Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

politician. He served as mayor of Marseille for 33 years until his death in 1986. He was minister for overseas territories in Guy Mollet’s socialist government in 1956–1957. His main achievement was to establish the framework used to grant independence to France’s African territories. As the Socialist candidate for president in 1969, he received only 5 percent of the vote. He was much more successful in promoting François Mitterrand as leader of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

(''Parti Socialiste''; PS) in 1971. He held a series of ministerial portfolios after the Socialist victory in 1981, especially as minister of state for the interior and decentralization.

Biography

A lawyer and member of the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was foun ...

(SFIO), Defferre was involved in the Brutus Network, a Resistance Socialist group, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. A long-standing member of the National Assembly (1945–1958, 1962–1986) and member of the Senate (1959–1962), he also served for many years as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

(1944–1945, 1953–1986). He was a formidable political force in the South-East, where he owned the major centre-left newspaper ''Le Provençal'' (which he co-founded at the Liberation) and later acquired the right-wing daily ''Le Méridional''. Defferre served as Merchant Marine Minister (1950–1952), then Overseas Minister (1956–1957), and laid the groundwork for the end of French colonialism in sub-Saharan Africa through Loi-cadre Defferre. In his region, he faced a strong

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...

(PCF) with which he was frequently in conflict. As mayor, he relied on the support of the non-Gaullist center-right in the municipal assembly. In the same way, he advocated a national alliance between the SFIO and the Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP). Before the 1965 presidential election, ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'' published an identikit of the best center-left candidate under the name of "Mister X". It corresponded with Defferre's profile (''L'Express'' co-founder Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber being a well known advocate of a Third Force alliance of socialists, Christian democrats and Radicals). But, failing to create an SFIO-MRP- Radical Party federation, Defferre had to give way to

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

, whose preferred strategy for the Socialists was the formation of a left-wing coalition including the PCF. His political career was strongly supported by members of the Corsican mafia, not least the Guérini clan. Defferre was a participant in the last duel in France that took place in 1967 when Defferre insulted René Ribière at the French parliament and was subsequently challenged to a duel fought with swords. Defferre yelled ‘Taisez-vous, abruti!‘ (‘Shut up, stupid!’) at Ribière following an argument in the French National Assembly. Ribière demanded an apology, Defferre refused, so Ribière demanded satisfaction by

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and ...

. René Ribière lost the duel, having been wounded twice. He escaped relatively uninjured, however. In 1969 Defferre was the Socialist candidate once again for the

French presidency The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...

. This time he had the support of ex-Premier

Pierre Mendès-France Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, who would have been Premier again had Defferre been elected. But he was soundly defeated, suffering from the polarisation of French politics following the events of May 1968, scoring only 5% of the vote, the lowest ever score for a French Socialist candidate. The failure of Defferre prompted the birth of the new Socialist Party (PS) and buried the idea of an alliance with the centre-right. Having been the main opponent of

Guy Mollet Guy Alcide Mollet (; 31 December 1905 – 3 October 1975) was a French politician. He led the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) from 1946 to 1969 and was the French Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957. As Prime Minist ...

in the party, and leader of the Socialist group in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

, Defferre helped Mitterrand take the leadership during the

Epinay Congress The Epinay Congress was the third national congress of the French Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), which took place on 11, 12 and 13 June 1971, in the town of Épinay-sur-Seine, in the northern suburbs of Paris. During this congress, ...

(1971), in spite of his reservations concerning Mitterrand's strategy of an alliance with the Communists. Later, when Mitterrand became President, Defferre served as Mitterrand's

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 1981 to 1984. He was the architect of the 1982 decentralization reforms. Town and Country Planning Minister until 1986, he died in office as Mayor of Marseille. His widow, Edmonde Charles-Roux, was president of the literary circle the

Académie Goncourt The Société littéraire des Goncourt (Goncourt Literary Society), usually called the Académie Goncourt (Goncourt Academy), is a French literary organisation based in Paris. It was founded in 1900 by the French writer and publisher Edmond de G ...

.Unger, ''Gaston Defferre'' (2011).

Political mandates

Governmental functions *Secretary of State for Information : January–June 1946. *Undersecretary of State for Overseas France : 1946–1947. * Minister of Merchant Marine : 1950–1951 / March–August 1951. * Minister of Overseas France : 1956–1957. *Minister of State, Minister of Interior and Decentralization : 1981–1983. *Minister of Interior and Decentralization : 1983–1984. *Minister of State, Minister of Planning and Land Development : 1984–1986. Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' *Member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are know ...

for

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

: 1945–1958 / 1962–1981 (Became minister in 1981) / March–May 1986 (He died in 1986). Elected in 1945, reelected in June 1946, November 1946, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1981, 1986. ''Senate of France'' *Senator of

: 1959–1962 (Reelected member of the

in 1962). Elected in 1959. ''Municipal Council'' *

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

: 1944–1945 / 1953–1986 (He died in 1986). Reelected in 1953, 1959, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1983. * Municipal councillor of

: 1944–1945 / 1953–1986 (He died in 1986). Reelected in 1953, 1959, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1983.

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Biography

Political mandates

Notes

Further reading

External links