Left, right and centre: the MRP and the post-war moment

This article takes a fresh look at the Mouvement RépublicainPopulaire (MRP), the new party founded by social-Catholic leadersof the Resistance at the end of 1944. Melding the progressivespirit of the Resistance prevalent in post-Liberation Francewith long-held social-Catholic values and admiration for deGaulle, the MRP achieved striking electoral triumphs in 1945–1946and anchored successive tripartite governments. As against plausibleinterpretations that regard the MRP as a bourgeois party ofthe Centre, I emphasize the MRP's commitment to the social-democraticagenda of the Conseil National de la Résistance CommonProgramme of 1944. With its precocious success in party building,this progressive party in a new key assured that in its post-warmoment France did not simply relapse into the electoral andparliamentary ways of the interwar years or that the field mightbe left clear for the Communists. Yet, despite its initiallyapt image as the parti de fidélité to de Gaulle,MRP leaders resisted the appeal of a saviour figure standingabove the republicanism they embraced.