The PCF sound archives on France Culture: “The listener discovers a whole section of history”
Support uncompromising information.
From 1952 to 1994, the French Communist Party recorded every meeting of its central committee. A unique approach. Thanks to remarkable archival work, these documents are now available to the general public. From the Cold War to the Khrushchev Report and the fall of the Berlin Wall, France Culture reveals all the debates of what was for a long time the country's leading party.
This is a rare and audio treasure. Nearly 2,500 hours of debates, sometimes at historic moments, reflections, and dreams of emancipation from the French Communist Party are recorded in the archives. From 1952 to 1994, the PCF recorded every meeting of its central committee. This audio collection is unique in France, made accessible thanks to its conservation work and its online publication by the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental archives.
France Culture is offering a fascinating documentary series by journalist Anne-Toscane Viudes and directed by Anne Fleury. It's an opportunity to hear the voices of those who shaped the struggles of several generations, such as Maurice Thorez, Georges Marchais, Robert Hue, Marie-George Buffet, Louis Aragon, Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, and many others.
These archives could have been lost forever. Until the late 1950s, before the advent of cassettes, recordings were made with reel-to-reel tape. This medium required playback devices that have virtually disappeared. Archivists had to scour flea markets for machines to access these audio sources. "In the podcast, we understand the very concrete, fragile nature...
L'Humanité
