Saint-Étienne Congress of the French Workers’ Party

At the regular congress of the French Workers’ Party (Parti Ouvrier Français) on September 25, 1882 in Saint-Étienne, a split took place between the Guesdists (Marxists) and the Possibilists. The Guesdeists left the Congress and assembled in Roanne the next day to hold the Sixth Congress of the French Workers' Party. The Possibilists who continued to hold meetings in Saint-Étienne essentially cancelled the unified programme drawn up with Marx's participation and passed at the party congress, and in the preamble, which was fundamentally revised at this congress, "the programme has been shorn of its proletarian class character". The congress of the Possibilists also expelled a group of Marxist leaders and activists from the Party, such as Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue, and changed the name of the Party to “Parti ouvrier socialiste révolutionnaire” (Revolutionary Socialist Workers’ Party).

The congress of the Marxists, held in Rouen from September 26 to October 1, 1882, confirmed the original Marxist program and stripped the “National Committee” which had betrayed the principles of the party of its powers, expelling its members from the party. The Lyon Congress maintained the name of the French Workers' Party, which, although reduced in numbers, was consolidated organizationally, and the Party's firm resolve to Marxism stood the test. The Marxists of the French Workers’ Party had its stronghold among workers in the major industrial centers and certain groups of the Paris proletariat, mainly at big factories. The Possibilists were followed by the Paris craftsmen, as well as by workers in the south (Marseilles) and west (Brittany), who were under the influence of petty-bourgeois ideas (including cooperativists, trade unionists, and Proudhonists).