Republican-Socialist Party

This article is about the French political party. For the Belgian political party, see Republican Socialist Party.

Republican-Socialist Party Parti républicain-socialiste
General Secretary	René Viviani (last)
Honorary President	Paul Painlevé
Founded	10 July 1911 (1911-07-10)
Dissolved	1934 (1934)
Preceded by	Independent Socialists
Merged into	Socialist Republican Union
Headquarters	Paris
Membership (1926)	9,000
Ideology	Democratic socialism Social democracy Progressivism Reformist socialism Anti-clericalism
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Lefts Cartel (1918–1934)
Colours	Pink (customary)
Politics of France Political parties Elections

The Republican-Socialist Party (French: Parti républicain-socialiste, PRS) was a French socialist political party during the French Third Republic founded in 1911 and dissolved in 1934.

Founded by non-Marxist socialists who refused to join the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) after its foundation in 1905, and by independent Radicals who refused to join the Radical-Socialist Party when its parliamentary group required formal party membership in 1911, the PRS was a reformist socialist party located between the SFIO and the Radical Socialist Party. PRS member René Viviani was the first French Minister of Labour (Ministre du Travail et de la Prévoyance sociale) from October 1906 until July 1909).

The PRS was weakened by an ideological contradiction between socialism and reformism in an era where the political divide was very sharp. It also suffered from an organizational division between those favouring a united and structured party like the SFIO or an independent party with independent personalities. The party was dissolved in 1934.

In 1945, an attempt failed to recreate it within the Rally of Left Republicans. Several PRS members headed French cabinets, including Viviani, Aristide Briand, Paul Painlevé, Alexandre Millerand and Joseph Paul-Boncour.

Bibliography

• Jean-Thomas Nordmann (1974). Histoire des radicaux. Paris: La Table Ronde.
• Serge Berstein (1982). Histoire du Parti radical. 2 vol. Paris: Presses de la FNSP. ISBN 2-7246-0437-7
• Gérard Baal (1994). Histoire du radicalisme. Paris: La Découverte. ISBN 2-7071-2295-5