The View from Inside

A French Communist Cell in Crisis

Jane Jenson, George Ross

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520340206
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520340213
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The View from Inside: A French Communist Cell in Crisis by Jane Jenson and George Ross offers a rare ethnographic portrait of the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) at the grassroots in the late 1970s. Based on sustained participant observation with the militants of Cellule Danielle Casanova in Paris, the book follows "ordinary" party members—foot soldiers rather than leaders—as they grapple with the contradictions of Eurocommunism, internal reform, and the PCF's stubborn commitment to democratic centralism. Far from ordinary in their political commitments, these activists became both advocates of modernization and casualties of its suppression within the party. Through detailed reconstructions of meetings, debates, and informal exchanges, Jenson and Ross capture the texture of rank-and-file political life: disputes over union strategy, the role of women, sexuality, and relations with the Soviet Union; mounting frustrations with party leadership; and the rituals of the Twenty-third Congress that codified decline. By foregrounding the lived experience of militants, the book shows how efforts to create change from below collided with entrenched hierarchies, leading to disillusionment and the erosion of the PCF's electoral strength. More than a local story, The View from Inside chronicles a turning point in French politics and European Communism, illuminating how crisis at the grassroots mirrored the broader unraveling of a once-powerful movement. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• Chapter 1 THE DILEMMA OF EUROPEAN COMMUNISM
• Chapter 2 SETTINGS
• Chapter 3 THE RENTRÉE OF CONFUSION
• Chapter 4 PRACTICE AND THEORY: UNION A LA BASE AND THE AMICALE
• Chapter 5 WOMEN AND THE PCF: AN UNSCHEDULED DEBATE
• Chapter 6 A SMALL REBELLION
• Chapter 7 THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT LAID TO REST
• Chapter 8 THE NIGHT ANNE RESIGNED
• Chapter 9 CONFLICTS AND CURRENTS: THE SECTION COMMITTEE MEETS
• Chapter 10 THE SOVIET UNION AND US
• Chapter 11 THE POLITICAL CHILL OF WINTER
• Chapter 12 THE SECRET CRISIS OF PARIS
• Chapter 13 PARIS SOUTH REACTS TO BEING TAKEN IN HAND
• Chapter 14 UNION ALABASE: ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH?
• Chapter 15 TRYING TO LEARN ABOUT EUROPE
• Chapter 16 REAFFIRMING COMMITMENT: LA REMISE DE CARTES
• Chapter 17 THE PRESSURES MOUNT: MONIQUE UNDER SIEGE
• Chapter 18 DEBATING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REFORMISTS AND REVOLUTIONARIES
• Chapter 19 DANIELLE CASANOVA TALKS ABOUT SEXUALITY
• Chapter 20 THE STAGE IS SET
• Chapter 21 DISCUSSING THE CONGRESS PROPOSAL
• Chapter 22 THE QUIET DEMISE OF THE WOMEN’S COMMISSION
• Chapter 23 TO REJECT OR NOT TO REJECT?
• Chapter 24 THE SECTION CONFERENCE
• Chapter 25 THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARIS FEDERATION
• Chapter 26 THE TWENTY-THIRD CONGRESS: “UNITY” AND RITUAL
• Chapter 27 THE LOGIC OF DECLINE: 1979 TO 1981
• Chapter 28 THE EFFECTS OF DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM
• Chapter 29 CURRENTS AND CONTRADICTIONS: EXPLAINING THE STRATEGY OF DECLINE