TheFrench Fourth Republic (French:Quatrième république française) was therepublicangovernment ofFrance from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution of 13 October 1946. Essentially a reestablishment and continuation of theFrench Third Republic which governed from 1870 during theFranco-Prussian War to 1940 duringWorld War II, it suffered many of the same problems which led to its end. The French Fourth Republic was aparliamentary republic.
Despite political dysfunction, the Fourth Republic saw an era of greateconomic growth in France and the rebuilding of the nation's socialinstitutions andindustry after World War II, with assistance from the United States through theMarshall Plan. It also saw the beginning of therapprochement with France's longtime enemyGermany, which led to Franco-German co-operation and eventually to theEuropean Union.
The new constitution made some attempts to strengthen theexecutive branch of government to prevent the unstable situation before the war, but instability remained and the French Fourth Republic saw frequent changes of government – there were 21 administrations in its 12-year history. Moreover, the government proved unable to make effective decisions regardingdecolonization of the numerous remainingFrench colonies. After a series of crises culminating in theAlgerian crisis of 1958, the French Fourth Republic collapsed.Wartime leaderCharles de Gaulle returned from retirement to preside over a transitional administration empowered to design a newFrench constitution. The Fourth Republic was dissolved on 5 October 1958 following a publicreferendum which established the currentFrench Fifth Republic with a strengthenedpresidency.
Charles de Gaulle led the GPRF from 1944 to 1946. Meanwhile, negotiations took place over the proposed new constitution, which was to be put to a referendum. DeGaulle advocated a presidential system of government, and criticized the reinstatement of what he pejoratively called "the parties system". He resigned in January 1946 and was replaced byFelix Gouin of theFrench Section of the Workers' International (Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO). Ultimately only theFrench Communist Party (Parti communiste français, PCF) and the socialist SFIO supported the draft constitution, which envisaged a form of government based onunicameralism; but this was rejected in thereferendum of 5 May 1946.
A new draft of the Constitution was written, which this time proposed the establishment of abicameral form of government.Leon Blum of the SFIO headed the GPRF from 1946 to 1947. After a new legislative election in June 1946, the Christian democrat Georges Bidault assumed leadership of theCabinet. Despite DeGaulle's so-calleddiscourse of Bayeux of 16 June 1946 in which he denounced the new institutions, the new draft was approved by 53% of voters voting in favor (with an abstention rate of 31%) in thereferendum held on 13 October 1946 and theConstitution of 27 October 1946 came into force two weeks later[b] as the Fourth Republic, in an arrangement in which executive power essentially resided in the hands of thePresident of the Council (the prime minister). ThePresident of the Republic was given a largely symbolic role, although he remained chief of theFrench Army and as a last resort could be called upon to resolve conflicts.
After the expulsion of the Communists from the governing coalition, France joined theCold War against Stalin, as expressed by becoming a founding member ofNATO in April 1949.[2] France now took a leadership position in unifying western Europe, working closely withKonrad Adenauer of West Germany.Robert Schuman, who was twice Prime Minister and at other times Minister of Finance and Foreign Minister, was instrumental in building post-war European and trans-Atlantic institutions. A devout Catholic and anti-Communist, he led France to be a member of theEuropean Communities, theCouncil of Europe and NATO.[3]
Les Trente Glorieuses ('The Glorious Thirty') was the high prosperity in the 30 years from 1945 to 1975. In 1944, DeGaulle introduced adirigiste economic policy, which included substantial state control over a capitalist economy, which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth.[4]
The wartime damage was extensive, and large reparations from defeated Germany did not happen. The United States helped revive the French economy with theMarshall Plan (1948–1951), giving France $2.3 billion with no repayment. France was the second largest recipient after Britain. The total of all American grants and credits to France from 1946 to 1953 amounted to $4.9 billion.[5] It provided urgently needed funding for modernizing transport systems, electricity generation, and basic industries including cement, coal, and steel. The plan required a modernization of French industrial and managerial systems, free trade, and friendly economic relations with West Germany.[6]
The French economy grew rapidly like economies of other developed countries within the framework of the Marshall Plan such asWest Germany,Italy, andJapan. These decades of economic prosperity combined high productivity with high average wages and high consumption, and were also characterised by a highly developed system of social benefits.[7] According to various studies, the real purchasing power of the average French worker's salary went up by 170% between 1950 and 1975, while overall private consumption increased by 174% in the period 1950-1974.[8] The French standard of living, which had been damaged by bothWorld Wars, became one of the world's highest. The population also became far more urbanized; many ruraldépartements experienced a population decline while the larger metropolitan areas grew considerably, especially that ofParis. Ownership of various household goods and amenities increased considerably,[9][10][11] while the wages of the French working class rose significantly as the economy became more prosperous. As noted by the historiansJean Blondel andDonald Geoffrey Charlton in 1974,
If it is still the case that France lags in the number of its telephones, working-class housing has improved beyond recognition and the various 'gadgets' of the consumer society–from television to motor cars–are now purchased by the working class on an even more avid basis than in other Western European countries.[12]
The worldwide1973 oil crisis slowed down its explosive growth. Thus, the mid-1970s marked the end of the period.Thomas Piketty describes the Trente Glorieuses as an exceptional "catch up" period following the world wars. He cites statistics showing that normal growth in wealthy countries is about 1.5–2%, whereas in Europe growth dropped to 0.5% between 1913 and 1950, and then "caught up" with a growth rate of 4% between 1950 and 1970, until settling back to 1.5–2% from 1970 onward.[13]
Public opinion polls showed that in February 1954, only 7% of the French people wanted to continuethe fight inIndochina against the Communists, led byHo Chi Minh and hisViet Minh movement.[14]
Pierre Mendès France was aRadical Party leader who was Prime Minister for eight months in 1954–55, working with the support of the Socialist and Communist parties. His top priority was ending the war in Indochina, which had already cost 92,000 dead, 114,000 wounded and 28,000 captured in the wake of the humiliating defeat at theBattle of Dien Bien Phu in early May 1954.[15]
At theGeneva Conference (1954), he made a deal that gave the Viet Minh control of Vietnam north of the 17th parallel, and allowed him to pull out all French forces. That leftSouth Vietnam standing alone. However, the United States moved in and provided large-scale financial, military and economic support for South Vietnam.[16]
Mendès France next came to an agreement withHabib Bourguiba, the nationalist leader in Tunisia, for the independence of that colony by 1956, and began discussions with the nationalist leaders in Morocco for a French withdrawal.[17]
The intention of the new Constitution's authors was to rationalize theparliamentary system.Ministers were accountable to the legislative body, theFrench National Assembly, but some measures were introduced in order to protect the Cabinet and to reinforce the authority of the Prime Minister of France, who led the Cabinet. The goal of the new constitution was to reconcileparliamentary democracy with ministerial stability.
For instance, under the new Constitution, the President of the Council was the leader of the executive branch (Prime Minister of France). The President of the French Republic, elected by the Parliament (the National Assembly and theCouncil of the Republic), played a symbolic role. His main power was to propose a Prime Minister, who was subject to election by the National Assembly before forming a Cabinet. Only the Prime Minister could invoke a parliamentary vote on legitimacy of the Cabinet. The Prime Minister was also the only member of the executive able to demand avote of confidence from the National Assembly (in theThird Republic any minister could call for a vote of confidence). The Cabinet could be dismissed if anabsolute majority of the National Assembly's members voted against the Cabinet. Finally, the National Assembly could be dissolved after two ministerial crises in thelegislature.
However, these constitutional measures did not work. In January 1947, after his election by the National Assembly and the nomination of his ministers, Prime MinisterPaul Ramadier called for a vote of confidence in order to verify that the Assembly approved the composition of his Cabinet. This initiated a custom of double election, a vote for the Prime Minister followed by a vote of confidence in the chosen Cabinet, that weakened the Prime Minister's authority over the Cabinet. Cabinets were dismissed with only aplurality (not the absolute majority) of the National Assembly voting against the Cabinet. Consequently, these ministerial crises did not result in the dissolution of Parliament. Thus, as in the Third Republic, this regime was characterized by ministerial instability.
The trigger for the collapse of the Fourth Republic was theAlgiers crisis of 1958. France was still a colonial power, although conflict and revolt had begun the process ofdecolonization.French West Africa,French Indochina, andFrench Algeria still sent representatives to the French parliament under systems of limited suffrage in theFrench Union. Algeria in particular, despite being the colony with the largest French-identifying population, saw rising pressure for separation from theMétropole. The situation was complicated by those in Algeria, such as thePieds-Noirs, who wanted to stay part of France, so theAlgerian War became not just aseparatist movement but had elements of acivil war.
Further complications came when a section of the French Army rebelled and openly backed theAlgérie française movement to defeat separation. Revolts and riots broke out in 1958 against the French government in Algiers, but there were no adequate and competent political initiatives by the French government in support of military efforts to end the rebellion owing to party politics. The feeling was widespread that another debacle like that of Indochina in 1954 was in the offing and that the government would order another precipitous pullout and sacrifice French honour to political expediency. This prompted GeneralJacques Massu to create a French settlers' committee[20] to demand the formation of a new national government under General DeGaulle, who was a national hero and had advocated a strong military policy, nationalism and the retention of French control over Algeria. General Massu, who had gained prominence and authority when he ruthlessly suppressed Algerian militants, famously declared that unless General DeGaulle was returned to power, the French Army would openly revolt; General Massu and other senior generals covertly planned the takeover of Paris with 1,500 paratroopers preparing to take over airports with the support ofFrench Air Force units.[20] Armoured units fromRambouillet prepared to roll into Paris.[21]
On 24 May, French paratroopers from the Algerian corps landed onCorsica, taking the French island in a bloodless action calledOpération Corse.[20][21]Operation Resurrection would be implemented if DeGaulle was not approved as leader by theFrench Parliament, if DeGaulle asked for military assistance to take power, or to thwart any organized attempt by theFrench Communist Party to seize power or stall DeGaulle's return.
DeGaulle, who had announced his retirement from politics a decade before, placed himself in the midst of the crisis, calling on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitutional system. On 29 May 1958, French politicians agreed upon calling on DeGaulle to take over the government as prime minister. The French Army's willingness to support an overthrow of the constitutional government was a significant development in French politics. With Army support, DeGaulle's government terminated the Fourth Republic (the last parliament of the Fourth Republic voted for its dissolution) and drew up a new constitution proclaiming theFrench Fifth Republic in 1958.
^The question of the legal effective date of theConstitution is debated. It was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly on 29 September 1946, approved by referendum 13 October, promulgated by Georges Bidault, President of the Provisional Government on 27 October, and published in theJournal officiel de la République française the next day. Some, likeLouis Favoreu, say it became effective "in successive stages" ("par paliers"); others, adhering to article 98, section 2 of the Constitution, say it became effective on 24 December 1946, the date of the firstCouncil of the Republic.
^Esposito, Chiarella (1994).America's Feeble weapon: Funding the Marshall Plan in France and Italy, 1948–1950. Greenwood.
^Hanley, D. L.; Kerr, A. P. & Waites, N. H. (1984).Contemporary France: Politics and Society Since 1945 (2nd ed.). Routledge.ISBN0-415-02522-2.
^Ardagh, John.The New France: A Society in Transition 1945-1977 (3rd ed.).
^Berstein, Serge; Bernstejn, Sergej Natanovič; Rioux, Jean-Pierre (13 March 2000).The Pompidou years, 1969–1974. Cambridge University Press. p. 153.ISBN9780521580618.OL36924M.
^Angresano, James (2007).French welfare state reform: idealism versus Swedish, New Zealand and Dutch. Anthem Press. p. 175.ISBN9781843312673.OL11904151M.
^Forsé, M.; Jaslin, J. P. (1993).Recent Social Trends in France, 1960–1990. McGill-Queen's University Press.ISBN9780773563230.OL34450323M.
^Blondel, Jean; Charlton, Donald Geoffrey.Contemporary France: Politics, Society, and Institutions.
Gordon, Daniel A. (2017). "Full Speed Ahead? The Trente Glorieuses in a Rear View Mirror".Contemporary European History.26 (1):189–199.doi:10.1017/S0960777316000461.
Brogi, Alessandro (2002).A Question of Self-Esteem: The United States and the Cold War Choices in France and Italy, 1944-1958. International history. Westport, Conn. London:Praeger.ISBN978-0-275-97293-6.
Nettelbeck, Colin W. (November 1998). "The Eldest Daughter and theTrente glorieuses: Catholicism and national identity in postwar France".Modern & Contemporary France.6 (4):445–462.doi:10.1080/09639489808456450.ISSN0963-9489.
Pickles, Dorothy Maud (1976).France, the Fourth Republic: with a postscript describing the situation in June 1958. Routledge Revivals Ser. Westport, Conn:Greenwood Press.ISBN978-0-8371-8089-2.
Rioux, Jean-Pierre; Rogers, Godfrey; Rioux, Jean-Pierre (1989).The Fourth Republic, 1944-1958. The Cambridge history of modern France. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr. [u.a.]ISBN978-0-521-25238-6. Scholarly survey
Sutton, Michael (2011).France and the Construction of Europe, 1944-2007: The Geopolitical Imperative. Berghahn monographs in French studies. New York:Berghahn Books.ISBN978-0-85745-290-0.
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