French Communist Party political party: history and role
of reading - words
The French Communist Party, a political party founded in December 1920 at the Tours Congress, remains one of the oldest active groups of the French left. Understanding the French Communist Party political party means going back to the split in the SFIO, following its leaders from Thorez to Fabien Roussel, reading its program and observing its current place in the face of rebellious France, the socialist party and the extreme right. The PCF had up to 300,000 members in the 1930s and garnered 28% of the vote in 1946. A century later it weighs less at the polls but retains a strong territorial anchor and an active activist network.
- The PCF was born at the Congress of Tours (December 25-30, 1920) by splitting from the SFIO and joining the Third International.
- Electoral peak: 28.26% in the 1946 legislative elections, 300,000 members in 1936.
- Successive secretaries: Thorez, Rochet, Marchais, Hue, Buffet, Laurent, Roussel (since 2018).
- Joint program signed with the PS in 1972, participation in the Mauroy then Jospin government.
- Electoral decline since 1981: 2.28% for Roussel in 2022. 42,000 members claimed in 2023.
The origins of the PCF, from the Tours congress to the SFIC
The French Communist Party was born during the Tours Congress, which was held from December 25 to 30, 1920. At that time, the majority of delegates from the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) voted to join the Third International founded by Lenin. Result: a split in the socialist party. The supporters of Moscow set out to create the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC). The minorities, led by Léon Blum, remain in the SFIO.
The first secretary of the new formation is Ludovic-Oscar Frossard. Marcel Cachin, director of L'Humanité, brings his daily life to the party, which becomes the central organ. In 1921, the party officially adopted the name Communist Party, French section of the Communist International. The name "French Communist Party" came into use throughout the 1920s, even if it was not made official until after the war. The party fully adheres to the 21 admission conditions set by the Comintern, which imply discipline, democratic centralism and alignment with Moscow.
The PCF from the interwar period to the Popular Front
The 1920s were those of Bolshevization. The party purges its reformist cadres, imposes democratic centralism and aligns itself with the instructions of the Comintern. Maurice Thorez took charge of the party in 1930 and defended the "class against class" line, which equated the socialists with "social-fascists". This strategy isolates the PCF electorally.
Everything changed in 1934. Faced with the rise of fascism in Europe, Moscow changed its position. The PCF negotiates an alliance with the SFIO and the Radical Party: this is the Popular Front. On May 3, 1936, the coalition won the legislative elections. The PCF obtained 72 deputies and around 1.5 million votes. He supports the Blum government without participating in it. The party then reached 300,000 members, a historic record. The Matignon agreements, paid leave and the 40-hour week mark this period. The German-Soviet pact of August 1939 pushed the PCF into illegality: the party was dissolved, its newspapers banned.
The Resistance and the electoral golden age (1940-1956)
After the invasion of the USSR by Nazi Germany in June 1941, the PCF switched to armed Resistance. He plays a major role through the Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTP). The party will long claim the title of "party of 75,000 shot", a symbolic figure rather than strictly accounting. Benoît Frachon structures the clandestine apparatus in the southern zone and coordinates with Free France in London.
At the Liberation, the PCF emerged crowned. In November 1946, it obtained 28.26% of the votes in the legislative elections, becoming the leading party in France in terms of number of votes. Its ministers participated in tripartite governments (PCF, SFIO, MRP) between 1944 and May 1947, the date on which Paul Ramadier dismissed the communist ministers. This episode opens more than three decades of opposition. The Khrushchev report of 1956, which denounced Stalin's crimes, weakened but did not break the party's loyalty to Moscow.
The historical leaders of the French Communist Party
Maurice Thorez embodied the PCF from 1930 until his death in 1964. A tutelary figure, he carried an assumed Stalinism and held the party with an iron fist. Waldeck Rochet succeeded him as general secretary from 1964 to 1972. He attempted a cautious opening, daring to condemn the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, but fell ill and gave up his place.
Georges Marchais led the party from 1972 to 1994. His secretariat was marked by the signing of the Joint Program with the Socialist Party and the left radicals in June 1972, by an attempt at Eurocommunism (distancing from Moscow at the 22nd Congress of 1976) and by the candidacy for the presidential election of 1981 (15.3% in the first round). Robert Hue succeeded him from 1994 to 2001, initiated the "mutation" of the party and officially broke with the Soviet model. Marie-George Buffet (2001-2010), Pierre Laurent (2010-2018) and Fabien Roussel (since 2018) provide contemporary management. Roussel, MP for the North, takes a popular, productivist line, supporting nuclear power and industrial relocation.
Common program and union of the left
The Common Program signed on June 27, 1972 by the PCF, the PS renovated by François Mitterrand and the Left Radicals is a major milestone. It provides for nationalizations, democratic planning, retirement at 60 and redistributive tax reform. On paper, it is a communist ideological victory. In practice, it is Mitterrand's PS which captures the electoral dividends. In 1981, François Mitterrand won the presidential election and the PCF only obtained 15.3% in the first round, compared to 21.3% for Jacques Duclos in 1969.
The party then entered the Mauroy government (1981-1984) with four ministers, then left after the turn of austerity. Second government experience: the plural left of Lionel Jospin (1997-2002). Marie-George Buffet occupies the Ministry of Youth and Sports. But the party pays dearly for this participation: Buffet only received 1.93% in the 2007 presidential election.
The electoral decline since the 1980s
The trajectory of the PCF since 1981 has been one of continuous shrinkage. The collapse of the USSR in 1991 deprived the party of its ideological horizon. Deindustrialization destroys its worker bastions (North, Parisian red suburbs, mining towns). The rise of the FN captured part of the popular electorate. Finally, the creation of the Left Party (2008) then France Insoumise (2016) by Jean-Luc Mélenchon siphons off the radical electorate.
| Year | Candidate | Round 1 score |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Jacques Duclos | 21.27% |
| 1981 | Georges Marchais | 15.35% |
| 1988 | André Lajoinie | 6.76% |
| 1995 | Robert Hue | 8.64% |
| 2002 | Robert Hue | 3.37% |
| 2007 | Marie-George Buffet | 1.93% |
| 2012 / 2017 | Support for J.-L. Mélenchon | No PCF candidate |
| 2022 | Fabien Roussel | 2.28% |
The party, however, retains solid federations, numerous local elected officials and a dense associative network.
The PCF today, between GDR and united left
In the National Assembly, PCF deputies sit in the Democratic and Republican Left (GDR) group, which they share with overseas and environmentalist elected officials. André Chassaigne, elected from Puy-de-Dôme, has chaired the group for several legislatures. In the Senate, Ian Brossat, former deputy mayor of Paris, has been the voice of the party since 2023.
Fabien Roussel, national secretary, defends a singular line on the left: reindustrialization, assumed civilian nuclear power, economic sovereignty, firm secular Republic. This line places him in tension with rebellious France on several issues. The PCF nevertheless joined NUPES in 2022 then the New Popular Front in 2026 for the legislative elections, retaining its own candidates in its historic strongholds.
The place of the PCF in the French political landscape
Faced with rebellious France, the PCF plays a role that is both rival and ally. Rival on the radical left electorate, on the presidential election, on ideological leadership. Ally when it comes to blocking the path of the far right or coordinating legislative campaigns. The relationship with the Socialist Party has been calmer since the PS has weakened. With EELV, the convergences are occasional, the divergences strong on nuclear power.
In the municipal elections, the PCF remains solid in the Parisian "red belt" (Ivry, Vitry, Malakoff, Nanterre, Saint-Denis for a long time), in several towns in the North and Pas-de-Calais, and in some strongholds in the South. These local strongholds, often managed for several decades, give the party a territorial anchor which survives its low national scores. The party claims around 42,000 members in 2023, far from the 300,000 in 1936 but enough to maintain an active apparatus.
Why communist iconography still fascinates
A century after the Congress of Tours, the hammer and sickle, the red star, the portrait of Che and Soviet propaganda posters continue to circulate well beyond PCF activists. This iconography has become a shared visual heritage: students of history, lovers of graphic art, collectors of vintage objects, nostalgic for the united left or simply curious people appropriate these signs.
At Communist Universe, we find this heritage in the reprinted vintage communist posters, the communist t-shirts with the historic logo, the communist flags and the entire communist clothing range. Whether you are an activist, a student or a simple fan of French political history, these pieces give substance to a century of struggles.
