The Metz Congress was the seventh national congress of the French
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 t ...
(''Parti socialiste'' or PS) which took place on 6, 7 and 8 April 1979. The debate was influenced by the failure to update the ''Common Programme'' with the
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 Un ...
(''Parti communiste français'' or PCF), and the unexpected defeat of the "Union of Left" at the
1978 legislative election.
Eight years after his establishing control of the party,
François Mitterrand faced internal opposition.
Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991 during which he created the ''Revenu minimum d'ins ...
, who joined the PS in 1974, led the right-wing of the party. He criticized the ''Common Programme'', and decried it as being "archaic" and "unrealistic". He advocated an alignment with contemporary European social-democracy and an acceptance of the market economy. For Mitterrand, these propositions threatened to split the "Union of Left".
Rocard was supported by
Pierre Mauroy
Pierre Mauroy (; 5 July 1928 – 7 June 2013) was a French Socialist politician who was Prime Minister of France from 1981 to 1984 under President François Mitterrand. Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001. At the time of his de ...
. He had been number 2 of the party since 1971. He represented the survivors of the
French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) who denounced the hegemony of Mitterrand's supporters in the party.
and his left-wing CERES faction advocated a return to closer relations with the PCF.
Mitterrand's faction obtained 47% of the vote, Rocard's won 21.3%, Mauroy's scored 16% and Chevènement secured 14%. Mitterrand was re-elected first secretary thanks to the rallying of Chevènement. Mauroy lost the function of number 2 to
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.
Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...
. In spite of his popularity in the polls, Rocard promised he would not be a candidate at the next presidential election if Mitterrand announced his will to be the PS candidate.
Results
Runoff
François Mitterrand was re-elected as First Secretary.
PS Congresses since 1971
''France-politique''
References
Congresses of the Socialist Party (France)
Political history of France
1979 in France
1979 in politics
1979 conferences
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