The POSR was founded by a dissidence from the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France (FTSF) led by Jean Allemane. The party, which along with Allemane was a strong believer of the primacy of syndicalism in politics, became a base of future revolutionary syndicalism and parties of a similar ideology would occasionally be described as Allemaniste.
However, next to the working-class socialism of Allemane, an intellectual socialist movement developed within the POSR, led by Lucien Herr, a librarian. This movement's priority was the education of the people. Overall, the POSR was a moderate reformist party, influenced by possibilism which believed that socialism could be achieved through democratic action, such as decentralization and legislative participation.
