It developed out of a left-wing faction that was expelled from the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO), and named itself Gauche Révolutionnaire ("Revolutionary Left").

Alongside moderate Marxists, the party grouped Trotskyists (as an outcome of the French Turn) and Luxemburgists (such as René Lefeuvre).

Another well-known leader beside Pivert was Daniel Guérin, a figure of Libertarian Socialism.

It edited the paper Juin 36, named in memory of the 1936 general strike that caused the split between Pivert and the Popular Front government.

The PSOP collapsed at the beginning of World War II, when it was outlawed by the Vichy regime.