After the war, Marthe Richard, a town councillor in Paris and former street prostitute, successfully campaigned for the closure of all "maisons". On 13 April 1946, the "loi de Marthe Richard" was passed with votes of the Christian-Democratic Party (MRP) and the Communist Party (PCF). The latter considered brothels to be "bourgeois". As a result, the legal brothels were closed. (This serves as a plot point in the first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale".) However, prostitution remained a legal activity, with only its organization and "exploitation" (pimping) forbidden.