Year XXXVIII, Number 2, July 2025

Marc-Olivier Lacroix

Wilfried Loth
André Philip et le Mouvement Socialiste pour les États-Unis d’Europe (1947-1951)
Lyon, Presse fédéraliste, 2024, 164 p., 15 €

Jean-Francis Billion, Pierre Chevalier, (with Jean-Pierre Gouzy and Jean-Luc Prevel)
Fédéralisme et décolonisation. Jean Rous et le Congrès des peuples contre l’impérialisme (1948 -1955)
Lyon, Presse fédéraliste, 2024, 257 p., 20 €

This article explores the links between certain socialists and the federalist ideal in the aftermath of the Second World War and during decolonization. These two books re-edit and update articles and papers that are sometimes difficult to find in print anymore. Wilfried Loth’s book is a translation and update of his work on the Socialist Movement for the United States of Europe (MSEUE), originally published in the monumental work by Walter Lipgens in the 1980s¹. This reissue benefits from the deepening knowledge of the transnational history of federalist networks thanks to the many colloquia held in recent years². It also complements his recent publication on the Europeanism of the Socialist Resistance³ . From now on, it’s the post-war period that is described, through the founders of the MSEUE from left-wing socialism (notably the French around M. Pivert and the British from the Independent Labour Party), and their hesitations in the face of the various “bourgeois” groupings. Finally agreeing to cooperate, A. Philip’s presidency in 1949 enabled the organization to better coordinate its action with parties and parliamentarians. Above all, the economic theses he developed within the MSEUE were pioneering, such as the European Movement’s acceptance, in early 1949, of the principle of a common market (with planning) and the integration of heavy industries. A hundred pages of documents give substance to the historical introduction, and the texts show the essential contribution made by socialists to the debate on European unification, as well as their hopes for a federalist way beyond. In addition, the Congress reports provide easy access to the principles of the movement’s organization, and its evolution after André Philip took over. It is regrettable, however, that the evolution of the MSEUE after 1951 is not mentioned, despite the fact that European construction began on non-federalist foundations. This book provides a solid basis for further research into the federalists of the 1950s, thanks to its recent bibliography and the location of sources throughout Europe. With their book Fédéralisme et décolonisation, Jean-Francis Billion and Pierre Chevalier propose a certain decentering of federalism, with an emphasis on the decolonial movement. The thread running through the book is the extraordinary militancy of Jean Rous, initially a militant of the IVth International, before remaining active in left-wing socialist movements (supporter of G. Mollet in 1946, founding member of the Rassemblement démocratique révolutionnaire in 1948, etc.). After an introduction on the Catalan, Trotskyist and Resistance origins of J. Rous’ federalism⁴ , the book benefits from Pierre Chevalier’s expertise⁵. His chapter forms the heart of the book, tracing the little-known history of the Peoples’ Congress against Imperialism, founded in 1948 alongside the MSEUE. It looks back at this atypical forum for discussion at the start of the Cold War: European socialists and laborists who were members of governments administering colonial empires; left-wing socialists (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista-POUM and Independent Labour Party- ILP); Trotskyist militants from all over the world; and a large number of groups from the colonies. The first congress (June 18-21, 1948) is particularly well analyzed, providing a clear understanding of the tensions and attempts at convergence between all the participants: was it a question of preserving Europe and the world from American and Soviet imperialism, or of denouncing the fact that the most imperialist powers remain the countries of the Old Continent? A member of the Board and the organization’s linchpin, J. Rous was central to keeping alive the links with the decolonization movements, despite the cessation of support from European parties. Warmly received at the Bandung conference in 1955, he continued his commitment to the Third World, becoming an advisor to Léopold Sédar Senghor until his final return to France in 1968. The book goes on to analyze L. Senghor’s relationship with federalism. A text by Jean- Pierre Gouzy looks back at his commitment to Europe during the EDC and the attempt to create a European Political Community. Above all, J.-F. Billion returns to the beginnings of Senghor’s federalism, based on his reflections on negritude. This was the common thread running through his political commitment from 1945 onwards, as an elected member of the Section française de l’Internationale ouvrière (SFIO), then as an independent, to changing the links between metropolitan France and its empire, or when he sought to avoid the balkanization of Africa during the independence process. Finally, the book is completed by an introduction by J.-F. Billion to federalist reflections and attempts in Black Africa and the West Indies (Aimé Césaire and the British colonies). These various articles provide access to little-known aspects of the federalist perspectives and actions of activists with transnational trajectories, which are still more difficult to grasp than more traditional militancy.


¹ Walter Lipgens and Wilfried Loth (eds.), Documents on the History of European Integration, Berlin, New York, De Gruyter, vol 1-4, 1984-1991. [Available from OURS]
The chapter dedicated to the MSEUE is published in vol. 4 in 1991, p.277-318.
² Notably: Colloquium on the UEF Foundation, Paris, 2016; Conference “Visions of Europe in the Resistance”, Genoa, 2019; Colloquium “Europe de la Défense”,
Historical Archives of the European Union in 2022.
³ Wilfried Loth, Léon Blum, La Résistance socialiste française et l’Europe, Lyon, Presse fédéraliste, 2023.
⁴ Revised and expanded reprint of an article by J.-F. Billion and Jean-Luc Prevel in Le Fédéraliste, Pavie, 1986.
⁵ «Jean Rous (1908-1985) : une vie pour le socialisme et la décolonisation», doctoral thesis directed by Jean Sagnes, Université de Perpignan, 1999, 1142 pages.
[Available from OURS].