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Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance | |
|---|---|
| President | René Pleven |
| Founded | 1945 (1945) |
| Dissolved | 1964 (1964) |
| Merged into | CIR |
| Ideology | Social liberalism Anti-communism Factions: Liberal socialism Conservatism[1] |
| Political position | Centre tocentre-left[2][3] |
| National affiliation | Rally of Republican Lefts (1946-1955) Republican Front (1956-1958) |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
TheDemocratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (French:Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance,UDSR) was a French political party founded after theliberation of France fromGerman occupation, mainly active during theFourth Republic (1947–58). It was a loosely organised "cadre party" without mass membership. Its ideology was vague, including a broad diversity of different political convictions,[2] and it was variously described asleft-wing,centrist, and evenconservative. It was decidedlyanti-communist and linked with thePaix et Liberté ("Peace and Liberty") movement.[1] The UDSR was a founding member of theLiberal International in 1947.
It was founded in 1945 by the non-communist majority of theMovement of National Liberation, a major network of theResistance. The project was to create a Frenchlabour party uniting non-communist members of theFrench Resistance. However, this plan was derailed by the rebirth of theFrench Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the emergence of the new Christian-Democratic partyPopular Republican Movement (MRP) and the creation of theGaullistRally of the French People (RPF). The UDSR then associated itself with theRadical Party, which had been in government during most of theThird Republic, within theRally of Republican Lefts (Rassemblement des gauches républicaines or RGR), which presented itself as an alternative to thetripartisme alliance between the SFIO, the MRP and theFrench Communist Party (PCF).
Following theMay 1947 crisis, during whichMaurice Thorez (Communist vice-premier) and four other PCF ministers leftPaul Ramadier's government, the UDSR took part in theThird Force coalition which united centre-left and centre-right parties in opposition to thePCF on the one hand, and theRPF on the other. It remained, throughout the Fourth Republic, a minor centrist political party, though it participated in various governments. Its presidentRené Pleven was namedPresident of the Council of Ministers from 1951 to 1952, before being succeeded byAntoine Pinay of theCNIP. Pleven's leadership was eventually challenged byFrançois Mitterrand, who advocated a realignment to the Left, and took the lead in 1953.
In 1956 the UDSR participated in the centre-leftRepublican Front coalition, headed byPierre Mendès-France, which won the legislative election. However, two years later, the UDSR imploded; indeed, Pleven and the party’s conservative wing approvedCharles de Gaulle's comeback during theMay 1958 crisis, in the midst of theAlgerian War and threats of a coup d'état, and the institutions of theFifth Republic, unlike Mitterrand, who called thenew Constitution a "permanent coup d'état."
The UDSR survived until 1964, when it merged into Mitterrand'sConvention of Republican Institutions (CIR), which itself merged at the 1971Epinay Congress into the newSocialist Party (PS), which until 2017 was the main centre-left party in France.
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