The Communist Party appeared a hundred years ago on the French political and social scene. According to opinions and moments, it has been the party of Moscow, of those shot, of the working class, of the union of the left, the party of the foreigner or that of the nation. It has been underground, in government, in town halls, in factories or in the streets. Some considered it too revolutionary, others not enough. More than others, it aroused passions, positive or negative. It attracted many and repelled just as many. After the fall of the USSR, it decided to remain a communist party, while many others gave it up. But it no longer has the place it once had, in reality as in the imagination. This book does not intend to judge, but to provide keys to understanding. It is based on a considerable number of archives that are now available and is an ordered and distanced look at an object that is not lacking in complexity and no doubt even in mystery. This book has been translated from French to English thanks to a financial help from the Gabriel Péri Foundation and the LIR3S UMR Cnrs 7366 of Dijon.

On 14 July 1889, the centenary of the French Revolution, socialist parties from all corners of Europe met in Paris. On the same day in the same city, the Exposition Universelle was launched to mark the achievements of capitalist production. The two events symbolized the beginning of the epic struggle between socialism and capitalism in Europe.; In this comprehensive study of a century of socialism, the author traces the fortunes of the political parties of the Left in Western Europe. From the rise of the Bolsheviks to the fall of the Berlin wall, from the Second International through two world wars to the Cold War and the birth of the welfare state, from the working class militancy and student uprisings of the 1960s, through the revival of feminism and the arrival of "green" politics, to the reluctant embrace of market economics en route to the millennium, Donald Sassoon charts the course of socialism across 14 countries.; He shows that throughout their history the fortunes of socialism and capitalism have been inextricably linked. They have grown up side by side, each one challenging and seeking to destroy, yet nourishing and shaping the other.

This up-to-date new analysis of the French Communist Party reveals it as an entirely unconventional political force: not a normal party vying for office, but a Leninist bureaucracy armed with an apocalyptic mission to deliver humanity from capitalism. Its interests have been defined as part of an outpost of a world revolutionary movement; and whilst its strategies may have varied, they have done so in order to serve Soviet foreign policy purposes. D. S. Bell and Byron Criddle trace the history of the Communist Party in France from its origins. They focus in particular on the period since 1958 and explore the Party's unique organizational structures and international loyalties. They examine structure and ideology, relations with the Socialist Party, electoral performance, and the 1980s decline in the Party's fortunes. This study will be essential reading for all students of contemporary French history and politics.

A mosaic of lives and voices illustrating the history of the Chinese Communist Party over the last hundred years.

Several key questions are the focus for this study of the French Communist Party and its role in the crisis engulfing the international Communist movement. What has been the historical relationship of the Parti communiste français to Moscow? How did de-Stalinization, East European upheavals in 1956, and Sino-Soviet differences affect that relationship? Why has the PCF continued to remain an important ally of the Soviets? Mr. Fejtö answers these questions with a detailed discussion of the integration of French communism into the political life of France. Taking a partly sociological approach, he establishes the bases for the appeal of communism in France; then he describes French domestic and foreign politics in relation to developments in the Soviet Union and to changes in the international Communist movement. His approach here is to give a roughly chronological account of PCF response to developments at home and abroad, in part through a discussion of official party congresses. He amplifies his discussion of French communism by comparing and contrasting it to the Communist Party in Italy, where advanced industrialization and a highly influential domestic party have made the two countries rough counterparts in the structure of world Communist activity. Mr. Fejtö's many points of emphasis allow him to draw certain conclusions about the present and future character of the French Communist Party, conclusions that center around public support for the party on French soil and increasingly shrewd management of relations with Communist and non-Communist interests represented at home and abroad. One of the particular advantages of this study is that it is firmly embedded in French history and politics. An authoritative and highly perceptive treatment of the subject, The French Communist Party and the Crisis of International Communism will be an indispensable entry on any reading list in Communist affairs, especially in the influence of pivotal Communist parties loosely associated with the West. François Fejtö is uniquely qualified to write about the Parti communiste français. Of Hungarian origin, he has lived in France for nearly thirty years. His historical works on Central Europe include a biography of the Austrian Emperor Joseph II and the standard Histoire des démocraties populaires. More recently he has published the only serious work in French on the Sino-Soviet dispute, Chine-U.R.S.S., Vol. I, La fin d'une hégémonie: Les origines du grand schisme communiste, 1950-1957 (Paris: Pion, 1964); Vol. II, Le Conflit: Le développement du grand schisme communiste, 1958-1965 (Paris: Pion, 1966). Volume 9, Studies in International Communism, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.