French Section of The Workers' International - Before The 1905 Unification

Before The 1905 Unification

Further information: Paris Commune, French Third Republic, and France in the nineteenth century

After the failure of the Paris Commune (1871), French socialism was severely weakened. Its leaders died or were exiled. In 1879, during the Marseille Congress, workers' associations created the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France (FTSF). However, three years later, Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue (the son-in-law of Karl Marx) left the federation, which they considered too moderate, and founded the French Workers' Party (POF). The FTSF, led by Paul Brousse, was defined as "possibilist" because it advocated gradual reforms, whereas the POF promoted Marxism.

At the same time, Édouard Vaillant and the heirs of Louis Auguste Blanqui founded the Central Revolutionary Committee (CRC), which represented the French revolutionary tradition.

In the 1880s, the Socialists knew their first electoral success, winning control of some municipalities. Jean Allemane and some FTSF members criticized the focus on electoral goals. In 1890, they created the Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party (POSR). Their main objective was to win power through the tactic of the "general strike". Besides these groups, some politicians declared themselves as independent socialists outside of the political parties. They tended to have moderate opinions.

In the 1890s, the Dreyfus Affair caused debate in the Socialist movement. For Jules Guesde, the Socialists should not intervene in an internal conflict of the bourgeoisie. In Jean Jaurès's opinion, the Socialist movement was a part of the Republican movement and needed to take part in the struggle in ordrer to defend Republican values. In 1899, another debate polarised the Socialist groups regarding the participation of Alexandre Millerand in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet, which included the Marquis de Gallifet, best known for having directed the bloody repression during the Paris Commune. Furthemore, the participation in a "bourgeois government" sparked a controversy pitting Jules Guesde against Jean Jaurès. In 1902, Guesde and Vaillant founded the Socialist Party of France, while Jaurès, Allemane and the possibilists formed the French Socialist Party. In 1905, during the Globe Congress, under pressure from the Second International, the two groups merged into the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO).