Rassemblement du peuple français
The Rassemblement du peuple français ( RPF ; German gathering movement of the French people ) was a political party in the Fourth French Republic . It was founded in 1947 by General Charles de Gaulle and existed until 1955.
aims
The party should unite all of its supporters, the Gaullists . But as disputes quickly arose within the party, it soon no longer had enough strength in parliament.
history
On April 7, 1947, in Strasbourg , General de Gaulle appealed to the French that it was time to form a movement that would, through the law, seek salvation and profound reform of the state. On June 18, the founding of the political party was announced. Between 1947 and 1953 the RPF participated in all major elections and, like the Communist Party, became one of the two main opposition forces of the Fourth Republic .
The party had its first success in the local elections in October 1947, it received around 35% of the vote and then appointed the mayor of many large cities (including Marseille , Strasbourg , Bordeaux , Lille ). In Paris, which at the time did not have an elected mayor, Pierre de Gaulle (the general's brother) became president of the local council. The RPF's request to dissolve the National Assembly and bring the parliamentary elections forward, however, remained unfulfilled. The first national election in which the Gaullist party participated was therefore the election to the Conseil de la République - the upper house of parliament (forerunner of the Senate) - in November 1948, in which the RPF won 58 of the 320 seats.
Shortly before the parliamentary elections in June 1951, the previous ruling parties changed the electoral law through the so-called loi des apparentements , with the aim of minimizing the influence of both the Communists and the Gaullists. Party lists could therefore combine before the election so that they mutually benefit from the votes of their allied parties. The PCF and RPF had no such allies. In the election, the RPF received over 4 million votes (21.7%), but its candidates received only 121 of the 627 seats in the National Assembly - far fewer than the hoped-for 200. This made the Gaullists the second strongest force behind the Communists, both big ones Parties were excluded from forming a government. The Troisième Force of socialists ( SFIO ), Christian democrats ( MRP ), radicals ( PRS ) and smaller bourgeois parties continued to rule . After the nomination of the Liberal Conservative Antoine Pinay ( CNIP ) as prime minister, 27 RPF MPs expressed confidence in the new government in March 1952, although de Gaulle had refused. You were expelled from the parliamentary group.
In the local elections in 1953, the RPF lost around half of its voters and numerous mayorries compared to 1947. Three days later, on May 6, 1953, de Gaulle gave up his RPF activities in disappointment and declared: “Voici venir la faillite des illusions. Il faut preparer le recours. » (" Here comes the collapse of illusions. We have to prepare a way out. "). At first he withdrew completely from political and public life. The RPF initially continued to exist without its leader and even joined a center-right government under Joseph Laniel (CNIP) in June 1953 . The RPF nominated Paul-Jacques Kalb for the presidential election in December 1953 , but he was eliminated after the first round of voting. In September 1955, the RPF disbanded. The majority of the Gaullist MPs then formed the Union des républicains d'action sociale (URAS) faction. In the 1956 parliamentary elections, the remaining Gaullists ran under the name Républicains sociaux (RS), but only received 21 seats.
At the height of the Algerian crisis, Charles de Gaulle returned to government on June 1, 1958 and founded the Fifth Republic. The Union pour la Nouvelle République (UNR) then emerged as the new Gaullist party .
General Secretaries
The RPF was aimed at Charles de Gaulle as a leader, but officially had no chairman, but was organizationally headed by secretaries general.
- 1947–1951: Jacques Soustelle
- 1952-1954: Louis Terrenoire
- 1954–1955: Jacques Foccart