II. The Campaign
| Published date | 01 January 1956 |
| Author | P. M. Williams |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1956.tb00950.x |
| Date | 01 January 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
11.
THE
CAMPAIGN’
P.
M.
WILLIAMS
Jesus
College,
Oxford
I
BY
5
December
1955,28
groups had announced their intention to contest
the election; and
18
of them succeeded
in
qualifying as national parties.
Seven had been represented as separate groups in the old National
Assembly-Communists, Socialists, M.R.P., M. Mend&-France’s Radicals
and their U.D.S.R. allies, the Conservative C.N.I., and the formerly Gaullist
R.S.-and two more were to be represented
for
the first time in the new
one, M. Faure’s R.G.R. and the Poujadists.2 Five more were satellites of
a
‘major party’-M.R.P., U.D.S.R., and the
C.N.I.
had one shadow party
each, and the Poujadists had two. Four were minor parties: the
Jeune
NPpiihlique,
an old Left Catholic group; the
Parti
rkpublicain
pour
le
redrrssernent e‘conomique et
social,
a new body
of
‘Catholics for Mendks-
France’; the
Rassemblement
national,
an anti-parliamentary group on the
far
Right; and the R.G.R.I.F., a purely electoral combine formed in
1951
by a rich Lyons business man.3 Only two other groups seriously attempted
to obtain national status, the Left Independents who ran
21
lists, and
M.
Dorgilres’ anti-parliamentary
Parti
rkpublicain
paysun,
which ran
16.
Most minor parties attained the quota
of
30
lists only by forming many
joint
lists
with their parent organization, or by putting up bogus
This impressionistic survey does not attempt to compete with the study which the
t-ondntion nationale des sciences politiques
is
organizing.
I
am most grateful to the Fonda-
tion
for
their friendly assistance; and (among many others)
I
owe particular acknowledge-
rncnts to Madame M. Blondel and Mr. Martin Harrison.
Mr.
Harrison also contributed
the section on the national press.
The
C
N.I.
(Centre national des Independants, Paysans et A.R.S.) is now the national
headquarters of the clerical Conservatives, the hardest group
in
France to organize, The
R.S. (Rdpublicains sociaux) included about half the former Gaullist deputies. The R.G.R.
(Rassemblement des gauches rkpublicaines)
was
an electoral alliance
of
Radicals, U.D.S.R.,
and other small conservative parties. Most
of
the RadicaI representatives on it were hostile
to
M.
Mend&-France; when he expelled them for refusing to give up these positions, they
combined with the smaller groups to form a new party. Of these
9
major groups, U.D.S.R.
ran
30
lists, R.G.R.
32,
R.S.
62,
the rest at least
75.
’
In
1951
R.G.R.I.F. included candidates
of
very varying views; several were Vichyites.
In
1956
it was almost a branch of R.G.R. and its founder indeed stood as R.G.R., saying
‘J’ai choisi le
plus
drieux’.
‘
Of
the
9
minor groups, only three ran more than 32 lists: none ran
40.
On the last
152
THF FRFNCH
FI
FCTION
OF
I‘),<6
11
These bogus lists were registered
in
constituencies (preferable near
Part5
or
for
R.G.R.1.F near Lvons, returning few members and having.
therefore, a small deposit
(E20
per candidate). the average number of bogus
lists per constituency declines steadily from
four
in the two-member seats
to one-fourth in seats with seven
or
more members.
The first preoccupation of a national headquarters is the endorsement
of candidates. Organized parties like the Communists. Socialists. or M.R.P..
find little difficulty with this problem. But parties
in
the midst
of
reorganiza-
tion like the Radicals.
or
loose groups which rely on committees
of
local
mtah1e.s.
find their
investiture
sought from every side. They may have to
choose between two rival sitting members each claiming first place. between
an outgoing deputy and a locally powerful rival. or between different
claimants wishing to contest a new constituency; and a disappointed can-
didate may always decide to run a list
of
his own. One
U.D.S.R.
candidate
in
Paris. asked why he was splitting the Mendksist vote. replied that he
had approached the Radical member. who had offered him second place.
only later did he discover that seventeen others had had the same offer
In
Calvados a young protkgC of General Koenig. campaigning hard against
the outgoing deputies and especially the ex-premier M. Laniel. was offered
and accepted second place on M. Laniel’s list just before the lists closed.
In Yonne
a
Socialist recently expelled from the party stood on the U.D.S.R.
ticket:
in
Creuse another joined the Communist list.
The local party must pay careful attention to the rest
of
the list also.
Sections
of
the department should be balanced: thus
in
Allier four of the
six main lists included a representative each from Moulins, Montluqon.
and Vichy.’ Important religious communities like the Protestants
of
Bas-
Rhin.
or
linguistic groups like the Basques
of
Basses-PyrCnkes. expect
representation. There should also be a social balance. Doctors and vets
are at a premium, a peasant leader
is
often indispensable.
a
woman
may be included (usually low
on
the list); but generals (like M. Koenig)
or
bearers of noble names (like M. de Broglie) may find it wise to suppress
their titles. It is well to cater for different shades of political allegiance.
M.
Pinay’s secretary.
in
Tarn. had on his list both the Gaullist and the
Vichyite candidates for the constituency
in
1951.
An old hand like
M.
possible evening a car-load
of
Lyonnais drove to the south coast, handing in
a
R.G.R.1.F
list at every prefecture. This party reached the quota only by being allowed
to
count the
lists it had intended to run in Algeria. where elections were postponed.
In
Moselle, where ex-Gaullists and Conservatives joined forces, they stated officially
that, recognizing that two agricultural representatives from the same
nrrondissemrnr
could
not both expect
a
seat. one sitting member was standing down in favour
of
another
But not all lists take such pains. Thus in one Norman constituency, 1.e Havre and Dieppe
were both represented on every list.
But
while Conservatives. Radicals. and Poujadists were
well distributed through the area. the two big towns provided
4
out
of
the
6
Communists.
5
Socialists. and
5
R.S.
M.R.P
had
4
candidates from the Fkcamp area. and
R.G.R.
4
from
Eu:
all the last three lists did very badly.
To continue reading
Request your trial