Pierre Mauroy - Biography

Biography

Mauroy was born in Cartignies. A teacher, he led the Socialist Young Movement and the Technique Teaching Union in the 1950s. He became a leading figure in the Socialist federation of Nord département, which was among the third biggest of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) party and climbed quickly in the party. In 1966, he became the second most powerful person of the party behind the secretary general, Guy Mollet. Nevertheless, when Mollet resigned as leader in 1969, Alain Savary was chosen to succeed him.

After the electoral disasters of 1968 and 1969, he was persuaded of the necessity to renew the party. In 1971, during the Epinay Congress, he supported François Mitterrand's advent and became the second most powerful person in the Socialist Party (PS). Two years later, he was elected as a deputy and Mayor of Lille.

Increasingly, Mauroy criticized the ejection of former SFIO members from the important functions in aid of Mitterrand's friends. In this, he formed an alliance with Michel Rocard, the main opponent of Mitterrand, during the 1979 Metz Congress. However, Mitterrand chose him as spokesperson during the 1981 presidential campaign; after Mitterrand's election, he appointed Mauroy as Prime Minister.

Mauroy's government was a radical reforming one, implementing a wide range of social reforms including the reduction of the legal workweek from 40 to 39 hours, the lowering of the retirement age to sixty, and a rise in social welfare benefits. Entitlement to paid holidays was also extended from four to five weeks. During the Mauroy government’s first year in office, minimum pensions were increased by 38%, rent allowances by 50%, family allowances by 25% (50% for households with two children), and the minimum wage by 25%.

During the 1981-82 period, state industrial investment was substantially increased, 17 billion francs in ”soft loan” credit was provided to private industry, 7 billion francs was set aside to help school leavers, 54,000 new civil service jobs were created, and a major housebuilding drive was launched. Efforts were made to shift the burden of direct taxes away from lower- income groups, while increases in the minimum wage gave the low paid a real increase in their living standards of about 15% in 1981–82. Unemployment benefits were also increased, together with the duration of time in which one could receive them.

Upon taking office, the Mauroy Government embarked upon an ambitious redistributive programme. The minimum wage went up in real terms by 11% between May 1981 and September 1982, while the minimum old age pension was increased by 30%. 800,000 elderly people were exempted from paying T.V. licenses, while 1.5 million were also exempted from local taxes. Between May 1981 and January 1983, family benefits were significantly increased, with the purchasing power of the 2,700,000 families with two children raised by 40%. These policies significantly improved the living standards of the less well off in French society, with poverty reduced during Mauroy’s term in office. Family allowances were increased by 81% for families with two children and by 49% for families with three children, while old-age pensions were raised by 300 francs a month for a single person and 3,700 francs for a couple.

Altogether, the purchasing power of social transfers went up by 45% in 1981 and by 7.6% in 1982. Health care coverage was also extended, with health insurance benefits made more widely available to part-time employees and the unemployed. Efforts were also made to promote voluntary retirement at sixty, with a pension ranging upwards from 80% of the SMIC to 50% of a middle-management salary. Elderly people benefited greatly from the social and economic measures undertaken by the Mauroy Government, with the real income of pensioners rising by a quarter.

The harsh immigration statutes of the Giscard Government were reversed, while an immigration law was passed (1981) to limit the grounds for expelling foreigners to facilitate family reunions and amnesty 130,000 illegal immigrants. The anti-discriminatory Professional Equality Law (1983), which defined equality between men and women "in sweeping terms" required all businesses to furnish statistics on the situation of women in the workplace. This legislation marked a new departure in anti-discriminatory efforts and, reinforced by a series of measures taken by the Rocard government in 1989, brought an end to wage differentials hidden by different job descriptions. Decentralising laws were also passed which transferred responsibilities for urban planning to municipalities and economic planning to the regions. In addition, various measures were introduced to improve socio-economic conditions in low-income neighbourhoods. For public sector workers, a law was passed in 1982 to prevent gender segregation in recruitment and to ensure that the situation was monitored carefully.

The Auroux laws (1982) increased the rights of trade unions and employees in the workplace, covering collective bargaining, representation, information, health and safety, and unfair dismissal. Mandatory collective bargaining at the firm level of industry was introduced, while the laws also strengthened the rules on health and safety in the workplace, bestowing more rights upon the Comites d’hygiene et securite (though not the right to stop production in case of extreme danger), while also granting working-class representatives release time, training for involvement in the comite d’entreprise and o9ther representative bodies in the firm, recourse to expert consultants. Unions acquired rights to organise, to hold meetings in firms, and to call in outside speakers to address the workers. Worker representation on the comite d’rentreprise was increased and the comite was provided with additional powers, such as the right to obtain confidential economic information from the firm to use in advising it on policy. In spite of these positive changes, however, the comite dentreprise remained a consultative body with little influence on economic policy, while only large firms were required to provide their comite d’enterprises with economic information. This meant that almost two-thirds of the workers were excluded from exercising this oversight function.

The Deferre law reduced the powers of the prefect, set up elected regional councils, and increased the powers of local government. The security court was abolished, and measures were introduced to control police harassment. Legal aid was extended, legislation was introduced which effectively combated discrimination against homosexuals, and the traditional powers of the juge d’instruction in the preparation of criminal cases was reduced. The Quillot Law of 1982 provided renters with additional rights in housing matters, while an audiovisual law passed that same year brought an end to the state monopoly of audiovisual broadcasting and established a High Authority to guarantee the independence of public television channels. Laws were passed in 1982 to reform higher education to make the academy more responsive to the needs of the state.

The Mauroy Government also did much to promote arts, culture, and education, as characterised by a tripling in real terms in state aid to the arts, a quadrupling of spending on public libraries, which led to the number of library loans growing by a third, and the removal of obstacles to cheaper book-retailing. Aid was provided to provincial art museums and local archives for working-class affairs established, while funding to provincial libraries was significantly increased, with the national library budget going up from 163 million to 677 million francs. As a result of this additional libarry expenditure, 17 departments which had previously lacked a “bibliotheque centrale de pret in 1981 had acquired one by 1986. In addition, as a result of the Mauroy Government's library programme, 10 million more people obtained access to major lending library resources. As Paris’ share of the cultural budget fell from 60% to 45% between 1981 and 1985, the provinces acquired new theatres, artistic centres, music halls, ballet companies, and popular culture facilities.

The incomes of the poorest sections of society were increased exponentially as a result of social security reforms and a 25% increase in the minimum wage. Allowances for the handicapped were also increased, while the right to deduct the cost of child care for all children under the age of three was introduced (a right later extended to include all children under the age of five in some cases).

Although the Mauroy government's social policies helped to transform France into a more just society, its reflationary economic strategy (based on encouraging domestic consumption) failed to improve the French economy in the long term, with increases in the level of inflation as well as in the trade and budget deficits. This led Mauroy to advocate the abandonment of Socialist economic policies (which failed to reduce unemployment and inflation), a controversial "U-turn" which was ratified by President Mitterrand in March 1983, and a number of austerity measures were subsequently carried out. Failing to restrict the financing of private schools via the Savary Law, he resigned in 1984.

In 1988 he became First Secretary of the PS against the will of Mitterrand, who supported Laurent Fabius. Until the end of his term, in 1992, he tried to appease the relations between the clans which composed the PS, notably during the very strained 1990 Rennes Congress. He allied with the rocardien group and Lionel Jospin's supporters, who came from the mitterrandist group.

President of the Socialist International from 1992 to 1999, Senator since 1992, he left the Lille belfry in 2001. Considered a moral authority of the French Left, he supported the candidacy of Ségolène Royal during the 2007 primary election.