.[8]
[edit] Das Kapital
Main article: Das Kapital
Karl Marx employed systematic analysis in an ambitious attempt to elucidate capitalism's contradictory laws of motion, as well as to expose the specific mechanisms by which it exploits and alienates. He radically modified classical political economic theories. Notably, the labor theory of value that had been worked upon by Adam Smith and David Ricardo, was transformed into his characteristic "law of value" and used for the purpose of revealing how commodity fetishism obscures the reality of capitalist society.
His approach, which Engels would call "scientific socialism", would stand as the branching point in economic theory: in one direction went those who rejected the capitalist system as fundamentally anti-social, arguing that it could never be harnessed to effectively realize the fullest development of human potentialities wherein "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." [1].
Das Kapital is one of the many famous incomplete works of economic theory: Marx had planned four volumes, completed two, and left his collaborator Engels to complete the third. In many ways the work is modelled on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, seeking to be a comprehensive logical description of production, consumption and finance in relation to morality and the state.
It is a work of philosophy, anthropology and sociology as much as one of economics. However, it has several important statements:
The Law of Value Capitalist production is the production of “an immense multitude of commodities” or generalised commodity production. A commodity has two essential qualities firstly, they are useful, they satisfy some human want, “the nature of such wants, whether, for instance, they spring from the stomach or from fancy, makes no difference,” [2] and secondly they are sold on a market or exchanged. Critically the exchange value of a commodity “is independent of the amount of labour required to appropriate its useful qualities.” [3] But rather depends on the amount of socially necessary labour required to produce it. All commodities are sold at their value, so the origin of the capitalist profit is not in cheating or theft but in the fact that the cost of reproduction of labour power, or the worker's wage, is less than the value created during their time at work, enabling the capitalists to yield a surplus value or profit on their investments.
Historical Property Relations Historical capitalism represents a process of momentous social upheaval where rural masses were separated from the land and ownership of the means of production by force, deprivation, and legal manipulation, creating an urban proletariat based on the institution of wage-labour. Moreover, capitalist property relations aggravated the artificial separation between city and country, which is a key factor in accounting for the metabolic rift between human beings in capitalism and their natural environment, which is at the root of our current ecological dilemmas. [4]
Commodity Fetishism Marx adapted previous value-theory to show that in capitalism phenomena involved with the price system (markets, competition, supply and demand) constitute a powerful ideology that obscures the underlying social relations of capitalist society. "Commodity fetishism" refers to this distortion of appearance. The underlying social reality is one of economic exploitation.
Economic Exploitation Workers are the fundamental creative source of new value. Property relations affording the right of usufruct and despotic control of the workplace to capitalists are the devices by which the surplus value created by workers is appropriated by the capitalists.
Accumulation Inherent to capitalism is the incessant drive to accumulate as a response to the competitive forces acting upon all capitalists. In such a context the accumulated wealth which is the source of the capitalist's social power derives itself from being able to repeat the circuit of Money-->Commodity-->Money', where the capitalist receives an increment or "surplus value" higher than their initial investment, as rapidly and efficiently as possible. Moreover this driving imperative leads capitalism to its expansion on a worldwide scale.
Crises Marx identified natural and historically specific (i.e. structural) barriers to accumulation that were interrelated and interpenetrated one another in times of crises. Different types of crises, such as realization crises and overproduction crises, are expressions of capitalism's inability to constructively overcome such barriers. Moreover, the upshot of crises is increased centralization, the expropriation of the many capitalists by the few.
Centralization The interacting forces of competition, endemic crises, intensive and extensive expansion of the scale of production, and a growing interdependency with the state apparatus, all promote a strong developmental tendency towards the centralization of capital.
Material Development As a result of its constant drive to optimize profitability by increasing the productivity of labour, typically by revolutionizing technology and production techniques, capitalism develops so as to progressively reduce the objective need for work, suggesting the potential for a new era of creative forms of work and expanded scope for leisure.
Socialization, and the pre-conditions for Revolution By socializing the labour process, concentrating workers into urban settings in large scale production processes and linking them in a worldwide market, the agents of a potential revolutionary change are created. Thus Marx felt that in the course of its development capitalism was at the same time developing the preconditions for its own negation. However, although the objective conditions for change are generated by the capitalist system itself, the subjective conditions for social revolution can only come about through the apprehension of the objective circumstances by the agents themselves and the transformation of such understanding into an effective revolutionary program.[9]
[edit] After Marx
Marx's work sharpened the existing differences between the revolutionary and non-revolutionary socialists.
Non-revolutionary socialists took inspiration from the work of John Stuart Mill, and later Keynes and the Keynesians, who provided theoretical justification for (potentially very extensive) state involvement in an existing market economy. According to the Keynesians, if the business cycle could be solved by national ownership of key industries and state direction of their investment, class antagonism would be effectively tamed; a compact would be formed between labour and the capitalists. There would be no need for revolution; instead Keynes looked to the eventual "euthenasia of the rentier" sometime in the far future. Joan Robinson and Michael Kalecki employed Keynesian insights to form the basis of a critical post-keynesian economics that at times went well beyond liberal reformism. Many original socialist economic ideas would also emerge out of the trade union movement (see Guild Socialism).
In the wake of Marx, "Marxist" economists developed many different, sometimes contradictory tendencies. Some of these tendencies were based on internal disputes about the meaning of some of Marx's ideas, including the 'Law of Value' and his crisis theory. Other variations were elaborations that subsequent theorists made in light of real world developments. For example the monopoly capitalist school saw Paul A. Baran and Paul Sweezy attempt to modify Marx's theory of capitalist development, which was based upon the assumption of price competition, to reflect the evolution to a stage where both economy and state were subject to the dominating influence of giant corporations. World-systems analysis, would restate Marx's ideas about the worldwide division of labour and the drive to accumulate from the holistic perspective of capitalism's historical development as a global system. Accordingly, Immanuel Wallerstein, writing in 1979, maintained that "There are today no socialist systems in the world-economy any more than there are feudal systems because there is only one world-system. It is a world-economy and it is by definition capitalist in form. Socialism involves the creation of a new kind of world-system, neither a redistributive world-empire nor a capitalist world-economy but a socialist world-government. I don't see this projection as being in the least utopian but I also don't feel its institution is imminent. It will be the outcome of a long social struggle in forms that may be familiar and perhaps in very few forms, that will take place in all the areas of the world-economy."[10]
Meanwhile other notable strands of reformist and revolutionary socialist economics sprung up that were either only loosely associated with Marxism or wholly independent. Thorsten Veblen is widely credited as the founder of critical institutionalism. His idiosyncratic theorizing included acidic critiques of the inefficiency of capitalism, monopolies, advertising, and the utility of conspicuous consumption. Some institutionalists have addressed the incentive problems experienced by the Soviet Union. Critical institutionalists have worked on the specification of incentive-compatible institutions, usually based on forms of participatory democracy, as a resolution superior to allocation by an autonomous market mechanism. Another key socialist, closely related to Marx, Keynes, and Gramsci, was Piero Sraffa. He mined classical political economy, particularly Ricardo, in an attempt to erect a value theory that was at the same time an explanation of the normal distribution of prices in an economy, as well that of income and economic growth. A key finding was that the net product or surplus in the sphere of production was determined by the balance of bargaining power between workers and capitalists, which was in turn subject to the influence of non-economic, presumably social and political factors. The mutualist tradition associated with Proudhon also continued, influencing the development of libertarian socialism, anarchist communism, syndicalism and distributivism.
In the real world, revolutionary socialists were confronted by the necessity of running an economy, and generally a war economy, and developed ideas and practice in response to the situations they found themselves in.
[edit] Theory of Value
Socialists often hold the normative view that, within a socialist economic system, the value of a good or service should correspond to its physical utility, rather than its cost of production (labor theory of value) or its exchange value (Marginal Utility).[11] Some socialists try to instead apply the labor theory of value to socialism, with the price of a good or service being adjusted to the amount of labor time expended in its production and labor credits being used as currency.
[edit] Socialist economies in theory
Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert identify five economic models within the rubric of socialist economics[12]:
Public Enterprise Centrally Planned Economy in which all property is owned by the State and all key economic decisions are made centrally by the State, e.g. the former Soviet Union.
Public Enterprise State-Managed Market Economy, one form of market socialism which attempts to use the price mechanism to increase economic efficiency, while all decisive productive assets remain in the ownership of the state, e.g. socialist market economy in China after reform.
A mixed economy, where public and private ownership are mixed, and where industrial planning is ultimately subordinate to market allocation, the model generally adopted by social democrats e.g. in twentieth century Sweden.
Public Enterprise Employee Managed Market Economies, another form of market socialism in which publicly owned, employee-managed production units engage in free market exchange of goods and services with one another as well as with final consumers, e.g. mid twentieth century Yugoslavia, Two more theoretical models are Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar's Progressive Utilization Theory and Economic democracy.
Public Enterprise Participatory Planning, an economy featuring social ownership of the means of production with allocation based on an integration of decentralized democratic planning. An incipient historical forebear is that of Catalonia during the Spanish revolution. More developed theoretical models include those of Karl Polanyi, Participatory Economics and the negotiated coordination model of Pat Devine, as well as in Cornelius Castoriadis's pamphlet "Workers' Councils and the Economics of a Self-Managed Society"[13]
[edit] Socialist economies in practice
[edit] Western Europe
Many of the industrialized, open countries of Western Europe experimented with one form of socialist development or another during the 20th century. They can be regarded as social democratic experiments, because they universally retained a wage-based economy and private ownership and control of the decisive means of production. Nevertheless, many western European countries tried to restructure their economies away from a pure capitalist model. Variations range from social democratic welfare states, such as Sweden, to mixed economies where a major percentage of GDP comes from the state sector, such as Norway, which ranks the highest in quality of life and equality of opportunity for its citizens.[14] Elements of these efforts persist throughout Europe, even if they have repealed some aspects of public control and ownership. They are typically characterized by:
Nationalization of key industries, such as coal, steel, power, and transportation. A common model was for a sector to be taken over by the state and then one or more publicly-owned corporations set up for its day-to-day running. Advantages of nationalization include: the ability of the state to direct investment in key industries, the distribution of state profits from nationalized industries for the overall national good, the ability to direct producers to social rather than market goals, greater control of the industries by and for the workers, and the benefits and burdens of publicly funded research and development are extended to the wider populace.
Redistribution of wealth, typically through progressive taxation.
Minimum wages, employment protection and trade union recognition rights for the benefit of workers. There were a number of different models of protection and trade union protection which evolved. Germany, for instance, appointed union representatives at high levels in all corporations and had much less industrial strife than the UK, whose laws encouraged strikes rather than negotiation. The objectives of these policies were to guarantee living wages and help produce full employment.
National planning for industrial development.
Demand management in a Keynesian fashion to help ensure economic growth and employment.
[edit] Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Main article: Economy of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union and some of its European satellites aimed for a fully centrally planned economy. They dispensed almost entirely with private ownership of capital. Workers were still, however, effectively paid a wage for their labour. Some believe that according to Marxist theory this should have been a step towards a genuine workers' state. However, some Marxists consider this a misunderstanding of Marx's views of historical materialism, and his views of the process of socialization.
The characteristics of this model of economy were:
Production quotas for every productive unit. A farm, mine or factory was judged on the basis of whether its production met the quota. It would be provided with a quota of the inputs it needed to start production, and then its quota of output would be taken away and given to downstream production units or distributed to consumers. Critics[who?] of both left and right persuasions have argued that the economy was plagued by incentive-related problems;[citation needed] claiming, for instance, that the system incentivized enterprise managers to underreport their unit's productive capacities so that their quotas would be easier to achieve, especially since the manager's bonuses were linked to the fulfillment of quotas.
Allocation through political control. In contrast with systems where prices determined allocation of resources, in the Soviet Union, allocation, particularly of means of production was determined by the bureaucracy. The prices that were constructed were done so after the formulation of the economy plan, and such prices did not factor into choices about what was produced and how it was produced in the first place.
Full employment. Every worker was ensured employment. However workers were generally not directed to jobs. The central planning administration adjusted relative wages rates to influence job choice in accordance with the outlines of the current plan.
Clearing goods by planning : if a surplus of a product was accumulated, then the central planning authority would either reduce the quota for its production or increase the quota for its use.
Five Year Plans for the long-term development of key industries.
[edit] India
Main article: Economy of India
After gaining independence from Britain, India adopted a broadly socialist approach to economic growth. Like other countries with a democratic transition to a socialist-oriented economy, it did not abolish private property in capital. India proceeded by nationalizing large privately-run firms, creating state-owned enterprises and redistributing wealth through progressive taxation in a manner more similar to social democratic Western European nations than to the USSR or China. It did however adopt a very firm focus on national planning with a series of Five-Year Plans.
[edit] People's Republic of China
Main article: Economy of the People's Republic of China
China embraced a wholehearted socialist model after the Communist victory in its Civil War. Private property and private ownership of capital were abolished, and various forms of wealth made subject to state control or to workers' councils.
The Chinese economy broadly adopted a similar system of production quotas and full employment by fiat to the Russian model. The Great Leap Forward saw a remarkable large-scale experiment with rapid collectivistaion af agriculture, and other ambitious goals. Results were less than expected, (e.g., there were food shortages) and the program was abandoned after one to three years.
In recent decades China has opened its economy to foreign investment and to market-based trade, and has continued to experience strong economic growth. It has carefully managed the transition from a planned socialist economy to a market economy, officially referred to as the socialist market economy, which has been likened to capitalism by some outside observers[15]. As a result, centralized economic planning has little relevance in China today.
The current Chinese economic system is characterized by state ownership combined with a strong private sector that privately owned enterprises that generate about 33%[16] (People's Daily Online 2005) to over 50% of GDP in 2005[17], with a BusinessWeek article estimating 70%[18] of GDP, a figure that might be even greater considering the Chengbao system. Some western observers note that the private sector is likely underestimated by state officials in calculation of GDP due to its propensity to ignore small private enterprises that are not registered.[19] Most of the state and private sectors of economy are governed by free market practices, including a stock exchange for trading equity. The free-market is the arbitrator for most economic activity, which is left to the management of both state and private firms. A significant amount of privately-owned firms exist, especially in the consumer service sector.[20]
The state sector is concentrated in the 'commanding heights' of the economy with a growing private sector engaged primarily in commodity production and light industry. Centralized directive planning based on mandatory output requirements and production quotas has been superseded by the free-market mechanism for most of the economy and directive planning is utilized in some large state industries.[21] A major difference from the old planned economy is the privatization of state institutions. 150 state-owned enterprises remain and report directly to the central government, most having a number of subsidiaries.[22] By 2008, these state-owned corporations have became increasingly dynamic largely contributing to the increase in revenue for the state[23][24]. The state-sector led the economic recovery process and increased economic growth in 2009 after the financial crises.[25] This type of economic system is defended from a Marxist perspective which states that a socialist planned economy can only be possible after first establishing the necessary comprehensive commodity market economy, letting it fully develop until it exhausts its historical stage and gradually transforms itself into a planned economy.[26] Proponents of this model distinguish themselves from market socialists who believe that economic planning is unattainable, undesirable or ineffective at distributing goods, viewing the market as the solution rather than a temporary phase in development of a socialist planned economy.
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has pursued similar economic reforms, though less extensive, which have resulted in what is officially called a Socialist-oriented market economy, a mixed economy where the state plays a dominant role intended to be a transitional phase in establishment of a socialist economy.[27]
[edit] Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Main article: Economy of SFR Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia pursued a socialist economy based on autogestion or worker-self management. Rather than implementing a centrally-planned economy, Yugoslavia developed a market socialist system where enterprises and firms were socially owned rather than publicly-owned by the state. In these organizations, the management was elected by directly by the workers in each firm, and were later organized according to Edvard Kardelj's theory of associated labor.
[edit] Singapore
Main article: Economy of Singapore
Singapore pursued a state-led model of economic development under the People's Action Party, which initially adopted a Leninist approach to politics and a broad socialist model of economic development[28]. The PAP was initially a member of the Socialist International. Singapore's economy is dominated by state-owned enterprises and government-linked companies through Temasek Holdings, which generate 60% of Singapore's GDP.[29] The state also provides substantial public housing, free education, health and recreational services, as well as comprehensive public transportation.[30] Today Singapore is often characterized as having a state capitalist economy that combines economic planning with the free-market[31]. While government-linked companies generate a majority of Singapore's GDP, moderate state planning in the economy has been reduced in recent decades.
[edit] Criticism of socialist economics
Main article: Criticism of socialism
Opponents of socialist economics criticize it for eliminating the free market and its price signals, and for its inability to rationally calculate (the economic calculation problem). Critics of socialism argue that it results in reduced prosperity, lacks incentives for workers and slows technological advances. Criticism of socialist economics comes from neoclassical and classical economists, Austrian school economists and some anarchist economists. Various socialist economic theories are criticized by other schools of socialist thought. Libertarian socialist mutualist and market socialist economists, for example, criticize centralized economic planning and propose participatory economics.
Austrian school economists, such as Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig Von Mises, have argued that the denial of private ownership of the means of production — as nearly all models of socialist economics promote — would inevitably create worse economic conditions for the general populace than those that would be found in market economies. They argue that without the price signals of the market, it is impossible to calculate rationally how to allocate resources. Mises has called socialism "economic insanity". Polish economist Oskar Lange and Abba Lerner attempted to rebut Mises' argument by developing the Lange Model during the Economic calculation debate. The Lange model states that an economy in which all production is performed by the state, where there is a functioning price mechanism, has similar properties to a market economy under perfect competition, in that it achieves Pareto efficiency.
The neoclassical view is that there is a lack of incentive, not a lack of information in a planned economy. They argue that within a socialist planned economy there is a lack of incentive to act on information. Therefore, the crucial missing element is not so much information as the Austrian school argued, as it is the motivation to act on information.[32]
In his work, Socialism, Ludwig Von Mises criticized socialism for its inability to calculate rationally:
To suppose a socialist community could subsitute calculation in kind for calculation in terms of money is an illusion. In a community that does not practice exchange, calculations in kind can never cover more than consumption goods. They break down entirely once goods of higher order are concerned. Every step that moves away from private ownership of the means of production is a step away from rational economic calculation[33]
Von Mises also pointed out socialism's tendency to consume capital, whose accumulation is the source of economic progress:
In fact, socialism is not in the least what it pretends to be. It is not the pioneer of a better world, but the spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization has created. It does not build; it destroys. Destruction is the essence of it. It produces nothing, and only consumes what the private ownership of the means of production has created. Since a socialist order of society cannot exist, unless it be a fragment of socialism within an economic order resting otherwise on private property, each step leading towards socialism must exhaust itselfin the destruction of what already exists.[34]
In conclusion, Von Mises warned his audience against the consequences of socialist economics.
If the intellectual dominance of socialism remains unshaken, then in a short time the whole cooperative system that Europe has built up for thousands of years will be shattered. For a socialist order of society is unrealizable. All efforts to realize socialism leads only to the destruction of society. Factories, mines, and railways will come to a standstill, while towns become deserted. The population of the industrial societies will die out or migrate elsewhere. The farmer will return to the self-sufficiency of the closed, domestic economy. Without private ownership of the means of production there is, in the long run, no production other than hand-to-mouth production for one's needs.[35]
[edit] See also
Anarchism
Communism
Collectivism
Economic calculation debate
Fair Trade
Feminist economics
Gandhian economics
History of economic thought
Indicative planning
Labour economics
Market socialism
Marxist economics
Mutualism (economic theory)
Mixed Economy
Participatory economics
Planned economy
Post-capitalism
Syndicalism
Socialist market economy
Welfare economics
[edit] References
^ Kornai, János: The Socialist System. The Political Economy of Communism. Princeton: Princeton University Press and Oxford: Oxford University Press 1992; Kornai, Janos: Economics of Shortage. Munich: Elsevier 1980. A concise summary of Kornai's analysis can be found in Verdery, Katherine: Anthropology of Socialist Societies. In: International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, ed. Neil Smelser and Paul B. Baltes. Amsterdam: Pergamon Press 2002, available for download here.
^ Wallerstein, Immanuel Historical Capitalism
^ Chomsky, Noam Perspectives on Power
^ Karl Polanyi Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies
^ Noel Thomson The Real Rights of Man: Political Economies for the Working Class 1775-1850, 1998, Pluto Press
^ a b c http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h44-ph.html
^ http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/contemp/pamsetc/socfrombel/sfb_2.htm
^ http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/utopia.htm
^ Petras, James and Veltmeyer, Henry Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st Century
^ Wallerstein, Immanuel, The Capitalist World-Economy, 1979, Cambridge University Press
^ http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/overview/calculation.pdf
^ Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert A Quiet Revolution in Welfare Economics
^ http://www.lust-for-life.org/Lust-For-Life/WorkersCouncilsAndEconomics/WorkersCouncilsAndEconomics.htm
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8290550.stm
^ http://www.scribd.com/doc/10996765/Long-on-China-Short-on-the-United-States-by-Tim-Swanson
^ http://english.people.com.cn/200507/13/eng20050713_195876.html
^ http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/16/3/36174313.pdf
^ http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_34/b3948478.htm
^ http://books.google.ca/books?id=DPEUcmwIEbwC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=Size+of+China%27s+private+sector&source=bl&ots=DovQ5JUF5P&sig=z_C75vw-RkJUGtrd-Dco-d4wBRY&hl=en&ei=QoZcSpDGMYvyNN6xhZIH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4
^ The Role of Planning in China's Market Economy
^ The Role of Planning in China's Market Economy
^ http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/08/china-enterprises-state-lead-cx_jrw_0708mckinsey.html
^ http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto031620081407384075
^ http://ufirc.ou.edu/publications/Enterprises%20of%20China.pdf
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8153138.stm
^ Market Economy and Socialist Road Duan Zhongqiao (http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:tWl8XGM_vQAJ:www.nodo50.org/cubasigloXXI/congreso06/conf3_zhonquiao.pdf+Socialist+planned+commodity+economy&hl=en&gl=us)
^ http://www.tapchicongsan.org.vn/details_e.asp?Object=29152838&News_ID=18459436
^ http://www.pap.org.sg/about.shtml
^ CountryRisk Maintaining Singapore's Miracle
^ http://countrystudies.us/singapore/29.htm
^ http://cje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/19/6/735
^ http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Socialism.html
^ Von Mises, Socialism, pg 119
^ Von Mises, socialism, pg 458
^ Von Mises, Socialism, pg 511
[edit] Further reading
Albert, Michael & Hahnel, Robin: The Political Economy of Participatory Economics, Princeton University Press, 1991. (Available online)
Amin, Samir : Spectres of Capitalism: A Critique of Current Intellectual Fashions, 1998, Monthly Review Press
Cole, G.D.H. : Socialist Economics, 1950, London : Victor Gollancz Ltd.
G.A. Cohen : If you're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? : Harvard UP
Horvat, Branko: The Political Economy of Socialism, 1982, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Kennedy, Liam (ed.) : Economic Theory of Co-operative Enterprises: Selected Readings, 1983, The Plunkett Foundation for Co-operative Studies.
Lebowitz, Michael A. : Beyond Capital, Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class, 1992, 2003, Palgrave.
Noel Thompson Left in the Wilderness: The Political Economy of British Democratic Socialism since 1979 2002, Acumen Publishing ISBN 1902683544
Sweezy, Paul M. : The Theory of Capitalist Development, 1942, Monthly Review Press.
Veblen, Thorstein : The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions, 1899, New York Macmillan Company.
Von Mises, Ludwig, Socialism.
Makoto Itoh, Political Economy of Socialism.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_economics"
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Socialist Party (France)
Socialist Party (France)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Not to be confused with Socialist Party of France (1902).
Socialist Party
Parti socialiste
Leader Martine Aubry[1]
Founded 1969 (PS)
Headquarters 10, rue de Solférino
75333 Paris Cedex 07
Ideology Social democracy,
Democratic socialism
International affiliation Socialist International
European affiliation Party of European Socialists
European Parliament Group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Official colours Red, Pink
Seats in the National Assembly
Seats in the Senate
Seats in the European Parliament
Website
www.parti-socialiste.fr
Politics of France
Political parties
Elections
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Constitution of France
Parliament; Government; President
The Socialist Party (Parti socialiste, PS) is the largest left-wing political party in France. It replaced the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) in 1969.
A social democratic and democratic socialist party[2], PS first won power in 1981, when its candidate François Mitterrand was elected president of the Fifth Republic. Under Mitterrand, the party achieved a governing majority in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993. PS leader Lionel Jospin lost his bid to succeed Mitterrand as president in the 1995 presidential election against Gaullist leader Jacques Chirac but became prime minister in a cohabitation government after the 1997 parliamentary elections, a position he held until 2002, when he was again defeated in presidential elections. In 2007, the party's candidate for the presidential election, Ségolène Royal, was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 French socialism until 1969
1.2 The foundation of the PS and the "Union of the Left" (1969-1981)
1.3 Mitterrand's presidency and the exercise of power (1981-1995)
1.4 Jospin and the "Plural Left" (1995-2002)
1.5 After the 2002 shock
1.6 2007 elections and their aftermath
2 Leadership
3 Factions
4 Popular support and electoral record
4.1 Presidential
4.2 Legislative
4.3 European Parliament
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
[edit] History
[edit] French socialism until 1969
Main article: French Section of the Workers' International
After the failure of the Paris commune (1871), power of the French socialist movement was greatly reduced. Its leaders were killed or exiled. France's first socialist party, the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France (Fédération des travailleurs socialistes de France or FTSF), was founded in 1879. It was characterised as "possibilist" because it promoted gradual reforms. Two parties split off from it: in 1882, the French Workers' Party (Parti ouvrier français or POF) of Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue (the son-in-law of Karl Marx), then in 1890 the Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party (Parti ouvrier socialiste révolutionnaire or POSR) of Jean Allemane. At the same time, the heirs of Louis Auguste Blanqui, a symbol of the French revolutionary tradition, created the Central Revolutionary Committee (Comité révolutionnaire central or CRC) led by Edouard Vaillant. There were also some declared socialist deputies such as Alexandre Millerand and Jean Jaurès who did not belong to any party.
In 1899, the participation of Millerand in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet caused a debate about socialist participation in a "bourgeois government". Three years later, Jaurès, Allemane and the possibilists founded the possibilist French Socialist Party, which supported participation in government, while Guesde and Vaillant formed the Socialist Party of France, which opposed such cooperation. In 1905, during the Globe Congress, the two groups merged in the French Section of the Workers International (Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière or SFIO). Leader of the parliamentary group and director of the party paper L'Humanité, Jaurès was its most influential figure.
The party was hemmed in between the middle class liberals of the Radical Party and the revolutionary syndicalists who dominated the trade unions. Furthemore, the goal to rally all the Socialists in one single party was partially reached: some elects refused to join the SFIO and crated the Republican-Socialist Party (Parti républicain-socialiste or PRS), favourable to the government participation. Together with the Radicals, who wished to install laicism, the SFIO was a component of the "Block of Lefts" (Bloc des gauches) without to sit in the government. In 1906, the General Confederation of Labour trade-unions (Confédération général du travail or CGT) claimed its independence from all political parties.
The French socialists were strongly anti-war, but following the assassination of Jaurès in 1914 they were unable to resist the wave of militarism which followed the outbreak of World War I. They suffered a severe split over participation in the wartime government of national unity. In 1919 the anti-war socialists were heavily defeated in elections. In 1920, during the Tours Congress, the majority and left wing of the party broke away and formed the French Section of the Communist International (Section française de l'Internationale Communiste or SFIC) to join the Third International founded by Vladimir Lenin. The right wing, led by Léon Blum, kept the "old house" and remained in the SFIO.
In 1924 and in 1932, the Socialists joined with the Radicals in the Coalitions of the Left (Cartels des Gauches), but refused to join the non-Socialist governments led by the Radicals Edouard Herriot and Edouard Daladier. These governments failed because the Socialists and the Radicals could not agree on economic policy, and also because the Communists, following the policy laid down by the Soviet Union, refused to support "bourgeois" governments. The question of the possibility of a governmment participation with Radicals caused the split of "neosocialists" at the beginning of the 1930s. They merged with the Republican-Socialist Party (PRS) in the Socialist Republican Union (Union socialiste républicaine or USR).
In 1934, the Communists changed their line, and the four left-wing parties came together in the Popular Front, which won the 1936 elections and brought Blum to power as France's first SFIO Prime Minister. Indeed, for the first time in its history, the SFIO obtained more votes and seats than the Radical Party and it formed the central axis of a left-wing parliamentary majority. Within a year, however, his government collapsed over economic policy and also over the issue of the Spanish Civil War. The fall of the Popular Front caused a new split from the SFIO, with the departure of the left-wing of the party, led by Marceau Pivert, to the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party (Parti socialiste ouvrier et paysan or PSOP). The demoralised left fell apart and was unable to resist the collapse of the French republic after the military defeat of 1940.
After the liberation of France in 1944, the SFIO re-emerged in a coalition with a powerful Communist Party (PCF), which became the largest left-wing party, and the Christian Democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP). This alliance installed the main elements of the French welfare state and the Fourth Republic, but it did not survive the Cold War. In May 1947, the Socialist Prime Minister Paul Ramadier dismissed the Communist ministers. Blum proposed the construction of a Third Force with the centre-left and the centre-right, against the Gaullists and the Communists. However, his candidate to lead of the SFIO, Daniel Mayer, was defeated by Guy Mollet.
Mollet was supported by the left wing of the party. Paradoxically, he spoke a Marxist language without questioning the alliance with the centre and the centre-right. His leadership was shaken when the party divided in 1954 about the European Defence Community (the half of the SFIO parliamentary group voted "no", against the instructions of the party lead, participating to the failure of the project). But later, Mollet got involved the SFIO in the build of a centre-left coalition, the Republican Front, which won a plurality in the 1956 elections. Consequently, he was Prime Minister at the head of a minority government. But the party was in decline, as were the Radicals, and the left never came close to forming a united front. Indeed, this led Mollet to assert, "the Communist Party is not on the left, but in the East". The repressive policy of Mollet in the Algerian War and his support for Charles de Gaulle's come-back in 1958 (the party lead called to vote "yes" in referendum on Fifth Republic's constitution) caused a split and the foundation of the dissident Unified Socialist Party (Parti socialiste unifié or PSU). The SFIO returned to opposition in 1959. Discredited by its fluctuating policy during the Fourth Republic, it reached its lowest ebb in the 1960s.
Both because of its opposition to the principle of presidential election by universal suffrage and because De Gaulle's re-election appeared inevitable, the SFIO did not nominate a candidate for the 1965 election. Consequently, it supported the candidacy of François Mitterrand, a former minister of the Fourth Republic who had been a conservative, then a leftist independent. He was resolutely anti-Gaullist. Supported by all the left-wing parties, he obtained a good result and faced De Gaulle in an unexpected second ballot, becoming the leader of the non-Communist left.
In order to exist between the Communist Party, leading the left, and the Gaullist Party, leading the country, the SFIO, Radicals, and left-wing republican groups created the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left under Mitterrand's leadership. But unable to benefit from the May 1968 events, it imploded after its disastrous defeat at the June 1968 legislative elections. One year later, the SFIO candidate Gaston Defferre was eliminated in the first round of the 1969 presidential election, with only 5% of votes.
[edit] The foundation of the PS and the "Union of the Left" (1969-1981)
In 1969, during the Alfortville Congress, the SFIO was replaced by the Socialist Party (Parti socialiste or PS). It was joined by pro-Pierre Mendès-France clubs (Union of Clubs for the Renewal of the Left led by Alain Savary) and left-wing republican groups (Union of Socialist Groups and Clubs of Jean Poperen). During the Issy-les-Moulineaux Congress, Alain Savary was elected First Secretary with the support of his predecessor Guy Mollet. He proposed an "ideological dialogue" with the Communists.
Two years later, during the Epinay Congress, pro-François Mitterrand clubs (Convention of Republican Institutions), joined the party. Mitterrand defeated the Savary-Mollet duo by proposing an electoral programme with the Communists and took the lead. In 1972, the Common Programme was signed with the PCF and Left Radical Party. During the Socialist International conference, he explained the alliance of left-wing parties is a yearning of French left-wing voters. In this, the goal of his strategy was "to regain 3 million of the 5 million of PCF voters". The left, and notably the Socialist Party, experienced an electoral recovery at the 1973 legislative election. Mitterrand, the candidate of the left-wing alliance, came close to winning the 1974 presidential election. Indeed, he obtained 49.2% of votes in the second round.
At the end of 1974, some PSU members, including leader Michel Rocard, re-joined the PS. They represented the "left-wing Christian" and non-Marxist group. The most conservative members of the PS, they advocated an alignment of French socialism along European Social-Democratic lines, that is, a clear acceptance of the market economy. While the "Union of the Left" triumphed at the 1977 municipal election, the electoral rise of the PS worried the Communist Party. The two parties failed to update the Common Programme and the PCF leader Georges Marchais denounced a "turn towards the Right" of the PS.
In spite of positive polls, the "Union of the Left" lost the 1978 legislative election. For the first time since 1936, the Socialists scored better than the Communists, becoming the main left-wing party, but their defeat caused an internal crisis. Mitterrand's leadership was challenged by Rocard, who wanted to abandon the Common Programme which he considered archaic and unrealistic. Mitterrand felt that the left could not win without the alliance between the Socialists and the Communists. In 1979, Mitterrand won the Metz Congress, then, despite Rocard's popularity, was chosen as PS candidate for the 1981 presidential election.
[edit] Mitterrand's presidency and the exercise of power (1981-1995)
In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the incumbent conservative, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, to become the first socialist of the Fifth Republic to be elected President of France by universal suffrage. He dissolved the National Assembly and, for the first time in their history, the French Socialists won an absolute majority of the seats. This "pink surge" took place to the detriment of the right-wing parliamentary parties (Rally for the Republic and Union for French Democracy), and the Communist Party too.
Mitterrand was the last elected national leader in Europe to attempt to carry out a socialist-inspired agenda (the 110 Propositions), furthering the dirigiste trends of the preceding conservative governments. The Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy nationalised the banks, the insurance industry and the defence industries, in accordance with the 1972 Common Program. Workers' wages were increased and working hours reduced to 39, and many other sweeping reforms carried out, but the economic crisis continued. Reforms included the abolition of death penalty, creation of a solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), introduction of proportional representation in legislative elections (which was applied only at the 1986 election), decentralization of the state (1982-83 laws), repeal of price liberalization for books (Lang Law of 1981), etc.
As early as 1982, Mitterrand faced a clear choice between maintaining France's membership in the European Monetary System, and thus the country's commitment to European integration, and pursuing his socialist policies. He chose the former, starting the Socialist Party's acceptance of the market economy. In 1984 Mitterrand and his second Prime Minister, Laurent Fabius, clearly abandoned any further socialist measures. The "Union of the Left" died and the Communist ministers resigned.
The PS lost its majority in the French National Assembly in 1986, forcing Mitterrand to "cohabit" with the conservative government of Jacques Chirac. Nevertheless, Mitterrand was re-elected President in 1988 with a moderate programme entitled "United France". He proposed neither nationalisations nor privatisations. He chose as Prime Minister the most popular and moderate of the Socialist politicians, Michel Rocard. His cabinet included four center-right ministers but it was supported by only a plurality in the National Assembly elected in June 1988.
During his second term, Mitterrand focused on foreign policy and European integration. He convened a referendum for the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. He left domestic policy to his prime ministers: Michel Rocard, Edith Cresson and Pierre Bérégovoy. The party was hit by scandals about its financing and weakened by the struggle between the heirs of "Mitterrandism".
In 1990, during the Rennes Congress, the "Mitterrandist group" split between the supporters of Laurent Fabius and the friends of Lionel Jospin. Furthermore, a part of the left-wing of the party, led by Jean-Pierre Chevènement split off due to his opposition to the Gulf War and the Maastricht Treaty. This section created the Citizens' Movement (Mouvement des citoyens or MDC). Finally, many on the left were disappointed by the results of the Socialist governments. At the 1993 legislative election, the PS did poorly, returning to the levels of the SFIO in the 1960s. The Socialist group of the National Assembly numbered 53 deputies against 260 during the previous term.
Rocard became First Secretary of the party, and was considered the "natural candidate" for the next presidential election. He called for a political "big bang": an agreement with the center and the center-right, but his efforts were in vain. One year later, his party obtained only 14% of votes at the European Parliament election. He was overthrown by a motley coalition led by Henri Emmanuelli, a "Mitterrandist" left-winger. One year before the 1995 presidential election, the PS was affected by a leadership crisis. Rocard lost the most part of his followers after his 1994 electoral crash, Fabius was weakened by the infected blood scandal, the presidentaibility of Emannuelli was questioned. The hope of some party members transferred to Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission and a favorite according to the polls, but he declined due to the radicalization of the party which prevented his centerist strategy. Finally, Lionel Jospin, who had announced his political retirement after the loss of his parliamentary seat in 1993, came back and proposed to "take stock" of Mitterrand's inheritance. For the fisrt time, the party members were called to nominate their candidate for presidency. Benefiting from a good image in the polls, a strong loyalty to the party (as former First Secretary) and governmental experience (as former Education Minister, and the teachers were numerous and influentials in the PS), he deafeted Emmanuelli in the internal ballot. Then, he was defeated by Jacques Chirac in the run-off election but, given the PS crisis, his result was judged good and he returned as First Secretary.
[edit] Jospin and the "Plural Left" (1995-2002)
In the legislature, the PS reconstructed a coalition with other left-wing parties: the PCF, the Greens, the Left Radical Party and the MDC. This "Plural Left" (Gauche plurielle) won the 1997 legislative election and Jospin became Prime Minister of the third "cohabitation".
His policy was broadly progressive but had little to do with traditional socialism. The Aubry laws reduced the working time to 35 hours a week. Universal medical insurance was instituted. However, the policy of privatization was pursued.
His coalition dissolved when the MDC leader Jean-Pierre Chevènement resigned from the Cabinet. The Green and Communist allies were weakened by their governmental participation.
The 2002 presidential election was focused on the theme of insecurity. Jospin, again the Socialists' candidate, was eliminated in the first round due to there being too many left-wing candidates who split the vote. He announced his retirement from politics, and the PS called on its supporters to vote for Chirac in order to defeat the National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had surprisingly advanced to the run-off. Two months later, the "Plural Left" lost the legislative election.
[edit] After the 2002 shock
François Hollande, who became First Secretary in 1997, was re-elected in 2003 during the Dijon Congress with the support of the main Socialist personalities, against the left-wing of the party. In the 2004 regional elections, the Socialists had a major comeback. In coalition with the former "Plural Left", they gained power in 20 of the 22 metropolitan regions (all except Alsace and Corsica) and in the four overseas regions. The party benefited from increasing frustration with right-wing parties. However, the Socialist Party has experienced considerable difficulty in formulating an alternative to right-wing policy.
On December 1, 2004, 59% of Socialist Party members approved the proposed European Constitution. However, several well-known members of the Party, including Laurent Fabius, and left-wingers Henri Emmanuelli and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, asked the public for a "no" vote in the 29 May 2005 French referendum on the European Constitution, where the proposed Constitution was rejected. Fabius was ejected from the executive office of the party. The split over the European Constitution, as well as party leaders' competing ambitions to win the presidential nomination in 2007, led the party into considerable disarray.
In November 2005, during the Le Mans Congress, three main groups were present. The majority supported a moderate text and obtained 55%. Fabius's allies ("To Rally the Left") advocated more radical policies and gained 20%. Finally, another faction ("New Socialist Party") claimed it was necessary to renovate the party by proposing left-wing policies and a profound reform of French institutions. It obtained 25% of the vote. Virtually all factions agreed on a common agenda, broadly based on the moderate and pro-European majority's position with some left-wing amendments.
[edit] 2007 elections and their aftermath
From left to right: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Bertrand Delanoë and Ségolène Royal sitting in the front row at a meeting held on Feb. 6, 2007 by the French Socialist Party at the Carpentier Hall in Paris.For the 2007 presidential election, many potential candidates appeared: François Hollande, Laurent Fabius (from the left-wing of the party), Dominique Strauss-Kahn (who claimed to represent "social democracy"), Jack Lang, Martine Aubry and Ségolène Royal, who was favoured according to the polls. Some Socialist leaders asked Jospin to return. He declared he was "available" then finally refused.
On November 16, 2006, the members of the Socialist Party chose Ségolène Royal to be their candidate with a majority of 60%. Her challengers, Strauss-Kahn and Fabius, obtained 21% and 19% respectively.
After obtaining 25.87% of the vote in the first round of France's presidential elections, Royal qualified for the second round of voting but lost with 46.94% to Nicolas Sarkozy on May 6, 2007. Immediately after her defeat several party bosses (notably Strauss-Kahn), held Ségolène Royal personally responsible for the unsuccessful campaign. In the same time, some personalities of the right-wing of the party (such as Bernard Kouchner) accepted to join the government nominated by Nicolas Sarkozy.
In the 10 and 17 June 2007 National Assembly elections, the party won 186 out of 577 seats, and about 10 affiliated, gain of 40 seats.
After the winning March 2008 municipal election, the campaign with a view to the Reims Congress started. Some candidates proposed to succeed François Hollande, who had announced he will not compete for another term as First Secretary:
Ségolène Royal who wished to forge an alliance with the centre party MoDem;
the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, supported by Lionel Jospin and his friends, who wished to keep the status quo of the 2007 campaign and come back to the Plural Left;
Martine Aubry, supported by the followers of Laurent Fabius and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who had the same electoral strategy as the Mayor of Paris but advocated reconcilitaion between the campaigners of the "yes" and the "no" to the European constitution; and
the young left-winger Benoit Hamon.
In the pre-vote, the text of Royal arrived the first with 29%, followed by Delanoë (25%), Aubry (25%) and Hamon (19%). A part of the left-wing spilt and founded the Party of the Left. During the Reims Congress, which happened in a very tense climate, the leaders of the factions failed to form a majority. Consequently, the PS members must to elect directly the next First Secretary. Disappointed by his result in the pre-vote, Delanoë renounced and called to vote for Aubry.
On 22 November 2008 it was announced that Aubry had defeated Royal by the narrow margin of 42 votes, and Royal asked for a recount. After checking, Martine Aubry was elected by a margin of 102 votes and 50,03% of votes.
[edit] Leadership
First secretaries since 1969:
Alain Savary (1969–1971)
François Mitterrand (1971–1981)
Lionel Jospin (1981–1988)
Pierre Mauroy (1988–1992)
Laurent Fabius (1992–1993)
Michel Rocard (1993–1994)
Henri Emmanuelli (1994–1995)
Lionel Jospin (1995–1997)
François Hollande (1997–2008)
Martine Aubry (2008-)
[edit] Factions
Aubryists (left-wing, Christian left, democratic socialism): Martine Aubry, François Lamy, Sandrine Mazetier, Pierre Mauroy , Paulette Guinchard-Kunstler, Adeline Hazan, Arnaud Montebourg (Renovate Now)
Royalists (moderate, social democracy): Ségolène Royal, Gérard Collomb, Jean-Noël Guérini, Gaëtan Gorce, Jean-Louis Bianco, Julien Dray, Vincent Peillon, Aurélie Filippetti, Georges Frêche, Hélène Mandroux, Jean-Jack Queyranne, François Rebsamen, Manuel Valls
Delanoistes ("right-wing", social democracy, social liberalism): Bertrand Delanoë, François Hollande, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Lionel Jospin, Michel Rocard, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Élisabeth Guigou, Michel Sapin, Alain Rousset, Harlem Désir, Pierre Cohen, Michel Destot, Roland Ries.
Fabiusians (left-wing, democratic socialism): Laurent Fabius, Claude Bartolone, Marylise Lebranchu, Alain Le Vern, Alain Vidalies, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann
New Socialist Party (Left-republicanism, democratic socialism): Henri Emmanuelli, Benoît Hamon, Jacques Fleury, Michel Vergnier, André Lejeune, Paul Quilès, Gérard Filoche
Eco-socialists (eco-socialism): Christophe Caresche, Jean-Louis Tourenne, Nicole Bricq, Geneviève Gaillard, Philippe Tourtelier
Utopia (Alterglobalization)
[edit] Popular support and electoral record
The PS's pattern of support has evolved significantly since its creation and since the days of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). However, certain strongholds remain remarkably stable. For example, the PS dominates the rural areas of the south-west of France (notably the Midi-Pyrénées), an old SFIO base. These rural regions voted Socialist as a protest against Parisian centralism, though they were amongst the first republican and laïc regions of France.
While the PS used to be weak in the major wealthy urban centres of the southwest, such as Toulouse, the PS has made gains with middle-class urban voters nationwide and is the largest party in almost all major French cities.
The PS is also strong in areas which used to be strongholds of the French Communist Party: the mining and industrial areas of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the left-wing rural Limousin, and various industrial centres around France.
In recent years, thanks to urbanisation and most notably the decline of religious practice, it has made significant gains in regions such as Bretagne or the Pays-de-la-Loire. For example, Ségolène Royal won the Breton department of Ille-et-Vilaine with 52.39%[3] - while losing nationally - while Mitterrand has won only 38.88% in 1974 (49.19% nationwide).[4] This trend has also been observed in Catholic departments such as Lozère, Cantal and Haute-Loire (though the Socialists were already strong in secular logging areas).
Past support in rural backwoods Provence, such as in the Var (formerly the "Red Var") has practically evaporated with the influx of wealthier residents, Pieds-Noirs and retirees. Ironically, the region is now one of the PS' worst regions.
The PS is also strong in the department of the Nièvre, Mitterrand's electoral base.
[edit] Presidential
President of the French Republic Election year Candidate # of 1st round votes % of 1st round vote # of 2nd round votes % of 2nd round vote
1974 François Mitterrand 11,044,373 43.25% 12,971,604 49.19%
1981 François Mitterrand 7,505,960 25.86% 15,708,262 51.76%
1988 François Mitterrand 10,381,332 34.11% 16,704,279 54.02%
1995 Lionel Jospin 7,098,191 23.30% 15,763,027 47.4%
2002 Lionel Jospin 4,610,749 16.18% — —
2007 Ségolène Royal 9,500,112 25.87% 16,790,440 46.94%
[edit] Legislative
French National Assembly Election year # of 1st round votes % of 1st round vote # of seats
1973 4,579,888 18.9% 89
1978 6,451,151 22.6% 103
1981 9,077,435 36.0% 266
1986 8,693,939 31.0% 206
1988 8,493,602 34.8% 260
1993 4,476,716 17.6% 53
1997 5,961,612 23.5% 246
2002 6,086,599 24.1% 141
2007 6,436,520 24.73% 186
[edit] European Parliament
European Parliament Election year Number of votes % of overall vote # of seats won
1979 4,763,026 23.53% 22
1984 4,188,875 20.76% 20
1989 4,286,354 23.61% 22
1994 2,824,173 14.49% 15
1999 3,873,901 21.95% 22
2004 4,960,756 28.90% 31
2009 2,838,160 16.48% 14
[edit] See also
History of France
Workers and Peasants Socialist Party
[edit] References
^ "Aubry wins French socialist Party leadership". Toronto Star. November 22, 2008. http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/541925.
^ http://www.parties-and-elections.de/france.html
^ "Ministry of the Interior results page". http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/resultats-elections/PR2007/053/035/5335.html.
^ "Results on the CDSP website". http://cdsp.sciences-po.fr/AE.php.
[edit] External links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Not to be confused with Socialist Party of France (1902).
Socialist Party
Parti socialiste
Leader Martine Aubry[1]
Founded 1969 (PS)
Headquarters 10, rue de Solférino
75333 Paris Cedex 07
Ideology Social democracy,
Democratic socialism
International affiliation Socialist International
European affiliation Party of European Socialists
European Parliament Group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Official colours Red, Pink
Seats in the National Assembly
Seats in the Senate
Seats in the European Parliament
Website
www.parti-socialiste.fr
Politics of France
Political parties
Elections
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Constitution of France
Parliament; Government; President
The Socialist Party (Parti socialiste, PS) is the largest left-wing political party in France. It replaced the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) in 1969.
A social democratic and democratic socialist party[2], PS first won power in 1981, when its candidate François Mitterrand was elected president of the Fifth Republic. Under Mitterrand, the party achieved a governing majority in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993. PS leader Lionel Jospin lost his bid to succeed Mitterrand as president in the 1995 presidential election against Gaullist leader Jacques Chirac but became prime minister in a cohabitation government after the 1997 parliamentary elections, a position he held until 2002, when he was again defeated in presidential elections. In 2007, the party's candidate for the presidential election, Ségolène Royal, was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 French socialism until 1969
1.2 The foundation of the PS and the "Union of the Left" (1969-1981)
1.3 Mitterrand's presidency and the exercise of power (1981-1995)
1.4 Jospin and the "Plural Left" (1995-2002)
1.5 After the 2002 shock
1.6 2007 elections and their aftermath
2 Leadership
3 Factions
4 Popular support and electoral record
4.1 Presidential
4.2 Legislative
4.3 European Parliament
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
[edit] History
[edit] French socialism until 1969
Main article: French Section of the Workers' International
After the failure of the Paris commune (1871), power of the French socialist movement was greatly reduced. Its leaders were killed or exiled. France's first socialist party, the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France (Fédération des travailleurs socialistes de France or FTSF), was founded in 1879. It was characterised as "possibilist" because it promoted gradual reforms. Two parties split off from it: in 1882, the French Workers' Party (Parti ouvrier français or POF) of Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue (the son-in-law of Karl Marx), then in 1890 the Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party (Parti ouvrier socialiste révolutionnaire or POSR) of Jean Allemane. At the same time, the heirs of Louis Auguste Blanqui, a symbol of the French revolutionary tradition, created the Central Revolutionary Committee (Comité révolutionnaire central or CRC) led by Edouard Vaillant. There were also some declared socialist deputies such as Alexandre Millerand and Jean Jaurès who did not belong to any party.
In 1899, the participation of Millerand in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet caused a debate about socialist participation in a "bourgeois government". Three years later, Jaurès, Allemane and the possibilists founded the possibilist French Socialist Party, which supported participation in government, while Guesde and Vaillant formed the Socialist Party of France, which opposed such cooperation. In 1905, during the Globe Congress, the two groups merged in the French Section of the Workers International (Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière or SFIO). Leader of the parliamentary group and director of the party paper L'Humanité, Jaurès was its most influential figure.
The party was hemmed in between the middle class liberals of the Radical Party and the revolutionary syndicalists who dominated the trade unions. Furthemore, the goal to rally all the Socialists in one single party was partially reached: some elects refused to join the SFIO and crated the Republican-Socialist Party (Parti républicain-socialiste or PRS), favourable to the government participation. Together with the Radicals, who wished to install laicism, the SFIO was a component of the "Block of Lefts" (Bloc des gauches) without to sit in the government. In 1906, the General Confederation of Labour trade-unions (Confédération général du travail or CGT) claimed its independence from all political parties.
The French socialists were strongly anti-war, but following the assassination of Jaurès in 1914 they were unable to resist the wave of militarism which followed the outbreak of World War I. They suffered a severe split over participation in the wartime government of national unity. In 1919 the anti-war socialists were heavily defeated in elections. In 1920, during the Tours Congress, the majority and left wing of the party broke away and formed the French Section of the Communist International (Section française de l'Internationale Communiste or SFIC) to join the Third International founded by Vladimir Lenin. The right wing, led by Léon Blum, kept the "old house" and remained in the SFIO.
In 1924 and in 1932, the Socialists joined with the Radicals in the Coalitions of the Left (Cartels des Gauches), but refused to join the non-Socialist governments led by the Radicals Edouard Herriot and Edouard Daladier. These governments failed because the Socialists and the Radicals could not agree on economic policy, and also because the Communists, following the policy laid down by the Soviet Union, refused to support "bourgeois" governments. The question of the possibility of a governmment participation with Radicals caused the split of "neosocialists" at the beginning of the 1930s. They merged with the Republican-Socialist Party (PRS) in the Socialist Republican Union (Union socialiste républicaine or USR).
In 1934, the Communists changed their line, and the four left-wing parties came together in the Popular Front, which won the 1936 elections and brought Blum to power as France's first SFIO Prime Minister. Indeed, for the first time in its history, the SFIO obtained more votes and seats than the Radical Party and it formed the central axis of a left-wing parliamentary majority. Within a year, however, his government collapsed over economic policy and also over the issue of the Spanish Civil War. The fall of the Popular Front caused a new split from the SFIO, with the departure of the left-wing of the party, led by Marceau Pivert, to the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party (Parti socialiste ouvrier et paysan or PSOP). The demoralised left fell apart and was unable to resist the collapse of the French republic after the military defeat of 1940.
After the liberation of France in 1944, the SFIO re-emerged in a coalition with a powerful Communist Party (PCF), which became the largest left-wing party, and the Christian Democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP). This alliance installed the main elements of the French welfare state and the Fourth Republic, but it did not survive the Cold War. In May 1947, the Socialist Prime Minister Paul Ramadier dismissed the Communist ministers. Blum proposed the construction of a Third Force with the centre-left and the centre-right, against the Gaullists and the Communists. However, his candidate to lead of the SFIO, Daniel Mayer, was defeated by Guy Mollet.
Mollet was supported by the left wing of the party. Paradoxically, he spoke a Marxist language without questioning the alliance with the centre and the centre-right. His leadership was shaken when the party divided in 1954 about the European Defence Community (the half of the SFIO parliamentary group voted "no", against the instructions of the party lead, participating to the failure of the project). But later, Mollet got involved the SFIO in the build of a centre-left coalition, the Republican Front, which won a plurality in the 1956 elections. Consequently, he was Prime Minister at the head of a minority government. But the party was in decline, as were the Radicals, and the left never came close to forming a united front. Indeed, this led Mollet to assert, "the Communist Party is not on the left, but in the East". The repressive policy of Mollet in the Algerian War and his support for Charles de Gaulle's come-back in 1958 (the party lead called to vote "yes" in referendum on Fifth Republic's constitution) caused a split and the foundation of the dissident Unified Socialist Party (Parti socialiste unifié or PSU). The SFIO returned to opposition in 1959. Discredited by its fluctuating policy during the Fourth Republic, it reached its lowest ebb in the 1960s.
Both because of its opposition to the principle of presidential election by universal suffrage and because De Gaulle's re-election appeared inevitable, the SFIO did not nominate a candidate for the 1965 election. Consequently, it supported the candidacy of François Mitterrand, a former minister of the Fourth Republic who had been a conservative, then a leftist independent. He was resolutely anti-Gaullist. Supported by all the left-wing parties, he obtained a good result and faced De Gaulle in an unexpected second ballot, becoming the leader of the non-Communist left.
In order to exist between the Communist Party, leading the left, and the Gaullist Party, leading the country, the SFIO, Radicals, and left-wing republican groups created the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left under Mitterrand's leadership. But unable to benefit from the May 1968 events, it imploded after its disastrous defeat at the June 1968 legislative elections. One year later, the SFIO candidate Gaston Defferre was eliminated in the first round of the 1969 presidential election, with only 5% of votes.
[edit] The foundation of the PS and the "Union of the Left" (1969-1981)
In 1969, during the Alfortville Congress, the SFIO was replaced by the Socialist Party (Parti socialiste or PS). It was joined by pro-Pierre Mendès-France clubs (Union of Clubs for the Renewal of the Left led by Alain Savary) and left-wing republican groups (Union of Socialist Groups and Clubs of Jean Poperen). During the Issy-les-Moulineaux Congress, Alain Savary was elected First Secretary with the support of his predecessor Guy Mollet. He proposed an "ideological dialogue" with the Communists.
Two years later, during the Epinay Congress, pro-François Mitterrand clubs (Convention of Republican Institutions), joined the party. Mitterrand defeated the Savary-Mollet duo by proposing an electoral programme with the Communists and took the lead. In 1972, the Common Programme was signed with the PCF and Left Radical Party. During the Socialist International conference, he explained the alliance of left-wing parties is a yearning of French left-wing voters. In this, the goal of his strategy was "to regain 3 million of the 5 million of PCF voters". The left, and notably the Socialist Party, experienced an electoral recovery at the 1973 legislative election. Mitterrand, the candidate of the left-wing alliance, came close to winning the 1974 presidential election. Indeed, he obtained 49.2% of votes in the second round.
At the end of 1974, some PSU members, including leader Michel Rocard, re-joined the PS. They represented the "left-wing Christian" and non-Marxist group. The most conservative members of the PS, they advocated an alignment of French socialism along European Social-Democratic lines, that is, a clear acceptance of the market economy. While the "Union of the Left" triumphed at the 1977 municipal election, the electoral rise of the PS worried the Communist Party. The two parties failed to update the Common Programme and the PCF leader Georges Marchais denounced a "turn towards the Right" of the PS.
In spite of positive polls, the "Union of the Left" lost the 1978 legislative election. For the first time since 1936, the Socialists scored better than the Communists, becoming the main left-wing party, but their defeat caused an internal crisis. Mitterrand's leadership was challenged by Rocard, who wanted to abandon the Common Programme which he considered archaic and unrealistic. Mitterrand felt that the left could not win without the alliance between the Socialists and the Communists. In 1979, Mitterrand won the Metz Congress, then, despite Rocard's popularity, was chosen as PS candidate for the 1981 presidential election.
[edit] Mitterrand's presidency and the exercise of power (1981-1995)
In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the incumbent conservative, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, to become the first socialist of the Fifth Republic to be elected President of France by universal suffrage. He dissolved the National Assembly and, for the first time in their history, the French Socialists won an absolute majority of the seats. This "pink surge" took place to the detriment of the right-wing parliamentary parties (Rally for the Republic and Union for French Democracy), and the Communist Party too.
Mitterrand was the last elected national leader in Europe to attempt to carry out a socialist-inspired agenda (the 110 Propositions), furthering the dirigiste trends of the preceding conservative governments. The Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy nationalised the banks, the insurance industry and the defence industries, in accordance with the 1972 Common Program. Workers' wages were increased and working hours reduced to 39, and many other sweeping reforms carried out, but the economic crisis continued. Reforms included the abolition of death penalty, creation of a solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), introduction of proportional representation in legislative elections (which was applied only at the 1986 election), decentralization of the state (1982-83 laws), repeal of price liberalization for books (Lang Law of 1981), etc.
As early as 1982, Mitterrand faced a clear choice between maintaining France's membership in the European Monetary System, and thus the country's commitment to European integration, and pursuing his socialist policies. He chose the former, starting the Socialist Party's acceptance of the market economy. In 1984 Mitterrand and his second Prime Minister, Laurent Fabius, clearly abandoned any further socialist measures. The "Union of the Left" died and the Communist ministers resigned.
The PS lost its majority in the French National Assembly in 1986, forcing Mitterrand to "cohabit" with the conservative government of Jacques Chirac. Nevertheless, Mitterrand was re-elected President in 1988 with a moderate programme entitled "United France". He proposed neither nationalisations nor privatisations. He chose as Prime Minister the most popular and moderate of the Socialist politicians, Michel Rocard. His cabinet included four center-right ministers but it was supported by only a plurality in the National Assembly elected in June 1988.
During his second term, Mitterrand focused on foreign policy and European integration. He convened a referendum for the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. He left domestic policy to his prime ministers: Michel Rocard, Edith Cresson and Pierre Bérégovoy. The party was hit by scandals about its financing and weakened by the struggle between the heirs of "Mitterrandism".
In 1990, during the Rennes Congress, the "Mitterrandist group" split between the supporters of Laurent Fabius and the friends of Lionel Jospin. Furthermore, a part of the left-wing of the party, led by Jean-Pierre Chevènement split off due to his opposition to the Gulf War and the Maastricht Treaty. This section created the Citizens' Movement (Mouvement des citoyens or MDC). Finally, many on the left were disappointed by the results of the Socialist governments. At the 1993 legislative election, the PS did poorly, returning to the levels of the SFIO in the 1960s. The Socialist group of the National Assembly numbered 53 deputies against 260 during the previous term.
Rocard became First Secretary of the party, and was considered the "natural candidate" for the next presidential election. He called for a political "big bang": an agreement with the center and the center-right, but his efforts were in vain. One year later, his party obtained only 14% of votes at the European Parliament election. He was overthrown by a motley coalition led by Henri Emmanuelli, a "Mitterrandist" left-winger. One year before the 1995 presidential election, the PS was affected by a leadership crisis. Rocard lost the most part of his followers after his 1994 electoral crash, Fabius was weakened by the infected blood scandal, the presidentaibility of Emannuelli was questioned. The hope of some party members transferred to Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission and a favorite according to the polls, but he declined due to the radicalization of the party which prevented his centerist strategy. Finally, Lionel Jospin, who had announced his political retirement after the loss of his parliamentary seat in 1993, came back and proposed to "take stock" of Mitterrand's inheritance. For the fisrt time, the party members were called to nominate their candidate for presidency. Benefiting from a good image in the polls, a strong loyalty to the party (as former First Secretary) and governmental experience (as former Education Minister, and the teachers were numerous and influentials in the PS), he deafeted Emmanuelli in the internal ballot. Then, he was defeated by Jacques Chirac in the run-off election but, given the PS crisis, his result was judged good and he returned as First Secretary.
[edit] Jospin and the "Plural Left" (1995-2002)
In the legislature, the PS reconstructed a coalition with other left-wing parties: the PCF, the Greens, the Left Radical Party and the MDC. This "Plural Left" (Gauche plurielle) won the 1997 legislative election and Jospin became Prime Minister of the third "cohabitation".
His policy was broadly progressive but had little to do with traditional socialism. The Aubry laws reduced the working time to 35 hours a week. Universal medical insurance was instituted. However, the policy of privatization was pursued.
His coalition dissolved when the MDC leader Jean-Pierre Chevènement resigned from the Cabinet. The Green and Communist allies were weakened by their governmental participation.
The 2002 presidential election was focused on the theme of insecurity. Jospin, again the Socialists' candidate, was eliminated in the first round due to there being too many left-wing candidates who split the vote. He announced his retirement from politics, and the PS called on its supporters to vote for Chirac in order to defeat the National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had surprisingly advanced to the run-off. Two months later, the "Plural Left" lost the legislative election.
[edit] After the 2002 shock
François Hollande, who became First Secretary in 1997, was re-elected in 2003 during the Dijon Congress with the support of the main Socialist personalities, against the left-wing of the party. In the 2004 regional elections, the Socialists had a major comeback. In coalition with the former "Plural Left", they gained power in 20 of the 22 metropolitan regions (all except Alsace and Corsica) and in the four overseas regions. The party benefited from increasing frustration with right-wing parties. However, the Socialist Party has experienced considerable difficulty in formulating an alternative to right-wing policy.
On December 1, 2004, 59% of Socialist Party members approved the proposed European Constitution. However, several well-known members of the Party, including Laurent Fabius, and left-wingers Henri Emmanuelli and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, asked the public for a "no" vote in the 29 May 2005 French referendum on the European Constitution, where the proposed Constitution was rejected. Fabius was ejected from the executive office of the party. The split over the European Constitution, as well as party leaders' competing ambitions to win the presidential nomination in 2007, led the party into considerable disarray.
In November 2005, during the Le Mans Congress, three main groups were present. The majority supported a moderate text and obtained 55%. Fabius's allies ("To Rally the Left") advocated more radical policies and gained 20%. Finally, another faction ("New Socialist Party") claimed it was necessary to renovate the party by proposing left-wing policies and a profound reform of French institutions. It obtained 25% of the vote. Virtually all factions agreed on a common agenda, broadly based on the moderate and pro-European majority's position with some left-wing amendments.
[edit] 2007 elections and their aftermath
From left to right: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Bertrand Delanoë and Ségolène Royal sitting in the front row at a meeting held on Feb. 6, 2007 by the French Socialist Party at the Carpentier Hall in Paris.For the 2007 presidential election, many potential candidates appeared: François Hollande, Laurent Fabius (from the left-wing of the party), Dominique Strauss-Kahn (who claimed to represent "social democracy"), Jack Lang, Martine Aubry and Ségolène Royal, who was favoured according to the polls. Some Socialist leaders asked Jospin to return. He declared he was "available" then finally refused.
On November 16, 2006, the members of the Socialist Party chose Ségolène Royal to be their candidate with a majority of 60%. Her challengers, Strauss-Kahn and Fabius, obtained 21% and 19% respectively.
After obtaining 25.87% of the vote in the first round of France's presidential elections, Royal qualified for the second round of voting but lost with 46.94% to Nicolas Sarkozy on May 6, 2007. Immediately after her defeat several party bosses (notably Strauss-Kahn), held Ségolène Royal personally responsible for the unsuccessful campaign. In the same time, some personalities of the right-wing of the party (such as Bernard Kouchner) accepted to join the government nominated by Nicolas Sarkozy.
In the 10 and 17 June 2007 National Assembly elections, the party won 186 out of 577 seats, and about 10 affiliated, gain of 40 seats.
After the winning March 2008 municipal election, the campaign with a view to the Reims Congress started. Some candidates proposed to succeed François Hollande, who had announced he will not compete for another term as First Secretary:
Ségolène Royal who wished to forge an alliance with the centre party MoDem;
the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, supported by Lionel Jospin and his friends, who wished to keep the status quo of the 2007 campaign and come back to the Plural Left;
Martine Aubry, supported by the followers of Laurent Fabius and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who had the same electoral strategy as the Mayor of Paris but advocated reconcilitaion between the campaigners of the "yes" and the "no" to the European constitution; and
the young left-winger Benoit Hamon.
In the pre-vote, the text of Royal arrived the first with 29%, followed by Delanoë (25%), Aubry (25%) and Hamon (19%). A part of the left-wing spilt and founded the Party of the Left. During the Reims Congress, which happened in a very tense climate, the leaders of the factions failed to form a majority. Consequently, the PS members must to elect directly the next First Secretary. Disappointed by his result in the pre-vote, Delanoë renounced and called to vote for Aubry.
On 22 November 2008 it was announced that Aubry had defeated Royal by the narrow margin of 42 votes, and Royal asked for a recount. After checking, Martine Aubry was elected by a margin of 102 votes and 50,03% of votes.
[edit] Leadership
First secretaries since 1969:
Alain Savary (1969–1971)
François Mitterrand (1971–1981)
Lionel Jospin (1981–1988)
Pierre Mauroy (1988–1992)
Laurent Fabius (1992–1993)
Michel Rocard (1993–1994)
Henri Emmanuelli (1994–1995)
Lionel Jospin (1995–1997)
François Hollande (1997–2008)
Martine Aubry (2008-)
[edit] Factions
Aubryists (left-wing, Christian left, democratic socialism): Martine Aubry, François Lamy, Sandrine Mazetier, Pierre Mauroy , Paulette Guinchard-Kunstler, Adeline Hazan, Arnaud Montebourg (Renovate Now)
Royalists (moderate, social democracy): Ségolène Royal, Gérard Collomb, Jean-Noël Guérini, Gaëtan Gorce, Jean-Louis Bianco, Julien Dray, Vincent Peillon, Aurélie Filippetti, Georges Frêche, Hélène Mandroux, Jean-Jack Queyranne, François Rebsamen, Manuel Valls
Delanoistes ("right-wing", social democracy, social liberalism): Bertrand Delanoë, François Hollande, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Lionel Jospin, Michel Rocard, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Élisabeth Guigou, Michel Sapin, Alain Rousset, Harlem Désir, Pierre Cohen, Michel Destot, Roland Ries.
Fabiusians (left-wing, democratic socialism): Laurent Fabius, Claude Bartolone, Marylise Lebranchu, Alain Le Vern, Alain Vidalies, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann
New Socialist Party (Left-republicanism, democratic socialism): Henri Emmanuelli, Benoît Hamon, Jacques Fleury, Michel Vergnier, André Lejeune, Paul Quilès, Gérard Filoche
Eco-socialists (eco-socialism): Christophe Caresche, Jean-Louis Tourenne, Nicole Bricq, Geneviève Gaillard, Philippe Tourtelier
Utopia (Alterglobalization)
[edit] Popular support and electoral record
The PS's pattern of support has evolved significantly since its creation and since the days of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). However, certain strongholds remain remarkably stable. For example, the PS dominates the rural areas of the south-west of France (notably the Midi-Pyrénées), an old SFIO base. These rural regions voted Socialist as a protest against Parisian centralism, though they were amongst the first republican and laïc regions of France.
While the PS used to be weak in the major wealthy urban centres of the southwest, such as Toulouse, the PS has made gains with middle-class urban voters nationwide and is the largest party in almost all major French cities.
The PS is also strong in areas which used to be strongholds of the French Communist Party: the mining and industrial areas of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the left-wing rural Limousin, and various industrial centres around France.
In recent years, thanks to urbanisation and most notably the decline of religious practice, it has made significant gains in regions such as Bretagne or the Pays-de-la-Loire. For example, Ségolène Royal won the Breton department of Ille-et-Vilaine with 52.39%[3] - while losing nationally - while Mitterrand has won only 38.88% in 1974 (49.19% nationwide).[4] This trend has also been observed in Catholic departments such as Lozère, Cantal and Haute-Loire (though the Socialists were already strong in secular logging areas).
Past support in rural backwoods Provence, such as in the Var (formerly the "Red Var") has practically evaporated with the influx of wealthier residents, Pieds-Noirs and retirees. Ironically, the region is now one of the PS' worst regions.
The PS is also strong in the department of the Nièvre, Mitterrand's electoral base.
[edit] Presidential
President of the French Republic Election year Candidate # of 1st round votes % of 1st round vote # of 2nd round votes % of 2nd round vote
1974 François Mitterrand 11,044,373 43.25% 12,971,604 49.19%
1981 François Mitterrand 7,505,960 25.86% 15,708,262 51.76%
1988 François Mitterrand 10,381,332 34.11% 16,704,279 54.02%
1995 Lionel Jospin 7,098,191 23.30% 15,763,027 47.4%
2002 Lionel Jospin 4,610,749 16.18% — —
2007 Ségolène Royal 9,500,112 25.87% 16,790,440 46.94%
[edit] Legislative
French National Assembly Election year # of 1st round votes % of 1st round vote # of seats
1973 4,579,888 18.9% 89
1978 6,451,151 22.6% 103
1981 9,077,435 36.0% 266
1986 8,693,939 31.0% 206
1988 8,493,602 34.8% 260
1993 4,476,716 17.6% 53
1997 5,961,612 23.5% 246
2002 6,086,599 24.1% 141
2007 6,436,520 24.73% 186
[edit] European Parliament
European Parliament Election year Number of votes % of overall vote # of seats won
1979 4,763,026 23.53% 22
1984 4,188,875 20.76% 20
1989 4,286,354 23.61% 22
1994 2,824,173 14.49% 15
1999 3,873,901 21.95% 22
2004 4,960,756 28.90% 31
2009 2,838,160 16.48% 14
[edit] See also
History of France
Workers and Peasants Socialist Party
[edit] References
^ "Aubry wins French socialist Party leadership". Toronto Star. November 22, 2008. http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/541925.
^ http://www.parties-and-elections.de/france.html
^ "Ministry of the Interior results page". http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/resultats-elections/PR2007/053/035/5335.html.
^ "Results on the CDSP website". http://cdsp.sciences-po.fr/AE.php.
[edit] External links
PEACE OF MIND. Ways to Achieve it One Piece @ a Time
Peace of Mind Tips and Advice
By Remez Sasson
Most people would be glad to have some peace of mind in their life. They would be happy to forget their troubles, problems and worries, and enjoy a few moments of inner calmness and freedom from obsessing thoughts.
What is peace of mind? It is a state of inner calmness and tranquility, together with a sense of freedom, when thoughts and worries cease, and there is no stress, strain or fear. Such moments are not so rare. They may be experienced while being engaged in some kind of an absorbing or interesting activity, such as while watching an interesting movie or TV program, while being with someone you love, while reading a book or while lying on the sand at the beach.
When you are on vacation, do you experience some sort of mental numbness? At this time the mind becomes calmer, with fewer thoughts and fewer worries. Even while you are deeply asleep, not aware of your thoughts, you are in a state of inner peace.
Such and similar activities take away the mind from its usual thoughts and worries, and bring some temporary inner peace.
The question is, how to bring more peace of mind into our life, and more importantly, how to experience it in times of trouble. You might also ask whether it is possible to make it a habit, and enjoy it always and under all circumstances. First, you need to learn to bring more moments of inner peace into your daily life. Later, you will be able to experience these moments in times of trouble or difficulties too, when you most need inner calmness and tranquility.
You can turn peace of mind into a natural habit, but to do so, special training is required, through concentration exercises, meditation and other means. Browse this website, and you will find articles, advice and techniques for attaining peace of mind, as well as a special book dedicated to this subject.
Here are a few simple things that can help you:
Reduce the amount of time you read the newspapers or watch the news on TV.
Stay away from negative conversations and from negative people.
Don't hold grudges. Learn to forget and forgive. Nurturing ill feelings and grievances hurts you and causes lack of sleep.
Don't be jealous of others. Being jealous means that you have low self-esteem and consider yourself inferior to others. This again, causes lack of inner peace.
Accept what cannot be changed. This saves a lot of time, energy and worries.
Every day we face numerous inconveniences, irritations and situations that are beyond our control. If we can change them, that's fine, but this is not always possible. We must learn to put up with such things and accept them cheerfully.
Learn to be more patient and tolerant with people and events.
Don't take everything too personally. Some emotional and mental detachment is desirable. Try to view your life and other people with a little detachment and less involvement. Detachment is not indifference, lack of interest or coldness. It is the ability to think and judge impartially and logically. Don't worry if again and again you fail to manifest detachment. Just keep trying.
Let bygones be gone. Forget the past and concentrate on the present moment. There is no need to evoke unpleasant memories and immerse yourself in them.
Practice some concentration exercises. This will help you to reject unpleasant thoughts and worries that steal away your peace of mind.
Learn to practice meditation. Even a few minutes a day will make a change in your life.
Inner peace ultimately leads to external peace. By creating peace in our inner world, we bring it into the external world, affecting other people too.
Free Chapter from the book 'Peace of Mind in Daily Life'
Read one free chapter from this practical and unique book that teaches how to gain inner peace, inner happiness, mental mastery and freedom from restless thinking.
By Remez Sasson
Most people would be glad to have some peace of mind in their life. They would be happy to forget their troubles, problems and worries, and enjoy a few moments of inner calmness and freedom from obsessing thoughts.
What is peace of mind? It is a state of inner calmness and tranquility, together with a sense of freedom, when thoughts and worries cease, and there is no stress, strain or fear. Such moments are not so rare. They may be experienced while being engaged in some kind of an absorbing or interesting activity, such as while watching an interesting movie or TV program, while being with someone you love, while reading a book or while lying on the sand at the beach.
When you are on vacation, do you experience some sort of mental numbness? At this time the mind becomes calmer, with fewer thoughts and fewer worries. Even while you are deeply asleep, not aware of your thoughts, you are in a state of inner peace.
Such and similar activities take away the mind from its usual thoughts and worries, and bring some temporary inner peace.
The question is, how to bring more peace of mind into our life, and more importantly, how to experience it in times of trouble. You might also ask whether it is possible to make it a habit, and enjoy it always and under all circumstances. First, you need to learn to bring more moments of inner peace into your daily life. Later, you will be able to experience these moments in times of trouble or difficulties too, when you most need inner calmness and tranquility.
You can turn peace of mind into a natural habit, but to do so, special training is required, through concentration exercises, meditation and other means. Browse this website, and you will find articles, advice and techniques for attaining peace of mind, as well as a special book dedicated to this subject.
Here are a few simple things that can help you:
Reduce the amount of time you read the newspapers or watch the news on TV.
Stay away from negative conversations and from negative people.
Don't hold grudges. Learn to forget and forgive. Nurturing ill feelings and grievances hurts you and causes lack of sleep.
Don't be jealous of others. Being jealous means that you have low self-esteem and consider yourself inferior to others. This again, causes lack of inner peace.
Accept what cannot be changed. This saves a lot of time, energy and worries.
Every day we face numerous inconveniences, irritations and situations that are beyond our control. If we can change them, that's fine, but this is not always possible. We must learn to put up with such things and accept them cheerfully.
Learn to be more patient and tolerant with people and events.
Don't take everything too personally. Some emotional and mental detachment is desirable. Try to view your life and other people with a little detachment and less involvement. Detachment is not indifference, lack of interest or coldness. It is the ability to think and judge impartially and logically. Don't worry if again and again you fail to manifest detachment. Just keep trying.
Let bygones be gone. Forget the past and concentrate on the present moment. There is no need to evoke unpleasant memories and immerse yourself in them.
Practice some concentration exercises. This will help you to reject unpleasant thoughts and worries that steal away your peace of mind.
Learn to practice meditation. Even a few minutes a day will make a change in your life.
Inner peace ultimately leads to external peace. By creating peace in our inner world, we bring it into the external world, affecting other people too.
Free Chapter from the book 'Peace of Mind in Daily Life'
Read one free chapter from this practical and unique book that teaches how to gain inner peace, inner happiness, mental mastery and freedom from restless thinking.
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