this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
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The communist party of France was a huge part of the resistance to fascism and played a large role in liberation. After the war, they were one of the most popular parties, winning more electoral votes in several elections than any other individual party, polling above all other parties until 1956, and making up 1/5th of the parliament. However in 1947 the ‘socialist’/socdem section of the governing coalition worked to kick them out of the government and succeeded. They pretended to have uncovered a coup plot that never existed, mobilized the military, and made a big show of their expulsion. All of this was done because the US ambassador told the leader of the socdems that if there were communists in the government, aid would stop, and they wanted those Marshall plan funds.
So in my opinion, the likelihood of France becoming a socialist country without US meddling was actually quite decent.