de Gaulle goes missing during May 1968, leaving to a political split between Pompidou, Monnerville, and the Parisian police. The left is able to unite around PMF, who defeats the scandalous Pompidou and announces a leftist Sixth Republic. The man who was once called French in name only finally gets his revenge on de Gaulle. PMF’s Plural Left Coalition immediately faces conflict between the various political factions. The government is able to expand the French welfare state and introduces a system of workers’ self-management. At the end of the two year coalition agreement, Marchias withdraws the PCF from government, triggering new elections.
Massu, giving new life to Gaullism with his Parti Pour la Défense de France, wins a landslide majority. The ultra-Gaullist Michel Debré retook his position as PM, and appointed the general president, restoring the president’s former powers. Massu’s government was aimed at reversing the cultural change in post-May 1968 France and restoring Catholic values. Both Spain and Britain entered the EEC, and French ties to NATO were restored. A policy of Francafrique led to French-led military interventions in Africa, often installing anti-communist dictators.
While he was highly controversial, General Massu was adored by many for strengthening the reputation of France on the global stage and installing morals into society. In 1977, his allies defeated Mitterrand with a slightly reduced majority; but for the right in France, things promptly went downhill. After seven years as PM, Debré fell victim to a scandal involving the forced relocation of children from Réunion. Massu felt that the scandal was casus beli for Debré’s removal, and replaced him with the tough on crime Maurice Papon. While the tag team of Papon and Massu was personally popular, the French economy had fallen into a recession by the end of the decade. Of course, the collapse of the French right did not occur just because of a recession.
Two years into his term, Papon faced a scandal of astronomical proportions. Newspapers revealed the Prime Minister’s involvement in the Holocaust. As a senior official in Vichy France, Papon signed off on the deportation of 1,690 Jews to Drancy. As a cherry on top, information about Papon’s use of torture in Algeria entered the public spotlight. Jean Royer, the former Mayor of Tors, took over as Prime Minister. Already, the government was on shaky ground.
The president soon met a scandal of his own when Algerian author Louisette Ighilahriz accused Massu of rape in 1957. Information about the role of torture in Algeria also resurfaced, including Massu’s responsibility. This was the nail in the coffin for the PPDF government, which lost a vote of confidence.
Royer could not salvage his party, which soon polled below 5%. Right of center voters went to Jean Lecanuet’s Christian Democrats or the infamous Jacques Médecin’s “Radical Party of the Right.” Many decided not to vote, or cast their ballots for the Alliance 1968 as a protest of “the system” and Mitterrand. Polls showed a three-way battle between the FGDS, Alliance, and PCF. While one would expect the established FGDS to win, Mitterrand had been diagnosed with an incurable type of cancer and was unable to campaign. The party struggled to explain his absence from the campaign trail, revealing divisions between the different parties in the FGDS. Pierre Mauroy and Michel Richard each tried to line up for the job of Prime Minister, leading to countless petty infighting.
Shockingly, the ginger German bourgeoisie anarchist ended up with the most seats in the Assembly. The kingmakers would be Marchias, who had a long feud with both Mitterrand and especially Cohn-Bendit. While the PCF initially reached out to Mitterrand, they faced disagreements over the various liberal parties within his coalition. As the socialist parties and the PCF alone could form a government, Marchias demanded that the Radicals and UDSR not be included in government. Mitterrand refused, not wanting to divide the FGDS.
Marchias eventually agreed on two years of confidence and supply for Cohn-Bendit. The new libertarian socialist government reversed the ban on abortion, adopted pro-immigration policies, allowed for same-sex civil unions, and promoted greater European integration. Greater powers were returned to the Prime Minister, with the heads of government and state each taking an active role in governing. Economically, the Marxist Debord and more free market Cohn-Bendit frequently disagreed,
The political opposition began to form new factions in response the fall of the Gaullist parties. After the death of Mitterrand in 1981, the FGDS and the PMD merged together to form the Social & Christian Democratic Party. This new grouping achieve what had long been advocated by Gaston Defferre, an alliance of the non-communist left and the non-Gaullist right.
The Communists, meanwhile, abandoned their prior paths of Stalinism and Eurocommunism. Without the role of Gaullism, the PCF decided to crank up the nationalist aspect of their party. While new party leader Roger Garaudy has been previously seen as a reformist, he dismissed social progressivism as a bourgeoisie plot, opposed European integration, and wanted strong checks on North African immigration. Cultural traditionalists weren’t even as fearful of the PCF when their leader had converted to Catholicism.
At the end of the two-year confidence agreement, the Communists predictably agreed to drop their support and push for new elections. Cohn-Bendit also wanted to be free from the PCF’s influence, starting the campaign off between the three major parties. But despite the strong campaigns from the opposition, it seemed the divided anti-May vote led to a majority for the Alliance 1968. With an impressive second place showing, Garaudy’s new communist dogma began to take over the PCF.
Presidents of the Fifth Republic
1958-1968: Charles de Gaulle (UDR)
1958 def. Georges Marrane (PCF), Albert Châtelet (UFD)
1965 def. François Mitterrand (FGDS), Jean Lecanuet (MRP), Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour (DVED)
1968-1968: Gaston Monnerville (PRRRS) (acting)
1968-1969: Pierre Mendès France (PSU)
1968 def. Georges Pompidou (UDR), Marie-Pierre Kœnig (DC)
Presidents of the Sixth Republic
1969-1971: Jean-Paul Sartre (NI)
[ceremonial]
1971-1980: Jacques Massu (PPDF) [strong presidential]
1980-0000: Guy Debord (SI) [mixed system]
Prime Ministers of the Sixth Republic
1969-1971: Pierre Mendès France (PSU)
1969 (Alliance with PCF, FGDS, SL & SI) def. Maurice Couve de Murville (UDR), Jean Lecanuet (PDM)
1971-1978: Michel Debré (PPDF)
1971 (Majority) def. Georges Marchias (PCF), Pierre Mendès France (FGDS), Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Alliance 1968), Jean Lecanuet (PDM)
1976 (Majority) def. François Mitterrand (FGDS), Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Alliance 1978), Georges Marchais (PCF), Jean Lecanuet (PDM)
1978-1980: Maurice Papon (PPDF majority)
1980-1980: Jean Royer (PPDF majority)
1980-0000: Daniel Cohn-Bendit (SL)
1980 (Alliance 1968 minority with PCF confidence) def. François Mitterand (FGDS), Georges Marchais (PCF), Jean Lecanuet (PDM), Jacques Médecin (PRD), Jean Royer (PPDF)
1982 (Alliance 1968 Majority) def. Roger Garaudy (PCF), Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber (PDSC)