Résumé
A generation marked by the collapse, in 1940, of official elites, the necessity to resist the occupier, and then by the failure of political renewal post-liberation, the progressives of the Fourth Republic initiated an original conception of political decision-making. Despite their numerical weakness, they appeared to be confined to a mere satellite role of the Communist Party. It was through their doctrine of foreign policy, active neutralism, that the progressives succeeded in defining themselves and asserting a new path, rejecting the conformity of the Cold War and transcending the paradoxical choice between fundamental critique of capitalism or blind acceptance of the Soviet model. Their active neutralism offered a comprehensive perception of international relations, involving specific approaches in their dealings with the USSR, the United States, Germany, and colonized countries, aiming to enhance France's role and influence globally. However, these conceptions did not prevent the political failure of this independent left during the Fourth Republic. Yet, the evident prospects of progressivism, linking a transformative societal will with democratic currents, seem to have fostered a convergence in approaches and projects across all components of the left after 1958.