CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Birkbeck Institutional Research Online Birkbeck ePrints BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online Enabling open access to Birkbeck’s published research output Regional Republicans: the Alsatian socialists and the politics of primary schooling in Alsace, 1918-1939 Journal Article http://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/3588 Version: Published (Refereed) Citation: Carrol, A. (2011) Regional Republicans: the Alsatian socialists and the politics of primary schooling in Alsace, 1918-1939 – French Historical Studies 34(2), pp.299- 325 © 2011 Duke University Press Publisher version ______________________________________________________________ All articles available through Birkbeck ePrints are protected by intellectual property law, including copyright law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. ______________________________________________________________ Deposit Guide Contact:
[email protected] Regional Republicans: The Alsatian Socialists and the Politics of Primary Schooling in Alsace, 1918–1939 Alison Carrol Abstract This article deals with political discussions about the place of language and religion in interwar Alsatian primary schools viewed through the lens of the local Socialist Party (SFIO). After Alsace’s return to France in 1918, primary schools exemplified the problematic process of reintegrating the province, and parties from across the political spectrum discussed the appropriate language of instruction and whether Alsatian school- children should receive religious education. For the Alsatian Socialists, the answer lay in the broad reform needed to ease reintegration and was motivated by their self- proclaimed republicanism. Thus the party argued for secu- larity, which would place the province on the same terrain as all other parts of France, and for bilingualism, which would allow the retention of Alsatian regional cultures.