Abstract EN:

Boris Souvarine, one of the leading founding members of the french communist party, leader of the left wing rallied to bolshevism and the comintern, melber of the secretariat, of the praesidium, and of the executive committe of the comintern, played a leading role in the early history of french communist party and its relations with the bolshevik party and the comintern before being expelled in 1924 for having opposed the stalinist line. The three facets of this story may be followed through the study of Boris Souvarine. Our thesis allows us to see how the transformation of democratic communism (having its roots in french socialism) to centralised communism (imported from Russia) came about. With the russian revolution and the comintern came a new triumphant conception of socialism and the revolution gradually imposed itself within french socialism. If certain leading figures, such as Souvarine, accepted the bolshevik concept, others sought to adapt it to french conditions. Between 1920-1924 a permanent struggle, between those in favour of bolshevik centralism and those in favour of a more federalist approach rooted in french socialism, took place. This thesis examines, in particular, how and with what mechanisms the bolshevisation and in turn the stalinisation of french communist party occured. Our thesis also shows, inspite of successive crises, the reasons why the french communist party bowed in the end to Moscow's orders. Through examining Boris Souvarine's role in these events one is able to apprehend the ideological process at work favourable to soviet Russia which led to an acceptation of bolshevisation. What is more, our study shows clearly that the process, which led to the bolshevisation of french socialism, originated well before 1924.