Last modified: 2025-05-10 by olivier touzeau
Keywords: parti socialiste | mjs | jeunes socialistes |
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![[Flag of PS]](../images/f/fr}ps.gif)
Flag of the PS - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
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The Parti socialiste (Socialist Party) is a centre-left to left-wing political party, with social democratic and pro-European views. The PS was founded in 1969 from a merger of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the Convention of Republican Institutions led by François Mitterrand, and other groups. In the 1970s, the PS surpassed the Communist Party's share of the left-wing vote. It first won power in 1981, when Mitterrand was elected president. The PS achieved a governing majority in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986, 1988 to 1993, 1997 to 2002: it was for decades the largest party of the Left in France and used to be one of the two major political parties under the Fifth Republic, along with the Rally for the Republic (RPR) in the late 20th century, and with the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in the early 2000s.
In 2012, François Hollande, the leader of the party from 1997 to 2008, was elected president, and the party also won a governing majority. Facing the emergence of centrist Emmanuel Macron and left-winger Jean-Luc Mélenchon, PS candidate Benoît Hamon finished 5th in the 2017 presidential election. The PS also declined to the 4th largest party in the 2017 legislative election, and to the 6th largest in 2022.
It was only after the Epinay congress in 1971 that the Party adopted a
new symbol, "the fist and the rose". This emblem was designed at the
end of 1969 by Marc Bonnet, an illustrator contacted by Yann Berriet,
graphic designer and socialist activist. Paul Calandra, then head of
propaganda for the Paris federation of the "new" Socialist Party led
by CERES, had commissioned it from him. Georges Sarre, in charge of
propaganda, stated in the White Paper 1969-1971 published by the Paris
Federation in June 1971 that "as early as January 1970, a poster
campaign was launched. It used a new poster specially made by the
federation (the symbol of a rose in a closed fist). "This logo was
distributed in the second half of 1970 but it was especially on the
occasion of the municipal elections of March 1971 that it had a wider
echo in Paris. From the end of 1971, the PS published the statutes
adopted in Épinay in a brochure with the emblem on the cover. On the
occasion of the launch of the Socialist Party program "Changer la Vie"
in March 1972, "the Fist and the Rose" was present everywhere, on
posters, leaflets, and banners. The fist and the rose are making their
mark on the French and European political landscape as the PS
continues its breakthrough. According to François Mitterrand, the symbol represents "the fist for
combat, the rose for happiness."
[source: party website]
Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
In 2024, the logo was modified, and the current flag is red with an adaptation of the logo with a big stylized emblem and the name of the party in small letters: photo
Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
Flag of the PS between 2010 and 2024
![[Flag of PS]](../images/f/fr}ps16.gif)
![[Flag of PS]](../images/f/fr}ps10.gif)
Former flag of the PS, left 2016-2024, right 2010-2016 - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
From 2016 to 2024, the logo had a big green leaf and included the
words "Social" and "Écologie". The flag was white with this logo:
photo (2023), photo (2021)
The previous flag was white with the 2010-2016 logo (fist and rose and
letters PS in red/pink): photo (2010).
Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
The flag and logo of the PS were adopted in January 2010.
Tomislav Todorović, 1 June 2012
Flag of the PS before 2010
![[Flag of PS]](../images/f/fr}ps1.gif)
![[Flag of PS]](../images/f/fr}ps2.gif)
Flag of the PS before 2010 , two versions - Images by Tomislav Todorović, 1 June 2012
The logo of the PS had white leaves and stem, with veins on the leaves drawn in black. The logo has been in use at least since the late 1980s, because some reports about the founding of the Social-Democratic Party of Russia in 1990 have claimed that its logo was created as a
modification of that of the French Parti Socialiste, with its consent.
Flags with the previous logo were and still are widely used. They
are charged with the large logo in center, in full colors, and the
party name inscribed below, in black. The field of these flags is
either red or white. The earliest photo of such a flag which I saw was
from the 2007 presidential election campaign.
The typeface, shown here as Arial Bold (frequently appears, especially on older photos), may vary somewhat, but is always in italic variant. The proportions are usually 2:3, but may also be 3:2. The shade of red may be standard red or sometimes incline a bit towards crimson. All of these variants were normally used together (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo), which suggests that there there were no strict specifications for the design.
Tomislav Todorović, 1 June 2012
![[Flag of PS]](../images/f/fr}ps3.gif)
Former flag of the PS - Image by Tomislav Todorović, 20 November 2012
Flags with red field sometimes have the party name inscribed in white (photo, photo, photo).
It seems that such flags are/were used much less than those with the
inscription in black, for there are much less photos of them to be
found on the web. Still the existing examples show that the typeface
may vary a bit, although less than on other flag variants: all the
examples found employ Arial Italic, either in bold (as shown in the
attached image) or in regular variant. As with the other two variants,
the proportions are usually 2:3, but sometimes may be 3:2.
Tomislav Todorović, 20 November 2012
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr}espg.gif)
Flag of L'espoir à gauche - Image by Ivan Sache, 29 June 2013
L'espoir à gauche (Hope on the left; website) is an association established on 13 February 2009 by members of the Parti Socialiste. The name and the program of the association refer to the motion "L'espoir à gauche, fièr(e)s d'être socialistes" (Hope on the left, proud to be Socialists), tabled during the Congress of the party held in Reims on 14-16 November 2008. The motion, tabled by the supporters of Ségolène Royal (known as royalistes), received 29% of the votes of the members of the party.
Considered as the right wing of the party, L'espoir à gauche announced in July 2011 that it would support Fran¨ois Hollande during the
primary election for the nomination of the party candidate to the 2012
presidential election. The association appears to have been dormant
since the presidential election.
Several members of L'espoir à gauche were appointed ministers after
the presidential election, such as Vincent Peillon (National
Education), Aurélie Filippetti (Culture), Delphine Batho (Sustainable Development and Energy), Najat Vallaud-Belakacem (Women's Rights, also Government's Spokesperson) and and Manuel Valls (Interior).
The flag of L'espoir à gauche (photo, Marseilles, 2009) was horizontally divided yellow-white-red, the white stripe being broader and charged with the logo of the movement, which includes the Socialist rose.
Ivan Sache, 29 June 2013
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr}jsoc.gif)
Flag of Les Jeunes socialistes - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
The youth movement of the Parti socialiste is "Les Jeunes
socialistes", formerly the MJS.
The current flag is white with logo adopted in 2023: photo from this page (2024).
Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
Former flags of the Les Jeunes Socialistes
Former flag of Les Jeunes socialistes - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
The former flag was white with the logo in pink and the baseline "LE MOUVEMENT" in black, or pink with the logo all in white: photo (2024), photo (2018).
Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
Older flag of the MJS
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr}mjs.gif)
Former flag of MJS - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
Before 2011, the flag has the logo of the MJS in red on white field: photo.
Olivier Touzeau, 10 March 2025
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr}jsoc1.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr}jsoc2.gif)
