what was the popular front in france

The party set up the Union des Jeunes Filles de France (UJFF) to appeal to young working women through publications and activities that were geared to their interests. In 1922 the Communist Party had 79,000 members compared to the Socialist Partys 178,000, but in 1928, though its membership figures had fallen, it had won 11 percent of the vote, 1,064,000 to the Socialists 1,698,000. But the Communists could not have been successful without the support of a layer of skilled workers and shop floor militants in the plants. During the 1930s, Soviet foreign policy changed several times in response to the evolving political situation in Europe. The Popular Unity of Salvador Allende (1970-1973), what he called the Chilean Road to Socialism, represented yet another Popular Front experience, this time in the Americas, with the same tragic consequences as in Europe in the 1930s. Published: 27 November 1997. 24. Jacques Duclos, Memoires, 1936-1939 (Paris: Fayard, 1969), 145. The Socialist Partys radicalism was only apparent, since both the SP and the CGT had long called for the nationalization of major industries as part of their program, while the Communist Party earlier in the 1930s called for workers revolution with the nationalization of industry to come afterwards. The early successes of Fascism in Italy and Germany had initially been regarded with equanimity by the Soviet Communist leadership. Zyromski, after decades as a leader of the Socialist Party, worked with the Communist Party during the Resistance and joined it in 1945. He also argues that the Trotskyists attitude toward the mass movements differed little from that of the Stalinists. [10], An act of 26 August 1936 that amended the social insurance scheme for commerce and industry raised the maximum daily maternity benefit from 18 to 22 francs, and an order of 13 February 1937 prescribed a special sound signal for road-rail coaches. Berghahn Books, 2016, pp.53-54, French Section of the Workers' International, Comit de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, Parti radical-socialiste Camille Pelletan, 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones (PTT), http://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/P/09614/09614%281936-1937%29.pdf, http://eduscol.education.fr/cid45998/enseigner-les-territoires-de-la-proximite, Petite histoire des batailles du droit dauteur, "The Popular Front: A Brief but Crucial Period in History", "Front populaire: une priode brve, mais capitale", List of French Communist Party congresses, La Bretagne ouvrire, paysanne et maritime, Federation of Marxist-Leninist Circles in France, Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of France, Federation of the Socialist Workers of France, Socialist Party of France Jean Jaurs Union, Union of Clubs for the Renewal of the Left, Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Popular_Front_(France)&oldid=1159875672, Defunct political party alliances in France, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, The frustration felt by many moderate Socialists and left-wing Radical-Socialists at the collapse of their previous attempts at government and an increasing desire to rebuilt that coalition on a stronger basis to combat the economic crisis of the. Third, in France, as in other countries where fascism had not yet come to power, ultra-right and fascist groups began to become bolder and to take to the streets. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. But the Communist Party hesitated to lead the working class in taking steps to further workers power because it feared that that might have threatened its alliance with the Socialists and Radicals. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. France in the 1930s -- 'La rpublique des dputs': politics in the 1930s -- The popular front: legend and legacy -- The road to compigne: diplomacy and war, 1936-1940 -- The occupation -- Resistance and liberation -- Retribution and the New Jerusalem: the CNR Charter -- The constitution of the Fourth Republic -- The pattern of politics . [19] At the same time the Blum government put forward social legislation which legalized collective bargaining and established the 40-hour work week, two-week paid vacations, and other benefits. The Popular Front in France. Blum's cabinet was also deeply divided. If de Gaulle succeeds, France goes (at the bare minimum) Integralist and Revanchist. To promote profit-sharing, an Act of January 1937 (that regulated the working of the State mines, the Alsatian potash mines, and the potash industry), provided that 10% of the net yield of the undertaking "must be set aside, to be used, at least to the extent of one half, to enable the staff to share in the profits of the industry. In France, for example, the Communist Party joined in forming a popular front in 1934. Daniel Guerin, who was quite close to Pivert and the Gauche Revolutionnaire, writes in his book Front Populaire: revolution manqu (Paris: Ren Julliard, 1963), pp. The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy, 1934-38 Geoffrey Warner, "The Cagoulard Conspiracy". The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. Danos and Gibelin, Juin 36, Vol. [5] He recognized, however, that he could not reach a collective security agreement as long as the Soviet Union, the Communist International, and the national Communist parties were perceived as a revolutionary threat to capitalism. [14], The Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936 and deeply divided the government, which tried to remain neutral. But, even if revolution had not been on the agenda, the possibility existed to build institutions of workers power, to strengthen the class independence of workers, and to advance the fight for socialism. (New York: St. Martins Press, Inc., 1999), p. 157. While some argue for working within the Democratic Party to capture and realign it, others argue for an inside/outside strategy seen as a war of position, taking advantage of the cover of the Democrats to advance the left. All rights reserved. Jacques Danos and Marcel Gibelin, Juin 36 (Paris : Maspero, 1972), Vol, I, pp. Assessing Lon Blum - Jacobin Why the French Popular Front Failed - Marxists Internet Archive From the perspective of the far left, "The failure of the Popular Front government was the failure of the parliamentary system," says Allen Douglas. As one historian has noted, The Popular Front government coalition did notat any stage question imperialism itself, even in its programme for government.[26], The Communist Party, once historically the most outspoken opponent of French imperialism, now became instead, along with the Socialist Party, an advocate of a more humane empire. 43-79. "[29] There is general agreement that at first it created enormous excitement and expectation on the left, but in the end, it failed to live up to its promise. Rethinking Antifascism: History, Memory and Politics, 1922 to the Present. [21] All of this constituted remarkable success in winning both economic reforms and in passing labor legislation. For example: Of the three parties that constituted the Popular Front in France, only members of the Radical Socialist Party proclaimed the "unity of the Left" !! To achieve an alliance with such capitalist parties within the context of bourgeois electoral politics, however, it was necessary for the Communist International and its affiliated parties to give up calls for revolution, and, beyond that, to become (in this specific context) the defenders of private property and of the state, especially when challenged by revolutionary socialists on the left. Wages and working conditions declined in France, while many French workers were sent to labor in Nazi Germany. As the experience of France in the 1930s demonstrates, such tactics tend to disorient the labor and social movements while bringing them under the sway of a political party with capitalist objectives. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. [34][35][36] MacMillan says that Blum "Lacked the inner convictions that he was the man to resolve the country's problems by bold and imaginative leadership," leading him to avoid a showdown with the financial powers, and forfeiting the support of the working class. The tendency of Stalinist imperialism which only became absolutely clear after World War II with the conquest of Easter Europe and the extension of the bureaucratic communist social system to China, first revealed itself in Spain during the Popular Front period. Secondary education was made free to all pupils; previously, it had been closed to the poor, who were unable to afford to pay tuition. The Daladier government issued decrees (dscrets-lois) reducing social services and increasing taxes on consumption and on wages. Despite the Stalinist counter-revolution in the Soviet Union and the rise of Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany, revolution still remained a possibility as demonstrated most clearly in Spain. The CGT, forced to respond, countered with a call for a 24-hour general strike on November 30, and, though the response varied in different regions and industries, a majority of organized industrial workers participated in the urban areas, though white collar and service workers were too intimidated to join in. 19. The Popular Front in France : Defending Democracy, 1934-38 - Google Books [21], The government proposed a draft law concerning intellectual property right, based on a new philosophy that did not consider the author as an "owner" (propritaire) but as an "intellectual worker" (travailleur intellectuel). What might have been done instead? Yet, even as they restated this commitment to the dictatorship of the proletariat as a model of working class democracy, Stalin was at work in the Soviet Union liquidating the opposition in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, dismantling the workers councils (soviets), and ending the autonomy of the trade unions. Martin Thomas, "French Economic Affairs and Rearmament: The First Crucial Months, JuneSeptember 1936". Arthur Scargill (born 1938) was the militant, controversial president of the British National Union of Mineworkers who led the longes, the construction of a class identity These included several civil society organisations, chief among whom were: The Communist, Socialist and Radical-Socialist parties were also joined by several smaller parties, mostly formed by dissidents who in previous years had exited the main three parties: The Popular Front won the general election of 3 May 1936, with 386 seats out of 608. Alas. Unless explicitly set forth in the applicable Credits section of a lecture, third-party content is not covered under the Creative Commons license. Perhaps, if the history of the political . By 1938, the Radicals had taken control and forced the Socialists out of the cabinet. As a prominent Canadian Communist leader told me in a recent debate, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and he went on to explain that the Popular Front proved to be successful, resulting in the defeat of Fascism and Nazism, in the expansion of the Soviet system to Eastern Europe, and in the post-war anti-colonial movements. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. ", Wardhaugh, Jessica. [38][39] Others point to the Communists, who refused to turn the general strike into a revolution, as well as their refusal to join the government. In addition, a secretariat for sports and leisure was established, and opportunities for the children of workers and peasants in secondary education were increased. More generally, the argument is made that France could not afford the labor reforms in the face of poor economic conditions, the fears of the business community, and the threat of Nazi Germany. The first Popular Front government of Lon Blum lasted only from June of 1936 to June of 1937, to be succeeded by the more moderate socialist government of Camille Chautemps. Price controls were ended in order to encourage capital to invest. Contact us at newpoliticsjournal@gmail.com. Lech Walesa The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. Please consult the Open Yale Courses Terms of Use for limitations and further explanations on the application of the Creative Commons license. Why did the Communists hesitate to build workers power upon the basis of the strikes, the progressive factory legislation, and the Popular Fronts electoral success? The Road to a Popular Front | History Today First, in the Third Period from 1928-1934, the Communists gave up the united front and began to characterize the labor and socialist parties as social fascists. The Communists, arguing that the Socialists were as great an enemy as Hitler, not only refused to cooperate with the Socialists but also fought them politically and sometimes physically. Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, the Popular Front and the Colonial Question. Third, in August of 1939, the Soviet Union shocked the world by entering into an alliance with Hitlers Nazi Germany, with the two great powers dividing Poland between them. From this principle, it was only one step to relating sport to the "degeneration of the race" and other scientific racist theories. See also, Dano and Gibelin, Vol. Johannesburg (AFP) - Clad in a figure-hugging dress, Dineo gets into a fancy car driven by her sugar . The Communists and the Socialists, fearing that the strike could get out of hand and jeopardize political relations with the Radicals, worked to restrain the strikes and to keep them from spreading. While there is no doubt that the strikes and occupations, the union recognition and contracts, and the social legislation represented important victories for the working class, the question is, was it possible to go further? 23. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Finally, of course, the European Jewish holocaust and the slaughter of World War II took the lives of millions of people, many of whom had been class conscious workers who had formed the great body of the labor movement. Bertrand Badie, Les grves de 1936 aux usines Renault, in: La France en mouvement, 1934-1938 (Paris : Champ Vallon, 1986), p. 85. First published in English in 1936. The goal of revolution was deferred until the immediate battle at hand was won, and Communists were urged not to frighten away the non-Communists in the coalition with revolutionary rhetoric. 14. Some union leaders lost their posts in tripartite commissions, while others lost their positions in transportation or the postal service or suffered some sort of sanction. [19], Radical cultural ideas came to the fore in the era of the Popular Front and often were explicitly supported by the governments, as in the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. The Communists Restate their Revolutionary Program, Surprisingly, while the French Communist Party, in order to support the Soviet Unions alliance with France pursued these moderate policies aimed at strengthening the French state and its empire and at restraining the labor movement and the left, it also paused long enough in the midst of this activity to reassert the partys long term revolutionary goals. Considering that he was a right-wing hardliner (who accepted the reality of modern times only AFTER the events of WW2), it's more likely that he would've used his position in the military to coup the Communists rather than accept that they were in power. What held them together was Stalins need to keep control of the working class political organizations in Europe, parties and movements which he knew could play a decisive role in domestic politics and therefore in shaping foreign policy. popular front, any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties united for the defense of democratic forms against a presumed Fascist assault. They wanted a larger budget for a stronger French army. The International Olympic Committee chose Berlin over Barcelona for the 1936 Olympic Games. Such a united front of labor organizations was not, however, what Stalin and the Communists envisioned. Yet the myth remains, and for that reason, it is important to reexamine this storied moment in the past as we organize to meet the challenges of the present and to move forward into the future. In Western Europe by the 1980s the Popular Front evolved into Euro-Communism, and eventually after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of the Western European Communist Parties became ordinary social democratic parties. In particular, he now wanted an alliance with France and England. They sought an alliance not only with labor parties and among workers, but also with the parties of the French capitalist class. For a moment in the mid-1930s it seemed as if the left wing of the Socialist Party, led by Jean Zyromski and Marceau Pivert, might provide a revolutionary leadership, but Pivert, though he founded the Gauche Revolutionnaire (Revlutionary Left), could not break from the orbit of the Socialists, while Zyromski leaned toward the Communists. The reason for the Communists restraint of the workers movement was the partys desire to build and maintain a cross-class alliance with the French bourgeoisie and to strengthen the state, particularly to strengthen the military, so that France would be a strong ally of the Soviet Union in the event of an attack by Nazi Germany. At the end of 40 hours, a shop or small factory had to shut down or replace its best workers; unions refused to compromise on this issue. France at the End of the Interwar Period | History of Western What had changed to lead the Communists to adopt this new strategy? To subscribe, click here. Such a political position is, of course, a legacy of the Popular Front.[2]. [30] There is also general agreement, that the Popular Front provided a set of lessons and even an inspiration for the future. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Or to put it another way, in order to end the strike, the Communists together with the CGT union officials, the Socialist Party, and the Popular Front government which included the capitalist Radical Party, had to take the control of the strike out of the hands of the rank-and-file workers. In the years of the Popular Front, 1934-1939 in France, the Stalins counter-revolutionary transformation of the Soviet Union, that is, the destruction of workers power and the imposition of a new bureaucratic ruling class, was till in process and not yet complete. - The Popular Front Overview A plethora of Far Right and fascist organizations emerged in the wake of World War I. I Met Him Once. II, p. 89. 55 (Apr-Jun, 1966), pp. For a discussion of the left in Vietnam during this period see, La Lutte and the Vietnamese Trotskyists, a collection of excerpts from Daniel Hemerys book Revolutionnaires Vietnamiens et pouvoir colonial en Indochine, edited by Ted Crawford and published in RevolutionaryHistory, Vol. While some 40 million French enjoyed political democracy at home, authoritarian colonial governments ruled tens of millions abroad. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. 5. Wages increased sharply, in two years the national average was up 48 percent. In 1938 Blum again tried, unsuccessfully, to establish a popular front ministry. Ingo Kolbloom, La Revance des Patrons : Le patronat franais face au front populaire (Paris: Flamarrion, 1986). "[7] The Walter-Paulin Law of March 1937 set standards for apprenticeship teachers and set up a corps of salaried inspectors,[8] while a decree of June 1937 decided on the "creation of the workshop schools, close to schools [] that should awaken the skills and curiosity of students, open up more to life school work, let them know about the local history and geography. The Labour organ, the Daily Herald, was equally joyful, "it is," said the Herald, "a beginning more hopeful than anything which France has known for many a long day." ( Herald, June 8th, 1936.) (Everything is possible). The Popular Front - 1936-1938 France, plagued by governmental instability (between 1932 and 1940 there were no fewer than 16 coalition governments in Paris) and acute internal political.
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