At the height of its power in Isère, the Communist Party watched over 120,000 Isérois on a daily basis. A dozen municipalities had communist mayors, to the point of creating what will be called the “red belt of Grenoble”.
It was from 1944 that communists – most of them from the Resistance – were elected mayor, in Échirolles, Saint-Martin-d’Hères, Fontaine, Pont-de-Claix, Vizille, Roussillon, Susville, Primarette, Rives, Champ-sur-Drac, Vif, the Cheylas …
Administer daily life, practice “local communism”
So much so that we are talking about municipal communism. Far from the big theories, the Communists administer the daily. This is the case of Charles Rollandin, deputy to Saint-Martin-d’Hères and party historian. “The objectives of municipal communism were to make local communism” he explains, “so that the lower classes can access well-being by providing collective facilities at the level of ‘school, sport, culture … It must be said that in Saint-Martin-d’Hères, given that ‘there were huge agricultural areas, promoters tried to build everywhere! We made 150 hectares of land reserve! The Pottier city, the Robespierre city, the Pierre Sémard city … “ he remembers.
Green classes for all children
In Échirolles, François Perez, a former party executive, remembers that the mayor had thought big: “he had bought a piece of land called Bachat Bouloud which has been transformed into a holiday center, so that the children of the agglomeration can enjoy the great outdoors and go to snow class and green class” he recounts.
The social revenge of elected officials
And then, there were also incentive actions but not really regulatory as recalls Charles Rollandin : “the instit ‘were obliged to organize canteens and studies and they could not ask to be appointed to Saint-Martin-d’Hères if they did not agree to do so, although the National Education don’t make it compulsory! “ he remembers. And sometimes these mayors from the proletariat tasted small social revenge, “when Jo Blanchon was mayor [Maire de Saint-Martin-d’Hères durant vingt-sept ans NDLR], his office was that of the director of the Neyrpic factory, where he had been dismissed, it was an extraordinary revenge for him! “ recalls Charles Rollandin with a smile.
Jo Blanchon, Georges Kioulou, Gilbert Biessy, Roger Costes, Michel Couetoux …. To promote the election of their successors, the Communist mayors resigned before the end of their mandate. This was the case at Fontaine with Louis Maisonnat. Michel Barrionuevo was his campaign manager: “When Louis Maisonnat was elected in 1983, we agreed with him that during his term of office he would hand over the reins! So Yannick Boulard was elected mayor of Fontaine in 19843.
Historic decline of the party, except in municipal elections
Fontaine, historic stronghold, that the PCF lost last summer. But despite the historical decline of the party, in Isère, municipal communism is still doing well as in Saint-Martin-d’Hères, Échirolles or Péage-de-Roussillon despite scores rarely exceeding 15% in national elections.
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