THE TOURS CONGRESS 1920 - 2020
December 29th 2020 will mark the centenary of the Tours Congress during which the French socialist party (SFIO) split and gave birth to the French Communist Party.
The questions asked during the Congress have had a great place in the left-wing history throughout the XXth century : in order to reform society and allow social progress, do you need to be take part of the State system (and then to govern) or do you have to fight it (and make revolution)? Does progress better operate through reformist compromise or by revolutionary violence? Is the national framework legitimate or should it be majored by internationalism?
Those questions were asked in the unstable context of the post First World War era, marked by the Russian Revolution and the Spartacist uprising in Germany. Very divergent answers were given by different groups clamming to be « the only true Socialists ». The irremediable split of socialism was acted and would never end.
Today, thirty years after fall of the Soviet Union, the consequences of the Tours Congress are stil present in the recomposition of the French left, at a time when the dream of an ecological revolution has replaced the dream of a proletarian revolution.
Director: Philippe Saada
Author: Philippe Saada
Executive Producer: O2B Films
Broadcaster: Public Sénat • Toute Ll’Histoire
Release year: 2020
Running time: 52 minutes