ABSTRACT
Charles De Gaulle's first party, the Rassemblement a Peuple Francais, was founded on 8 April 1947. Philippe Seguin, who had marked out his position on the issue, moved to centre stage and rallied the opponents of the Treaty in a 'Rassemblement pour le non'. Seguin, champion of an 'alternative polities', the leftist critic of privatization and the running-down of the state, eternal outsider and critical opposer of Maastricht and of Balladur's 'social Munich', was cast as the federator and the constructor: 'rassembler le Rassemblement'. Discipline around the leaders worked well enough when the leader was the 'world historic' figure of de Gaulle, but became problematic with Pompidou and difficult in the Rassemblement pour la Republique. Rassemblement four un autre politique was created by Florent Longuepee in December 1994 and claimed 2,000 mainly student members and was active in Chirac's presidential campaign.
