THE PCF AND THE IMPASSE OF DÉTENTE:
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF A REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGY IN 1968

The Prague Spring and the French May of 1968 were understood by many contemporary observers as “revolutionary” events. Yet, the French communist party PCF, despite its claim to be building towards revolutionary change domestically and internationally, displayed much relutance to support either the communist reformers in Prague or the radical protesters in Paris.

This paper will argue that the PCF’s incapability to full-heartedly support the key actors of these events was due not primarily to ideological differences – although these were also important – but to the strategic impasse created to the West European Left by European détente. Most of the literature has argued that the shift from Cold War to détente in the 1960s was benificial to the West European Left. This paper will depart from the opposite perspective and will highlight the inherently non-revolutionary character of détente. In what ways détente caused an impasse to the PCF, will be demonstrated with an analysis of the party’s domestic and European strategies in the 1960s, and the conjunctions / disjunctions with the strategies of the Soviet-dominated communist world on the one hand and other political forces in France on the other hand. 

This paper presents some of the findings and conclusions of my PhD research. In terms of primary sources, it draws on archives from the collections of the PCF, PCI (Italian communist party) and SED (East German communist party), as well as press and published material from various actors of the French Left.

Maud Bracke has studied at the Catholic University Leuven, Belgium and at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where she received her PhD in 2004 with a work entitled “Is it possible to be Revolutionary without being Internationalist?” West European Communism, Proletarian Internationalism and the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1968-1969. A comparative Study of the Italian and French Communist Parties.”

She is currently a Lecturer in Modern European history at Department of History, University of Glasgow. Her research interests are the European left in the 20th century, the cultural and social history of the Cold War and comparative politics. Publications include “The 1968 Czechoslovak Crisis: Reconsidering its History and Politics”, European Contemporary History, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 12:3, August 2003 as well as Internationalism, Reform, Détente. West European Communism and the Czechoslovak crisis of 1968 (under contract with Central European University Press, Budapest).

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