The View from Inside

The View from Inside: A French Communist Cell in Crisis by Jane Jenson and George Ross offers a rare ethnographic portrait of the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) at the grassroots in the late 1970s. Based on sustained participant observation with the militants of Cellule Danielle Casanova in Paris, the book follows “ordinary” party members—foot soldiers rather than leaders—as they grapple with the contradictions of Eurocommunism, internal reform, and the PCF’s stubborn commitment to democratic centralism. Far from ordinary in their political commitments, these activists became both advocates of modernization and casualties of its suppression within the party.

Through detailed reconstructions of meetings, debates, and informal exchanges, Jenson and Ross capture the texture of rank-and-file political life: disputes over union strategy, the role of women, sexuality, and relations with the Soviet Union; mounting frustrations with party leadership; and the rituals of the Twenty-third Congress that codified decline. By foregrounding the lived experience of militants, the book shows how efforts to create change from below collided with entrenched hierarchies, leading to disillusionment and the erosion of the PCF’s electoral strength. More than a local story, The View from Inside chronicles a turning point in French politics and European Communism, illuminating how crisis at the grassroots mirrored the broader unraveling of a once-powerful movement.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.