French Memories of 1956

During research undertaken in 1995, Gavin Bowd gathered recollections of French communists of the events of 1956. These recollections were used in Gavin's study l'Interminable Enterrement: Le communisme et les intellectuels francais depuis 1956 (Paris: Digraphe) 1999, reviewed by Stephen Hopkins in CHNN 11.

The context:

In January 1956 at the French legislative elections support for the PCF stays at 25%, and the party calls unsuccessfully for the establishment of a new Popular Front. In the interest of unity on the left, the PCF votes for special powers in Algeria, but soon is in opposition to the policies of socialist Guy Mollet. The PCF recognises the existence of an Algerian nation, but does not ally itself with the FLN. The Khrushchev revelations are heard by Thorez and other French leaders, but, on their return to Paris, they will speak only of a 'report attributed to Khruschev': in fact, the PCF will only recognise its existence in the mid-1980s. Over events in Budapest, the PCF supports the Soviet 'intervention' while intellectuals such as Roger Vailland and Pablo Picasso will join Sartre and Beauvoir in publicly protesting against it. On 7 November a large demonstration against the intervention, including François Mitterrand, leaves the Arc de Triomphe. A small group detaches itself from the procession and converges on the building of the Central Committee then that of L'Humanité, besieging the premises and trying to burn them down. The night ends in rioting between police, demonstrators and counter-demonstrators, leaving 3 dead and hundreds wounded.

The poet Guillevic (1907-1997) [joins PCF in 1942]:

'I was surprised by the Khrushchev report, and in particular by what it revealed about Stalin, on whom I was 100 percent misled. Misled by what was said about him in the Communist Party and I could not believe what anti-communists, trotskyists and the right in general said about him. For me, Stalin had won the war against nazism and the PCF attributed him all sorts of qualities. In 1956, it was a terrible blow for me given the strength of my trust. A trust which blinded me to the crimes and errors of what is called stalinism. […] I remembered the Fascist Hungary of Horthy. It was barely seven years since the "revolution" had installed a "communist" regime and I believed in the existence of a counter-revolutionary movement created by the Americans.'

The philosopher Lucien Sève:

'I lived the events of Hungary as an attempt at "counter-revolution", certainly made possible by the strong working-class discontent resulting from the errors of the Rakosi regime, but essentially fomented by still-powerful internal reactionary forces and, to say the least, supported by the ruling bourgeoisie of the FRG and NATO forces keen to open a breach in the "socialist camp". I was therefore greatly relieved by the Soviet military intervention, even if I felt the situation distressing. I should add that the deliberate fomenting of anti-communist riots in France - it was not only in Paris that the building of the PCF was partially burned down: in Bordeaux too, where I was, a similar attack was made against the federation offices - was not going to make me doubt the deep significance of the events. Although my retrospective view of the Rakosi regime makes me see infinitely better the disastrous mark of stalinism, I must say in all honesty that I continue to consider that the responsibility of the Western bourgeoisies and of NATO was considerable. The Cold War was not completely cold.'

François Hincker, historian (1937-1998):

'I joined the PCF towards the end of 1956, at the age of 19. I was a student. I joined for French, and absolutely not international, reasons. It was the start of the Algerian War. I joined just at the end of the period of pure stalinism, but I cannot say that was a reason for me joining. At my age, I was neither stalinist nor anti-stalinist. For a young person, progress and equality meant the PCF. There were no other political forces: you were a communist or a conservative.'

Georges Labica, philosopher:

'I joined at the beginning of 1956. It was quite simply the culmination of a long path as a militant. I said to myself: why should I not be in the PCF? At the end of 1956, I was nominated to a teaching post in Algeria, where I would stay till the late sixties. I did not know this country at all, but I immediately became involved in the Algerian War, alongside friends in the FLN, rather than the Algerian Communist Party. So I very soon had a critical position vis-à-vis the PCF, but the PCF was, in 1956, the only subversive force around.'

Jean Thibaudeau, playwright:

'I began to become politicised during the Algerian War, towards the end of 1955. I was a student opposed to it. In January 1956, I voted for the first time, and chose the PCF, which was the only party opposed to the war. I was 21 and voted for the PCF against the poujadist candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. That summer, I went to the seaside on holiday with my wife. Pierre Poujade was making a tour of the beaches, speaking to fascistic rallies. I was inspired to write an anti-poujadist farce, greatly influenced by Eugene Ionesco. As for Budapest, I was so struck and fascinated by the wave of anti-communist hatred in France that I did not pay attention to what was happening in Hungary.'

Jacques Chambaz, historian and communist MP (1923-2004) [joins PCF in 1944]:

'I lived the events of '56 through the contradictions of the time and the violence of the anti-communist attacks…. I did not take part in the defence of the CC building, because I was in the crowd of demonstrators outside, informing on their activities. I was involved in a struggle, and therefore did not attribute so much importance to what was happening in Budapest. There were problems here: Algeria, Suez. There were the Rosenbergs and McCarthy, the war in Korea, the interventionist foreign policy of the US. Why are communists never asked about that?'

Maurice Goldring, professor of Irish Studies [of Jewish communist parents, joins 1950]:

'Yes, I was steeped in the cult of Stalin. I was stalinist and thorezist. The death of Stalin and the events of 1956 did not shake my convictions, not at all. There was the Khrushchev report, which raised a lot of discussion, and then the fact that all this was masterminded by the right-wing parties as a campaign against the PCF. I took all this as the continuation of a battle. It was the time of the Algerian War, the Suez affair, the conflict between imperialism and the colonised peoples, between socialism and capitalism. What was firstly at stake was resisting this offensive, and in a concrete fashion, since in Paris an emblematic event was the attack on the CC building, the fire, the demonstrations and counter-demonstrations. It was another stage in the struggle I was waging. I believe that, at the time, the right in France made an enormous error. It prolonged the life of the party by at least ten years. If they hadn't allowed the CC fire to happen, it would have made it much more difficult for the party to mobilise its militants.'

Gavin Bowd, University of St Andrews