Actions[edit]

Although the GPRF was active only from 1944 to 1946, it had a lasting influence, in
particular regarding the enacting of labour laws which were put forward by theNational
Council of the Resistance, the umbrella organisation which united all resistance
movements, in particular the communist Front National. The Front National was the
political front of the Franc-tireurs et partisans (FTP) resistance movement. In addition to de
Gaulle's edicts granting, for the first time in France, right of vote to women in 1944, the
GPRF passed various labour laws, including the 11 October 1946 act
establishing occupational medicine. It also appointed commissioners to fulfill its aims.
Vichy loyalists were put on trial by the GPRF in legal purges (puration lgale), and a
number were executed for treason, among them Pierre Laval, Vichy's prime minister in
1942-44. The Marshal Phillipe Ptain, "Chief of the French State" and Verdun hero, was also
condemned to death but his sentence was commuted to life. Thousands of collaborators
were summarily executed by local Resistance forces in so-called "savage purges"
(puration sauvage).
The provisional government considered that the Vichy government had been
unconstitutional and that all its actions had thus been illegal. All statutes, laws, regulations
and decisions by the Vichy government were thus made null and void. However, since
mass cancellation of all decisions taken by Vichy, including many that could have been
taken as well by republican governments, was impractical, it was decided that any repeal
was to be expressly acknowledged by the government. A number of laws and acts were
however explicitly repealed, including all constitutional acts, all laws discriminating against
Jews, all acts against "secret societies" (e.g. Freemasons), and all acts creating special
tribunals.[2]
Collaborationist paramilitary and political organizations, such as the Milice and
the Legionary Order Service, were also disbanded.[2]
The provisional government also took steps to replace local governments, including
governments that had been suppressed by the Vichy regime, through new elections or by
extending the terms of those who had been elected no later than 1939. [3]

Reforms[edit]
The provisional government resumed the project started in 1936 by Jean Zay to create
a national administration school (cole nationale d'administration), which was founded on
9 October 1945, to ensure high-ranking civil servants of consistent high quality, as well as
allow gifted people to reach these functions regardless of social origin.
The right to vote had been granted to women by the CFLN on 21 April 1944, and was
confirmed by the GPRF with the 5 October 1944 decree. They went to the polls for the first
time in the local elections of 29 April 1945.
It passed decisions about Social Security (Scurit sociale, decree of 19 October 1945),
and child benefits (law of 22 August 1946), laying the foundations of thewelfare state in
France.
In the dirigist spirit, it created large state-owned companies, for instance by

nationalising Renault and founding electricity company EDF and airline Air France.

The new constitution[edit]

Further information: French Fourth Republic
Another main objective of the GPRF under de Gaulle leadership was to give a voice to the
people by organizing elections which took place on 21 October 1945. The polls saw the
victory of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), the French Communist
Party (PCF) and the Popular Republican Movement (MRP), collecting three-quarters of the
votes, and the referendum had an outcome of 96% of voters in favour of abolishing
the IIIrd Republic. Becoming a constituent assembly, the newly elected parliament is
charged with drafting a constitution for a new fourth republic.
de Gaulle, favouring a stronger executive, resigns in disagreement with Communist
ministers on 20 January 1946. A first draft constitution, supported by the left but
denounced by de Gaulle and by centre and right-wing parties, is rejected by a referendum
on 5 May 1946 resulting in the dissolution of parliament and the resignation of de Gaulle's
successor Flix Gouin of the SFIO.
A new election for a constituent assembly is held on 2 June 1946, marked by a
strengthening of the MRP and the decline of the left. The constitutional project shifts
from unicameralism to bicameralism. The constitution of the IVth Republic, established
under the presidency of Georges Bidault (MRP), is finally adopted by the 13 October 1946
referendum.
Following the elections for a new Chamber of parliament held on 10 November 1946,
former Popular Front leader Leon Blum becomes the leader of the last interim government
for a month, before the election of a president of the Republic that marks the entry into
force of the institutions of the IVth Republic.