The parti communiste français was once the most studied of French political parties. This is no longer the case today. This article explores why the once vibrant field of PCF studies is now languishing. While the collapse of the communist movement led to greater accessibility of archival material, there has been no major historiographical turn in the study of French communism. The availability of new documents has not produced substantially different approaches and interpretations. To break the current impasse, historians and others need to distance themselves from longstanding approaches and methodologies that have been closely associated with the PCF’s own self understanding. The time has come to normalize (banaliser) the study of the PCF and integrate it into mainstream historical analysis. The author outlines a research agenda that could contribute to revitalize our understanding of French communism.