This up-to-date new analysis of the French Communist Party reveals it as an entirely unconventional political force: a Leninist bureaucracy armed with an apocalyptic mission to delivery humanity from capitalism. D.S. Bell and Byron Criddle explore the Party's unique organizational structures and international loyalties. They examine structure and ideology, relations with the Socialist Party, electoral performance, and the 1980s decline in fortune. This study will be essential reading for all students of contemporary French history and politics.