Waldeck Rochet - After World War II

After World War II

In 1945, he became a member of the Politburo, and was elected deputy for Saône-et-Loire in the two successive Constituent Assemblies; in 1946, he was a representative to the National Assembly - serving until 1958, the first year of the French Fifth Republic. From that moment on, Rochet was elected in other constituencies: Seine, then Seine-Saint-Denis (for Aubervilliers), until 1973. He was head of the Assembly's agriculture commission, as well as president of the communist parliamentary group.

During those years, Rochet rose to the third most important position within the Party, after Thorez and Jacques Duclos. A deputy general secretary in 1961, he became the PCF leader in 1964. Favorable to left-wing cooperation, Rochet directed the PCF votes towards François Mitterrand in the presidential elections of 1965. The problem he faced as general secretary was the balance between a needed rejuvenation of the PCF structure and maintaining an orthodox Marxist-Leninist ideology. In consequence, he publicly stated his disregard for the leftist movement of May 1968, while later in the same year he had to deal with the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring (when he tended to be favorable to the latter). The considerable stress of dealing with the latter event took a great toll on Rochet's nervous health.

In 1970, as Rochet had become too ill to attend to his duties, Georges Marchais became the de facto Party leader, while Rochet remained National Secretary until 1972, then honorary president until 1979. During the last portion of his life, Waldeck Rochet turned towards Roman Catholicism, publicly displaying devotion for The Virgin, an attitude which led several of his comrades to consider that he had become insane. He died in Paris.