Lefts Bloc
Bloc des gauches
PresidentFerdinand Sarrien (last)
FounderPierre Waldeck-Rousseau
Founded1899 (1899)
Dissolved1906 (1906)
Succeeded byLefts Cartel
HeadquartersParis
IdeologyRadicalism
Socialism
Anti-clericalism
Factions:
Democratic socialism
Social democracy
Liberal socialism
Social liberalism
Political positionLeft-wing (majority)
Colours  Red

The Lefts Bloc (French: Bloc des gauches, French pronunciation: [blɔk de ɡoʃ]) was a coalition of Republican political forces created during the French Third Republic in 1899 to contest the 1902 legislative elections.[1] It initially supported Emile Combes's cabinet (June 1902-January 1905), then Maurice Rouvier's cabinet (January 1905-March 1906) and finally Maurice Rouvier's cabinet (March 1906-October 1906).[2] The Republican Coalition dissolved itself after the International Socialist Congress of Amsterdam of 1904 and the subsequent withdrawal of Socialist ministers from the government. Although the Left won the 1906 legislative election, the Socialists did not repeat their alliances with the Radicals and the Radical-Socialists and other Republican forces.[3]

History

Following the Dreyfus Affair, Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau assembled a "Republican Defense Cabinet" (gouvernement de défense républicaine) in June 1899, which was supported by a parliamentary majority composed of Radicals, Radicals-Socialists and Socialists. This majority decided to ally themselves for the 1902 elections, which they won.[4] The Bloc des gauches was thus represented in the Chamber of Deputies by four parliamentary groups: the Democratic Alliance (Alliance démocratique, AD), the Radical Left and the Radical-Socialists and the Socialists. Under Emile Combes's leadership, the new government enacted an anti-clerical policy, passing the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, and opposed itself to the nationalist movement.[5]

"Opportunist Republicans" who opposed the alliance with the Radicals, the Radicals-Socialists and the Socialists, and, for some of them, the defense of the Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus, founded in November 1903 the Republican Federation (Fédération républicaine), which represented the Republican bourgeoisie, closely connected to business circles and opposed to social reform.[6]

Following the International Socialist Congress of Amsterdam in 1904, the Socialists were called by Jules Guesde's Socialist Party of France (Parti socialiste de France) to quit the government.[7] The Socialist ministers thereafter withdrew themselves from the Republican Coalition, which dissolution was completed in October 1906 with the coming of Georges Clemenceau to power.[8]

List of leaders

Composition

Party Main ideology Leader/s
Radical-Socialist Party Radicalism Émile Combes (last)
Democratic Republican Alliance Liberalism Marie-Adolphe Carnot
French Socialist Party Socialism Jean Jaurès
Independent Radicals Social liberalism Laurent Bonnevay

Electoral results

Chamber of Deputies
Election year # of
overall votes 		% of
overall vote 		# of
overall seats won 		+/– Leader
1902 4,051,535 (#1) 47.98
314 / 589
–
Émile Combes

See also

References

  1. ^ Winnacker, R. A. (1937). "The Delegation des Gauches: A Successful Attempt at Managing a Parliamentary Coalition". The Journal of Modern History. 9 (4): 449–470. ISSN 0022-2801. JSTOR 1899204.
  2. ^ Middleton, Wilfrid Lawson (1933). The French Political System. Ernest Benn. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-598-77887-1.
  3. ^ Stone, Judith F. (1996). Sons of the Revolution : radical democrats in France, 1862-1914. Internet Archive. Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-8071-2020-0.
  4. ^ Nye, Robert A. (14 July 2014). Crime, Madness and Politics in Modern France: The Medical Concept of National Decline. Princeton University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-4008-5627-5.
  5. ^ Berstein, Gisèle; Berstein, Serge (1995). Dictionnaire historique de la France contemporaine: 1870-1945 (in French). Editions Complexe. p. 380. ISBN 978-2-87027-549-8.
  6. ^ Buell, Raymond Leslie (1920). Contemporary French Politics. D. Appleton. p. 23.
  7. ^ Salles, Catherine (1985). La IIIe République au tournant du siècle : 1893-1914. Internet Archive. Paris : Libr. Larousse. p. 110. ISBN 978-2-03-253106-6.
  8. ^ Giordani, Tommaso; Mead, Henry (21 September 2022). ""The Regeneration of Society": Thomas Ernest Hulme and the Early British Reception of Georges Sorel" (PDF). Modern Intellectual History. Cambridge University Press: 10. doi:10.1017/S1479244322000543.
  9. ^ Ostrowski, Marius S. (8 January 2021). Eduard Bernstein on Socialism Past and Present: Essays and Lectures on Ideology. Springer Nature. p. 205. ISBN 978-3-030-50484-7.
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