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The Socialist party, founded in 1971, was born in a context in which demands for political renewal and social change were strong. The Socialist party was definitely very different from the SFIO whose heir it is in part: it gathered a variety of currents and won many members from the new middle classes, left-wing Christians, CFDT militants and associations. It took up the aspiration of ‘changing life’, the idea of self-management, and certain feminist and ecological claims, and thus contributed to legitimizing them. However, this political development was subordinated to its conquering strategy of a new electorate. It did not challenge the bases of the socialist project. It did not make the Socialist party take into account questions on parties, the role of politics and the place of social questions, and the finalities of a transformation of society.