Tripartism and Its Aftermath

Abstract

This chapter argues that the restoration of democracy in France started in earnest only with the election in October 1945 of a Constituent Assembly. When voters rejected the Constituent Assembly's draft constitution in the requisite referendum, another six months elapsed before a second Constituent Assembly reached sufficient compromises to produce a new draft, which won voter approval by a thin margin. During the long provisional interval, the CNR Common Program helped undergird Charles de Gaulle's unity government and subsequent tripartite coalitions after the general abruptly exited the scene. However, until the fall of 1947, when a great strike wave brought the experiment to an explosive end, tripartism remained the political framework for France's postwar moment. Successive governments addressed the intractable challenges of postwar recovery while they sought to implement the “peaceful revolution” imagined by CNR in such matters as economic controls, social security, housing, and educational opportunity.