This dynamic translates a unit waiting in the working class

THE FUTURE WE

BELONGS

A HISTORY OF THE FRONT

POPULAR

by Michel Margairaz

and Danielle Tartakowsky

Larousse, 244 pages, 35 euros.

THE FRONT AUTOUR

POPULAR

by Antoine Prost

Threshold, 356 pages, 23 euros.

THE LEFT IN POWER.

THE LEGACY OF THE FRONT

POPULAR

by Michel Winock

Bayard, 194 pages, 17 euros.

THE FRANCE OF THE FRONT

POPULAR

by Jacques Kergoat

The discovery, 416 pages,

12.5 euros.

THE POPULAR FRONT

presented by Jean-Pierre Rioux

Tallandier, 162 pages, 15 euros.

Forced passage, birthdays can make for a good surprise: these five books, various by their form and content, help to better understand the people's Front: in addition to his undisputed legacy (leave paid, delegated personnel, intervention of the State in the economy, structure of the Government...), images, and the myth, they shed light on his birth, the explosion of strikes of May-June 36, and the crisis.

The Popular Front is not a response to an imaginary of a State of extreme right-wing coup attempt. It does not obey a "anti-fascist" developed by the communist strategy out of the ghetto and appear as champions of democracy. But on February 6, 1934 crystallized fears caused by the arrival of Hitler and the fascination of authoritarian regimes on a good part of the right. Are unions the CGT of Léon Jouhaux who launched the protests and general strike of February 12 purely political! a unitary Dynamics who then won the parties, including the PC, which will benefit from his about-face.

This dynamic translates a unit waiting in the working class. Evidenced by the momentum of unionization that accompanies the formation of the Popular Front: Union membership passes 750,000 to over $ 4 million. A particularly strong momentum in the industry: in the metallurgy, the numbers have multiplied by 18! It is resistant to political failure: the CGT will be 3 million in 1939.

May-June 1936 strikes, accompanied by occupying factories in the majority of cases and failing the "Matignon Agreements" signed with employers on June 8, are not more of a communist conspiracy nor does correspond to a pre-revolutionary situation: launched by militants, they are "recovered" by the unions. They are first designed the duration and conditions of work: the crisis part of employers preferred partial unemployment and the acceleration of the cadences dismissals except for immigrants. It is in these sectors such as metallurgy, that strikes have started. The occupation, "taking pledge" in a period where it negotiates, at the same time that break with the daily, Mark also, according to Antoine Prost, an affirmation of the working class in the business. Without questioning the right to property of the pattern or his role as leader, trace the limits: in the plant, "the pattern is not home as he is at home in his house".

Indictment

The Government of Léon Blum played also on the reduction of the duration of the work. His program, presented at the summer 1936, includes both structural reforms (reorganization of the Bank of France, etc.) and social measures (collective agreements, staff delegates, week of 40 hours, vacations, etc.). With the launch of major works, they should reduce unemployment and boost the economy.

A choice held responsible for the economic failure and political, because it provides other social groups against the working class. And in the indictment, the 40 hours hold a central place: they did not create jobs, or restarted production, but weakened competitiveness. "Rigid" bumping into skilled labour inadequate implementation has still increased the cost of the work. They have contributed to the rise in the price and the deficit.

In fact, recent studies show, businesses, unevenly, according to sectors, have been unevenly affected by 40 hours, further spread in time. Many entrepreneurs have bet on "flexibilities", as they waited to invest, thus hampering a recovery already hampered by the aging of the productive system. This delay is allied to the resumption of strikes to block government action at the end of 1936.

Is are added arms expenditures: the Popular Front, in the fall of 1936, spent more than 20 billion francs over several years, against a few hundreds of millions for the great work. The (half) increase military appropriations has had a full effect at the beginning of 1939, not because of the "relaxation" of the 40 hours late 1938, which "has been mostly a psychological scope", but because it took two years to modernize the productive apparatus. However, this increase has reopened the budget deficit and, at the time, increased the dependence of the France to the United States and Britain since the devaluation of September 1936. According to historian Robert Frank, she has largely contributed to the "pause" of February 1937 reforms which cut the Government of part of its base (the majority of the CGT) and the Communists. The Popular Front "died" the rearmament. The end of the 40 hours and resumed in November 1938 hand only signed his end.