Guy Mollet led the socialist French Section of the Workers' International from 1946 to 1969 and was the French Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957.
26 Facts About Guy Mollet
2.
Guy Mollet became unpopular in both the left and the right in the country for his international policy, especially during the Suez Crisis and the Algerian War.
3.
Guy Mollet was born in Flers in Normandy, the son of a textile worker.
4.
Guy Mollet joined the French Army in 1939 and was taken prisoner by the Germans.
5.
In October 1945, Guy Mollet was elected to the French National Assembly as a representative from Pas-de-Calais.
6.
Guy Mollet represented the left-wing of the party, which feared the dissolution of the Socialist identity in a centrist alliance.
7.
Guy Mollet served as deputy prime minister in 1946, in Blum's government.
8.
Guy Mollet represented France at the Council of Europe, and he was President of the Socialist Group on the council's Assembly.
9.
In foreign policy, Guy Mollet negotiated and signed the Treaty of Rome, creating the European Economic Community.
10.
Eden resigned as a result, but Guy Mollet survived the crisis despite fierce leftist criticism.
11.
Guy Mollet's government was left with the issue of the three French departments of Algeria, where the presence of a million non-Muslim French residents made a simple withdrawal politically difficult.
12.
At first, Guy Mollet's policy was to negotiate with the National Liberation Front.
13.
Guy Mollet's visit to Algiers, the capital of French Algeria, was a stormy one, with almost everyone against him.
14.
Guy Mollet was pelted with rotten tomatoes at a demonstration in Algiers on 6 February 1956, a few weeks after he became prime minister.
15.
Guy Mollet poured French troops into Algeria, where they conducted a campaign of counterterrorism, including torture, particularly during the Battle of Algiers.
16.
Guy Mollet's cabinet carried out a programme of progressive social reform, which was almost unnoticed because of both the international context and the Algerian War.
17.
Guy Mollet's government passed other pieces of social legislation during its time in office, including an increase in wages and improved medical benefits.
18.
Guy Mollet's cabinet was the last government formed by the SFIO, which was in increasing decline, and it was the last stable government of the Fourth Republic.
19.
Guy Mollet supported de Gaulle on the grounds that France needed a new constitution to allow the formation of strong governments.
20.
Guy Mollet resigned from de Gaulle's cabinet in 1959 and did not hold office again.
21.
Guy Mollet remained Secretary-General of the SFIO, but Gaulle's new Fifth Republic made it a powerless opposition party.
22.
Guy Mollet supported Francois Mitterrand's candidacy and participated in the centre-left coalition Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left, which would split three years later.
23.
However, the internal opposition to Savary accused Guy Mollet of being the true party leader from the sidelines and allied with Francois Mitterrand, who joined the party during the Epinay Congress and took the leadership in 1971.
24.
Guy Mollet mocked the Socialist speeches of Mitterrand: "Guy Mollet is not socialist, he has learned to speak socialist".
25.
Guy Mollet is one of the most controversial of the French Socialist leaders.
26.
Guy Mollet's name is tied up with the SFIO decline and his repressive policy in Algeria.