Alain Savary (; 25 April 191817 February 1988) was a French Socialist politician, deputy to the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

during the Fourth and Fifth Republic, chairman 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 th ...

(PS) and a government minister in the 1950s and in 1981–1984, when he was appointed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

as Minister of National Education.

Life

In 1940, as soon as France was occupied by the German army, Savary enlisted in the Resistance. He organized the rallying of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon to the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...

and became its governor. After the war, he participated in the restoring of the Republican State. A member of the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...

(Socialist Party, SFIO) he was deputy for Saint-Pierre et Miquelon throughout most of the Fourth Republic, from 1944 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1958. In 1956, he was nominated Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Guy Mollet's cabinet, but resigned due to his opposition to the repressive policy of Mollet in

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

(1954–62) and to the arrest of

Ahmed Ben Bella Ahmed Ben Bella (; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian politician, soldier and socialist revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 and then the first president of ...

. He left the SFIO in 1958, because of the party's support for

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

's comeback and for the new

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

elaborating a presidential regime (the Fifth Republic). With Pierre Mendès France, he founded the dissident Autonomous Socialist Party (PSA) which became, in 1960, the Unified Socialist Party (PSU). However, he left it in 1967 and founded the Union of Clubs for the Renewal of the Left, which joined the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS) which had supported left-wing candidate

at the 1965 presidential election. Then, he returned to the "old socialist house" when it was replaced by the

(PS).

In the PS

Reconciled with Guy Mollet, Savary succeeded him to the leadership of the party in 1969. As First Secretary of the PS, he promised to begin an "ideological dialogue" with the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

(PCF), which was the largest left-wing party in France at the time. He was faced with growing pressure from internal opponents insisted that he remain dependent on Mollet's followers and not to pursue the "renewal" of the party. Two years later, during the Épinay Congress, he was removed by

, who proposed an alliance with the Communists based on a ''

Common Program The Common Program was the primary general policy document passed by the First plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Septembe ...

''. Savary became a Deputy for

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

in 1973. In 1981 he became Minister of National Education under President François Mitterrand. As minister of education, Savary appointed a series of charges de missions and study commissions to survey problems and propose possible remedies in a variety of areas: the Jeantet Commission on higher education, the Prost Coommissin on the lycees, the Legrand Commission on the colleges, Bertrand Schwartz on the educational and employment problems of 16- to 18-year-olds, Andre Peretti on training of elementary and secondary school teachers, Jean-Louis Quermonne on the status of teachers in higher education, and Laurent Schwartz and the Commission du Bilan on the educational system as a whole. In June 1984, Mitterrand decided to withdraw the "Savary Bill" to limit the financing of private schools due to large demonstrations by the supporters of private schools. Savary resigned in July 1984. At the same time the government of Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy was replaced by a new government led by

Laurent Fabius Laurent Fabius (; born 20 August 1946) is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party, he previously served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. Fabius was 37 years old when he was a ...

.Peter Stanford
Mauroy defends Savary plan for schools

Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine ...

(the archive),27 July 1984, retrieved 24 July 2013 He retired from government at this point and held no further offices prior to his death at age 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savary, Alain 1918 births 1988 deaths Politicians from Algiers People of French Algeria Pieds-noirs French Section of the Workers' International politicians Autonomous Socialist Party (France) politicians Unified Socialist Party (France) politicians Chairmen of the Socialist Party (France) Ministers of national education of France Members of the Provisional Consultative Assembly Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 5th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 6th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 7th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Saint Pierre and Miquelon Members of Parliament for Haute-Garonne MEPs for France 1958–1979 Regional councillors of France Prefects of Maine-et-Loire Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni Lycée Buffon alumni Free French military personnel of World War II Companions of the Liberation Officers of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Resistance Medal Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Recipients of the Silver Star Commissioners of the Republic