Socialist Party (France)

The historic French left party, founded in 1969, dominant under Mitterrand and Hollande.

Overview

The PS succeeded the SFIO, the century old socialist federation, in 1969, and Francois Mitterrand rebuilt it at Epinay in 1971 into a governing party, winning the presidency in 1981. The Mitterrand decade brought decentralization, abolition of the death penalty, and early nationalizations followed by austerity turns. Lionel Jospin led a plural left government 1997-2002 before his first round elimination shocked the nation. Segolene Royal and then Francois Hollande won presidential contests, Hollande serving 2012-2017 before his collapse. The party fell to single digits in 2017 and survived through the Nupes alliance and city halls from Paris to Lyon, still the backbone of municipal socialism in France.