Popular Front: 1936-1940

Je Suis Partout circulation

100,000

When was Popular Front in power third time

13 March 1938 to 10 April (Blum Radical)

Breakdown of PF seats in 1934

149 socialists, 109 radicals, 72 communists, 56 random left-wing

How many dead in Concorde riots 1934

15

20 June 1936

2 weeks paid vacation allowed for workers

When was Popular Front in power second time

22 June 1937 to 13 March 1938 (Chautemps Radical)

10-13 July 1937

34th National Congress of SFIO

When was Popular Front in power first time

4 June 1936 to 22 June 1937 (Blum SFIO)

12 June 1936

40 hour work-week

Candide circulation

460,000

Gringoire circulation

640,000

L'Action Francaise 21 May 1936

Accuse PF as being 'le parti juif', and throw around accusations about Leon Blum, argue that those who claimed to represent workers on the left were actually lawyers and teachers who had little interest or links with the world of workers, argue representativeness of workers organisations, institutionalisation of the Jewish party

Philippe Henriot

Accuses Blum of having not said the left had a role in Clichy

Blum

Accuses PSF of being a reconstitution of Croix-de-Feu and condones Clichy as a popular reaction for maintenance of liberty

13 March 1938 (1)

Anschluss triggering Chautemps resignation

6 Feb 1934

Anti-parliamentarian street demonstration in Paris organised by multiple far hight leagues in Place de la Concorde

Nous laisserons-nous bolcheviser? (Le Gringoire)

Argue against the suppression of individual liberties, arguing for property rights, which were at the heart of much of the bourgeois Third Republic

Je Suis Partout, 8 Aug 1936

Argue that Civil War would not be desirable, argue that Marxism needed to be pushed back to prevent France from going the same way as Spain, need a nationalist party to overcome the 'false' class struggle

L'etat de guerre (L'Action Francaise)

Argued against the engagement in Spanish Civil War, saying this would increase likelihood of European War, PF called 'muscovite', 26 July 1936

Je Suis Partout, 20 June 1936

Argued that Blum's ministry was creating anarchy in the French State and the republic was killed by forces of strikes and workers unrest, strong appeal to patriotism as they undermine the internationalism of socialism

Leon Blum a voulu constituer un Gouvernement de Rassemblement du pays républicain autour du Front Populaire (Le Populaire

Argues that this shows how the 'grand patronal' was putting class interests above the interests of the country, 13 March 1938

Chambre des deputes 24 March 1937

Argument that one of the consequences of the failure of the General Strike was that there was an increase in attacks against union rights - they were of two orders, those which touched workers individually, and those which touched their organs

13 March 1938 (3)

Blum enters into office for a second time

François Reille-Soult

Blum has found reasonable support to maintain his authority abroad and for his social and economic financial policy, endangered by communists who with their pro-intervention in Spain and rearmament have paralysed financial policy, blames communists for damaging government's reputation

22 June 1937

Blum resigns in senate due to refusal to grant him full financial powers during financial crisis

10 April 1938

Blum steps down, replaced by Daladier marking the end of the PF

strikes 30 nov 1938

CGT called for a strike which was a failure as strikers were sacked and occupied factories evacuated by force, CGT members fell from 4 million in 1937 to 2.5 million by 1939

Le Figaro

Centre-right, 800,000 copies in 1939

Laurent Bonnevay

Centrist republican, proposes more controls against public gatherings

29 June 1937

Chautemps forms a new government consisting only of ministers from the nonsocialist republican centre-left, gains 73.7% of the vote

16 March 1937

Clichy Affair

Jean-Ebart Egare

Clichy wasn't government's fault

Le Testament de nos morts (L'humanité)

Communist press, spoke against fascists provoking Clichy, pro-intervention, 23 March 1937

June 1936 Spanish War

Communists and very left-wing Torres and Pivert are pro-intervention vs right-wing anti-intervention (don't want to be pulled into a war and see those looking to enter as appeasing the communists)

Autumn 1937

Conflict within party intensifies as two dissident tendencies were becoming more aggressive than they had been a year earlier

8 Feb 1934

Counterdemonstration by Communist Party

Oct 1938

Daladier opens secret talks with Americans on how to bypass Neutrality Acts to allow French to buy American aircraft

20 March 1940

Daladier replaced by Radical Paul Reynaud

Senate Debates 20-1 June 1937

Debate over whether they should give financial powers to the government and raise taxes and discussion over devaluing the currency, Blum vague about what he will do with the money, Communists not in Senate, Blum and conservative Radical senators drop political flattery act and express hostility to Blum

1 Nov 1938

Decree-laws by Daladier government reversing Matignon Agreements

Pour le salut du pays (L'Humanité)

Describes how reactionary forces had not yet laid down their arms and were determinedly manoeuvring against the PF, showing the polarity and that enemies of PF were trying to thwart attempts at reform in order to prevent France from moving forwards

De nombreuses grèves revendicatives se déroulent dans le pays (Le Populaire)

Discussing the decision made by metal workers to go on strike in 1936 at the time of the General Strike, discuss ways in which these metal workers suffered the most during the Depression so justifying the strike, refuting the allegation that striking workers were in pay of Moscow, 28 May 1936

L'emancipation nationale

Doriot mouthpiece, weekly paper for PPF

La Libertaire

Doriot's mouthpiece when he was communist, anarchist, pro-libertarian, pro-communist, membership peaked at 70,000 in 1937

13 March 1938 (2)

Downfall of Chautemps cabinet as he resigns due to international crisis, growth of Germany and lack of support from socialists and communists

Action Francaise

Extreme right/royalists in France. Anti-republican. Acted principally outside the Chamber of Deputies as a militant and noisy pressure group. (They were somewhat Fascist - something of an imitation of the groups gaining power in Italy and Germany).

impact of 30 nov 38 strikes on Reynaud

Finance Minister - had already pushed for the end of 40 hour week, break of the labour movement restored financial confidence in the government and led to the reversal of the capital flight which had plagued France since 1936

debate over 1936 strikes

Firstly it's origins: were the strikes a 'spontaneous' release after five years of depression and falling wages and can their spread be attributed to simple imitation? Were the strikes organised by the PCF or other groups trying to seize power or force Blum to take action? Did the government and the parties betray the revolution in 1936? right-wing publicist, Jacques Bardoux, publicised the conspiracy theory that the strikes were a Communist plot to seize power. On the left, some blamed the German agents provocateurs. The CGT seemed to be totally unprepared for the strikes, not really understanding how they had originated.

Parti Social Francais

Formed by La Rocque on 18 June following the dissolution of Croix de Feu, slogan Travail, Famille, Patrie

20-22 May 1938

Franc comes under immense financial pressure since many investors did not wish to hold French assets or debts if France went to war

Feb 1939

France offers to cede their possessions in Caribbean and Pacific plus a payment of 10 billion francs in exchange for unlimited right to buy American aircraft

Edouard Daladier

French leader of the radical socialists; accepted Hitler's terms for peace, reputation focuses on being saviour of peace in Sept 1938 and defender of the empire in Nov 1938, bypassed government and acted by decree, blamed for not preparing France for war

April 1937

Guernica

March 1938

Hitler declares himself advocate of ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia - 'Sudetenland Crisis'

The Radicals on the PF

Hostility to the pF since the beginning, the strategy of the right-wing of the Radicals was to focus on the fears of the rank-and-file Radicals on Communist threat, after May 1936, the Communists would be blamed for factory occupations, trying to involve France in European war

Bela Kun

Hungarian communist revolutionary who governed Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 and fought for the Bolsheviks in the Civil War

Pierre Gaxotte

Journalist for Je Suis Partout, historian, became increasingly conservative

4 Oct 1936

La Rocque orders his followers to convene in the Parc des Princes stadium in SW Paris where a communist meeting was scheduled to take place to protest the banning of PSF meeting

Aux Travailleurs de France (le populaire)

Left-wing press writing about the 1 May (popular worldwide day of workers' demonstration) saying this is an important day fro socialists and called on people to condemn socialists, 1 May 1936

Sans excuse parce que sans raison (Le Populaire)

Left-wing press written by Leon Blum, who was President while writing, acknowledges rumours about the capacity of the state to ensure economic stability, demands to withdraw gold from the Banque de France have grown, 28 May 1936

Un Jeu Miserable (Le Populaire)

Left-wing press, written by Paul Fauré, pro-intervention in Spain, wanted to break the fascist propaganda linking the Popular Front to the burning of churches and chaos in Spain, 1 May 1936

Revue des Mondes

Literary magazine for educated elites

Senate Debates 8 April 1938

Main topic was President's request to be granted 'pleins pouvoirs' in order to ensure that they could lead the country, international situation as readying the country for war became key preoccupation

Munich Crisis debates

Many saw Munich as a key moment for French foreign and domestic policy - saw it as a victory over the 'warmongering' Communist Party - Doriot saw the change to eliminate any foreign army of Communists encamped on French soil - Munich finished off the PF when Daladier repudiated Munich the communists voted against the PF

7 June 1936

Matignon Agreements

Robert Jardel

Minister of SFIO

Paul Faure

Minister of State under Blum's 4 June 1936 government, SFIO, but After Édouard Daladier negotiated the Munich agreement in 1938 Paul Faure supported the appeasement policy. After the Battle of France in 1940 he rallied to Vichy, which led to his being expelled from the SFIO in 1944. He then founded the Democratic Socialist Party (PSD) which participated to the Rassemblement des gauches républicaines. The PSD attracted only deputies accused of collaborationism and dedicated part of its efforts to attempts at rehabilitation of Philippe Pétain's reactionary regime

Charles Maurras

Monarchist, antisemite, anti-parliamentary, Germanophobe, nationalist, imprisoned after assassination attempt on Blum, released 1937, caused Je Suis Partout to be increasingly fascist

11 May 1936

More than 2 million workers go on strike

30 Sept 1938

Munich Agreements - communists leave the popular front

12 August 1936

Nationalisation of war industries

15 August 1936

Office National Interprofessionel du Blé created to stabilise wheat market and guarantee revenue for farmers

May 1938 finances

Only 30 million francs left in its coffers and 230 million in Bank of France, but spending 4,500 million francs per month

June 1936

Over 1.8 million strikers in 12,000 strikes

Maurice Honel

PCF

Jean Duclos

PCF defending Communists by shifting blame to PSF, claiming they provoked conflict by organising a rally in communist neighbourhood

radicalisation of the right

PF radicalised the right, demonstrated by the way in which Catholics, uneasy at the PF rhetoric shifted right (e.g. Xavier Vallat and Philippe Henriot)

Jean Ybarnégaray

PSF - accuses the pF of whipping up counter protest in Le Populaire and the the gathering was not a rally but a film showing

Clichy Affair

Parti Social Francais holds meeting, left-wing angry that the government did not ban this meeting so organised a demonstration, resulted in a clash with police resulting in 6 dead and 200 injured

Patrie et Liberté (Le Populaire)

Paul Faure writes that when other political parties were defeated, it was necessary for the vanquished to permit the victor to enact their political programme to ensure the functions of the political system, 28 May 1936

14 July 1935

Popular Front formed by socialists, communists and radicals

3 May 1936

Popular Front wins with 386 seats

'Le Premier Ministre Blum' 21 June 1937-10 April 1938 - Daladier

Potentially written after the war, Daladier was a Minister of War and National Defence from June 1936 and Head of the Government from 1938, appears to be relatively accurate but always ensures he comes out on top and misreports what he did (especially with regards to non-intervention which he supported)

Pierre Colomb

Radical criticising Journaux and Blum for organising leftist manifestation at Clichy

Joseph Caillaux

Radical leader of the Commission des Finances, Bernstein argues Caillaux and Abel Gardey engineered Blum's second fall

Paul Saurin

Radical saying Blum is a prisoner of communists

Cesar Campinchi

Radical supporting the PF, he wrote the ordre du jour which passed that vaguely reiterated support of the government and shows not very much and been resolved

How does popular front end

Radicals, socialists, communists all start disagreeing so much by end of 1938 when Daladier takes over that it stops being able to pass laws, which is why Daladier resorts to the Decree laws and rolls back PF reforms

33rd SFIO Congress - Pivert

Rails against bourgeoise press which he claims was discrediting the left in France, calls for unity within the party and alludes to disunity which had caused the expulsion of several other members, claims bourgeois democracy had hindered electoral success of the party, shows that one of the key tensions within the party was whether or not they should work within the confines of the 3rd republic to bring about communism

24 July 1936

Reform of the Bank of France

Constitutions le front de la paix (L'emancipation nationale)

Right-wing press, anti-intervention, written by Jacques Doriot who was a communist turned fascist, 29 Aug 1936

Fernand Roucayrol

SFIO - says mass action is no longer the correct response to threat of French fascism but governmental action

Le Populaire

SFIO Press, directed by Blum

24 Nov 1937

SFIO broke off discussions with French Communists about the possibility of forming a united party

33rd SFIO Congress - Pommera

She says that government which would soon be in power would not be a true socialist party but even if the programme of the PF was not exactly in line with the policies of the PCF, that it would be a step in the right direction - indicative of how the PCF thought in 1936, argued that communists should work with the PF to secure the triumph of the left, but that it would be necessary to go further than the programme of the pF

Les nationaux contre la Nation (Le Populaire)

Shows how dependent Leon Blum had become on minorities within parliament in order to rule, showing weakness of PF, 13 March 1938

Vincent Auriol

Socialist Minister of Minances

May Day

Socialist workers day of rights, beginning with original demand from 8 hour day in 1889

17 July 1936

Spanish Civil War begins

Simone Weil

Spent one year in a Renault car factory 1934-35 so that she could understand the working class, utopian, intellectual, anarchist sympathies, not very representative of workers, describes tyranny of factories and the joy of strikes, often uses highly literary and emotive language, sees only snapshots

L'Humanité 25 May 1936

Stressing the unity of different groups, socialists, communists and even christians to portray the strikes was having united people across the whole of France and Parisian society, linked the protest to enemies of PF

30 Nov 1938

Strikes oppressed with force by Daladier and forced factories to reopen and continue to produce

1936 strikes: festival or revolution?

The view that the strikes of 1936 were a betrayed revolution has come from the Gauche Révolutionnaire, notably Daniel Guérin, Colette Audry and Maurice Jacquier. However, this interpretation is largely retrospective. Most observors emphasised the limited nature of the strikers' demands and their lack of political radicalism and sophistication. This is especially true of the second wave where the workers do not seem to know what they wanted. Almost all accounts seem to stress the ostensible lack of class hatred and the prevalent atmosphere of "joy". Photographs show improvised dances in factory courtyards, makeshift orchestras entertaining workers etc. However, there were elements of class conflict, demonstrated through the burning of dummies, the mock trials and the simulated funerals. Interestingly, most accounts of the strikes come from observers and not participants- IMPORTANT.

June 1937

The vote of the Radical senators brought down Blum - this occurred after the Senate denied him financial decree powers

impact of 1936 strikes on pcf

There was a huge shift towards organised labour. Between February 1936 and December 1936, the membership of the Communist Party swelled from 90,000 to 288,000, making it the largest party of the left. There was also an explosion in trade-union membership.

Communist policy towards Blum government

Three phases - until August 1936, they maintained moderation which they pursued during the June strikes, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War they spoke out for intervention but in restrained terms, in September policy changed and Thorez wrote a letter to Blum attacking the prospect of rapprochement with Germany, simmering resentment to Blum at socialist conference of July 1937

Ludovic-Oscar Frossard

USR Union Socialiste Republique

Gringoire

Very right-wing, paper of Dotiot's PPF

34th National Congress of SFIO

Violent debates on non-intervention in Spain

radicals june 1937

Vote of the Radical senators in June 1937 brought down Blum. This occurred after the Senate twice denied him financial decree powers. He resigned on the morning of 21 June 1937. The bill demanding decree powers had been passed by the Chamber by 346 votes to 247 (20 Radicals voted against). By 220 voted to 54, the Senate proposed a much more restrictive text limiting the use to which the decree powers could be put. The government was not clear about what it wanted to use the powers for- taxes to be increased, banks to retain a portion of their reserves in state securities etc. One of the issues was that there was no constitutional mechanism by which Blum could force the Senate to submit.

30 May - 1 June 1936 SFIO Congress

What were the strikes? Revolution (Pivert), Party, Simone Weil Pommera- argues that while the government in power would not be the "true" socialist party, it will be a step in the right direction Pommera- necessary to go further than the programme set up by the PF and that communists should continue with their fight for communism An important moment of victory for Blum, though this is countered by the calls for the communists to go further Shows the different views put forward by different groups- shows how thing might disintegrate in the future Both Blum and Faure trying to be conciliatory and optimistic - interesting as they spoke after Pivert and Pommera

Impact of General Strikes

With the Communists having left the PF, Daladier could take on the labour movement, hoping to provoke this by the necessity to end the 40 hour week as it was hindering rearmament - CGT called for a general strike on 30 Nov 1938 which was a failure and strikers were sacked - breaking of the labour movement restored financial confidence in the government

impact of 30 nov 38 strikes on Daladier

able to take on the powerful labour movement, hoped to provoke this by announcing the necessity to end the 40 hour work-week as it was hindering rearmament

Reforms of Bank of France

abolition of former Governing Board which had been nominated by the 200 largest shareholders and replacement by General Board composed of representatives of all the national economic forces

Il ne faut pas jouer avec les masses (L'Action Francaise)

argue that events of Clichy were because of the PF and things would get worse if they remained in power

24 June

collective bargaining agreed

Senate debate 20 June 1937

debate on a proposition to ensure the financial reorientation and economic development of the country, debate is on giving increased financial powers to the government in order to improve the situation, Vincent Auriol the key speaker

Chamber debate 23 March 1937

debate over whether PSF is responsible and whether government should have banned the meeting, tensions within the PF particularly between communists and socialists and shows how power has soured the image of PF and Leon Blum, communists call Blum 'assassin', chamber sides with government in the end

Leon Daudet

editor-in-chief, anti-republican (blamed anarchists and Republic for death of son), supporter of Maurras

Conservatives on Spanish Civil War

increased their paranoia at the breakdown of society - the PF represented to them an assault on bourgeoise society of all forms

Matingnon terms

legal right to strike, removal of all obstacles to union organisation, 7-12% wage increase for all workers

1936 strikes

mass social movement which profoundly radicalised French politics. The electoral victory of 1936 sparked a huge wave of strikes. In June 1936 alone, there were about 1.8 million strikers, and over 12,000 strikes, involving nearly 2 million workers, making it the largest strike in the history of the Third Republic. In addition, ¾ of these strikes turned into factory occupations.

Marcel Brout

minister of Seine from 1936-1942

Xavier Vallat

nationalist

L'Humanité

organ of the communist party, became more mainstream after the election of PF in 1936

Deux cents familles

political myth were a small number of families held control of France's economic levers, controlling the destiny of the country, coined by Daladier in 1934

Croix de Feu

right-wing nationalist league led by Francois de la Rocque, had its own newspaper, Le Flambeau, supported by many conservative Catholics, anti-semites, dissolved by PF

Je Suis Partout

right-wing, under direction of Pierre Gaxotte, began by covering international politics without being extremist, but a group of editors were influenced by Charles Maurras meaning the paper became increasingly extreme, anti-Parliamentarian and anti-Communist and opened to Hitler

Jacques Doriot

rising star of French communism, acquired a reputation as a street-fighter, expelled from communist party in 1934 and formed the PPF, blames communists who organised counter-demonstration of Vichy

impact of general strikes on govt

the government promised to introduce a 40hr working week and annual holiday of two weeks' paid leave. In the Matignon Agreement, employers' leaders conceded wage increases and recognition of union rights - employers now obliged by law to enforce collective contracts and to accept a system of compulsory education. strikes could be interpreted as an expression of enthusiasm at the election victory and an attempt to hold the government to its election promises.

33rd SFIO Congress Paul Faure

tone was about working together, and stressing that it wasnt a victory of the SFIO but the left in general

Comment le bourgeoisie se rallie (Le Populaire)

written by a Berlin enjoy, demonstrating the interest of the Left in the situation in Germany, argues that the bourgeoisie were more likely to support Hitler than the workers, 28 May 1936