Marchais, Georges (1920–1997)

French communist politician. As general secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF) 1972–94, Marchais presided over his party's decline, its vote dropping in parliamentary elections from 21% in 1973 to 10% in 1986, and in presidential elections to under 8% in 1988.

Marchais had worked his way up the party organization despite joining relatively late, in 1947. The preceding years, when he was conscripted to work in the Messerschmidt armaments factory in Germany, were to remain clouded by some obscurity. As party leader, he committed the PCF to a ‘democratic transition to socialism’ before returning to a more orthodox pro-Moscow line from 1978. He negotiated union of the left with the Socialist Party (PS) in 1973, but broke this off in 1977. Having stood as the PCF's 1981 presidential candidate against François Mitterrand, he agreed to communist participation in government from June 1981 but withdrew in 1984. Marchais' doctrinal and tactical manoeuvring eventually catalysed successive waves of dissidence, challenging the party's internal monolithism. He was succeeded on his resignation by Robert Hue.