ABSTRACT
As an independent-minded minister throughout the Fourth Republic, and a political outsider for the first decade of the Fifth Republic, Francois Mitterrand fundamentally distrusted the discipline and collective responsibility implied by belonging to a traditional party. His refusal to join any of the mainstream parties after the Liberation testified to his independence of spirit, as well as his ambiguity in relation to classification in terms of left and right. Only cursory attention has been paid to the Convention des Institutions Republicaines (CIR), the movement Mitterrand dominated from 1964–1971. And a study of the CIR exemplifies not only Mitterrand’s capacity to attract fierce partisan loyalties, but also the early influence of the presidentialism of the Fifth Republic on political parties, as well as being an important staging post in the evolution of Mitterrand’s political beliefs. Francois Mitterrand’s conquest, mastery and subjugation of the French Socialist Party was one the major political feats of the 1970s.
