ABSTRACT
Tanguy-Prigent, the party's chief agricultural expert in the early years of the Fourth Republic, has been described as both a technocrat and as a "rigidly sectarian" Socialist. In the study of any political party, it is difficult to assess precisely its impact on domestic public policy. Legislative proposals often have obscure origins, and policy processes tend to follow their own momentum. Furthermore, for any political party, programmatic preferences are interwoven with ideological constraints and tactical calculations. In September, 1944, the cabinet began the process of nationalization, often by means of decrees initiated by Socialist and Communist ministers jointly. In several industrial democracies, socialist parties have succeeded in securing working-class support by pretending to absorb the revolutionary mythology of trade unions, or by establishing rapport with them through the co-optation of union leaders into the party. The Socialist deputies' somewhat evasive stand on tax reform was a consequence of the changing composition of the party's electorate.
