Ceinture rouge

The Ceinture Rouge ("Red Belt" in French) refers to the communes of the Ile de France that were dominated by the French Communist Party from the 1920s until the 1980s. These communes are those that are traditionally working-class areas whose residents were employed in the heavy and light industries that once dominated the economic landscape of the Petite Couronne (those departments that border Paris) and large population centers in the outer departments of the Ile de France. The strength of the French Communist Party in these areas also lead to this party forming the government at the departmental level in Seine-Saint-Denis since its creation in 1967 until 2008, when control of the Departmental Council went to the Socialist Party of France.