French Communist Party leader who joined Eurocommunism and then realigned with Moscow
A mechanic born in La Hoguette, Calvados, he worked during the occupation at the Messerschmitt plant in Augsburg, Germany. He joined the French Communist Party in 1947, entered the Politburo in 1959 and became secretary for organisation in 1961. He signed the Common Programme with the Socialist Party in June 1972 and in December became general secretary, leading the party until 1994. In 1975–1977 he issued the joint Eurocommunist declarations with Berlinguer and Carrillo, and at the 22nd Congress in 1976 the party dropped the dictatorship of the proletariat. At the end of the 1970s, however, he realigned the party with the Soviet Union and backed the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He came fourth in the 1981 presidential election with 15.3 per cent.
Also known as: Georges René Louis Marchais
Activities and affiliations
-
1947–1997
French Communist Party (PCF)Main
Political and party leadership -
1973–1997
France state institutionsDeputy for Val-de-Marne
Legislature and state representation
1975–1979: from Eurocommunism back towards Moscow
In his first years as general secretary Marchais continued Rochet's "Union of the Left", backing the Socialist Mitterrand in the 1974 presidential election. Internationally he kept a critical distance from the Soviet Union and took an active part in the convergence of Western communist parties into "Eurocommunism". He met Berlinguer in Paris in September and in Rome in November 1975 to issue joint declarations, and in March 1977 joined Berlinguer and Carrillo in Madrid at Carrillo's invitation for the three leaders' joint declaration. At its 22nd Congress in 1976 the French party dropped the dictatorship of the proletariat, and it protested against the repression of Soviet dissidents.
But the growth in membership brought few electoral gains, and the Socialists caught up with the Communists, the leading party of the left since the war. Talks on updating the Common Programme broke down in September 1977, and the left lost the 1978 legislative election although it had led in the polls. Faced with Soviet reproaches and the rise of the Socialists, Marchais turned the party back towards Moscow. In December 1979 he publicly backed the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, against the line of the Central Committee, which was read as the sign of the party's realignment with the Soviet leaders.