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The British Left Intelligentsia and France Perceptions and Interactions 1930-1944

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ROYAL HOLLOWAY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY The British Left Intelligentsia and France Perceptions and Interactions 1930-1944 Alison Eleanor Appleby September 2013 Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 Declaration of Authorship I, Alison Appleby, confirm that this is my own work and the use of all material from other sources has been properly and fully acknowledged. Signed________________________________ Date__________________________________ 2 ABSTRACT This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the non-communist British left interacted with their French counterparts during the 1930s and the Second World War and described France in their writings and broadcasts. It challenges existing accounts that have described British attitudes to France as characterised by suspicion, ill-feeling or even contempt. It draws on a range of sources, including reportage, private papers, records of left-wing societies and other publications from the period, as well as relevant articles and books. The thesis explores the attitudes of British left-wing intellectuals, trade unionists and politicians and investigates their attempts to find common ground and formulate shared aspirations. The thesis takes a broadly chronological approach, looking first at the pre-1939 period, then at three phases of war and finally at British accounts of the Liberation of France. In the 1930s, British left-wing commentators sought to explain events in France and to work with French socialists and trade unionists in international forums in their search for an appropriate response to both fascism and Soviet communism. Following the defeat of France, networks that included figures from the British left and French socialists living in London in exile developed. In addition to print media, broadcasting provided a space in which the left intelligentsia could promote a version of current events that emphasized solidarity between a determined Britain and defiant French resistance, united in a common endeavour. Contributors showed continued interests in French affairs, discussing issues such as communism, social and economic reform, colonialism, the future of Europe and how France might best be governed. The analysis of the primary sources presented in this thesis provides a counter narrative to a more orthodox position which has emphasised enmity and hostility between the Britain and France during this period and makes a contribution to a more complete understanding of cross Channel relations before and during the Second World War. 3 Acknowledgements I am pleased to thank my supervisor, Professor Pamela Pilbeam, Emeritus Professor of French History at Royal Holloway College, University of London for her wise advice and constructive criticism during my research and the writing of this thesis. I would like to express heartfelt gratitude to Ruth Pearson, Marcia Beer and my son John for all their help in the preparation and completion of this thesis. They have been a source of immense support and encouragement. My thanks also go Catherine Wallace, Kate Robottom, Michael Hitchens, Jacqueline Millett and Cherry Boa. They have provided useful comments on my work and have persuaded me to persevere when things became difficult. My daughters, Ruth and Rosa and daughter-in-law Tanvi have provided great comfort and reassurance. I should also like to thank the Open University and the Society for the Study of French History for enabling me to attend conferences and give papers during the early stages of this thesis. My Open University students have forced me to think through my ideas time and again. I am also grateful to my colleague from the OU, Stuart Mitchell, for his helpful comments on my work. This thesis is dedicated to the late Alan Clinton who stimulated my interest in French history and first inspired me to consider how the British left responded to the French Resistance. 4 Table of Contents Declaration of Authorship ........................................................................................................................... 2 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter One – Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter Two - The Left in Britain and France c.1900-1939: dialogue and disagreement ........................ 34 Chapter Three: Representations of France in left-wing British journalism in the 1930s. ........................ 57 Chapter Four: British and French trade unionists and socialists endeavour to form a common response to communism and fascism ...................................................................................................................... 87 Chapter Five: The British left and France in war and disaster 1939-1940 .............................................. 106 Chapter Six: Networks of British and French socialists 1941-1942 ....................................................... 135 Chapter Seven: The British and French left look to victory, liberation and a reborn republic ............... 165 Chapter Eight: Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 198 Bibliography : Archives ........................................................................................................................... 218 Bibliography : Books, articles, pamphlets, theses .................................................................................. 221 5 List of Abbreviations AFL American Federation of Labour CAS Comité d’action socialiste (clandestine revival of French Socialist Party, January 1941) CFLN/FCNL Comité françise de libération nationale/ French Committee of National Liberation (body formed by de Gaulle and Giraud in June 1943) CGT Conféderation générale de travail (Umbrella organisation for French trade unions) CGTU Conféderation générale de travail unitaire (Umbrella organisation for Communist French trade unions) CNF/FNC Comité national français/French National Committee (Gaullist organisation, with claims to be the French wartime government in exile, formed September 1941) CNR Conseil national de la résistance (organisation bringing together resistance movements in France, set up mid 1943) Comintern Communist International CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain FFC/FF Forces françaises combattantes/ Fighting French (name adopted in July 1942 to encompass all Free French forces) FFF/FFL Free French Forces/Forces françaises libres (name given to those rallying to De Gaulle in 1940) FFI Force françaises de l’intérieur (name for French resistance units from February 1944) FIB Fabian International Bureau (established 1941) IFTU International Federation of Trade Unions ILO International Labour Organisation ILP Independent Labour Party (affiliated to the Labour Party 1906‐1932) LBC Left Book Club (established 1936) LdH Ligue des droits de l’homme (set up 1898) 6 LIN London International Assembly (body set up to represent British and exiled socialists 1941‐1945) LRC Labour Representation Committee (forerunner of Labour Party) LRD Labour Research Department LSE London School of Economics and Political Science LSI Labour & Socialist International (body representing non‐communist Labour and socialist parties 1923‐1940) MOI Ministry of Information MEW Ministry of Economic Warfare NEC National Executive Committee of the Labour Party NFRB New Fabian Research Bureau (set up 1930) PCF Parti communiste français PWE Political Warfare Executive (British government organisation, set up August 1941, intended to co‐ordinate British propaganda RUP Rassemblement universel pour la paix (or International Peace Campaign – IPC) set up 1936 SFIO Section française de l'internationale ouvrière (French Socialist Party) SSIP Society for Socialist Inquiry and Propaganda (set up 1931) TUC Trades Union Congress (umbrella organisation for British trade unions) UDC Union of Democratic Control (set up 1914) 7 Chapter One – Introduction This thesis examines how, between 1930 and 1944, the British left-wing intelligentsia perceived and described France and sought to interact with their French counterparts. It looks at how their writings discussed the similarities and differences between the development of democratic socialism in Britain and France. It also investigates how the British left envisaged the relationship between the two countries and discussed how a closer union might meet the challenges presented by inequality, poverty, fascism and war. Most historians writing on relations between Britain and France have been largely concerned with the reasons behind the diplomatic failures that preceded the outbreak of the Second World War. Many have seen the attitudes towards France on the part of British politicians and public as contributing to such failures. The 1930s have been widely characterised as a decade of mistrust and mutual suspicion between Britain and France, leading to a short-lived period of superficial co-operation between the two powers in 1939, before military failures in 1940 led to recriminations. Accounts
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