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French Section of the Workers' International Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière | |
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Leader | |
Founders | Jules Guesde Jean Jaurès |
Founded | 25 April 1905 |
Dissolved | 4 May 1969 |
Merger of | French Socialist Party Socialist Party of France |
Merged into | Socialist Party |
Headquarters | Paris |
Newspaper | Le Populaire (from 1918) L'Humanité (until 1920) |
Trade union | Workers' Force |
Ideology | |
Political position | Left-wing[6] |
National affiliation | Lefts Cartel (1924–1934) Popular Front (1936–1938) Tripartisme (1944–1947) Third Force (1947–1958) |
European Parliament group | Socialist Group |
International affiliation | Second International (1905–1916) Labour and Socialist International (1923–1940) Socialist International (1951–1969) |
Colours | Red |
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 founded during the 1905 Globe Congress in Paris as a merger between the French Socialist Party and the Socialist Party of France in order to create the French section of the Second International, designated as the party of the workers' movement.
The SFIO united the Marxist tendency represented by Jules Guesde with the social-democratic tendency represented by Jean Jaurès, who quickly became the united party's most influential figure. Other leaders included Édouard Vaillant and Paul Lafargue, Karl Marx's son in law. The SFIO opposed colonialism and militarism, although the party abandoned its anti-militarist views and supported the national union government (French: Union nationale) following Germany's declaration of war on France in World War I, sacrificing its ideals of internationalist class struggle in favor of national patriotism, as did other members of the Second International.
Because of conflicting views towards the 1917 Russian Revolution, the SFIO split in two during the 1920 Tours Congress: the majority became the French Communist Party, the French Section of the Bolshevik-led Communist International; while the minority continued as the SFIO.
Between 1909 and 1920, the SFIO published the newspaper L'Humanité. In French politics, it affiliated with the Left Cartel (1924–1934), the Popular Front (1936–1938), the Tripartisme (1944–1947), and the Third Force (1947–1958). Internationally, the party was first affiliated with the Second International (1905–1916), then the Labour and Socialist International (1923–1940)[7] and finally the Socialist International (1951–1969). The SFIO's symbol was a red and black circle with the Three Arrows.