The Institutionalization of Socialist Ideas in France: 1880-1914

After the 1851 coup d’etat, and after the failure and harsh repression of the Paris Commune in 1871, the socialist movement regains momentum (Reberioux 1997). A process of institutionalization gets under way with tangible outcomes as from the 1890s: political institutionalization with unprecedented national and municipal elec­tive representation and the creation of a united socialist party in 1905; ties established with trade unions (first syndical confederation in 1886 under Guesdist domination, followed in 1896 by the Confederation Generale du Travail, as well as the federation of Labour Exchanges under libertarian influence); ties with the cooperative movement and Charles Gide (1847-1932) in particular (see Gide 1894, 1924), concerning the role of consumer cooperatives; and a broadening of the ideological scope, with intellectuals such as Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), or graduates from the Ecole normale superieure.

The socialist ideas of this period are influenced by Marx but also by French “revi­sionism” (which does not exclude the Marxian contribution) and by the constitution and defense of a French socialist heritage in the face of the German Marxian influence (Prochasson 2004) and its French Guesdist representatives (Derfler 2009): Jules Guesde, Gabriel Deville and Paul Lafargue. In this way, French socialism strives to construe a united base for itself around Benoit Malon and then Jean Jaures, with a focus on defining the economic content of socialism (“collectivism”), and on defining socialism itself (“integral socialism”). Some differences do subsist though within and outside this context, exemplified by the writings of Georges Sorel (1847-1922) and Charles Andler (1866-1933) or the “marginalist socialism” of Adolphe Landry (1874-1956) and of Leon Walras (1834-1910).