Everything about The Opportunist Republicans totally explained
The
Opportunist Republicans (
French:
Républicains opportunistes) was a term given to a fraction of the
French Republicans who considered, after the proclamation of the
Third Republic in 1870, that the regime could only be consolidated by successive phases. Considered as
center-left, they dominated
French politics from 1876 to the 1890s, and were rivalled on their left first by the
Radicals and then by the various
Socialist parties. Despite the pejorative connotation of this label, the "Opportunists" permitted to reinforce Republican forces in the country in a time when monarchists forces were still strong.
The "Opportunists"
Following the defeat of
France against Prussia in 1871, the
Government of National Defense held
legislative elections in February 1871, while the
Paris Commune was still proclaimed. Those elections were won by the monarchists
Orleanists and
Legitimists, however, and not until the
1876 elections did the Republicans win a majority in the
Chamber of Deputies.
Henceforth, the "Opportunists" thought that the balance of the new regime, threatened by the risk of another
Bourbon Restoration, could only be insured by an implicit alliance between the rural peasants and the
petty bourgeoisie from urban areas, who represented the majority of the society.
Its primary figures, who sometimes opposed themselves, included
Léon Gambetta, leader of the
Republican Union,
Jules Ferry, leader of the
Republican Left,
Charles de Freycinet, who directed several governments in this period,
Jules Favre,
Jules Grévy or
Jules Simon — because of their names, this period has also been called the "
République des Jules" (Republic of the Jules). While Gambetta opposed
colonialism as he considered it a diversion from the possibility of a
revenge against the newly founded
German Empire, Ferry was part of the "colonial lobby" who took part in the
Scramble for Africa.
The Opportunists broke away with the
Radicals who aimed at deep transformations of society, leading to strong disagreements in the Chamber of Deputies, in particular with
Georges Clemenceau.
Their successors, qualified as "
progressists", slowly transformed their elders' tactics in a social
conservatism. At the end of the 19th century, the Opportunists were replaced by the Radicals as the primary force in French politics. Despite this, they insisted in considering themselves as members of the
French Left, a phenomenon known as
sinistrisme.
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