Interwar Politics in a French Border Region: the Moselle in the Period of the Popular Front, 1934-1938
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Interwar Politics in a French Border Region: the Moselle in the period of the Popular Front, 1934-1938 Louisa Zanoun London School of Economics and Political Science September 2009 A thesis submitted to the Department of International History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, September 2009. Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. 2 Abstract Between 1934 and 1936 various organisations of the French left joined forces to create the Popular Front, an alliance borne of an antifascist imperative. After winning the May 1936 legislative elections, and in a climate of growing opposition from conservative and far right forces, the left-wing coalition came to power. By the end of 1938, the Popular Front had collapsed and the right was back in power. During this period (1934-1938), the right and far right repeatedly challenged the left-wing alliance‟s legitimacy and attacked its constituent political parties. This conflict between left and right intensified France‟s political and social tensions and polarised French politics and French society into supporters and opponents of the Popular Front. This thesis examines the role of the right within the context of the Popular Front and seeks to answer the following question: how did the right act in response to the Popular Front between 1934 and 1938? The thesis focuses on the Moselle, a border département returned to French sovereignty after forty- seven years under German domination (1871-1918). By 1934, the Moselle had developed a distinctive political character sympathetic to the right and hostile, or at best indifferent, to the left. By drawing parallels between Parisian and Mosellan events and using new archival material, the thesis demonstrates the originality of the Popular Front in the Moselle, and the responses of the local, and essentially Catholic and particularist, right. No scholarly work has yet examined the conflict between the right and the left within the context of the Popular Front in the Moselle. This thesis demonstrates how the département‟s distinctive historical, social, linguistic, cultural, political and religious context shaped the Popular Front and the right‟s responses to it. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ 5 Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 7 List of Figures and Tables .............................................................................. 8 Introduction..................................................................................................... 9 Chapter One - Society and Politics from the German Empire to the Third Republic, 1871-1934 ........................................................................... 34 Chapter Two - The Formation of the Popular Front, February 1934 - March 1936 ........................................................................ 87 Chapter Three - Elections, Strikes and l‟affaire d‟Alsace-Lorraine, April 1936 - October 1936 .......................................................................... 142 Chapter Four - Counter-offensive and Divisions, October 1936 - February 1937 ................................................................... 170 Chapter Five - Domestic and International Challenges: the Return of the Right and the Fall of the Popular Front, February 1937- November 1938 ................................................................ 210 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 278 Appendices................................................................................................. 285 Bibliography ................................................................................................ 291 4 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr Robert Boyce of the International History department at the London School of Economics who supervised this thesis with great care and provided invaluable advice, guidance and support. Also at the London School of Economics, Dr Heather Jones of the International History department provided me with insightful comments and useful advice. Various institutions helped bring this thesis to completion: the London School of Economics, the Department of International History, the University of London‟s Central Research Fund and the Society for the Study of French History. I am particularly indebted to Jean Jameson of the LSE‟s Teaching and Learning Centre for providing help in the difficult times that most PhD students encounter at one time or another. I wish to thank the many archivists and librarians who helped with the research in France and England. But I would like to mention Jean-Pierre Lallement at the Archives Départementales de la Moselle, Philippe Wilmouth at ASCOMEMO, Dominique Parcollet at the Centre d‟Histoire de Sciences Politiques and the staff at the British Library of Political and Economic Science, particularly the Interlibrary Loan team. I would also like to thank Hughes de la Rocque for granting me full access to François de la Rocque‟s papers at the Centre d‟Histoire de Sciences Politiques. I am in debt to many friends and colleagues for their help and support: Marie Burner, Sonia Charro-Perez, Christelle Forli, Nicola Mackenzie-Dodds, Elizabeth Benning, Gil-li Vardi, Chris Millington, Sevasti-Melissa Nolas, Stuart Walker, Stephanie Hare and Francoise Basch. Special thanks to Bella and Kit Brown for their kindness and help. I also wish to thank Dr Ian Forjacs from King‟s College Hospital, London for looking after me and providing great care over the last eleven years. Most of all, I would like to thank my family, my parents Mohamed and Ferroudja for believing in me, and my brothers and sisters; to Rabah and Malika, thank you for your precious help in Paris and Strasbourg, to Nadia, thank you for always being there. 5 Finally, I am grateful to my daughter Ruby who joined me during the PhD. Although she does not realise it, she helped me put things in perspective and remain focused on the thesis. My final and greatest debt goes to William Brown, for having encouraged me to write this thesis and supporting me financially, morally and emotionally. My debt to him is such that words cannot describe it. This thesis is dedicated to him and our little Ruby. 6 Abbreviations Political and social organisations CGT Confédération générale du travail CGTU Confédération générale du travail unitaire PCF Section française de l‟internationale communiste (French Communist party) Radicals/Radical-Socialists Parti républicain, radical et radical-socialiste SFIO Section française de l‟internationale ouvrière (French Socialist party) Archives ADBR Archives Départementales du Bas-Rhin ADM Archives Départementales de la Moselle ADSSD Archives Départementales de la Seine Saint-Denis AN Archives Nationales de France APPP Archives de la Préfecture de Police de Paris ASCOMEMO Association pour la Conservation de la Mémoire de la Moselle CHSPo Centre d‟Histoire de Sciences Politiques 7 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1 Alsace and Lorraine looking towards France ........................................ 14 Figure 2 Le Souvenir in Nancy ............................................................................ 15 Figure 3 The Moselle and the Meurthe before 1871 ............................................. 35 Figure 4 The Moselle and the new Meurthe-et-Moselle after 1871 ...................... 36 Figure 5 The linguistic geography ........................................................................ 42 Table 1 Level of unionisation in 1931 ................................................................... 83 8 Introduction In the 1890s, Raymond Poincaré, the French Minister for Public Instruction and a leading representative of the French right, visited a school in Commercy in western Lorraine. In his speech at the end of his visit, Poincaré, who originated from that corner of France, stated, „Ce n‟est pas ... sous le ciel de Lorraine que pouvaient germer et fleurir les doctrines vénéneuses et internationalistes.‟1 At the time of this declaration, a border separated the historic region of Lorraine between two separate political entities. By moving parts of eastern Lorraine from French to German sovereignty, the treaty of Frankfurt of May 1871, ending the Franco- Prussian war, gave a political meaning to what had hitherto been only a linguistic reality: the division of Lorraine between the Lorraine française, which was largely Francophone, and the Lorraine allemande where French speakers cohabited amidst German and dialect speakers.2 The latter, which is the subject of this thesis and which the Germans called Lothringen, changed sovereignty five times between 1870 and 1945: firstly, in 1871, when France ceded Alsace and parts of eastern