World War II
A number of SFIO members were part of the Vichy 80 who refused to vote extraordinary powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain in July 1940, following which the latter proclaimed the Révolution nationale reactionary program and the establishment of the Vichy regime. Although some engaged in Collaborationism an important part also took part in the Resistance. Pierre Fourcaud created with Félix Gouin the Brutus Network, in which Gaston Defferre, later mayor of Marseilles for years, participated, along with Daniel Mayer. In 1942-43, Pétain's regime judged the Third Republic by organising a public trial, the Riom Trial, of personalities accused of having "caused" the defeat of France. Those included Léon Blum, the Radical Édouard Daladier, the conservatives Paul Reynaud and Georges Mandel, etc.
At the same time, Marcel Déat and some neosocialists who had split from the SFIO in 1933, participated to the Vichy regime and supported Pétain's policy of collaboration. Paul Faure, secretary general of the SFIO from 1920 to 1940, approved of this policy too. He was excluded from the party when it was reconstituted in 1944. In total, 14 of the 17 SFIO ministers who had been in government before the war were expelled for collaboration.
Read more about this topic: French Section Of The Workers' International
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