Neosocialism was a

political faction A political faction is a group of people with a common political purpose, especially a subgroup of a political party that has interests or opinions different from the rest of the political party. Intragroup conflict between factions can lead to ...

that existed in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

during the 1930s and which included several revisionist tendencies in 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 ...

(SFIO). During the 1930s, the faction gradually distanced itself from revolutionary

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and reformist socialism while stopping short of merging into the traditional class-collaborative movement represented by the Radical-Socialist Party. Instead, they advocated a revolution from above, which they termed as a constructive revolution. In France, where they had been influenced by the Belgians, this brought them into conflict with the Socialist Party's traditional policy of anti-governmentalism and the neosocialists were expelled from SFIO. Some of its promoters looked favourably on

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and became wartime collaborators during the

occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an Military Administration (Nazi Germany), interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western French Third ...

, while others joined the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

and were promoters of the reforms in the post-war period, such as ''

dirigisme Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role, contrary to a merely regulatory or non-interventionist role, over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite ...

'' (dirigism), territorial planning, and regionalism.

History

In the wake of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, a group of parliamentary deputies led by Henri de Man in Belgium (the leader of the

Belgian Labour Party The Belgian Labour Party (, , BWP; , , POB) was the first major Socialism, socialist party in Belgium. Founded in 1885, the party achieved its first electoral breakthrough in the aftermath of World War I. It was officially disbanded after the Ger ...

's right-wing and founder of the ideology of '' planisme'', i.e. planism, referring to

economic planning Economic planning is a resource allocation mechanism based on a computational procedure for solving a constrained maximization problem with an iterative process for obtaining its solution. Planning is a mechanism for the allocation of resources ...

) and in France by

Marcel Déat Marcel Déat (; 7 March 1894 – 5 January 1955) was a French politician. Initially a socialist and a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), he led a breakaway group of right-wing Neosocialists out of the SFIO in 19 ...

and Pierre Renaudel (leader of the SFIO's right wing), René Belin of the General Confederation of Labour, and the Young Turk current of the Radical-Socialist Party through Pierre Mendès France argued that the unprecedented scale of the global economic crisis, and the sudden success of national-populist parties across Europe, meant that time had run out for socialists to slowly pursue either of the traditional stances of the parliamentary left: gradual progressive

reformism Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

or Marxist-inspired popular revolution. Instead, influenced by de Man's planism, they promoted a "constructive revolution" headed by the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, where a democratic mandate would be sought to develop

technocracy Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...

and a

planned economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...

. This approach saw great success in the Belgian Labour Party in 1933–1934, where it was adopted as official policy with the support of the party's right (De Man) and left (

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...

) wings, although by 1935 enthusiasm had waned. Such ideas also influenced the non-conformist movement of the 1930s on the French right. Earlier in 1930, Déat published ''Perspectives socialistes'' (''Socialist Perspectives''), a revisionist work closely influenced by de Man's planism. Along with over a hundred articles written in ''La vie socialiste'' (''The Socialist Life''), the review of the SFIO's right-wing, ''Perspective socialistes'' marked the shift of Déat from classical

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

to neosocialism. Déat replaced

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

with class collaboration and national solidarity, advocated social corporatism as a model of organisation, replaced the Marxist

socialist mode of production The socialist mode of production, also known as socialism or communism, is a specific historical phase of economic development and its corresponding set of social relations that emerge from capitalism in the schema of historical materialism wit ...

with

anti-capitalism Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism with an alternati ...

and supported a technocratic state, which would plan the economy and in which parliamentarism would be replaced by political

. The neosocialist faction inside of the SFIO, which included the senior party figures Déat and Pierre Renaudel, was expelled at the November 1933 party congress, partly for its admiration for

Italian fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

, and largely for its revisionist stances: the neosocialists advocated alliances with the middle classes and favoured making compromises with the bourgeois Radical-Socialist Party to enact the SFIO's program one issue at a time. After having been expelled from the SFIO, Déat and his followers created the Socialist Party of France – Jean Jaurès Union (1933–1935); by the close of 1935, the emergence of the Popular Front had stolen the thunder for much of the neosocialists' tactical and policy proposals, and the Jean Jaurès Union merged with the more traditional class-collaborative Independent Socialists and Socialist Republicans to form the small Socialist Republican Union. Within the General Confederation of Labour, neosocialism was represented by Belin's ''Syndicats'' (then ''Redressements'')'s faction. On the other hand, de Man's planism influenced the left wing of the progressive-centrist Radical-Socialist Party, known as Young Turks (among them Mendès-France). At first, the neosocialists remained part of the broader left. Déat led his splinter party into the Socialist Republican Union, a merger of various revisionist socialist parties, and participated in the Popular Front coalition of 1936. Disillusionment in democracy eventually caused many neosocialists to distance themselves from the traditional left and call for more authoritarian government. After 1936, many evolved toward a form of participatory and nationalistic socialism, which led them to join with the

reactionary In politics, a reactionary is a person who favors a return to a previous state of society which they believe possessed positive characteristics absent from contemporary.''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'' Third Edition, (1999) p. 729. ...

right and support the collaborationist

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(e.g. Déat, Paul Faure, Adrien Marquet, and Barthélemy Montagnon). For instance, Belin and Déat (who founded the collaborationist National Popular Rally) became members of the Vichy government, and Déat's neosocialism was discredited in France after the war. Others (e.g. Henry Hauck, Max Hymans,

Paul Ramadier Paul Ramadier (17 March 1888 – 14 October 1961) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France in 1947. Biography The son of a psychiatrist, Ramadier graduated in law from the University of Toulouse and started his profess ...

, and Louis Vallon) joined the Resistance; Ramadier became

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...

in the postwar period and enacted the reforms of the new French Republic including voting in favour of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...

, while Max Bonnafous was Minister of Agriculture and Supplies from 1942 to 1944 in the Vichy government but later joined the Resistance, for which he obtained a pardon.

History

See also

References

Further reading