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La révolution de 1989 en Europe centrale et orientale a été largement négociée entre les élites communistes et l'opposition. Grâce à ce mode de transition, les élites de l'Ancien Régime ont réussi à créer les conditions de leur survie au point de former un des noyaux centraux d'une classe entrepreneuriale in statu nascendi et d'obtenir sur le plan politique une rapide légitima­tion électorale. Cette conversion réussie a provoqué une floraison de théories du complot selon lesquelles les communistes auraient pérennisé leur domination politique et économique au-delà du socialisme réel. Prenant le contre-pied de ces théories, ce travail fondé sur une enquête qualitative menée sur les anciennes élites communistes après 1989 examine le processus de conver­sion en montrant la lente interpénétration entre le cœur du système, le parti, dans les pays les plus ouverts à la future économie de marché (Pologne et Hongrie) et le secteur privé, jusqu'à englober les franges entières de la nomenklatura. Les auteurs concluent à l'existence de deux modèles de sortie du communisme, un modèle tchèque (stratégie de survie) et un modèle hungaro-polonais (stratégie d'anticipation) qu'illustrent les réorientations biographiques et les recons­tructions identitaires. The former communist elites in central europe : strategies, resources and identity reconstructions The 1989 revolution in central and eastern Europe was largely negotiated by the communist elites and their opposition. Thanks to this peaceful transition, the elites of the former regime were able to set up survival conditions to such an extent that they now form one of the nuclei of an emergent entrepreneurial class and have achieved a rapid political-electoral legitimation. This successful conversion has given birth to an array of conspiracy theories, according to which communists have entrenched their political and economic rule after real socialism. Contrary to these theories, this article, based on a qualitative survey of post-1989 communist elites, examines the conversion process and shows the slow inter-penetration between the heart of the system, the Party, in the countries already most open to the future market economy (Poland and Hungary), and the private sector, to the point of encompassing entire portions of the nomenklatura. The authors conclude that there are two models of exit from communism, a Czech model (strategy of survival) and a Hungarian-Polish model (anticipatory strategy), illustrated by biographical reorientations and identity reconstructions.

When did the left/right cleavage appear in france ? Conventional wisdom has it that the right/left cleavage dates from the French Revolution. But everything indicates that it became rooted only at the time of the Combes government (1902-1905) and that it has been definitively in place only since the 1930s. The causes of its emergence deserve scrutiny. Initially, the propaganda of political actors, the habits of literary circles and the militancy of the intellectual spheres seem to have contributed to it. Beyond that problem and fragmentary answers to it, placing the right/left cleavage in its historical context raises an important question : can one make retroactive use of it, as of the 19th century ? That can be argued, under the condition of being aware of certain dan­gers. In the late 19th century, the Third Republic was built much more on the preponde­rance of the center than on any dualistic confrontation.

Writing as a mode of exercice of the political profession [in france] French politicians are increasingly publishing books of increasingly diverse kinds: pro­grammatic statements, testimonies, memoirs, historical biographies, and even novels. It is possible to review that production by establishing relations between the politicians' roles and the nature of their writings. Not all politicians publish books, but writing is being done by a growing number of professionals, and it can be analyzed as one way of carrying out the political profession. On the other hand, the choice of historical biography or that of intimate autobiography expresses a distance from the role which amounts to a strategy of distinction. The French singularity is manifested in the affinity between the presidential role and the literary world. Media reception and literary criticism of political books are particularly vigilant.

Epitaphs. François Mitterrand's image : an analysis of an open question asked on his death A lexicometric analysis of answers to an open question asked the day after François Mit­terrand's death clarifies the field of the social representations which then made up the former president's image. Beyond the consensual discourse imposed by circumstances, there were differences in the use of stereotypes. The classic variables of political sociology determine different representations of the leader : the abolition of capital punishment, the 39-hour work week, the fifth week of paid vacations, and the Grand Louvre are variously associated with the late former president. Similarly, references to psychological characte­ristics such as intelligence, culture or simplicity are the results of social logics. It can also be shown that representations as common places make up «sites» and are structured by symbolic logics. The image thus understood « stocks », organizes and condenses cogni­tions and affects linked to a leader's individual and collective, private and public dimen­sions.

The sud-ptt [postal workers'] union : a crucible of pragmatic protest The emergence of new SUD labor unions raises the question of the conditions of success of protest unionism today. With its source in the stormy waters of 1968 revolutionary mili-tantism, does the SUD-PTT stream bring new post-modern or post-materialist values or are we witnessing the revival of either class struggle or corporatism ? A composite pheno­menon, SUD-PTT is striking for its capacity to harmonize diverse cultural origins, in par­ticular the three major labor confederations, into a profile of «pragmatic protest» that wavers between a social transformation ideal and reformism. It reflects the return of social protest, the search for radical and humanist values, without proposing a societal project.