Abstract
A study of the French Communist Party (PCF) based on a year of participant observation in a Paris PCF neighborhood cell (N = about 50 members), here called "Cellule Danielle Casanova" (CDC), in V PARTS & 29 Chpts, with a Preface. Chronicled is the process of change following the Party's rejection of the coalition with the socialists, & the subsequent 1978 electoral defeat. Focus is on the PCF as a social movement, eg, on the political & personal bonds between rank-&-file members, the formal & information organization of the PCF's base, & the meaning & rewards of activism. The CDC was composed of professionals, intellectuals, lower-level white collar workers, & only one traditional blue-collar worker. The PCF's democratic socialist methods are identified as crucial to the suppression of real debate within the Party, the top-down rejection of Eurocommunism, & the subsequent disaffection of many of its members & sympathizers (particularly feminists). PART I - INTRODUCTION: ADAPT OR DECLINE - includes (1) The Dilemma of European Communism & (2) Settings. PART II - DANIELLE CASANOVA FACES ITS NEW WORLD - contains (3) The Rentree of Confusion; (4) Practice and Theory: Union a la Base and the Amicale; (5) Women and the PCF: An Unschedules Debate; (6) A Small Rebellion; (7) The Dictatorship of the Proletariat Laid to Rest; (8) The Night Anne Resigned; (9) Conflicts and Currents: The Section Committee Meets; & (10) The Soviet Union and Us. PART III - FRENCH COMMUNISTS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND FRENCH COMMUNISM - presents (11) The Political Chill of Winter; (12) The Secret Crisis of Paris; (13) Paris South Reacts to Being Taken in Hand; (14) Union a la Base: Once More into the Breach?; (15) Trying to Learn about Europe; (16) Reaffirming Commitment: La Remise de Cartes; (17) The Pressures Mount: Monique under Siege; (18) Debating the Difference between Reformists and Revolutionaries; & (19) Danielle Casanova Talks about Sexuality. PART IV - THE TWENTY-THIRD CONGRESS - incorporates (20) The Stage Is Set; (21) Discussing the Congress Proposal; (22) The Quiet Demise of the Women's Commission; (23) To Reject or Not to Reject?; (24) The Section Conference; (25) The Conference of the Paris Federation; & (26) The Twenty-Third Congress: "Unity" and Ritual. PART V - CONCLUSION: THE STRATEGY OF DECLINE - ends with (27) The Logic of Decline: 1979 to 1981; (28) The Effects of Democratic Centralism; & (29) Currents and Contradictions: Explaining the Strategy of Decline.