ABSTRACT
Daniel Mayer comes out of the tradition of humanistic socialism exemplified by Jean Jaures and Leon Blum; indeed, Blum considered Mayer his political heir. Socialism thus influenced both proletariat and middle classes; its ideological diversity produced both a longing for unity and a tendency to disintegration. One characteristic of French socialism has been the strength of both revolutionary and reformist traditions. Daniel Mayer is one of the six people who have served as secretary-general of the French Socialist Party since 1921. He led the party through the difficult years of the underground during World War II and the liberation period. Daniel Mayer joined the socialist Party in 1927; in the 1930s he became a reporter and later an editor at the party's daily newspaper, Le Populaire. The rising frustration of the militants led to the rejection of Mayer's rapport moral at the Congress of late August - early September 1946.
