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University of Georgia Press - Jr. Julian L. McPhillips

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45 pages

English

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From Vacillation to Resolve tells the little-known story of the French Communist Partys role in the Resistance movement against the Nazis during World War II. Author Julian McPhillips Jr. researched this story and published it as his senior thesis at Princeton University in 1968. It is being published in book form for the first time on the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation.McPhillips divides the behavior of the French Communist resisters into three stages: The first brief phase in the late summer of 1939 was an anti-fascist reflex which was repressed in the early occupation.During the second stage, from October 1939 to mid-1941, the partys members fought vigorously against the French war governments of Daladier and Reynaud. Following the fall of France, under the Russo-German Pact, French Communists achieved a brief ""semi-legality"" in the period leading up to the German attack on Russia. Even in this period, however, some French Communists left the party to resist the Germans on their own initiative.The final stage was from June 22, 1941, to the liberation of France in August 1944. The French Communists were united in their resolve and effected sabotage, distributed clandestine media materials, and fought bravely in organized guerrilla (maquis) actions. Despite playing key roles in the fighting, however, the Communists jockeyed with the Gaullists not only on Resistance tactics but also on post-war plans.Overall, following the German attack against the USSR, the war for French Communists changed from an imperialistic conflict to the defense of liberty.

Sujets

Histoire

International relations

World War II

History of Europe

France

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Publié par	University of Georgia Press
Date de parution	30 mai 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781588383808
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0498€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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F ROM V ACILLATION TO R ESOLVE
A LSO BY J ULIAN L. McP HILLIPS J R .
The People s Lawyer (2005, WITH C ARROLL D ALE S HORT )
The History of Christ the Redeemer Episcopal Church (2006)
Civil Rights in My Bones (2016)

NewSouth Books
105 S. Court Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
Copyright 2018 by Julian L. McPhillips, Jr.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by NewSouth Books, a division of NewSouth, Inc., Montgomery, Alabama.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ISBN 978-1-58838-379-2 (trade cloth)
ISBN 978-1-58838-381-5 (trade paper)
ISBN 978-1-58838-380-8 (ebook)
A senior thesis submitted to the
History Department of Princeton University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Bachelor of Arts,
April 17, 1968
and republished in book form
exactly 50 years later,
April 17, 2018
Printed in the United States of America
A PRIL 1968
This thesis is dedicated with love to my parents, to whom I am indebted in so many ways .
A PRIL 2018
This republication fifty years later is dedicated with love to my wife Leslie, children Rachel, Grace, and David, and grandchildren Laurel, Jude, Nanette, Sage, and Emma .
Finally, this effort having transformed from a senior thesis into a book, is also dedicated to the memories and great honor of the many brave Resistance fighters who sacrificed all, namely their lives, in ultimately defeating the Nazi menace that threatened their country and the world, 1938-1944 .
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
P ART O NE -V ACILLATION
August 23, 1939-June 22, 1941
Chapter I: First Stage
Background
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Chapter II: Second Stage
Adjustment
Reorganization
Propaganda
Industrial Plants
The Fall of France
Occupation
P ART T WO -R ESOLVE : T HIRD S TAGE
June 22, 1941-Liberation, August 1944
Chapter III: Reversal
New Horizon
Activity Increases
Co-Escalation
Chapter IV: Consolidation
Structure and Security
Regulations
FN Broadens Base
Includes Intellectuals
The F.T.P .
Chapter V: De Gaulle
Setting
Unity of Action
Two Occurrences
Further Steps
Arms Dispute
Corsica
Chapter VI: Infiltration
Political
Military
Trade Unions
Chapter VII: Toward the Liberation
Sabotage
Clandestine Press
Maquis
Post-D-Day
Paris
Aftermath
Conclusion
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my appreciation first of all to M. and Mme. Roger Pansart of Param , near St. Malo, France. They initially stimulated my interest in the general subject of the French Resistance in the summer of 1965, only 20 years after the end of World War II. Driving me around the d partment of Ille et Vilaine in their car, they showed me a number of places where different Resistance actions had taken place. At the same time they told me many stories about their own actions and gave me several interesting comments on the Communists.
At one location in Bretagne, the northwestern province of France, Ms. Pansart showed me where her brother was one of thirteen Resistance fighters captured by the Nazis. All were scheduled to be executed immediately, but the Nazi captain had a list of only twelve names and didn t want to execute one too many. By random selection, her brother was temporarily spared, and afterwards managed to escape. Such hair-raising stories caused my interest to soar.
The Pansarts also proudly showed me medals they had won from Churchill, Roosevelt, and de Gaulle. They were so proud, and I was awed.
Appreciation is also due to Henri Michel, the premier French historian of the Second World War, he gave me much valuable background information. This was during the summer of 1967 when I returned to France, armed with a grant from Princeton s Woodrow Wilson School to do my research. Michel was also helpful in directing me to certain primary sources and the proper libraries in Paris. This included surviving members of the Maquis, the leading French Resistance fighters, who were still alive during the mid-1960s. I was thrilled to meet them.
Great appreciation is due Lill Neace for the re-typing of the original thesis, to enable it to pass electronically into a book form fifty years later. Enormous appreciation is also due Randall Williams and Suzanne La Rosa for their publishing of this book through NewSouth Books, Montgomery, Alabama.
F ROM V ACILLATION TO R ESOLVE
Introduction
T he role of the Communist party in the French Resistance movement against the Nazis in the Second World War has been the subject of much controversy and dispute but of little research. The lack of research is largely due to the dearth of primary source materials, whereas the controversy centers around the early vacillation of the Communist party and its later allegedly covert challenges to de Gaulle s leadership within the organization in order to obtain a prominent post-war position, if not eventual take-over.
Henri Michel, the premier historian on the subject of the French Resistance, has said that:

. . . Of all the forces of the clandestine (French) Resistance, the Communist party is the most singular and the most difficult to study. . . . No one else offers as many difficulties for disentangling the true from the false, the apparent from reality. It is to this purpose that judgments the most contradictory have been and are still set forth. In all conscience, an objective study must contain a good share of hypotheses. 1

Perhaps these limitations to which Michel refers are additional reason for the lack of research on the French Communist role. A. Rossi has made an extensive study of the period from mid-1939 to the end of 1941. 2 Alfred Rieber has dealt with the relationship between the Soviet and French Communist actions during the war. 3 Other historians have superficially discussed the actions of the French Communists during the war in general histories of European Communism or the French Communist party. 4 However, to my knowledge, no one has attempted to trace specifically the French Communist role in their opposition to the Nazis from the outbreak of World War II up to the liberation of France. This study is such an attempt.
Admitting the difficulties for interpretation, which Michel mentions, and taking cognizance of the dearth of available primary sources, this presentation will neither attempt to disentangle nor reconcile contradictory judgments, nor presume to be comprehensive. Instead, it will attempt to present an accurate and concise account of just what the French Communists were doing to combat the Germans from August 1939 to August 1944.
Before plunging into greater detail, a brief review of some of the major points to be considered will give the reader a better initial framework for understanding what will be presented later.
The behavior of the French Communists during the Resistance can be divided into three stages, each one marked by a different policy as will as a progressively longer period of time. The first stage was a very short one, lasting only from August to September 1939. This period involved an almost automatic anti-fascist reflex which animated the activity of the Communists but was disconcerted by repression. Even after the Russo-German Pact, the French Communists were hesitant to change positions until their leaders had been alerted by Moscow.
The second stage lasted from October 1939 to June 22, 1941. The leadership of the French Communist party (P.C.F.) abandoned the preceding position following a severe criticism of the Communist International by the French government and precise orders from Moscow to change positions. A Soviet pamphlet containing an article by Dimitrov, which stated that it was the worker s duty to wage a fearless fight against the imperialist war, also helped to cause this change of heart. Denouncing the war in its most uncomplimentary terms, as capitalist and imperialist, the Party fought vigorously against the war governments of Daladier and Reynaud. Through its very effective propaganda work and by sabotage of the production of war materials, the Communists did much to hamper the French war effort.
Following the fall of France, the Communists advocated fraternizing with the German soldiers. They asked the Germans for the legal protection of the Communist press and proposed that the government of Vichy be replaced. In one word, the leadership of the P.C.F. wanted, in its relationship with the Occupier, to adopt the modus vivendi which had been adopted by the Germans and Soviets in signing their pact. Although the Nazis did not reciprocate, they tolerated the Communists and allowed them a brief semi-legality. In the last few months before the German attack on Russia, relations between the Occupier and the P.C.F. deteriorated.
However, it should be noted that, during this period, there were some Communists, a fairly numerous group, who left the party in order to resist actively the Germans on their own initiative and outside of the directives set by their leadership. 5
The third stage lasted from June 22, 1941, to the Liberation in August of 1944. This stage was not subject to dispute by individual members of the Communist party. There was little room for confusion or mixed loyalties after Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. Fighting both for the Soviet Union, the worker s homeland, and for France, the native land, all members of the P.C.F. entered into the Resistance with courage and self-denial. From sabotage work to continuing distribution of the Communist clandestine press to organized guerrilla (maquis) fighting, the Communists were among the most active and most effective members of the Resistance effort. Their long experience as an underground organization gave the Communists a discipline, a unity, and a coordination that were missing in other Resistance organizations, and consequently they obtained a much higher degree of effectiveness in their efforts.
With a broad