Guy Mollet
Guy Mollet | |
---|---|
Prime Minister of France | |
In office 1 February 1956 – 13 June 1957 | |
President | René Coty |
Preceded by | Edgar Faure |
Succeeded by | Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury |
Member of the National Assembly for Nord's 1st constituency | |
In office 28 November 1946 – 3 October 1975 | |
Succeeded by | André Delehedde |
Mayor of Arras | |
In office 15 May 1945 – 3 October 1975 | |
Preceded by | René Méric |
Succeeded by | Léon Fatous |
Personal details | |
Born | PS (1969–1975) | 31 December 1905
Guy Alcide Mollet (French pronunciation:
As Prime Minister, Mollet passed some significant domestic reforms and worked for European integration, proposing the Franco-British Union. He became unpopular in both the left and the right in the country for his international policy, especially during the Suez Crisis and the Algerian War.
Early life
He was born in
World War II
He joined the French Army in 1939 and was taken prisoner by the Germans. Released after seven months, he joined the French Resistance, where he was a captain,[1] in the Arras area and was three times arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo.[citation needed]
Early political career
In October 1945, Mollet was elected to the
Although he retained
Cabinet roles
He served as deputy prime minister in 1946,[citation needed] in Blum's government.[1]
From 1950 to 1951, he was Minister for European Relations in the government of the Radical René Pleven, and in 1951, he was deputy prime minister in the government of Henri Queuille.
Europe
Mollet supported a Western European Federation.[1] He represented France at the Council of Europe, and he was President of the Socialist Group on the council's Assembly.
Socialist international
From 1951 to 1969, he was vice-president of the Socialist International.
Premiership
During the
The coalition won the election with a promise to re-establish the peace in Algeria.[citation needed] As leader of the main party of the coalition, Mollet led and formed a cabinet in January 1956.
Foreign policy
In foreign policy, Mollet negotiated and signed the Treaty of Rome, creating the European Economic Community. Liberalising reforms were carried out in various parts of the French Empire but not in Algeria. Gaston Defferre's loi-cadre of 23 June 1956 generalised universal suffrage throughout the territories d'outre-mer and based their assemblies on a single voting roll.[2]
The government established the
Suez Crisis
Despite those successes, Mollet, who wanted to concentrate on domestic issues, found himself confronted with several major foreign policy crises. Egypt's president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, continued to support the Algerian rebels and also nationalised the Suez Canal, which led to the Suez Crisis.[4]
The Anglophile Mollet and British Prime Minister Anthony Eden shared a mutual concern for maintaining their overseas possessions.[5] Eden also feared that Nasser intended to cut off oil supplies to Europe. In October 1956 Mollet, Eden and the prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, met and colluded, in the Protocol of Sèvres, in a joint attack of Egypt.
The Israelis invaded Egypt first, with British and French troops invading the northern Suez Canal area shortly afterward, under the pretext of restoring order in the area. However, the scheme met with unexpected opposition from the United States, both at the United Nations General Assembly and with economical measures.[4] France and Britain were forced into a humiliating backdown.
Eden resigned as a result, but Mollet survived the crisis despite fierce leftist criticism.[citation needed]
In
Algeria
In the post-war period, Mollet was aware of, and approved of, the fraudulent elections held in French Algeria while the Socialist
At first, Mollet's policy was to negotiate with the National Liberation Front (FLN). Once in office, however, he changed his mind and argued that the FLN insurgents must be defeated before negotiations could begin. Mollet's visit to Algiers, the capital of French Algeria, was a stormy one, with almost everyone against him. He was pelted with rotten tomatoes at a demonstration in Algiers on 6 February 1956, a few weeks after he became prime minister. The memorable event was referred to as la journée des tomates ("the day of tomatoes").[citation needed]
He poured French troops into Algeria, where they conducted a campaign of counterterrorism, including
Domestic policy
Mollet's cabinet carried out a programme of progressive social reform, which was almost unnoticed because of both the international context and the Algerian War. Substantial improvements were made in welfare provision for the sick and elderly, funding for regional aid and housing was increased[9] veterans' payments were extended[10] and a third week of paid holidays was introduced. Mollet's government passed other pieces of social legislation during its time in office, including an increase in wages and improved medical benefits.[11]
The level and mechanism of state pensions to both the elderly and chronically-ill was improved, and working-class housing was also given close attention. HLMs were a top priority in the government's target of 320,000 houses in 1956.[2] Educational opportunities were increased, and wage-price levels were adjusted in favour of workers and civil servants.[12]
In June 1956, a national solidarity fund for the elderly was set up, which provided supplementary allowances for elderly people to provide them with a more adequate income.[13][14] In addition, a law of December 1956 established an allowance for the mothers of household for non-salaried workers.[15] Sales tax on essential commodities was abolished[16] while regional differences in minimum wage standards across France were reduced.[17]
A decree of November 1956 abolished written homework for children until the sixth grade, thereby lightening the load on French schoolchildren; official instructions of January 1957 also specified that nursery schools should include such facilities as a medical room and a recreational room.[18] An act was passed in April 1957 to allow people who employed domestic help in their service to form an employers' association,[19] and a law was passed for the legal status of the Agence France-Presse news agency.[20] In addition, an act in July 1957 confirmed a 1955 decree that created a complementary procedure for mediation.[21]
To encourage scientific research, a decree in March 1957 made provision for research bonuses to be awarded to research workers of the
A decree in August 1956 started a national diploma in fine arts, and a ministerial decision in December 1956 started a national certificate of oenology. A decree in February 1957 founded in each faculty of arts or science, under the dean's authority, "a training institute for secondary school teachers, run by a professor" to train future teachers for secondary, teacher training, national vocational and technical schools.[22]
Although the Mollet government introduced a broad range of reforms during its time in office, financial constraints prevented the passage of other planned reforms, such as the refunding of a higher percentage of prescription charges, extended rights for comités d'enterprise and the compulsory arbitration of works disputes.[2]
End of government
Mollet's cabinet was the last government formed by the SFIO, which was in increasing decline, and it was also the last stable government of the Fourth Republic.
Supporter of de Gaulle
The
De Gaulle appointed him one of four Secretaries of State in his first cabinet. That caused the creation of the PSU, the
Later life
Mollet resigned from de Gaulle's cabinet in 1959 and did not hold office again. He remained Secretary-General of the SFIO, but Gaulle's new Fifth Republic made it a powerless opposition party. By the 1960s, it was in terminal decline.[citation needed]
During the 1965 presidential campaign, he presented himself again as the guardian of Socialist identity, opposing the candidacy of Gaston Defferre, who proposed the constitution of a "Great Federation" with the non-Gaullist centre-right. Mollet supported François Mitterrand's candidacy and participated in the centre-left coalition Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left, which would split three years later.[citation needed]
His leadership over the party was being more and more challenged. He could not prevent Defferre being the SFIO candidate at the 1969 presidential election.
The disastrous result (5%) induced the SFIO to merge with left-wing clubs to form the new
Mollet and his followers were ejected in the minority of the party. He mocked the Socialist speeches of Mitterrand: "He is not socialist, he has learned to speak socialist".[citation needed]
Mollet died in Paris in 1975 of a heart attack.
Legacy
He is one of the most controversial of the French Socialist leaders. His name is tied up with the SFIO decline and his repressive policy in Algeria. In French political language, the word molletisme equates to duplicity, making left-wing speeches to win elections and then implementing a conservative policy. French Socialist politicians currently prefer the
His biography, by Denis Lefebvre, was called Guy Mollet: Le mal aimé ("Guy Mollet: The Unloved One").
Cabinet
Mollet Government | |
---|---|
192 / 595(32%) | |
History | |
Election(s) | 1956 French legislative election |
Legislature term(s) | Third Legislature of the Fourth Republic |
Predecessor | Second Faure Government |
Successor | Bourges-Maunoury Government |
The cabinet lasted from 1 February 1956 to 13 June 1957 and contained the following members:
Portfolio | Holder | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
President of the Council of Ministers | Guy Mollet | SFIO | |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | Christian Pineau | SFIO | |
Minister of the Interior
|
Jean Gilbert-Jules | PRS | |
Minister of Justice | François Mitterrand | UDSR | |
Minister of the Armed Forces | Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury | PRS | |
Minister of Finance
|
Robert Lacoste | SFIO | |
Minister of National Education
|
René Billères | PRS | |
Minister of Social Affairs
|
Albert Gazier | SFIO | |
Minister of Veterans Affairs
|
François Tanguy-Prigent | SFIO | |
Minister of Overseas France
|
Gaston Defferre | SFIO | |
Minister of Algerian Affairs
|
Georges Catroux | Military | |
Minister of State | Pierre Mendès France | PRS | |
Minister of State | Félix Houphouët-Boigny | RDA |
:
- 14 February 1956 – Paul Ramadier succeeds Lacoste as Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs. Morice leaves the cabinet and is not replaced as Minister of Industry.
- 21 February 1956 – Jacques Chaban-Delmas enters the cabinet as Minister of State.
- 23 May 1956 – Mendès-France leaves the cabinet.
Sources
- Aussaresses, General Paul, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955–1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 978-1-929631-30-8.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers. 28 September 2007. p. 1100.
- ^ a b c France Since The Popular Front: Government and people 1936–1996 by Maurice Larkin
- ^ Decree #94-1142 of 22 December 1994 on legifrance.gouv.fr and on admi.net Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b Lahav, Pnina. "The Suez Crisis of 1956 and Its Aftermath: A Comparative Study of Constitutions, Use of Force, Diplomacy and International Relations". Boston University Law Review. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ a b Lahav, Pnina (20 November 2015). "The Suez Crisis of 1956 and its Aftermath: a Comparative Study of Constitutions, Use of Force, Diplomacy and International Relations". Boston University Law Review. 95. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^ Inigo Gilmore (23 December 2001). "Israel reveals secrets of how it gained bomb". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ "Documentary Says Israel Got Nuclear Weapons From France". Fox News. Associated Press. 2 November 2001.
- ^ "La SFIO, Guy Mollet et l'Algérie de 1945 à 1955 (1986)". Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ A Concise History of France by Roger Price
- ^ Ideology and Politics: The Socialist Party of France by George A. Codding Jr. And William Safran
- ^ The Course of French History by Pierre Goubert
- ^ The Major Governments of Modern Europe. p. 274.
- ISBN 9780677309705.
- ISBN 9789287118547.
- ISBN 9780677309705.
- ISSN 0952-6447.
- ^ New York Times – 2 February 1957 edition
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ]
- ISBN 9781134937349. Archivedfrom the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ISBN 9789041134639.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)