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Thesis W/ Corrections Renouncing the Le-: Working-class conserva7sm in France, 1930-1939 Joseph Starkey A Thesis submi+ed for the Degree of PhD at Cardiff University 2014 Abstract Histories of the working class in France have largely ignored the existence of working-class conservaGsm. This is parGcularly true of histories of the interwar period. Yet, there were an array of Catholic and right-wing groups during these years that endeavoured to bring workers within their orbit. Moreover, many workers judged that their interests were be+er served by these groups. This thesis explores the parGcipaGon of workers in Catholic and right-wing groups during the 1930s. What did these groups claim to offer workers within the wider context of their ideological goals? In which ways did conservaGve workers understand and express their interests, and why did they idenGfy the supposed ‘enemies of the leT’ as the best means of defending them? What was the daily experience of conservaGve workers like, and how did this experience contribute to the formaGon of ‘non-leT’ poliGcal idenGGes? These quesGons are addressed in a study of the largest Catholic and right-wing groups in France during the 1930s. This thesis argues that, during a period of leT-wing ascendancy, these groups made the recruitment of workers a top priority. To this end, they harnessed parGcular elements of mass poliGcal culture and adapted them to their own ideological ends. However, the ideology of these groups did not simply reflect the interests of the workers that supported them. This thesis argues that the interests of conservaGve workers were a raGonal and complex product of their own experience. They were formed by a large range of materials, from preconceived atudes to issues such gender and race, to the everyday experience of bullying and inGmidaGon on the factory floor. This thesis shows that workers could conceive of their interests in a number of different ways, and chose from a range of different groups to try and further them. i Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii List of illustraGons and tables iv AbbreviaGons v Introduc7on 1 Prologue: Workers and the right under the Third Republic 22 Chapter One: Working-class conserva7sm and the Catholic church 34 Chapter Two: Social d’abord! Workers and the Croix de feu/PSF 76 Chapter Three: The Syndicats professionnels français 109 Chapter Four: Un par ouvrier? Workers and the Par populaire français 157 Conclusion 195 Bibliography 202 iii Acknowledgements This PhD thesis would not have been possible without the financial support of the Arts and HumaniGes Research Council and the School of History and Archaeology at Cardiff University. I am grateful to the staff of the Archives naGonales, the Bibliothèque naGonale de France, the Archives de Paris, the Archives de la Préfecture de Police, and the departmental archives of the Rhône and the Nord for their generous help and unwavering paGence. With their help, I was able to uncover sources that I had not even considered when I departed for France in 2011. I thank Hugues de La Rocque for granGng access to his grandfather’s archives on several occasions. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Arts and Social Sciences library at Cardiff University for their help during the early stages of this project. I am fortunate to have met many wonderful people during the compleGon of this project, both in Cardiff and Paris. There are too many to menGon, but I must use this space to give thanks to Carole Dieterich, MarGn Mounbord, Andrès Sanchez and Yvonne Cullen for their unwavering support during good Gmes and bad, and for pung a roof over my head on more than one occasion. To my friends from home, I thank you for upliTing me whenever I needed it. Enormous graGtude is owed to my supervisor, Kevin Passmore, and his wife, Garthine Walker. It was because of Kevin that I chose to undertake this project at Cardiff and he was a indispensable resource of knowledge and advice throughout. On top of this, he was a+enGve, caring and supporGve to the end, and he and Garthine provided me with many a coffee or meal when I was strapped for cash in Paris. In short, he was the model supervisor. Kevin, the next coffee is on me. This thesis is dedicated to my mum and dad, Sue and Andy. They have met every academic endeavour I have taken on with nothing but enthusiasm and support (although the opportunity to visit me in Paris no doubt sweetened the deal). Put simply, I wouldn’t have made it to the end without them, so this is for them. iv List of illustra7ons Figure 1 - Cartoon of a worker confronted by a member of the Croix de feu. p. 87. Figure 2 - Cartoon of a worker turning away from a basket of SPF insignia in disgust. p. 91. Figure 3 - Photograph of workers and Croix de feu members outside of a soup kitchen. p. 122. Figure 4 - PPF poster commemoraGng the Fête du Travail. p. 168. Figure 5 - Slogan on the superior humour of PPF workers. p. 191. List of tables Table 1 - Sample of Syndicats professionnels français in the Paris region, 1936-1939. p. 126. Table 2 - Gender composiGon of a sample of Syndicats professionnels français in the Paris region, 1936-1939. p. 132. iv Abbrevia7ons ACJF AssociaGon catholique da la jeunesse française AD Alliance démocraGque ADN Archives départementales du Nord ADR Archives départementales du Rhône AF AcGon française AN Archives naGonales ANMT Archives naGonales du monde du travail AP Archives de Paris APPP Archives de la préfecture de police CFTC ConfédéraGon française des travailleurs catholiques CGT ConfédéraGon générale du travail CGTU ConfédéraGon générale du travail unitaire FGSPF FédéraGon gymnasGque et sporGve des patronages de France FFCF Fils et filles des Croix de feu JP Jeunesses patriotes JOC Jeunesse ouvrière chréenne FR FédéraGon républicaine PCF ParG communiste français PDP ParG démocrate populaire PSF ParG social français PPF ParG populaire français SFIO SecGon française de l’internaGonale ouvrière SPES Société de préparaGon et d’éducaGon sporGve SPF Syndicats professionnels français UF de Paris Union fédérale de la region parisienne URL Union républicaine lorraine URP Union république populaire VP Volontaires naGonaux v Introduc7on —————— Historians have characterised the late 1930s as the moment when the French working class ‘entered’ naGonal poliGcal life.1 In May 1936, an alliance of leT wing parGes, bolstered by the support of trade unions and extra-parliamentary groups, won a remarkable electoral victory against the forces of the right. The Popular Front, as this alliance was called, lasted in government for barely two years. It had to contend with a faltering economy at home and the growing threat of war abroad. Yet it was the social achievements of the Popular Front government that have led historians to use this expression. The MaGgnon agreements, hasGly signed on 7 June following an unprecedented strike wave, introduced sweeping social reforms designed to bring social jusGce to the naGon’s working poor. This ‘entrance’ of which historians speak was also cultural. The introducGon of paid holidays and the forty hour week gave workers the opportunity to leave the city and explore the countryside and the coasts, many for the first Gme. Media outlets, from cinema to the popular press, worked in tandem with the Popular Front to give the working class greater cultural visibility. For many workers, this idea of ‘entering’ naGonal life was not only symbolic, but an accurate reflecGon of their experience. The idea of ‘belonging’ to naGonal poliGcal life presupposes that, prior to the elecGon of the Popular Front, the French working class were ‘outside’ it. Many French workers certainly endured a difficult Gme during the interwar period. During the Great War, workers rallied to the Union sacrée, but the alliance did not endure in peaceGme. A railway workers’ strike in 1919 and 1920 was brutally crushed by the government, effecGvely pung 1 Gérard Noiriel, Les ouvriers dans la société française, XIXe - XXe siècle (Paris: ÉdiGons du Seuil, 1986), pp. 153-189. u1 an end to labour acGon for over a decade. Membership of the largest trade union, the ConfédéraGon générale du travail (CGT), plummeted from 1.3 million in 1920 to 400,000 in 1921.2 40% of strikes between 1925 and 1935 ended in defeat.3 The First World War profoundly shook the foundaGons of French working life. Vast swathes of north and north- east France, areas of great industrial importance, lay in ruin. The death and destrucGon on the front line deprived the labour market of 3.3 million acGve workers.4 During the war, the labour deficit was filled by female workers, but increasingly women were squeezed out in favour of returning troops and immigrants.5 Through the prism of the conflict, old values and tradiGons were quesGoned and overturned. The Russian RevoluGon rekindled the hopes of the revoluGonary leT. In December 1920, the ParG communiste français (PCF) was founded out of a schism with the SecGon française de i’InternaGonal ouvrière (SFIO). In spite of these problems, the French economy boomed during the 1920s. Industrial producGon increased faster in France than anywhere else in Europe. Heavy industry was extensively modernised and coal, iron, and steel producGon soared. Around Paris, new raGonalised producGon methods were introduced to automobile and electrical goods industries. Giant producGon facilites such as the Renault plant in Boulogne-Billancourt and the Citroën factory at the Quai Javel became recognised symbols of France’s industrial might. Accompanying this prosperity was the growth of the banlieue: large suburban housing developments such as Boulogne-Billancourt and Saint-Denis that housed an expanding workforce. Peasant workers, formerly employed on a seasonal basis, migrated permanently to these areas.
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