ABSTRACT
In 1932 Lacan (1901–1981) defended his thesis in medicine, and in 1939 he became a member of the Paris Psychoanalytical Society (SPP). At the end of 1952, the creation of a training institute aroused severe conflicts within the society. In June 1953, many analysts who were recalcitrant about what they saw as power games resigned from the SPP and founded the French Society of Psychoanalysis (SFP) of which Lacan soon became one of the leading figures. In July the IPA refused membership to those analysts who had resigned from the SPP: they probably did not envisage such extreme consequences.
