France of The Peoples Front

AND HER MISSION IN THE WORLD
MAURICE THOREZ
20C?
FRAN C E
OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
AND ITS MISSION
IN THE WORLD
BY
MAURICE THOREZ
GENERAL SECRETARY
COMMUNIST PARTY
OF FRANCE
WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK
1938
PUBLISHED BY
WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHERS, Inc.
P. O. BOX 148, STATION D, NEW YORK CITY

MAY, 1938
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

FOREWORD
H E NINTH CO:>;GRESS of the French Communist Pan}"

T was held December 25 to 29, t937 , in the ancient city
of Arles, in Provence, in the south of France. This city, in
wh ich relics of Roman and Greek civilization stilI stand,
and whi ch is a cradle of French culture, was a fitting place
for such a congress, symbolizing the role of the Communists
as th e tru e inheritors and defenders of the best traditions of
th eir coun try.
French Party Congresses are held in various sections of the
count ry; such meetings are not simply gatherings of dele-
gates in a convention hall, but are made part and parcel of
the people of the particular province. Such was the case
with the meeting in ArIes. The whole population partici-
pated in the events of the Congress, which was celebrated as
a festive occasion, like a national holiday. Christmas was
opened in the city auditorium with the Mayor, a Socialist,
and the Parliamentary Deputy, a Communist, officiating.
Here , around a huge Christmas tree, toys were presented to
the children of the city. There was also a public festival in
th e old Roman arena where the people came dressed in
their provincial and ancestral costumes, joining in the
games and festivities.
Thirteen hundred delegates from all parts of France at-
tended the Congress. About a dozen delegations came from
foreign countries, including Germany, Spain, Italy, Eng-
land, Belgium, some Scandinavian and Balkan countries,
etc. The United States was represented by Earl Browder,
William Z. Foster, Robert Minor and the writer, while
Canada sent Tim Buck and Jack Davis.
As the General Secretary and leader of the Party, Maurice
Thorez delivered the main report of the Congress. The seats
were all filled bright and early the morning of December
zfith, the delegates waiting eagerly for the speaker. The be-
loved founder of the Communist Party, Marcel Cachin-
veteran editor of l'Humanite and co-worker of Jean Jaurcs
-was in the chair. He was aglow with joy as he introduced
Thorez, and as the later proceeded with his address it was
like a father beaming with pride upon his son delivering a
prize oration.
Advancing to the rostrum, Thorez looked youthful, buoy-
ant, full of vigor. He did not walk to the platform-he
leaped to it. Here was a typical proletarian who had de-
veloped into a great political leader: he had been an agri-
cultural worker and a miner, active in the labor movement
since boyhood; he not only knew the theory of the class
struggle, he had experienced it among his own people; he
had not only mastererd Marxism-Leninism, he was the
acknowledged leader of the working class-truly a son of the
people of France, and a champion of their best interests.
You will get the healthy, robust spirit of the man in his
extensive, brilliant report to the Congress, which is printed
here. The heart of his four-hour speech was-not a special
group of people, not a narrow problem or set of problems,
but-Frallce, France today, France of the People's Front.
And since the fate of the French people cannot be severed
from the fate of the human race, his speech dealt also with
France and its mission in the world.
The other reports at the Aries Congress were also colorful
and impressive. Jacques Duclos, leader of the Party in the
Chamber of Deputies, a forceful Marxist writer and speaker,
dealt with the question of organic unity of the political
parties of the working class. He recited the history of the
division of the proletariat, and pointed to the achievements
of unity in the trade union field and the great desire and
struggle of the Communist Party for unity with the Social-
ists. Renaud Jean, head of the agricultural commission of
the Chamber of Deputies, reported on "The Obligations of
the People's Front to the French Peasantry."
Marcel Gitton, one of the secretaries of the Party, dealt
with the organizational growth of the movement. Character-
istic of the whole spirit of the French Party was the nature
of th 'is report; it was not merely an account of dry facts, but
a spirited address, epitomized in its very title-s't'The Great
Communist Family," He showed how the French Party
grcw from 87,000 at the beginning of 1936, at the Eighth
Congress, to 341,000 in about two years; and together with
the Young Communists to a total of 450,000 Communists of
France, organized in about 13,000 Party units. L'Humanite,
the Party organ, founded by Jean Jaures, which in 1934
had 200,000 readers, reached 425,000 at the time of the
Ninth Congress, and its daily edition on special occasions
had reached the million mark. The Communist vote had
increased from 784,000 in 1932, when ten deputies were
elected, to 1,5°0,000 in 1936, when 73 deputies and two
senators were elected.
It is impossible in this foreword to do more than indicate

the main theme of Thorez' address-the prime emphasis
upon consolidating the forces of the people to smash the
threat of fascism; the gains made through the People's
Front by the workers, the peasants, the veterans, the small
business and professional people, and the fight for further
immediate improvements and for the final victory of social-
ism which must be carried on; the glorious role which the
French people has always played in the fight for liberty,
enriched by the revolutionary traditions of 1789, and 1871;
the inspiration of the existence and progress of the Soviet
Un ion to the French people, as the Paris Commune had in-
spired the Russian proletariat; the necessity of a firm French
peace policy, of unity with the democratic countries to stop
the aggression of the fascist powers and to aid the heroic
Spanish people. Rather than attempt to summarize the
highlights of the speech, we urge the reader to take full ad-
vantage of the opportunity afforded by this booklet to
acquaint himself thoroughly with the masterful analysis of
Maurice Thorez, so full of important lessons not only to the
French but to the democratic masses everywhere, and espe-
cially to the American people.
As in France, dark forces are at work in this country, chal-
lenging the democratic institutions and rights of our people.
The story of how the French masses, aroused by the Com-
munist Party and its allies in the Front Populaire, fought
off the attempted coup of the fascist elements in league with
Hitler and Mussolini; and of how the Communist Party
proposes to destroy every vestige of these sinister forces and
make France a happy and prosperous country for its people
-all recited by Maurice Thorez at the Arles Congress-must
be mastered by us, if we are determined to prevent the
reactionary forces from transplanting the fascist system 011
our soil. When Thorez spoke at Arles last Christmas week,
he spoke not only to the French Communists gathered there
but also to the democratic forces of France and the entire
world.
ALEXANDER TRACHTENBERG
CONTENTS
Foreword, by Alexander Trachtenberg
Introduction . .
I. France of the People's From: Land of Liberty and
Progress .
II. France's Mission in the \ \Torl d 49
III. In Order to Go Forw ard 88
Conclusion . . . . . . 126
FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
AND ITS MISSION IN THE WORLD
INTRODUCTION
OMRADES, almost two years ago, on January 25, 1936,

Cthe Eighth National Congress of the French Communist
Party, in concluding its remarkable work, launched a slogan
which soon became popular: Unity of the French Nation.
On the eve of the national elections, the Communist Party,
the principal builder of the successes of the laboring classes
and the French people in the struggle against reaction and
fascism, pointed out to the toiling masses of our country the
direction and the conditions for a new advance of the forces
of liberty and peace.
For a long time the Communist Party of France had been
emphasizing the growing threat of fascism. For a long time,
too, it had asserted that the fascist dictatorship was not an
unavoidable evil. For a long time it had advocated unity of
all workers against fascism, their most implacable enemy.
On the morrow of the fascist assault of February 6, 1934,
the Communist Party alone called the proletarians of Paris
to the unforgettable demonstration of February 9, which
was the heroic prelude to the general strike and powerful
demonstrations of February 12.
I" June, 1934, the National Conference at Ivry declared:
9
"The Communist Party wishes at all costs to obtain unity of

action against the bourgeoisie and fascism . . . .
"At this moment, fascism is the main danger. The full force
of proletarian mass action must be concentrated against it, and
every section of the toiling populat ion must be won over to the
struggle."
Our Party proposed and brought about the acceptance of

the Pact for Unity of Action which successfully united So-
cialists and Communists. It supported the efforts of the mili-
tant members of the Unitary, Confederated, and indepen-
dent unions which resulted in the formation of a single
C.G.T.* Our Party launched and brought about the triumph
of the idea of the People's Front for bread, liberty and peace.
By reviving the noblest national and revolutionary tradi-
tions of our people, the French Communist Party reconciled
the red flag and the tricolor, the Marseillaise and the Inter-
national.
But our Party wanted even more. It wanted to unite all the
workers, all the unfortunate against those who exploit and
divide them. It wished to unite the whole of the toiling people
against the parasitic minority which oppresses and ruins
the country. and our Villeurbanne Congress called for the
Unity of the French Nation against fascism, the servant of
capital and of the foreign enemy.
To be convinced that we were the interpreters of the
French people, that they heard, approved and followed us,
we need only point to the triumphant success of the People's
*Confederation Generale du Travail (General Confederation of

Labor). [Ed.]
INTRODCCTIOi\
Front and the Communist Party in the elections of 1936.

It is now the task of the Ninth Congress of our Commu-
nist Party to draw up a balance sheet of the last two years,
accurately to weigh the results obtained, to take into account
also the difficulties encountered by the Popular Front in
order to overcome them. It is our task as delegates of the
Communist organizations of town and country, the real
representatives of the workers and peasants of France, to
light the way for a new step forward of the masses of the
people.
In this dark hour, when our people are weighed down by
the double threat of civil and foreign war, when war has
already started and rages in several parts of the world, the
French Communist Party must loudly proclaim the progres-
sive and peaceful mission of the France of the People's
Front.
That is the object of my report.
LAND OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS
THE UNITY OF THE FRENCH NATION
report of the Central Committee at the Villeurbanne

T
HE
Congress, as many of us remember, made a strong im-
pression upon all the delegates and upon all the members of
the Party.
Outside of the Party, it was subjected to friendly, harsh
or raging criticism by friends or enemies. It provoked the
anger of some and the cheap mockery of others.
This report was almost a new introduction to France for
the working class, to the France which is "one of the richest
and most beautiful countries in the world."
It began with a picture of the wealth of France, its
immense resources, agricultural and industrial. It gave in
detail the main products of the soil of France made fertile
by the sweat and blood of Jacques Bonhornme, the ancestor
of our plowmen. It gave the output of our giant factories,
fruit of the toil of our fathers, and of our fathers' fathers,
down to the most distant generations.
Rich crops are raised on our fertile soil. It is one of the
leading countries in the production of wheat and sugar beets.
France occupies by far the first place in wine-growing, in
12
L:\?\D OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS, 13
the quantity, variety and quality of its wines. Stock raising

remains one of the principal resources of French agricul-
ture, an essential branch of our national economy.
Traditionally a country of rich agriculture, France has
also become a great industrial nation. Its subsoil holds coal,
iron (the greatest production and the most abundant re-
serves after the United States), and bauxite, the source of
aluminum, of which France is the chief producer.
Powerful enterprises are spread across our land: blast
furnaces, steel mills, factories for machine making, for
chemical products and textiles. The cradle of aviation.
France also holds third place in automobile production. And
her many high grade specialty industries such as those pro-
ducing Lyonese silks, fine needlework, fashions, Paris spe-
cialties and pottery spread throughout the world an appre-
ciation of the abilities and good taste of our people.
Yet, in this land endowed with such wealth, where the
people could live happily, there arose in the beginning of
1936 a widespread lamentation. a cry of distress. A dreadful
economic crisis was raging in industry, agriculture, C0111-
merce, public and private finances, which resulted in grievous
consequences especiaIIy to the toilers of town and country.
Industrial production feII 33 per cent by comparison with
1930. Factories shut their gates, machines slowed down. The
number of unemployed on relief reached the half-million
mark. Half of the remaining workers were employed only
part time. Wages fell from 115 billion francs in 1929 to
86 billion in 1935, a total reduction of 25 per cent.
The contraction of the market, the depreciation of agricul-
14 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FROl TT
tural prices, had at the same time reduced farm income from
44 to 17 billion, a reduction of about 60 per cent.
We explained to the people the basic reasons for the
depression and its train of suffering, when abundance and
joy should reign instead.
This is because the wealth of our country, fruit of the
accumulated toil of generations, has become the property of
a parasitic minority which exploits it for its own benefit.
The workers cannot purchase the merchandise which they
produce. The peasants cannot obtain, in exchange for the
products they have to give away at ridiculous prices, the
manufactured articles and the machines which the capitalist
groups sell at high prices.
Obligation to produce and prohibition to consume: from
this contradiction flow crises, unemployment and general
distress.
Following the teachings of Lenin, we showed that at the
head of the new aristocracy was to be found a very small
number of big capitalists, the heads and representatives of
those "two hundred families who dominate the economy and
politics of the country."
It is this financial oligarchy which condemns the French
people to want, to physical decay and moral degradation,
which destroys the family, which throws the father out on
the street without any concern for the bread of his children,
which drives his daughter Into prostitution, and reserves the
Elysees or Belle-Isle for the unhappy foundling, deprived
of tenderness and care.
It is this financial oligarchy which brings about the growth
LAND OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS 15
of scandal and corruption, the poisonous flowers of the capi-

talist dunghill which pays the fascist leaders, maintains and
arms their mercenary tro ops, sows discord and incites civil
war.
It is this financial oliga rchy which preaches a contemptible
economic Malthusianism, which announces through its ideol-
ogists the epoch of the "great penance."
It is thi s financial oligarchy which wants to have machines
smashed, fact ori es demolished; which advocates, after the
destruction of reserves , the denaturing of wheat, the uproot-
ing of vines, the distillation of the wines, the restriction of
production in every sphere.
The y were preparing in France to follow the example of
those countries where coffee is thrown into the sea, wheat
burned in locomotives , and the most highly prized foods
thrown to the pigs.
Consider the following figures, enough to condemn a social
system forever:
In Brazil were destroyed:
1931.·· .. 2.825 million sacks of coffee
1932 . . . ... 12.255
1933 .. ··· .. · . 25.842
1934···· ··· 34.108
1935.. .. .. 35.801
1936 . .. 39.532
Feb ruary, 1937 4 2 .423
In Holland the animals were fed with:

6.5 millionkilos*of tomatoes
* One kilogram equals approximately two and two-tenths pounds .

16 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
4 million kil os of cauliflow er

2.7 " of spinach
1.5 " of new pot ato es
4.5 .• of cabbage
1.7 .• of gooseb erries
In August, 1936, there were destroyed:

350 million kilos of cucumbers
roo .. .. of tomatoes
6r " of beam,
30 "of lett lice
Thus France, which for a long time had been a country

of progress, thanks to the modest toil of its most obscure
sons, thanks to the genius of its thinkers, scientists, inventors
and artists, would likewise have become a cursed land . Our
country, instead of pursuing, with the help of the machine,
its determined struggle to master nature, would have stag-
nated and gone back to ignorance. It was invited to return
to the backward ways of the past! They might just as well
have tried to arrest the course of our planet.
We declared at Villeurbanne that the greatness of France
did not belong solely to the past. We stated our desire to
secure once again a bright future of happiness, prosperity,
liberty and peace for our country and our people.
We launched our appeal for the unity of the Frenck na-
tion. We cried, "L ong liv e a fre e, strong and happy Franc e,
the France which the Communists desire and will create."
The fundamental thought, the main line of the report of
the Central Committee at the Villeurbanne Congre ss can be
seen in all the activities of our Communist Party for the
L!\l'D OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS 17
past two years, and is to be found in all the manifestoes and

resolutions of our Central Committee, in the reports and
speeches of our leading members. Everywhere during this
time we hammered away tirelessly, unyieldingly, at the same
point: ullity of the French people against internal and ex-
ternal fascism must be achieved.
The resolutions of the Eighth Congress inspired our
answer to Hitler, on the morrow of the coup de force of
March 7, 1936; they inspired the radio speech of April 17,
during the electoral campaign, with its proffer of the out-
stretched hand to the Catholic workers-which has already
stirred up so much talk and the consequences of which will
be seen even better in the future .
.The results of the ViIIeurbanne Congress were reflected
in the work of our National Conference of July, 1936, the
day after the national elections and the great victorious
strikes, to which the elections were like a signal. Our Com-
munist Party was especially concerned with the just de-
mands of the little people of the middle classes and of the
peasants . The policy worked out at ViIIeurbanne was seen
in the correct position of the French Front toward respect
of the social laws, the disarming of internal fascism, and
the application of a genuine peace policy abroad, which
would have assured regular aid from our people to repub-
lican Spain.
Is it not clear at present, comrades, that at times a French
Front was formed of a kind from which we had hoped to
save the working class and the People's Front, a Frencli
Front extending to the parties of reaction, which approved
both the "pause?" and the blockade of republican Spain,

under the pretext of non-intervention, while the Communists
alone protested. (Applause.)
It was in the spirit of the ViIIeurbanne Congress that we
proclaimed at Boulogne, in September, 1936, and at Mu-
tualite Hall the following month and at each one of the
Party conferences, that we must not permit the crystalliza-
tion of two hostile blocs, which would inevitably lead to
civil and foreign war, that it was necessary to rally to the
People's Front for the carr)'ing out of the People's Front
program all those workers who even in April still declared
themselves against the People's Front. The cantonal elec-
tions and almost all the local elections have proved that we
were right, and that it was possible to win social strata for-
merly hostile to the People's Front away from fascism and
reaction.
Unity of the nation to assure the security and future of
the country against internal and external fascism-together
with real internationalism-was the underlying principle of
our ardent support of the Spanish Republic, against help to
the rebel Franco. This was the general theme of our cam-
paigns of solidarity with the colonial peoples. It was the
basis for our spirited activity for the effective disarming of
the reorganized fascist leagues, and for the imprisonment of
their leaders.
Let us now examine, comrades, the results of the unity
• This term was applied to the government policy of not carrying

out in full the social legislation program of the People's Front.
LA.. on OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS 19
policy of our Communist Party, of its appeal for the Peo-

ple's Front and for the unity of the French nation.
WHAT THE PEOPLE'S FRONT HAS GIVEN:
a. To the working class:
Sin ce the Villeurbanne C ongress, how many happy changes

have taken place in the condition of the country and in the
living standards of the working masses! Life has becom e
happier , free r, mor e glorious for the workers of France.
FoIlowin g up on the elect oral victory of the People's
F ro nt, th e working class , becoming conscious of its strength.
under took direct action on an extraordinary scale with re-
mark able effectiveness against their 'em ployers.
Th e strikes of IMay and June, 1936, characterized by the
peaceful occupati on of the shops, the new form of struggle
adapted to the new situation, permitted the workers in a
few weeks to obtai n th e acceptance of their just demands.
The workers made the hitherto stubborn employers give sub-
stantial rai ses in wages. They obtained from Parliament the
rapid passage of the social laws inscribed in the People's
Fr ont platform: the 4o-hour week, paid vacations and col-
lective agreements.
The increase in wages was general for all corporations
and all regions.
It must be pointed out, however, that the increase in real
wages is less than the increase in hourly rates, since the work-
ing week has been reduced to 40 hours. But, on the other
han d, the minimum wage guarantee must be taken into ac-
FRA. 'CE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
count. Before IMay, 1936, only a few contracts, covering a

very small fraction of the working class, regulated the ques-
tion of wages. Henceforth, almost all workers will be as-
sured of a normal and regular income, thanks to col1ective
agreements. We would be able to say all workers, if the recal-
citrant bosses were rigorously compelled to respect the law.
The collective agreements will no longer permit the vicious
practice of the bosses who strive to pit one worker against
another in the same enterprise, or who play upon the needs
of the unemployed, and upon the dread of being fired which
haunts the employed workers, in order to cut wages.
The threat of being laid off often compelled workers to
accept arbitrary conditions of work. More than one sales-
girl, office or factory girl has been exposed to the abomin-
able blackmail of a department head, foreman or manager.
In 1935, in one of the department stores of Paris, nearly
five hundred salesgirls were fired on one pretext or another,
but often for reasons which are revolting to honest people.
Since the June strikes there have been only twelve cases of
firing in this store and these only after having been taken
up by the grievance committee. It is not hard to understand
why the salesgirls cling to their grievance committees and
did not hesitate, on December 14, to launch a movement,
victorious at the end of a few hours, to defend themselves
against the employers' threats.
With the collective agreements, the feeling of solidarity
among all the workers has increased, the prestige of the
unions and revolutionary workers has risen considerably.
The setting up of shop delegates elected democratically
LAND OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS
everywhere (except at Roubaix, where, through a peculiar

annulment, the law is not enforced) lends still more strength
and effectiveness to the demands in the shops. The working
class has acquired a higher consciousness of its own strength,
of its own dignity.
The boss no longer sees a worker timid to the point of
humility, who does not dare state his demands, who distrusts
himself and his neighbor, ready to give up because he be-
lieves and feels himself more or less alone. The employer,
whose responsibility and authority within his shop are in
no way disputed under the present regime, is now faced by
united, steadfast and powerful proletarians, confident in their
union and their leaders . The workers formulate and fight for
their demands without fear.
Acting in their name the shop delegate or the union dele-
gate enters the office of the employer or manager and speaks
with head bare but upright. They are polite, yet firm. They
are men, representing men before other men who owe their
privileged position to the labor of their modern slaves, and
whose privileges will not last forever. (Applause.)
The 4o-hour week has very much improved the living con-
ditions of the workers. More completely rested after the
intensive strain of their work, they can enjoy their leisure
hours under better conditions. They can taste more fully
of the joys of family life.
The mother, often a worker herself, can devote more time
to her household duties, to the upkeep of her modest ward-
robe. The father no longer comes home worn out after his
long working day, after the children are already in bed. He
can at last see them around him. He rejoices because they

are better fed, better:dressed. He speaks to them, he liste~s
to them; he watches over their education, their moral and
intellectual development; the family goes out for walks; they
visit friends. In summer they leave the dreary city with its
dingy walls to sit on the grass in the country or in the parks.
In the winter they go to the movies, to the theater. Grad-
ually the radio is coming into each home.
The youth frequent their clubs; they engage in sports,
attend study courses, visit museums, educate and amuse
themselves. Every Saturday they leave Paris and the big
cities, and in happy groups camp out and play in the open
air. The tandem bicycle has reappeared: in 1936, 500,000
more bicycle license tags were taken out than in 1935; and
the increase has not slowed up in 1937 either.
Paid vacations have likewise brought great joy to the
workers. For the first time, aged workers of both sexes have
been able to leave the wretched, stuffy and lightless lodgings
of their Parisian neighborhood or big provincial city to go
to the mountains or the seashore for two weeks. How often
had they heard tell of the fine things they felt they never
would see except in pictures? Others return to their native
village, to look again upon familiar scenes, to embrace their
old parents and see their friends again.
Let us emphasize a touching manifestation of proletarian
internationalism: the chemical workers obtained vacations
extending beyond the paid period for their fellow workers
from North Africa. The Algerians can revisit their homes
armed with a working ticket which permits them to come
L-\.:·D OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS, 23
back to France at the end of their leave. (Applause.)

Unemployment has diminished, but unfortunately not
enough. The number of unemployed on relief fell from
4 ZZ,03 6 in May, 1936, to 35 1,000 on December 18, 1937·
Part time unemployment, the chief cause for the decrease
in the income of the working class from 1930 to 1936, has
almost totally disappeared in the factories working under
the 4o-hour setup. However, sabotage of the bosses has
brought about the reappearance of part time unemployment
and an increase in complete unemployment.
b. To the sta,te employees, to the veterans:

And it is not only for the working class that the victory
of the People's Front has procured substantial gains.
The state employees, who were hit so hard by Messrs.
Doumergue and Laval-Regnier, have obtained the abroga-
tion of the decree-laws which had cut their salaries and pen-
sions and had impaired their rights.
Many laws and decrees have granted them increases: the
law of March 26, 1937, and the decree of April 10 meant a
monthly increase of about 100 francs for government offi-
cials and 75 francs for lower gradings.
On December 4, 1937, the Chamber voted a new annual
increase: 1,200 francs for heads and 1,080 francs for assis-
tants, retroactive to October I, 1937. Residence allowances
have likewise been increased. And the government employees
know that our Party was as usual the champion of their
cause.
The People's Front has abolished the odious reductions
which M. Laval had imposed upon the pensions and grants

of the veterans and war victims.
Among other measures passed for the benefit of the
veterans are the following: the abolition of the tax on in-
come from pensions of the disabled and war heroes ; annul-
ment of the decree of April 4, 1934, concern ing seniority
rights of government employees; the abroga tion of the
decree-laws reducing by as much as 785 francs the tempo-
rary bonuses for veterans of all ranks; the granting of sup-
plementary credits for the pensions of holde rs of the Legion
of Honor and the military meda l, and especially the estab-
lishment of the Pension Fund.
Lastly, a recent grant of four hundred millions- still very
insufficient-has permitted an initial adjustment in pensions.
c. And to the peasants:
The People's F ront constitutes, above all, the alliance of
the workers and peasants, united in the de fense of their
common interests.
Although the People's Front has not sufficiently aided the
peasants, yet we can state that it has done more for them
than any other political or parliamentary gro uping of the
past.
The men of the People's Front, and the Communists es-
pecially, do not share 1'.1. Tardieu's scorn for the peasants'
demands. I take the liberty to quote once more 11. Tardieu
who addressed the peasants of Blerancourt, in Aisne, in
these terms:
"You have been concerned solely with figures an d pennies.
You think only of the price at which you can sell your calves,
pigs and wheat. That has no importance, or rather that is im-
portant only to you individually. A9 long as you believe that
life is made for that and you do not think of strengthening the
spi ritual and moral unity of the nation, you will lose money and
it "ill serve yon right." (LI' Temps, June 5. 1935.)
In that same period. M. Tardieu did not balk at the secret

funds which he was supplying to Colonel de la Rocque
(Applallse) , and he showed his concern for "the moral and
spiritual unity of the nation" by preparing for civil war
among the French people.
The People's Front, unlike the fascist-minded men of reac-
tion, thought it necessary to raise agricultural prices. It did
this with definite success.
Thanks to the Wheat Bureau, the French peasant in 1936
sold his wheat at an average price of 144 francs per quintalt ;
at present, his price is 180 francs; he sold it for 70 and even
60 francs during the time of Laval.
Let us compare the figures of other agricultural products
in the month of August, 1937, as compared with the same
1110nth of 1935.
In two years the same products increased as follows:
August,1935 August, 1937

Oats, per quintal 40 francs r ro Trancs
Barley, per quintal 45 145
Wine (9'), per hectoliter 41 138
Beef, second grade, per kilogram 4.80 " 8.80 "
• A quintet of wheat weighs 220.46 pounds, equal to 3.67 bushels.

A hectoliter is 26.42 gallons. A kilogram is 2.2 pounds,
:26 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
Augu-st, 1935 August, 1937

Veal, second grade, per kilogram 6 fran cs I~ frolics
Pork, second grade, per kilogram " 10.80 "
Milk at the farm in the P aris
milk-shed 0.50 " 0·90 •.
In brief, the price of wheat and other cereals has more

than doubled. It has tripled for wine, doubled for meat, and
the price of milk at the fa rm has increased by 80 per cent.
A statute granting ex tensions of time to indebted farmers
has been passed . The peasants are grateful to the Peo ple's
Front and the Communist Party for what has been done for
them. They indicated it clearl y at the last cantonal elections.
To the agricultural workers, the "pariahs" of the soil, the
People's Front has meant wage increa ses, family allowances
and the benefits of paid vacations, which are not obta ined
everywhere without difficulty, it is true .
d. To the middle classes:

The People's Front has not failed to bring aid to the
lower strata of the middle classe s, br ought to ruin and bank-
ruptcy by the economic depression and the rapacity of their
capitalist creditors.
Conditions in small busine ss have improved with the rise
in the purchasing power of the toiling masses. Hote l keepers
and provincial inn keepers have benefited from the influx
of travelers due to paid vacations. Those of Paris have seen
their receipts mount up due to the success of the Expos ition.
Several important measures have been pas sed benefiting
shop keepers, ar tisans, and small industrialists: the possi-
I_A., 'D OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS. 27
bilitv of credits, temporary government aid to commercial

ente'rprises and industries In difficulties; the extension of
further time to unfortunate and honest debtors; the im-
provement in the laws protecting small business and artisan
tenants; the increase in the allowance to hotel keepers who
lodge unemployed; an initial improvement in the law all
stocks and bonds.
The number of bankruptcies has decreased from 875, the
monthly average of the year 1935, to 486, the monthly aver-
age for the first ten months of this year.
The 10 per cent tax on the coupons of small bond-holders
has been abolished.
Thus, on the whole, the People's Front has definitely im-
proved the living conditions of all French toilers.
THE CULTURAL UPSURGE
This social advance has been complemented by a veritable

cultural upsurge, an expression of the development of the
masses of the people.
The 40-hour week and paid vacations, as we have already
seen, have developed the desire for sports and given impetus
to popular traveling; 861,922 travelers this year used 665,000
excursion tickets, which furnished the railroads with 91,673,-
532 francs in gross receipts.
French travelers are discovering their beautiful country;
they are admiring its famous scenery; they meditate in front
of the innumerable monuments which speak to them of the
struggles, sufferings, hopes and passions of their ancestors.
From the big stations of Paris, during the summer months

trains would leave, filled to the very roofs, in spite of th~
fact that they had been doubled, tripled, and even, as on the
Provence Line, multipled by five. Never had such a multi-
tude been seen on the Azure Coast. In Corsica the tourists
who had never been so numerous, were greeted with joyOU~
astonishment. In the great tourist centers, at N ice as well as
in Brittany and in Savoy, it was impossible to find a roon,
this summer.
Beginning with the summer of 1936, the reactio nary press
had comica lly fumed against "this proletarianization of tour-
ism, inspired by Soviet Russia, where for years waves of
Muscovites have rolled down upon the Crimea." (L e Temps,
July 2, 1936.) T hey comp lained of the "invasion of the
beaches and watering places." This year, again, these Con-
temptible sheets have made themse lves conspic uous by vile
articles and caricatures insulting the wo rkers.
Many working class organizations concerned themselves
with the question of vacations for their membe rs . Tourist
bureaus and vacat ion centers were estab lished. The metal
worke rs' union of the Paris region acquired two superb
pieces of property for this purpose. The union local of the
Renault factories organized a trip for 400 of its members
to Nice, where a festiva l was organized in their honor.
In the matter of sports, the number of mem bers of the
F5.G.T.* has quadrupled since June, 1936, as a result of
the application of the social laws. Two hundred and sixty
* General Labor Sports Federation.

L\ ."D O F LIBERTY A. <D PI{OGRESS 29
shop clubs have been formed. Gr~ups of campers, cyclist s

and motorcyclists have been orgamzed. Hundreds of camps,
resorts and inns for the youth welcome thousands and thou-
sands of sport-lovers and tourists fr om among the people.
Consider the se few statistics, comrades, to illustrate the
progress of sports am ong th~ workil.lg masses ..The W?rke~s'
Sports Cooperative o.f Pans has increased Its receipts 111
the following pr opor tIOns:
1934 340,000 francs
1935 550,000 francs
1936 . 830,900 francs
1937 for the firs t mon ths . . . . .1,400,000 franc s
The sale of camping equipmen t has yielded 484,000 fran cs

this summer, as again st 285,000 last year.
After discussing sports , which build the body, preserve or
restore health, and which a ssure a well-balanced mind, let
us consider the situation in the domain of the intellect and
art.
But first , permit me to render homage to one who was
the inspirer of the renais sance in French culture, our dear
Paul Vaillant-Couturier, whom we mourn. How we miss
him, how the French people miss this faithful Communist,
devoted to his Party, who expressed the aspirations of the
workers with such faith and enthusiasm; who fought with
such zeal and swept others into the fray; who wrote, spoke,
sang, painted; a soldi er who organized his comrades of the
front, veterans of the World War; an intellectual, a revo-
lutionary, who organized his brother workers and peasants;
a talented writer and magnificently gifted artist who organ-
30 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FR.O<IT
ized the vigorous cultural movement which is embodied in

the House of Culture.
Vaillant is no more but the work of Vaillant lives on and
prospers. It manifests itself in the multiplication of workers'
clubs, associations and schools, in the steady development of
our Workers' University. What a thirst for kno wledge there
is in our proletarians, in our young peasants! W hat a feeling
for art in our laborers and shop-girls!
Clubs, choruses and orchestras are being organ ized in the
big factories, at the Renault works, at Citroen's, Hotchkiss'
in the department stores, in the transport industries, in the
Metro, in the P.T.T.* in Paris, as wen as in the pr ovincial
cities. The evening music course of Professor Radiguet at
the National Conservatory of Music has no less than ISO
students.
The great composers of modern music, J acques Ibert,
Derius ,M ilhaud, Arthur Honegger, Desorrnieres, Charles
Koechlin, Georges Auric, actively participate in the work of
the People's Music Federation, made famous by the late
Albert Roussel.
An academy of painting, design and sculpture has been
established under the auspices of the Union des Syndicats de
la Seine**,. fifty students, belonging to the most varied
unions, take a course under the great artist, Fr anz Masereel.
A metallurgic worker painted the large portraits of the
leaders of the Party and the Intern ational which decorate
* Ministry of P09!S and Communications.

** Central Labor Union of the Seine Department.
this hall. Amateur photographers are increasing greatly, as

we have seen at our great demonstrations in Paris and the
provinces. . .
The social clubs are concerned with the techmcal educa-
tion of their members. Thus, the social club of the Mont-
rouge Metro * has organized lectures on the laws and meas-
urements of electrical energy, on electro-magnetism, and on
the technical plant of the subway. It has organized visits to
to the Arts and Crafts Institute; to the testing bench for
steam engines of the P.O . (Vitry); to the electrical demon-
stration laboratory; to the Palace of Inventions; a visit to a
broadcasting station, an automobile factory, visits to expo-
sitions and museums (Louvre, etc.); it has organized lec-
tures on Spanish culture, on Mexico, etc.
The Association Populaire des Antis des Musees ** has
organized, from June to November, 242 mass visits to mu-
seums and national palaces in order to facilitate the study
of the most diverse subjects of history, technics, science and
art.
Even taking into account the participation of foreign
tourists, here for the Exposition, the following figures suffi-
ciently indicate the interest of the workers of France in the
museums and palaces.
1936 1937
Louvre 85.000 312,600
Versailles 158,514 702,°40
Arc de Triornphe 37,188 175,726
Pantheon 33.521 200,148
• Subway. •• People's Association of Friends of the Museums.

32 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S F RO NT
The Theatre Populaire presents the best plays. Even the

music halls, circuses and cabarets register a larg er working'
class patronage and increased receipts.
It is in the cinema that the most outstanding results are
to be found . First, in the attendance at mov ing picture
houses. By 1936, receipts were already greater than those
of 1935 by 23,000,000; in 1937, according to the unanimous
opinion of the heads of this ind ustry, the incre ase is still
more marked. French film pr oduction has increased : one
hundred and twenty-five films were turned out in the first
eleven months of this year, and, above all, they are of a
finer quality.
Three F rench films won the highest awards at the biennial
International of Venice. Among these films are The Great
Illusion by our dear friend Jean Renoir (app lause ) who
gave our Party La Vie est a Nous and who is now complet-
ing La Marseillaise . Our Comrade Dreyfus gave us Le Temps
des Cerises. How much honest and sincere effort in order to
give our people a cinema powerful in its conception and
interpretation, striking because of its really truth ful empha-
sis and the collective acting and quality of the artists, both
the great sta rs and the supporting casts.
French literature shines with a new brilliance. Under the
great patronage of Romain Rolland, the greate st French
writer of our epoch and our very dear friend, a group of
young men of letters, guided by Aragon, Moussinac and
Jean -Richard Bloch, is honoring itself by servi ng the work-
ing class, as the people do by responding to the ir art.
The International Exposition of Arts and Technics was
LA!\D OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS 33
am letely successful in spite of the sabotage of reaction,

~\'hi:h thinks only of injuring the country, of discrediting
its institutions and statesmen.
The Exposition proved to what extent the prestige of
Paris and France has remained great throughout the world.
Nearly a million visitors came to us from abroad, spending
almost two billion francs in our country. And our guests
were able to see for themselves how the spirit of work, lib-
erty and joy reigns in our country, 'contrary to the lies and
~Ianders by which the propagandists of fascism seek to be-
smirch France.
People feel better, are more at ease in our land since the
People's Front victory. In the shops, in the streets of the
cities and villages, three words express this sentiment: We
breathe freely!
Of course, it is necessary to be vigilant, and I will come
back to that point. It is necessary that we do not lose sight of
the demands, some of them very urgent, which reaction
intends to thwart. We must not fall asleep upon the soft
pillow of quietude, while the enemies of the people are se-
cretly and cunningly arming and preparing for fearful as-
saults against the working class and the Republic, as was
confirmed by the uncovering of the plot which was foiled
by the vigilance of our Party.
But, on the whole, we can say that-life is happier, finer
and freer in our France. \Vith the exception of the Soviet
Union, France has regained first place in the world; it is
again becoming a land of liberty and progress. (Applause.)
The workers in the Soviet Union naturally enjoy inc0111-
parably better conditions, for the very simple reason that

there is no longer any capitalist exploitation in their land.
All the factories, all the great means of production and the
land belong to the workers alone. In the land of sOCialisl1l
there is no longer wage-labor, in the correct sense of th~
term, since wages presuppose surplus-value, the profit of
the capitalist.
After subtracting the portion which must go back to the
collective society in order to meet the expenditures necessary
for the care of the children and the aged, to permit the COn-
stant increase in production, and also guarantee the defense
of the socialist land, the Soviet worker really receives a sum
equal to the product of his toil. This will contin ue until
according to Marx's formula, having reached the highe;
phase of communist society, the free producers of the So-
viet Union can inscribe upon their banners, "from each ac-
cording to his ability, to each according to his needs."
The workers of the Soviet Union work seven hours a day,
six hours in the mines, and still less in certain particularly
difficult or hazardous industries. Paid vacations of not less
than two weeks are increased three days for each year spent
in the same enterprise. In mining and hazardous industries,
vacations are for a month.
In 1937, r6,000,000 Soviet workers spent their vacations
in the rest homes and sanatoria throughout the country,
particularly in the Crimea and the Caucasus; 2,575,000 were
registered in the sanatoria and convalescent homes of the
Social Insurance Services.
The general elections of December 12, the first election
under the new Stalin Constitution, ~ere. the. freest and most
democratic, beyond the scope of imagination of even the
1110st advanced bourgeois democracies. In those countries, as
with us, the capitalist possessors always have a thousand
waySof exerting pressure upon the electoral body.
in the Soviet Union, in addition, women, youth, beginning
at eighteen, soldiers and foreign workers vote and are eligible
for election.
WHAT FASCISM G IVES
After having depicted the conditions of the free masses

of the Soviet Union, we can and should compare the general
situation of the working masses in our country, due to the
People's Front, with that of the unhappy people groaning
under the yoke of fascism.
In 19I9, when Mussolini sought to form the mass basis
which fascism needs in order to impose its dictatorship, he
drew up a program of uncommon demagogy which in the
social sphere called for: (a) the immediate promulgation of
a state law making the eight-hour day lega l and compulsory
for all workers; (b) a minimum wage scale for workers;
(c) the participation of workers' representatives in the
technical operation of industry; (d) handing the adminis-
tration of the industries and public services over to the pro-
letarian organizations; (e) the prompt and complete granting
of the demands of the railroad workers.
Yet, in 1937, what is the situation of the proletarians in
fascist Italy?
According to the official statistics of the National Treas-
36 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S F R O NT
ury for Industrial Accidents, the index of average real

wages (taking 100 for 1922) was but 95 in 1923, 88 in
1924, 84 in 1925, which means a decrease of 16 per cent in
these three years.
In 1926 a great offensive was launched agai nst wages the
. right to strike was abolished; the special trib unals were set
up, and the workers were deprived of all legal means of pro-
tecting their wages. The publication of wage sta tistics by the
National Treasury was forbidden.
In 1928, the Confederation of Industrialists issued ce!"tain
facts which revealed that the average wage of the Italian
worker had decreased at least 40 per cent since 1922.
The last number of the Bulletin of the Central Insti.fltte
of I talian Statist ics, page 804, indica tes that the average
weekly wage of an industrial worker is 86 lire, that of an
agricultural worke r, 46 lire. The Italian lira has at present
a purchasing power about equal to the French franc . This
will give you an idea of the wretched living sta ndard of the
Italian pro letarians.
On large estates, wages in kind have been reestablished for
agricu ltural workers.
"Prompt and complete satisfaction of the demands of the
railroad workers!" said 1'1ussolini. Yes, but fascism has
greatly reduced railroad personnel; it has thro wn tens of
thousands of railroad workers into the streets, and instituted
an intense speed-up . The following table speaks for itsel i:
Numb erof uiorkers l ntensity
Years and emp loyees of labor
1921 . . . . ...... .........•.• .•.. . .... . 213,000
L\ . ·[) (>F LIBERTY AND PROGRESS 37
173.000 155
I~ 163.000 179
:: 134. 000 239
For a long time M ussol ini ha s been boasting of having

introduced the 4o-h our week. Well, here is the pay slip of an
Italian work er emp loyed in a large munitions factory, for
a week at the end of the yea r 1936 .
It is to be seen that the worker toiled 114 hours instead of
80 during the two week s ; that the working hour is paid for
at the rate of 1.62 lire with 0.10 for each additional hour.
It is to be observed that the wage under these conditions
totals 276 lire, including premiums, and has had 31 lire de-
ducted from it, or II per cent of the total.
MlIssolini spoke in 1919 of the administration of the in-
dustries by the pr oletarian organizations, of their participa-
tion in the technical management of the industries. He began
by suppressing trade unions. In Italy, collective contracts are
signed by the indu strialists and th e fa scist functionaries who
arc selected by their leaders.
Xlussolini declar es that fasci sm has established social in-
surance in Italy. As a matter of fact, the old age and dis-
ability fund has exist ed since 1898. In 1920, all the branches
of insurance were united int o one National Fund. Fascism
has taken possession of all the se in stitutions and their finan-
cial resources to the detriment of the worker members.
At the end of 1934, the National Fascist Institute of So-
cial Insurance admitted a surplus of nine and a half billion
lire, of which seven billion had served to refloat banks and
capitalist institutions, for the financing of the fascist foreign
38 F R -\\TE OF T H E PEOPLE'S FRONT
policy of war , especially in the preparation of the war in

Ethiopia.
In 1923 fa scism did awa y with government contribution
to the special fund for unemployment benefits; it abolished
relief grants to agricultural workers ; it limited the right to
benefits of the other workers. In the course of the first six
months of 1922, 72 per cent of the unemployed received
relief. It fell to 42 per cent in 1923, to 22 per cent in 192.l
and is 12 per cent at pr esent. The maximum daily allowance
has remained at the level of 192 2 - ;31.75 francs paid for 90
day s only .
But here is something which shows even more vividly the
lowering of the living standards of the working masses in
Italy . These are official figures on consumption:
Consum ption per Inhabitant
A verage lncrcas e n «
1910-1914 1934 DecreaJc
Wheat flou r (kilog rams)...... 117 8S -28%
Corn flour, kilograms 44 28 - 37%
Wine, litre." , liS 80 - 31%
And the comparison between 1926 and 1934 shows how

ruthlessly fascism took back fr om the workers the advan-
tages they had won after the war:
Average Increase or
1926-1930 1934 Decrease
Wheat flour, kilograms 125 8S - 34%
Sugar, kilograms 9 7 -23%
Wine , Iitres 109 80 - 27%
Meat, kilograms. . .. ..... . . .. .. . 19 IS - 22%
• A litre i~ a little more than one quar t.

LAND OF LIBERTY A~D PROGRESS 39
And consumption has decreas~d still. further sin~e I 93~,

as a result of the ruil~ous wars m .A fn ca and Spain, as .IS
shown by the official mdex of retail sales of foodstuff s III
Milan:
January , 1934- 0 •• •• ' • • • •
January,1936 ···· ···· ········ 79

August , 1937 55
This repre sents a decrease of 45 per cent in the consump-

tion of foodstuff s from January, 1934, to August, 1937·
! TOW, here are some very interesting statistics issued by the
International Instit ute of Agr iculture, according to the fig-

ures given by variou s governments. The relative consump-
tion in Italy and Franc e is outlined :
In Italy III F rance
Wheat, kilogram '" . 159 183
Sugar, kg . 8 26
Milk, litr e 30 105
Butter, kg. I I
Meat, kg. 16 J4
Fruit, kg. 19 23
I repeat, these ar e the official figures of the International

Institute of Agriculture at Rome. The already consid erable
difference has become still greater since 1935. While war
lowered the living standards of the Italian workers, those of
the French workers rose, thanks to the victories of the Peo-
ple's Front , which was created on the initiative of the Com-
munist Party.
Are the peasants better off now than before the establish-
ment of the dictat orship ? In practice , fascism has deprived
40 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRO NT
them of the right to trade ; it fixes obligatory prices and Con-

stantly diminishes the purchasing power of farm product
as is shown by the following figures: '
Y t ar
1928
1929 . .. .. . ........ ... 93 99 94
1932 65 78 84
1933 55 73 74
The tax burden of the peasants has been aggravated by
fascism. Mussolini himself has had to admit that it has b;.
come unbearable. As a result, the peasants have sunk deeply
into debt. The number of chattel and cr op foreclos ur es has
increased in frightful proportions :
192 1 . 28,000 forec losures
1922 . 45,000
192 3 .. 99,000
1930 . 281 .000
1931 ., . 333,000
1934 · ·· · .. ·
Forced evictions from the land for non-payme nt of debt

increased from 316 in 1921 to 8,333 in 1934. F rom 1923 to
1934, 36,000 small Italian growers were expro priated for
unpaid debts; 20,000 were expropriated for not paying their
LAi\D O F LIBERTY A~D PROGRESS 41
taxes . Add to thi s the fact th at according to official st~tistics

of 1933, 46.4 percent of pea sant homes were considered
unfit for occupat ion. . .
From the coun tr yside let us turn to the crtie s, The effect
of the fascist dictator ship upon small business men and arti-
~ans can be seen in the f ollowing table:
B an k ru ptc ies of
small busin ess men Notes
and indu strialists protested
rea r
19'21
128 193,000
19 26 . 849,000
1930 . 1,449.000
193 2 . 1,616,000
1934 .
This make s clear fa scism' s policy toward the middle

classes, whom it deceived in order to obtain their support and
to establish a dictatorship which is that of the most reaction-
ary elements of big capital.
IN GERMANY
If we pass from the Italy of Mussolini to the Germany of

Hitler, we find that the lot of the workers is no more en-
viable there. On the other side of the Rhine, too, Hitler and
his lieutenants had elaborated a demagogic program designed
to dupe the working masses. The fascists came out against
the wage-cuts and the attacks upon the social legislation of
the coalition gov ernments, unfortunately with the approval
of Social-Democracy and the reformist trade union leaders.
The fascist slogan at the beginning of 1933 was "Brat,
42 FR:\~CE OF THE PEOPLE'S F RO NT
Arbeit I und Freiheit." (Bread, Work and F reedom !")

Yet one of the first decisions of fascis m in power, after
the destruction of the trade unions, after the prohibition
first of the Communist Party and then of the ~.)ciali, ;
Party, after the arrests of the militant proleta rians, was the
reorganization of the units previously set up in the shops by
the "National-Socialist" Party of Hitler. .
Taken in by Hitler's demagogy, the members of these fas-
cist units thoug ht they could continue to talk out loud in their
factories; they wanted to intervene in var ious matters---
wages, hiring and firing, the organization of production,
technical control, etc. At the demand of the industrialists
the powers of these Nazi basic units were modified and lim-
ited. Extremist elements were eliminated, imprisoned, even
executed. And the Nazi shop organizations became stool-
pigeon and spying establishments.
The Labor Front was formed. In order to serve the inter-
ests of the bosses with the greatest servility and alacrity, it
was decided that "the employer shall be designated as the
assistant to the leader of each organ of the L abor Front, ill
the cases where the leader himself is not an em ployer." (I am
quoting from the official text.)
All resistance having been smashed, fascism could now
pursue its policy of wage cuts, increase in working hours and
speed-up without interference.
Since Hitler's accession to power in January, 1933, wages
have been reduced between 25 per cent to 40 per cent. Lc
Temps of January 28,1936, has pointed out that Der Angri[f,
Goebbels ' paper, has admitted that the average monthly
L.\.'J) OF LIBERTY A.'JD PROGRESS 43
wage oi the German worker was 80 to 150 marks. Le Temps

also draws attention to the fact that a.la'borer does not earn
ll1(Jre than 20 marks a week. whereas 111 1934 unemployment
benefits for the same laborer were 24 marks.
Frol11 these reduced wages are deducted further large
amounts, from 20 to 30 per cent, for various forms of insur-
ance. and also forced payments to Nazi groups, to the
"Strength Through Joy" organization, the "Winter Aid" and
air defense organizations. Working conditions are such in
Germany that the number of accidents and cases of disease
have increased from 826,980 in 1932 to 1,533,827 in 1936.
Social insurance benefits for unemployment, sickness, acci-
dents and old age have been greatly reduced.
More than half a million workers engaged in public works,
in the construction of highways, receive as full compensation
nothing but the relief allowance, supplemented by aid in
kind. In the Labor Service, more than 250,000 young men,
iorced into this service, receive only 50 pfennigs per day,
like the soldiers .
.\s in Italy, fascism in Germany has reintroduced payment
in kind f.or agricultural workers. "It is no secret that on
large estates, which are still very numerous in Germany, agri-
cultural workers are compensated in a wretched fashion,"
wrote Le Temps, April 9, 1934.
I t has also been pointed out that the Prussian landowners
are again inflicting corporal punishment upon their serfs.
The lowering of the living standards of the working
masses of Germany is so thorough that all the big leaders of
. .azism have to exert themselves to force its acceptance. The
executioner Goering, the incendiary of the Reichstag, had

already announced that: "You don't kill with butter, but
with cann on." He assures the German people that " its cUtlets
are to be found in the garbage pail," that there fore nothing
in the way of garbage may be permitted to be lost, because
he, Goering, has undertaken to have it treated in order to
extract the necessary fat for food.
Once again in Germany the science of ersatz is flourishing
-"K.K."' bread made of sawdust, and pork sau sages made of
fish.
O n October 28, 1936, according to the J'ocl kischer Beo:
bachte r, Goering said at the Spo rtpalast:
"And now I address my self to you, German hou sew ives, A
great responsibility rests upon you r shou lde rs . R cm emb er that
you mus t always place upon yo ur menu s es pecia lly tho se dishes
which are in season, those foodstuffs whic h are to be found,
those which our national German production fu rn ishes at the
moment. It is criminal to always wis h to buy and have JUSt
what nature docs not produce at the given mome nt
". . . You must not always want fo reign fab rics. The new
German materials made of wood ",;11 do just as we ll."
H itler, personally, rebukes the hungry with these words:

"YOII, who com plain of having one- course mea ls, do not kno,
ho w good it is for the health."
A ser ies of conferences of doctors and biologists have

taken place in Germany for the purpose of furni,;hing all
ideological and scient ific basis for the Fueh re r's theories on
malnutrition. I recalled yeste rday, at the Are na, how, at one
of these meetings, held in October, 1936, at F rankfort-on-
LA"TD OF LIBERTY AND PROGRESS 45
the-~Iain, a certain Dr. Wirtz showed, with many detailed

e.'planations, the harmful effects of eating meat. This doctor,
a very learned and profound philosopher, even maintained
that one of the principal reasons ior the fall and decay of
the Roman Empire was the eating of meat. Mussolini take
note!
On the farm question, Hitler has proved himself the
champion of the squires and big landowners, while he has
burdened the small peasants with excessive taxes and levies.
He has introduced the capital tax in 1 1,000 rural communi-
ties where it was not in force before.
The coalition governments had established a special fund
for the peasants of the East; Hitler, before taking power,
protested dcmagogically against thc distribution of the allo-
cated credits; in 1932, of a total sum of 132,000,000 marks,
60,000,000 had gone to farms of more than 100 hectares.*
But in 1934 National-Socialism in power distributed 21 3 ,-
000,000 marks to farms of 125 hectares and over; 194,000,-
000 to farms of between seven and one-half hectares and
12 5 hectares; and only 33,500,000 marks to small farms of

less than seven hectares. As in Italy, foreclosures are in-
creasing for smal1 farms.
Bound in this way, the working masses in the fascist coun-
tries undergo terrible exploitation. Morally and economically,
the working class, the peasantry and the urban middle classes
are crushed. 1 othing remains of the liberties won during the
period of democracy.
·A hectare equals 2.47 acres.

46 FRAKCE OF THE PEOPLE'S F RO NT
A fte r the Communists, after the Socialists, a fter the re-

publicans, after the Jew s, it is the Catholics an d the Prate.
tants whom Hitler thr ows into his prisons and concentration
camps.
Th e executioner's axe beheads honest workers, whose only
crime is to remain faithful to their class, to their Communist
P arty .
Thaelmann, the leader of the German proletariat, whom I
greet fr om this platform in the name of the Communi t
Pa rty of France, has been isolated in his dungeo n for almost
fix e years while his executioners dare not even bring him
before their special courts. Gramsci, the leader of the Italian
Communists, whose memory we greet, died in his dungeon
after ten long years of imprisonment.
Bloody fascism arouses horror and disgust in all workers,
all democrats, all courageous and reasonable men.
Comrades, how different it is in our country!
And if we can speak of a cultural upsurge in our land, we
cannot fail to mention the intellectual retrogression of the
countries of fascism . Brutal hostility to culture, to the repre-
sentatives of science and the arts, is, moreove r, one of the
characteristics of fascism. We know of the bar baric treat-
ment reserved by the Hitlerites for the greatest sons of the
German people, for those who continue the heri tage of Kant
and Goethe, of Marx and Heine: Karl Ossietsky, winner of
the Nobel Peace Prize, was thrown into a concentration
camp; the great scientist, Einstein, has been deprived of his
German citizenship.
As in the time of the Inquisition, the books of scientists
and philosophers are burned, the ridiculous and odious theo-

ries of race are develop ed to bring back the massacres of the
~riddle Ages. Anti-Se mitism has been sanctified as an official
philusophy which ten~s to justify the worst crimes .
Hitler wrot e in Mein Kampf:
"The racial stat e must be based on the principle that a man
whose scientific culture is elementary, but whose body is healthy,
his character firm and honest, given to making decisions and
endowed with an energe tic will, is a more useful membc.r for
the national communi ty than a weak creature, whatever his in-
tellectual gifts may be. A people of scientists, physically degen-
erated. of weak will and profe ssing a cowardly pacifism, will
never be able to conquer th e heavens , will never be capable of
assuring even its own ex istence on this earth."
Goering declares that "genuine leaders have no need what-

soever of culture and science." (Le Temps) June 27, 1934.)
In the drama Schlageter) the Nazi author has one of his
characters say: "When I hear the word 'culture,' I reach for
my revolver."
The Italian fascist leaders are not behind their German
counterparts in any respect.
In July, 1934, Mussolini declared: "The fascist era wiII
see the end of intellectual work, of those intellectuals who
are sterile and constitute a menace to the nation."
In his History of the Fascist Movement) Volpe is obliged
to admit:
"Mussolini bestowed upon his intimates a sort of intolerance,

almost a contempt for int ellectuals . . . . It was but natural for
this attitude to degenerate among his disciples into a scorn of
culture. Coarsely ironic manifestations, full of contempt ior

culture and its representatives, were not lacking."
It is consequently not surprising that the film, The Great

Illusion, awarded a prize Iby a jury at Venice, should be sup-
pressed in Italy as well as in Germany.
Fascism, the open, brutal and bloody dictato rship of capi-
tal, is indeed a backward march toward the barbaric pa t.
Contemptuous of moral and intellectual valu es, fascism tend
toward the complete enslavement of the indivi dual, body and
mind, it wishes to reduce man to the level of the brute; it
asp ires to reign over a miserable flock, mute and resigned,
subm issive to the omnipotence of a F uehre r or a Duce.
II.
FRANCE'S MISSION IN THE WORLD
THE INFLUENCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT

THROUGHOUT THE WO RLD
HE workers and democrat s of Ital y and Germany are

T conscious of the terribly wretched situation in which
they find themselves. The y cann ot but have the desire , the
wili, to escape the hell of fa scism.
This is especially so when they compare their lot with
that of the workers and republicans of France. No matter
how the fascists circulate the most fantastic rumors about
the situation in our country; n., matter how they display
their truly fertile imagination, disseminating all sorts of stu-
pidities and slander s, they cannot prevent their people from
catching a glimpse of the truth.
The workers of Germany and Italy know that in France
the People's Front has up to now prevented the triumph of
the would-be dictators. They know that with the People's
Front the workers have won wage increases, the 4o-hour
week, paid vacations and collective agreements. They know
that in our land a free people is striving for peace.
The people under the subjugation of fascist dictatorships
turn their eyes toward France of the People's Front. They
follow attentively the fortunes of our battles. The great
49
strikes of May and June, 1936, had tremendous repercu.

sions among the :vorkers of the 'w hole w~rld. Echoes of OUr
great demonstrations resounded abroad, 111 the factories and
even in the most distant villages. Our magnificent meeting
at Strasbourg, which put the Fuehrer into a furor (he let
hi~nself ~end his charge d'affaires to t~e Quai d'O rsay),
this meetmg at Strasbourg was the subject of impassioned
and approving discussion among the German workers.
A Ruhr miner said these words to a militant Communist;
"My greetings to the French comrades, and tell them that
we thank them for their example."
The Italian comrades tell us that their worker compatriot
in France, who revisited their homes on their paid vacations
were the best propagandists of the People's Fro nt in Italy:
And it is 'because their peoples turn with hope to the
France of the People's Front that the fascist dictators lash
out furiously against our country.
The greater the repercussions throughout the world of the
social and political victories won by our people on democratic
soil, the greater becomes the hatred of fascism for democ-
racy and for the ideals of the Great French Revo lution.
Fascism's hatred of democracy was not born yesterday.
On April i, 1926, Mussolini declared in one of hi
speeches: "We represent the antithesis of all the supporter
of the immortal principles of 1789." The Duce presents the
fascist movement as a reaction against "the movement of the
enlightenment of the eighteenth century and the Encyclo-
pedia."
He wrote in his hook, The Philosophy of Fascis m : "Fas-
FRA?\'CE'S MISSION IN THE WORLD 51
cism is against all the Jaco~in utopias ~nd innovations," and,
in "Fascism fights agam st the entire complex of demo-
:~tic' ideology, both in its th eoretical premises, and in its
practical application. " . " .
On his part , Hitler procla ims that democracy IS but a
lie." He declar es that "democra cy led by Jews drives the
a Ie to the abyss," wher eas - [at iona l-Socialism "wa s able
~ free German y fr om parliamentarism."
Goebbels, in Revolllt i oll del' D eutsclien , wrote: "The year
1789 will be erased fr om hist ory." .
I le does 110t know or he no longer Wishes to know the
thought expre ssed on the evening of September 20, 1792 ,
at Valmy, by the gr eatest German poet, Goethe, who cried
out : "Here today begins a new era in the history of the
world, and you will be able to say that you were there."
(.Jpplause.)
Another Nazi chief who has had his hour of sorry glory
exclaimed: "Many values which are sacred to democracy
.. have been devalu ed by the new Germany, such as abso-
lute equality of all who have a human face, the deification
of majority will and of numbers."
This man's na me was R oehm. He illustrated, it would
seem, in imitati on of the sinister Goering, and like another
Nazi, the Sudetic Ru tha, to what a degree , for a confirmed
Hitlerite, the "devalu ation of values" and the idea of "in-
equality" even between individuals of the same sex, could
go. (Applause.)
Fascism, theref ore, declares itself the antithesis of democ-
racy. Therefore it is aga inst the ideas of 178<), against the
principles of the Declaration of the Rights of !Man and of the

Citizen, that the dictators of Rome and Berli n have declared
war.
Very well! It pleases us, the Communist pro leta rians, SOn
of the people of France, inheritors of the ideas of the mate-
rialists of the eighteenth century, perpetuators of the revo-
lutionary actions of the Jacobins, it pleases us that the
question should be put thus: "Democracy or Fascism"
(Applause.) .
It is in this very way, in the concrete real ity of toda,
that the question is posed to the Socialist and Commwli' ;
proletarians, as well as to their friends and allies in the other
republican parties.
In eighteen months France will celebrate the one hundred
and fiftieth anniversary of the Great Revo lut ion. This will
be a striking affirmation of the democratic faith of Our
people. Today I take the liberty to make the first Commutli-t
contribution in the name of our Party to the political prep-
aration for this glorious commemoration which will resound
throughout the world .
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE GREAT REVOLUTION

The bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1789 was the vio-
lent culmination of a slow evolution in the class relationship
within the former feudal society. The development of the
prod uctive forces stimu lated by the capita list mode of pru-
duction was hindered by the political and legal structure
erected upon the base of previous prod uctive relationships,
which were now outmoded. For centuries the bourgeoisie. a
FRA:\CE'S :.[ ISSION IN THE WORLD 53
revolutionary class, increasing in numbers and powe:,. clashed

with the privileged classes, the clergy and the nobility. The
re\'nlution of IiS9, progressive in c~aracter because of its
.;ocial and political content, was destined to assure the con-
ditions necessary for a tremendous extension of capitalist
production by transferring to the bourgeoisie the power then
held by the classes condemned by history.
On the eve of the convocation of the Estates General by
Louis XVI, the objective eC0110mic and social conditions for
the revolution had matured. But the necessary trans forma-
rions, which had become inevitable, had already been reflected
in the pre-revolutionary work of the French thinkers of the
eighteenth century.
The Encyclopedists grouped around Diderot were deep-
ening the material side of Cartesian thought and were erect-
ing a lasting monument. They laid the foundations of our
O\~n philosophy.
"The basic philos-ophy of Marxism, as has been proclaimed
many times by Marx and Engels, is dialectic materialism, which
has completely taken unto itself the historical traditions of the
French materialism of the eighteenth century," Lenin reminded
The French writers of the eighteenth century exercised

considerable influence, not only in France, but throughout
the world, and the influence of French thought of that time
is still so great today that it worries and irritates the fascist
dictators.
Jean Jacques Rousseau enjoys an undisputed authority in
the various German countries. The Discourse 011 Inequality
54 FR \::\CE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
and the Social Contract inspired works like The Brigallds

and Love and Intrigue of Schiller.
Many foreigners of Voltaire's time lived in Pari s and took
an intimate part in the life of intellectual F rench society, ill
that "Republic of Letters" which was spoken of with admira_
tion beyond our frontiers . Many of these foreigners drew u
for their own countrymen "Correspondences" which circ:
lated first in manuscript, and acquainted E urope and also the
Ne w World with French thought.
Foreign sove reigns patronized F rench writers. Voltaire
was the guest of Frederick II. The Fre nch philosopher Con.
dillac was chosen as the tutor of the Duke o f Parma. Cather-
ine II protected Diderot and he was her guest at St. Peters-
burg fo r some time.
F rench art exercised the same univer sal influence. Its in-
fluence was felt everywhere-in countries close by, Prussia,
\ Vurtemberg, Spain, and in more dis tant ones, Turkey,
Sweden and Russia.
Do not the Bolsheviks preserve with loving care, at the
Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, the p recious examples of
the French art of the eighteenth century? They have given
us an opportunity to admire some o f these masterpiece at
the Museum of French Art during the E xpos ition.
French art triumphed then even in China, where the
Emperor chose as leading painter a Fre nch ma n of Franche-
Cornte.
The French language is the admirable " means of trans-
portation" for this influence. The Ber lin Academy awarded a
pr ize to the Frenchman Rivarol for a work of which it is
FRANCE'S MISSION IN THE WORLD 55
aid of the French language ~ha~, it is "precise, social, ra-

tional, the language of humamty: .
French influence was not only mtellectual and purely liter-
ary. It had political si~ifica~ce. . .
A great many sovereIgns IIltrod~ced reforms ~hlch dId
not end the exploitation of the workmg masses, which some-
times even increased their exploitation, but which were nev-
ertheless of a progressive character. Among these are, for
instance, the encouragement of agriculture, the abolition of
internal tariffs, the construction of roads and canals, etc.
Generally, the spread of the French ideas of the eighteenth
century had created among the progressive classes of Europe
a favorable "atmosphere" for the French Revolution which,
because of this fact, was well received in a number of
countries.
The French Revolution, by destroying feudalism and giv-
ing the dominant place in society to the bourgeoisie, was an
historic stage in social progress and in the progress of the
spirit. In liberating the bourgeoisie, it created the con-
ditions for the liberation of the working class. The develop-
ment of capitalism, the development of the power of the
bourgeoisie, also means the development of the proletariat.
Having become more numerous, concentrated in large in-
dustrial cities, educated first of all in the spirit of Marxism
-which originated in French materialism--our proletariat
borrows from the history of the great men of 1789, from the
First Republic, the lessons of boldness and revolutionary
energy.
Lenin has often said:
S6 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S F RON T
IU~;~:~ Bolsheviks are the Jacobins of the pro leta rian revo_
'vVe ~ust even ~estore th~ fundamental. question of the

bourgeois-democratic revolution, the question of propert.
within the framework of the period, when it meant the righi
to indiuidual property.
The peasants of France took possession of the feudal
lands, the artisans of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine razed the
Bastille, after having taken it by storm, in or der to assure
the possession of their modest shops.
At all events, breaking the old feudal mold, freeing the
productive forces, the revolution brought into the foreground
the protection of small property, which big capital has since
gradually ruined and expropriated. The Convention did no!
hesitate to resort to the sharpest measures, including- the
guillotine against hoarders and speculators-whose kind
have not yet disappeared. (Applause.)
The French Revolution represented also, with the procla-
mation of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, a higher sense
of human dignity. Hitler may pretend to insult us by speak.
ing of our people as contaminated and basta rdized by the
black race. 'vVeare proud to be the sons of the Great French
Revolution, which freed the slaves in the colonies and made
the Martinique Negro a French citizen, the equal of the
peasant of Burgundy and the Parisian artisan. (A pplause.)
The French Revolution was a new stage in the extension
of French influence. Its effects did not vanish with the fall
of the Revolution in France; they were felt m~ch later, and
it is in this sense that Jaures could say of Napoleon: "He

il11pregnated Europe by upsetting her."
The French Revolution created a tremendous enthusiasm
throughout the world. Just as today th~ refo:ms of the
People's Front in Fra~lce encourage ~he neighboring peopl.es,
so did the transformatIOns of revolutionary France, of which
;he soldiers of the Year II spoke throughout all Europe,
,well with hope the hearts of the peasants and all the op-
pressed.
We find a contemporary testimonial to it in the poem
l/ermanll and Dorothy written by Goethe in 1796 and
1797:
"Did not all the oppressed peoples turn their eyes towards the
capital of the world? . . . Everyone felt within himself the
rebirth of courage, soul and speech . . . . There were no silent
tongueS'; the aged, adults and adolescents spoke out loud, filled
with sublime thoughts and feelings."
:\nother great German, Engels, Marx's co-worker, wrote:

"The whole left bank of the Rhine, which had nevertheless
taken but a passive part in the Revolution, was French in senti-
ment when the Germans returned to it in 1814, it remained
French in sentiment until 18.+8, when the Revolution rehabilitated
the Germans in the eyes of the Rhinelanders.... Heine's enthu-
siasm for the French, and even his Bonapartisrn, was nothing
else but the echo of general popular sentiment on the left bank
of the Rhine."
.vnd here is the opinion of a French historian:

"The effect of the new France, the France of the Revolution,
was tremendous; it exercised upon the minds of the peoples an
even more pronounced influence than at the time of Louis XIV

Louis XV and Louis XVI; for it was no longer solely a ques~
tion of art and literature, out of political pr inciples and all
social life . How magical an effect did the word s liberty and
equal rights have upon all the peasants and serf s, bent under
the yoke of feudal corvees, and upon the cultivated bourgeoi it:
of the countries of Central Europe, whom the ari9tocracy ' till
kept away from the high state positions and milita ry functions ....
The influence of the revolution was felt in the most distant

lands. I n Ru ssia, French books were forbid den ; they neve-.
the less crossed the boundaries.
Le Pe re D'uchene was read by Rad ichev who was COn-
demned to exile in Siberia. Later, in 1825, the Decembrist<
who are honor ed by the Bolsheviks in po wer, acted under th-~
influence of th e ideas of the French Revolution.
The men who caused Sou th Amer ica to rise in the nine-
teent h cent ury were imb ued with the ideas of 1789. Bolivar
had had for a teacher a disciple of Rousse au. When still
very young, he had lived in France. Mi ra nda, who fought
for the independence of Venezuela, had ser ved in the armie
of the French Revolution.
In the Balkans, the example of the French Rev olution in-
spired the peoples at the beginning of the nineteenth century
to free themselves from Turkish domination.
The French Revolution did not only broadcast ideas into
the world. It hastened the death of feuda lism in a practical
way .
.. G. Lefebre, R. Guyot, Ph. Sagnac, La Revolution Fraucaisc

P·545·
FRA. leE'S MISSION IN THE WORLD 59
A poet has said:

"And the thrones whirling like dead leaves were scattered in
the wind."
In Gennany, and especially in. the ~hine1and, the French
Revolution abolished feudal relationships, and they were not
ree tablished after 1815.
Engels further noted that in the middle of the nineteenth
century,
"Small independ enl holders predominated in the Rhine prov-
ince where feudalism had succumbed und er the formidable blows
of the French Revolution."·
~imilarly, in Italy, especially in the north, the revolution
de,troyed feudalism, and absolutist reaction could not, in
1815, make a clean sweep of the institutions introduced by
the French revolutionaries.
Hitler and Mussolini attack the liberating principles of
liS9 with such violence because these are the basis for
france's prestige in the world . In order to accomplish their
plans of aggression, the dictators are striving to destroy the
prestige and the democratic and intellectual influence of
France.
The imprint of the Great Revolution remained indelible
during the whole of the nineteenth century. Each movement
in France was like a signal for a series of revolutions in
Europe.
In July, 1830, the people of Paris overthrew the Bourbon
monarchy. On August 25, 1830, the Belgians, who in 1815
• F'. Engels, Revolution and Count cr-Reuolution ill Germany, In-

tcrnational Publishers, New York.
had been a~nexed to rr.0lland, against their will, rose up.

The revolution started m Brussels. It was victorious and
Europe was forced to recognize the indepe ndence of B 1-
gium. Holland refused to recognize this fact and her ki:
hurled his troops against the Belgians . In order that th«
principle of Belgian independence, which had been recog~
nized in D~cember,. 1830, be respected, that is, to Wl1lPri
respect for international law, France sent an army into Bel-
gium, and the King of Holland was compelled to retreat.
(Applause.) This initiative was undertaken by Louis-Phil_
ippe who, on this occasion, practised a genu ine policy of nOn-
intervention against the intervention of the King of Holland
in the internal affairs of Belgium. (App lause . )
Since 1815, the Po les had been living under the domina_
tion of R ussia, and the tsa r did not even respect the few
national liberties which had been granted th em by the treatie
of 1815. On November 29, 1830, the P oles revolted and
proclaimed their independence. They wer e defeated. Thi
defeat evoked the anger of the people of Paris who re-
proached Louis-Philippe's minister, Casimir Perier, for
having done nothing to aid the Poles . \ Vhen it was learned
in Paris that Russian troops had entered \Varsaw on Sep-
tember 7, 1831, there was a near- riot. Pe ople shouted "Long
live the Republic!" Windows were broken in the ministries.
The people of Paris cried out in anger because the revolu-
tionaries had been crushed! (Appla use .)
In Germany, popular agitation had won liberal constitu-
tions in a number of principalities: in Brunswick, in Saxony.
in Hanover, and in Hesse-Cassel. In the Rhineland, a tre-
mendous liberal del11?n~tr~tio~ took place at Bambach (May,

~ ) And note rhis IOdlcatlOn of the deep-rooted antece-
~:~:s ~f Karl Marx: In J~nuary, 18~4, Karl Marx's fath~r
was denounced by the pohce for having sung The Marseil-
loiSt' and La Parisiemle in French at a banquet attended by
the liberals of Treves. .
In February and (March, 193 1, the hberals and patriots of
Central Italy rose, drove out the absolutist princes who ruled
their cou n t r~·. But reaction triumphed with the aid of Austria.
I1owe\'er, to protest against Austria's intervention, and under
the pressure of public opinion, the French government sent
an expeditionary force to Italy.
The J uly Revolution had reestablished the Tricolor. .-\
contemporary German writer, Ludwig Boerne, wrote in this
connection:
"On September 7, I saw the first French cockade on the hat
of a peasant who, coming from Strasbourg, passed through Kiel
near me.. , . It appeared to me like a rainbow after the deluge,
like the sign of the peace of God appeased. And when the Tri-
color sparkled in front of me! , .. my heart beat so hard it hurt,
and only tears could lighten my heavy chest. ..."
The Fr ench workers will never forget Ludwig Boerne,

who was driven from Germany by reaction, who died in
France, and whose body rests in Perc Lachaise Cemetery in
the vault of honor given him by the Paris Commune in 1871.
(A pplause.)
In 1848, the people of France overthrew Louis-Philippe's
monarchy and proclaimed the Second Republic. Once again
all Europe was stirred.
"The French origin of the European r evolutiong of 1148 .

proved by its political manifestations. The in su rgent~ imi t;lt:~
the ways and adopted the methods of the Parisians: they armed
a civil guard, they demanded freedom of the press and the con.
v~ation of a co~sti~uent ~ssembly. Almost e\'e r:ywhere, at the
Side of the constitutional liberals, .appeared th e democrats, and
if they were too weak to proclaim a republic, they at least
achieved, in the name of democracy, t he new Fr ench regime-..
universal suffrage. Hence the revolutions of Europe reprodUce
their F rench model: They arose from the same democratic senti.
ment, combined, as in France, with a dee p dissa tisfaction within
the country."
Who is the author of these words? The historian Charle

Seignobos.* And he adds:
"These revolutions guaranteed the security of the French
republic by paralyzing the neighboring mona rchies,"
,,"ould not France's security be threatened today if the

fascist dictators were to triumph beyon d the Pyrenees?
And so in 1848, the peoples turned once again toward
France, in which were embodied the hopes of the world, and
whose generous capital suffered with all the victims of
reaction.
The Provisional French Governme nt wrote to Karl Marx,
who was then in Belgium:
"Tyranny has banished you, free France opens its doors to
you and to all who fight for the sacred cause of the brotherhood
of peoples."
In Italy, the population lived unde r the double oppression
* Hisioire de France Contemporaine, Vol. V I , p. 285·

FRANCE'S MISSIOl T IN THE WORLD 63
of the absolute monarchs and of Austria. It aspired to

achievenational unity. Disturbances had taken place before
'7ebruary,1848, the date of the French Revolution, but news
of the events in Paris strengthened the revolutionary move-
ment, which flamed throughout. the p:ninsula. Under the
pressure of their people the Italian princes, with the King
f Piedmont at their head, waged war against Austria. They
were defeated. The people proclaimed the Republic in a part
of Italy.
In Germany, the news of the French Revolution had great
reverberations. On March 18, 1848, insurrection broke out
in Berlin. The king was compelled to promise a constitu-
tion. A parliament met at Frankfort to achieve unity of the
country.
Austria was a multi-national state, where different nation-
alities were oppressed by the Germans. At the first roar of
the cannon in 1848, revolution broke out in all parts of
.\ustria-in Hungary, Bohemia, Vienna and Croatia.
All of these revolutionary movements were inspired by
the example of our country. The most recent historian of
his period writes:
"The European movement of 1848 was greatly varied. Never-
.heless it was unified in this sense, that it concluded with the
temporary triumph of the principles of 1789."*
The ideas of 17&), the ideas of the Great French Revolu-
tion, thus deeply stirred Europe in the nineteenth century.
Democracythere played a necessary, progressive and benefi-
·Ponteil. 1848, p. 78.

cent role. Is that role played out? T his is the question

which we must give a clear-cut answer.
Lenin explains:
"To develo~ democracy to its logical concl usio n, to find Out th
t
forms for t~IS. development, to test them by practice and so
forth-all this IS one of the fundamental tasks of the struggl
for the socialist revolution." * e
Soviet democracy, which is the broadest form of dem, .

racy because it rests upon a new social and economic foun,:;_
tion, upon the abolition of exploitation of man by man, i
the product and the extension of democracy ; it is democrac
carried to its conclusion, to its final stag e, the stage whic'
immediately precedes complete comm unis t society .
At the Seventeenth Congress o f the Bolshevik Pan,
Joseph Sta lin pointed out the lle'w significan ce of the strugg;~
for the defense of democracy in the presen t period. He said
"... T he ruling classes in the capi talis t countri es are zealou.;,h
destroying, or nullifying, the last vestiges of par1iamentaris~
and bourgeois democracy, which might be used by the work:n.
class in its struggle against the oppressors." **
It th us follows that the defense of de moc racy against fas-

cism, the defe nse of the positions already won by the workin
class, has become the decisive question of the hour.
That the workers of Paris unde rstood what Comrade
Sta lin said on January 26, 1934, was pro ved fifteen day
* V. I. Lenin, State and Revolution; p. 65. I nternational Pub-

.*
lishers, N'C\\' York.
Socialism Victorious, p. II, International Pub lishers, New Yor
FRA. 'CE'S MISSIO-' IN THE WORLD 65
later. On February 9, without hesitation and with. magnifi-

cent courage they answered the call of the Communist Party
to safeguard their liberties. ?n Febr~ary 12, the ~hole
French proletariat rose up against fascism, Later, agam on
the initiative and at the call of the Communist Party of
France, the People's Front was formed.
Lenin wrote that France might one day "once more reveal
itself as the traditional home of the struggle of classes to
a finish."·'
To a certain extent the People's Front confirms this fore-
cast. The existence of the People's Front and its record of
achievements answer the question we have asked ourselves.
They prove that the role of democracy is not played out.
For the People's Front has not only made possible the de-
fense of the previous gains of the toiling masses; it has
brought them new gains in the economic, social and cul-
tural fields.
The People's Front has not only enabled us to defend
democratic liberties; it has extended them, notably by the
recognition of the unions in fact and the establishment of
shop delegates.
The People's Front is therefore a new step forward for
democracy. That is why the fascist dictators madly rage
against democracy, against France of the People's Front.
That is why Mussolini shouts his defiance: t01WJ1'r01('
Europe will be fascist.
Xo, indeed! Let us answer calmly and firmly: "No! Europe
• V. 1. Lenin, State and Revolution, p. 28.

will never be fascist! (Applause.) Democ racy will again b

victorious in Europe and will bestow its benefits uPon
peoples, united in peace." all
And once again it is democratic F r,ance, the France oi
1789, today the France of the Peop le s Front, which wi
guide the peoples of Europe in the path of progress, libert
and peace. (Applause. The Congress rises and sings the 1,;.
ternational. )
A POLICY FOR FRANCE
Comrades, the victory of the People's Fr ont in France ha

exercised and continues to exercise an enormous influenc
upon the workers of other countries, and especially upon the
workers under the fascist dictatorships.
Our victory has proved that fascis m is not an inevitable
evil; it has aroused the enthusiasm of th e lovers of peac
and liberty against hated fascism.
After Italy and the countries of Central Europe and th
Balkans, fascism had conquered both Germany and Austria.
It threatened to submerge Europe and dash her into ruin
and catastrophe.
But, following the heroic battles of Vienna, in February
1934, of Asturias in October, 1934, aft er the days of Febru
ary, 1934, in F rance, after the electoral successes of th
People's Front in Spain, our victory of May, 1936, turne
the scales in favor of the [orces of democ racy and peace.
The facts eloquently prove this point:
In the United States, the victory of Roosevelt and th
rnocratic elements of the great American Republic;

deIn Finland, the defeat of the fascists, who had held power
for SO long, and the victory of the democrats;
In Belgium,the great defeat of the adventurer and Hitler-
ire. DeEgr:lllaen;d the repeated successes of the Liberals and

In ng ,
Laborites, and the banishing of a pro-fascist king;
In Holland, the defeat of the National-Socialists, agents
of Hitler;
In Luxemburg, the defeat of the proposal to abolish the
Communist Party;
In Switzerland, the recent defeat of the fascist proposal
. suppress Freemasonry, although exceptional measures
were voted against the Communists in certain cantons.
In June, 1936, France could and should have taken the
initiative and the lead in the formation of a peace policy.
Thi was the wish of the workers, peasants and intellectuals
who had put the People's Front into power. This was the
hopeof the workers and democrats of all countries. But it
is only too true that the will of our people has not been fol-
lowed, the hopes of our friends throughout the world have
been grievously betrayed.
But it is never too late to do the right thing. There is still
timeto put an end to the war-for it is no longer simply a
question of preserving peace. There is still time to prevent
themurderous plague from spreading further in Europe and
the rest of the world. There is still time to stop the horrible
massacres which have started in Spain and China, after the
rape of Ethiopia and Manchuria.
68 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE' S FRONT
There is still time to save France and the other nat J

from the unhappy fate of the Spanish people. Our COuntl\
has already suffered from war: 1,600, 000 dead, ten depar:.
ments entirely devastated, torrents of blood, mountain .
corpses, suffering, te~rs-the wh.ole f:i ghtful tragedy :
19 1 4- 18 . We do not WIsh to see this agam . This war, if it j
not stopped, if it should spread to other countries in spit
of our eff~rts, !n spi~e o~ the efforts of. the men and people
of good will, WIll be infinitely mo re hor rible, more Illurderou
than the one which cost the people of Europe so dear il
19 14- 18.
As at Madrid, Guernica and Lerida, as at Shanghai and
Nanking, the airplanes will come, for no reason of militar
importance, and rain their loads of explosive bombs, ince~.
diary bombs, and toxic gas bombs on defenceless citic
massacring women and childre n.
In order to accomplish her mission in the world, Franc
must pursue a democratic foreign policy which reflects on a
international scale the changes bro ught about in our count-,
as a resu lt of the People's Front victo ry .
First it is necessary better to acq uaint the outside work
with, yes, even to exalt, the great accomplishments of th
People's Front. Too often in the past eighteen month' ha
the re been a desi re rather to make excuses to the outsid
world for the new visage of democ ratic and peace-levin
France. (Applause.)
Hitlerite propaganda is trying to prese nt our country a
being on the eve of a Bolshevik revolution. It is absolutel
necessary to answer the lies of Goebbels and his henchme
FRANCE'S MISSION IN THE WORLD 6<)
, ut nat by belittling the good record of reforms instituted by

People's Front.
th~as any French diplomat explained, has any French min-
ister declared at the. tdbu~e of Geneva, that the Peop~e's
"rant, that trade umon. U~lty, the presence of Commumsts
in the governmental majority, were ~lements of strength for
French democracy? Has anyone gwen proof of the real
'jrofound unity of the French people, revealed the existence
\f a French people's community capable of defending the
~ndependence of France against the activities of international
iascism? (Applause.)
The main strength of France lies in the unity of the people
arounda government which it considers its own government,
a government which will demonstrate its resolve to carry
iut the program desired by ,the people.
The strength of France lies also in the support of our
democracy by the masses of the people of the whole world.
That is why the foreign policy of a government determined
to fulfillthe mission of France must first of all find support
rmongthe masses of the people of all countries.
This is not a question of interfering in the internal pol-
icie of other countries, nor of preaching crusades. It is
implythis: that France be alert to interference by fascism
in the internal affairs of democratic countries, that she de-
fend herself against the attempts of fascism and that she
hall not discourage her friends when they are thrown into
heopposition, as was the case of M. Titulesco. It is a ques-
tionof not dosing one's eyes to the real crusade of fascism
againstdemocracy.
How can one help but re:ognize that M ussolini's ta

ment, "~omorrow ~urope. will be fascist," is but the bru
an~ cynical ex~resslOn o~ the ~eal, strategic and milita
action now taking place in Spain and along the l\Iedite
ranean, an action carried out by Italy in concert with G
many with a view to "isolating and anni hilating Fran ce"
Hitler threatens in his book Mein. Kampf. '
How can one fail to see that, while our so subtle diph
mats deny any desire to set up one bloc aga inst another, th
fascist and imperialist states, Germany, Italy and japa,
have already formed a united, active an d insolent bloc o'
aggression in the face of the divided, unc ertain and ave.
timid democratic nations?
How can anyone who is not blind fail to see that at presem
there is one pol icy suited to the democ racies and anathe I
policy suited to the fascist regimes!

The policy of fascism is that of disorganizing the stru _
ture of colIective security, of violation of contracts, unilat-
eral breaking of treaties; it is to paralyze the "pestilence 0'
Geneva" as Mussolini puts it; it is the right to imperiali-
rape under the pretext of revision and "t he furthering ot
peace," it is the right of intervention procl aimed in Artie
II of the treaty signed by Berlin, Rome and Tokio.
The policy of fascism is "freedom to plot in prepariUi
for freedom to stab"; it consists of opposi lfg security for II
aggressor to collective security for the peoples.
The policy of fascism is preparation fo r war ; it is ml
already.
The policy of the democracies is a policy of faithfulne
written agreements, ?f respe:t ~or the Pac: o~ t~~ ~gue

to T • s it is the evident principle of the indivisibility of
o:a~ea~~; international solid~rit~ against war:The pol~cy of
;he democracies is th~ orgamzatJon"of coll:ctlve secunt~ b.y
means of mutual assistance pacts according to the prmcr-
ples of the Franco-Soviet Pact," as stated in the People's
Front program.
{;nfortunately, the democracies are showing a singular
weakness,not to use a more severe term, in putting into prac-
tice these principles of their policy.
The very slogan "No crusades" is interpreted by the gov-
ernments of the democratic countries as a refusal to choose
between two policies.
Yet, under pain of consenting to suicide, we must choose.
France must choose. Whether you wish it or not, in 1937,
to choose between the Peace Front and the War Front is to
cJlOose between democracy and fascism. (Applause.)
But there are certain elements within the democratic coun-
tries and even in their governments who gladly turn towards
fa_cism and who are ready to do peculiar and truly strange
favors for it.
Without a doubt such elements playa certain role in Eng-
land, where they influence the foreign policy of their coun-
try, and unfort unately also that of our own country, against
the interests of peace.
The Fr ench Communists have already declared their feel-
ings concermng Franco-British friendship, which we hold
very dear, and which we consider essential for peace.
The day after the elections of May, 1936, we happened to
72 FRANCE OF THE P E OPLE 'S FRONT
say to the Anglo-American press correspondents, who ga

a lunch for Gabriel Peri and myself, that the ballot
certain degree, testified to the friendship of our peop;et~G
England. It had indeed marked the defeat o f the fascists, th
friends and supporters of Lava l who had led a violent .
British campaign at the time of Mussolini's aggres~~:'
against Ethiopia. But we must state that this generous ex.
pression by our people was rather poorly appreciated Onthe
other side of the Channel, at least by the Conservative go\,.
ernment,
We have a great admiration for the En gland of CrOmWtl:
for the England of the Chartists and revo lutionaries, for th
England which is the oldest of the democracies, whic.
opened its arms to the Communards hunted down by the
Versaillais, and to Marx, who wrote his work of genius in
that land of refuge. It is there that Capit al was written, and
it is there that Marx lies in a little cemete ry in the suburb
of London.
We feel no sympathy for the England of Pitt, the spite.
ful adversary of revolutionary France of 1793 (applause)
the soul of the European counter-revolutio n and the anti.
French coalitions of the period. We would think it out of
place and beyond reason for the conservative British gov-
ernment to formulate opinions, if not recommendations, con-
cerning the role of the Communists of Fr ance in the domes-
tic policies of our country. (Applause.)
From another point of view, we sincere ly rejoice at the
success of the democratic and reform policies of President
Roosevelt. We applaud whole-heartedly his resounding
. eches in favor of democracy and against fascism. We

:~eeted with enthusiasm th~ ma~ificent vi~tory of the
~{ayor of New York, the antl-fasc~st LaGuardia, who cour-
~geously told a thing or two to Hitler, that bloody butcher
of the German people. (Applause.)
We must regret, however, that actions do not always con-
form to words. The unfortunate postponement of the Brus-
els Conference which should have taken effective measures
;0 stop Japan's aggression against China, is sor ry proof
of this.
The hesitations, the weaknesses of the democratic countries
_till further confirm our opinion that our country must at
last form its own policy, a French policy. (Applause.)
The enemies of Communism who become indistinguishable
from the enemies of democracy and peace and therefore
from the enemies of People's Front France, will say "you
want a policy which follows Moscow."
No! We have often explained it. France must take its cue
neither from Rome, nor Berlin, nor London, nor even Mos-
cow, for which we do not conceal our feelings of admiration
and affection. It must be from Paris, ou r capital. (Great
applause.)
No doubt the Soviet Union has made herself the valorous
champion of the struggle for peace; no doubt the country of
ocialism is the world's firmest bulwark of peace; no doubt,
consequently, you cannot but agree with the Soviet Union,
the moment you wish to work really and effectively for the
cause of peace, the most precious possession of mankind .
Once again, what France of the People's Front needs is a
74 FRANCE OF THE PEOP LE 'S FRONT
democratic and French foreign policy; what it needs i

remain faithful to the lofty mission of F rance in the to
Each time France failed in her. missio n she weaken~o:~
forces for peace and thus, even involu nta rily, strengthene
the forces for war.
This is the lesson of our history.
The July Mona:chy, ~specialJy from 1840 on, leaned up!
the Entente Cordiale with England. En tente with Englanl
we emphasize, can be a factor for peace, yet it can al 0 be.
come an instrument of social react ion; in that case, it cann.
raise a barrier against war " .Such was the Anglo-FrenCh
Entente, in the time of Louis-Philippe : "the Entell.te Cor.
diale," declared a contemporary, "is the union between man
and a horse. The question is, who will be the horse?"
The democratic opposition reproached Guizot for alwa)
havin g yielded to England and for having thus damaged
French interests by capit ulating to Briti sh finance. Mean.
while, France and England had long been embattled com.
petitors for influence in Spain, and this rivalry resulted in
the rupture in the Entente Cordiale in 1846. From then on
Louis-Philippe and Guizot were dra wn toward absoluti
powers like Austria.
The Minister of the period, writing on May 18, 184i. t
Mettemich, the founder of the Holy Alliance, expres ec
himself thus:
"With very different points of departure and means of action,
we are both struggling, I am proud to believe, to preserve and
cure them [modern societies} of this evil [th e spirit of anarchy].
That is where our alliance lies. It is in that direction that, with-
FRA~CE ' S :M IS SI O ~ IN THE WORLD 75
ial and appare nt agr eement s, we can everywhere and

o~t a~;;;eat occasions come to an unde.r~tanding and mutually
~elP o.ne a;~:~:: i~h::: ~:p:~e~W:n:O~ltC1te~ ::rr~~: :nc~:S~:~
:::~:;l;:iicY. It ha~, att ained its aim and taken its position for a
long time to come.
To ether Metternich and Guizot fought against the lib-
crals,gagainst those who had risen in Switzerland, in Poland.
In I8 I 5, a republi c had been established for a group of
poles, under the guardianship of Austria. They revolted
against this surv eillance. The insurrection was repressed by
Austria, which ann exed Cracow.
The foreign policy of Guizot never was an independent
French policy. It was now obedient to English capital, now
to Austrian absoluti sm. The revolution of 1848 had other
causesno doubt, but it was partially determined by the oppo-
sition of all democrat s to the foreign policy of Guizot.
Likewise, France voted for the People's Front in 1936,
partly to protest against a Lavalian policy of complicity with
the present leaders of European reaction, especially Musso-
lini and Hitler, in connection with the war against Ethiopia.
France's policy under the Second Empire was very like
that of the time of the July Monarchy. In the beginning,
Xapoleon III seemed to favor the national unification move-
ments.He helped the Italians in their struggle against Aus-
tria. However, his efforts never lasted long. And he did not
keepthe promises he had made to the Italians. He even op-
posed to the very end the Italians' wish to have Rome for
their capital.
Later, Napoleon III collided with the national sentiments
of a very great number of peoples, including the German

The policies of the Second Empi re, anti-French POlicie'
were so harmful to our country that when in 1870 th~
Franco-German war broke out, the France of Kapoleon III
was isolated. The Revolution of September 4, 1870, and to
a certain extent, the Paris Commune, were protests again t
the betrayal by Napoleon III of France's role of liberator
of her peaceful mission in the world . '
\Ve do not wish, now, that the wor ld should fail to ee
the true face of France. We do not wish to see revived:
A France which, as in 1823, intervened against republican
Spain;
A France wh ich, as in 1847, aba ndo ned the Poles of Cra-
cow, struggling for their indepen dence;
A France which, as in 1849, str uck against the freedom
of the Roman people;
A France which, as in 1864, wanted to forc e a foreign gov-
ernment upon the Mexican people.
At least, at each one of these dates, it was not a People'
Front government which guided the destinies of our COun-
try. (Applause.)
In 1823, it was Louis XVIII; in 1847, Louis-Philippe; in
1849, Prince-President Louis Napoleon; in 1864, the same.
now 1 apoleon TIL But in 1936-1937, it is a government oi
the Pe ople's Front, a government put into power by the
masses of the people, which is abandoning the Spanish Re-
publicans.
Moreover, during the last years, there are too many ex-
amples of France's betrayal of her miss ion. H ere are some:
FRANCE'S MISSION L T THE WORLD 77
I 1933-1934: the Four-Power Pact. By favoring the

Fo:;r-;ower Pact of Mussolini, France subscribed to the
weakening of the League ~f Nations. The ~dherence of the
French govenu uent to this proposal was Interpreted as a
,ig of weakness and lack of interest in the countries of the
n
Little Entente and Poland on the part of France.
2. In 1935: the Ethiopia» 'war. France was certainly the
/I1ost ilfJcrested of all the European states, by virtue of its
friendships and alliances, in the strict application of sanc-
tions against Mussolini's Italy, A policy which would have
strangled the aggressor in West Africa would have discour-
agedin advance the aggressors against Republican Spain and
those who are preparing their aggression against the Dan-
ubian states.
Bv sabotaging the application of the League of Nations
Pac;, France, ignoring her mission in Europe, has turned
away the friendship of the peoples of Central Europe. She
has, in short, encouraged them to seek a counter-assurance
in the direction of the aggressor.
J. March 7, 1936 : the rupture of Locarno and the military
reoccupationof the left bank of the Rhine.
The blow delivered to collective security by Laval's diplo-
mac)" encouraged "the German initiative" of March 7, 1936.
The absence of any reply on the part of France after March 7
-Dnly our Communist Party spoke clearly and frankly at
this tragic moment for the future of our country-has con-
firmedthe countries of Eastern and Central Europe in their
convictionthat they could not count upon French friendship
in case of danger.
4· In 1936-1937: the blockade of repub lican Spain.

The so~called no.n-intervention po!icy was the rudest blow
to collective security, the most serious def ault in France'
mission.
Our Communist Party has never ceased denouncing th
t
odious policy followed toward republican Spain at the harm.
ful instance of the Leon Blum government.
We have declared and we continue to declare that it wa
not a matter of a simple military rebellio n on the other side
of the Pyrenees, but that it was a war of international fa _
cism directed against both the liberty and independence of
the Spanish people and the security of Fr ance.
As Communist proletarians, faithful to proletarian inter
nationalism, republicans in sympathy wit h the republicans 0
Spain, Frenchmen concerned with the future and security 0
our country, we have fought for and we shall fight again, n
for intervention, as the chorus of our slande rers claims, b
in order to put an end to [asdst intervention, in order to p
an end to all help to Franco, who has been recognized
facto by reactionary England. (Applause.) We have foug
and we shall continue to fight for respect for the law, f
freedom of trade in favor of republican Spain, for openi
the border on the side of the republicans and its real seali
on the side of the rebels.
Permit me, comrades, to extend from this platform, in t
name of our unanimous Party, our warm greetings to t
workers and republicans of Spain; to the ir valiant Peopl
Army, to their government and to its leader, Comrade ~
<Yrin, to the President of the Spanish Republic, that great

Citizen Azana. (Applause.) .
Permit me to greet fraternally our ~lonous brothe~ Pa~ty
c in its valorous leaders, Jose Diaz, noble Pasionaria,
~~;::r~ and so many other militants of the Spanish Com-
munistParty. (Applause.)
. •0 one can now deny the scale of fascist intervention. No
on~ can now deny the terribl: blow, w~i~h. ~ight have been
fatal,struck by the democracies on the mitiative of the Pea-
le's Front government, under Socialist leadership, at the
:ause of republican Spain, at the cause of French security,
at the cause of peace.
Through the so-called policy of non-intervention the
Leagueof Nations has been abandoned, there is a striving
to establish equality of treatment between aggressor and
victim. In practice this treatment operates in favor of the
aggressor.
From now on all the aggressor will need is the complicity
of an internal rebellion for the aggression to be termed "civil
war," and for the aggressor to escape the rigors of interna-
tional law. As soon as a "Fifth .Column" gets into motion,
the aggressor is certain of impunity. He can even hope that
bellicerentrights will be granted to his "Fifth Column," and
that Conservative England will dispatch a political-cornmer-
cial representative.
Well, in all the countries friendly to France, and within
France,there exist the elements of a "Fifth Column." In our
land,too, so-called "nationalists" put their interests as privi-
legedpersons, their class hatred, before the interests of their
::;:;;~e~~no~~:~:vi:~eo~m;~;:i~:fty;::::.n tz, they pIae

The considerable war supplies accumula ted in the arsenal
of the "Hooded Ones," some of it still the re, came for th-
most part from Italy and Germany.
Some people imagined that by not consolidating the Peact
Front, by receiving Dr. Schacht in a spectacular manner '
Franco-German understanding would be reached. The\
thought that by not strengthening the system of French
friends hips, the gratitude of fascist Ita ly would be earnef'
and the Italo-German conspiracy would be prevented.
These were foolish calculations which the facts have cruel-
ly disproved.
On the one hand, the strengthening of the aggressive bloc
along the Rome-Berlin axis, the anti-Communist pact oi
Novem ber 6, Italy's departure from Geneva and iMussolini's
attacks upon France and her represen tatives, were the answer
to France's advances. On the other hand, the result was di _
location of the Little Entente system, with a pro-Nazi orien-
tation in the policies of the Rumani an government, the
signing of the Italo-Jugoslav and Bulgarian-] ugoslav trea-
ties, the rejection of the Little Entente states of the plan t
strengthen the treaties signed by France.
And Polish policies have turned further still in the direc-
tion of Hitler Germany.
By failing in her mission, France has not weakened the
virulence of the fascist powers. It has favored the disorgan-
ization of the peace front.
At Koenigsberg, Goebbels was able to say that, wherea
ur Foreign Minister was meeting many ~iffic~.rties in h~s

;ecent trip through Eu~ope, Germany exercised a magn:ttc
attraction" upon her neighbors. He added, to our confusion,
"our good fortune is that our governments are faced only
bv pigmies." . . .
. B returning to a correct pohcy, the one mscnbed upon
he ~eople's Front program, democratic France must also
:doPt a method likewise laid down by the common program
of the Left parties.
France must repudiate secret diplomacy-this is the pro-
gramof the People's Front~a~d cal1.fo~ col1aboration b~ .the .
masses of the people. This IS an indispensable condition,
Whilethe fate of millions of men is at stake, nothing is yet
knownof the results of the conversations between Hitler and
Lord Halifax.
It was not known until several years later, through the
publication of Mr. Stimson's memoirs, that in 1931 the
UnitedStates proposed common action with England against
Japan, and that the England of Sir John Simon refused.
The only way to put an. end to this unworthy game, which
is so profitable to the aggressor, is the method of public peace
proposals.
This is not the first time we have advocated this. In its
speechin answer to Hitler, our Party expressed the idea of
consultingthe German people by means of a free referendum
concerningthe problems of peace, and it is to them that we
address this testimony of our sympathy.
With open methods, it would no longer be possible for the
English reactionaries to cloak themselves with the authority
of democratic France to justify their capit ulation to aggres_

sors, nor for certain men of the Peop le's Fro nt in France to
excuse their policy towards republican Spain by citing Eng_
lish pressure upon our country. (Applause.)
It is France which would exercise "a magnet ic attraction
upon the peoples."
Is this policy possible? Yes, for the strength of public
opinion in all countries, in spite of the tr ials and surrenders
of these last years, remains on the side of democracy, France
and peace.
This is true in England, as witness all the resolutions of
the trade unions and the Labor Party on the Spanish situa-
tion. This is true in Poland, where the pro-H itler policy of
Colonel Beck is under attack by the front of anti-fascist
parties.
This is true in Rumania, where the National Peasant
Party is carrying on a vigorous campaign against the pro-
Nazi orientation of Tatarescu and King Carol, who in fact
have just been defeated in the last electo ral campaign, in
which the people demonstrated in favo r of Titulesco, the
friend of France, who for that very reaso n was removed
from power.
This is true in Jugoslavia, where, in spite of government
prohibition. in spite of the police charges which cost the live
of two young students guilty of shouting " Long live demo-
cratic France," popular demonstrations gree ted the passage
of France's representative.
And we know that it is true in Italy and Germany, in spite
of fascist terror.
Our country, seeking support among the masses of the

people,by the method of open proposals, must carry out a
French policy.
The efforts of France must be orientated towards a return
tothe League of Nations. The League of ~ations. must ta~e
gain the case of Italo-Gerrnan aggression against Spain,
~~daJapanese aggression against China.
France must publicly state at Geneva its proposals for the
applicationof international law in the Far East and in West-
ern Europe.
trengthening of the peace front further implies:
The renewal on a new basis of Franco-British relations,
to be understood not as a means of satisfying the ambitions
and aspirations of the aggressor with the least possible dam-
age, but as a peaceful coalition of two peoples resolved to
opposethe encroachments of international fascism;
Franco-American collaboration, especially in the Far East,
by a warm welcome and effective encouragement to the ef-
forts of President Roosevelt in the direction of international
collaboration;
People's Front France must powerfully contribute to the
successof the 1939 New York World's Fair. Perhaps the
organizations of the People's Front, especially the trade
unions, might take the initiative in sending delegations to
this international event;
In Central Europe, France must encourage the defenders
of collective security in order to renew her proposals for
trengthening the machinery of mutual assistance;
fi;::~\:~:S~h:s~r;~~~t~calguarantees in exchange for the
Nor must she forget that the retu rn to dem ocracy and
working class freedom in Austria .is the essent ial factor for
Austrian independence.
People's Front France must prove, in accordance with the
people's will, her attachment to the F ranco-Soviet Pact
which is the surest guarantee of peace for our country an~
Europe. If the fascist states bring press ure to bear upon
ou r diplomacy in order to provoke a weakening of Franco_
Soviet friendship, it is because this ag reement serves the
interests of the peoples, because it serves the cause of democ-
racy and peace . (Applause.)
Finally, the People's Front government must renew, reju-
venate, and democratize the diplomatic pers onnel. There, too,
it would be well to make the republic an wind blow. For the
past eighteen months, most of our representatives abroad
have been striving to convince the gove rn ments to which
they have been accredited that the Peo ple's Front is but all
accident, a transitory phenomenon of Fre nch politics. This
is not astonishing when it is seen that the most important
diplomatic posts are still occupied by repre sentatives of the
nobi lity.
As the Left weekly Vendredi said:
'We should not be satisfied to laugh at the names of the emi-

nent representatives of the French Republic, Messrs . Rochereau
de la Sabliere, Lefebvre de Fiefville, Le Sa ulnier de Saint- Jouan,
Malivoire Filhol de Camas, d'Alexandry d'O rengiani, Andreat
de Verciat, Barbier Lalobe de Felcourt, Contra n Begougne de
r~:aF~:~~~~tt~:ie;::n~~~::~:.n'F~:a~::I~~:~I:y~
JUHnial c, uBaet
I' ago,
Le Roy de la Tournelle ,~u Bourguignon de Saint Martin, de
Boyer de Sainte Suzanne.
However, when it is a question of an ambassador to Berlin.

the sacred tradition is abandoned.
I am still citing Vendredi:
"That is how M. Andre Francois-Poncet, founder of the

Bwllelin Quotidien, organ of the Steel Trust, succeeded M. de
~argerie, who had succeeded M. Charles Laurent, likewise of
the Steel Trust. Industry first'''·
The following will show how the real power remains in

the hands of the omnipotent bureaus, in spite of the succes-
sion of ministers to legal power.
".Y'. Leger, General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Af-

iairs, entered the Quai d'Orsay in 1914- In 1916, he was at
Shanghai. Tn 1921, in Paris. And, from 1921 to 1937, M. Alexis
Leger lived in Paris. In 1929, he was the Director of Political
and Commercial Affairs. Since that nomination, 11. Briand
succeededM. Briand, M. Laval M. Briand, M. TanJicu ~1. Laval,
~t Herriot M. Tardieu, :-'1. Paul-Boncour M. Herriot, M. Dala-
dier M. Paul-Boncour, M. Barthou M. Daladier, M. Laval M.
Barthou, M. Flandin M. Laval, and M. Yvon Delbos M. Flandin.
But M. Leger is still General Secretary in the Ministry of For-
eign Affairs,
"Who is the rca I Minister of Foreign Affairs? \Vho repre-
"Vendredi, Jan. IS, 193i.

86 FRANCE O F THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
sents F rance? M. Delbos? Fiddlesticks! M. Alexis Leger , per.

manent Minister."
\Ve have outlined the essential factors for a d el/l{)crufu:

and French foreign policy for the organization of peace
That, it seems to us, is the mission which the F ra nce of thr
People's Front must set itself in the world. ( A pplallse.)
Some chatterboxes would like to critici ze Our firm peaCt
policy. They do not see Or do not wish to see reality: for
example, the Spanish proletarian who fights fo r liberty anr
peace by fighting for the independence of the Spanish Re.
publ ic threatened by Hitler and Musso lini.
The hitherto successful struggle waged by Our people
against fasc ism, which the La Rocques and the Doriot
wanted to impose upon them, would be in vain ; so many
sacrifices wou ld be fruitless; so many heroes would haYe
fallen in vain since February 9, 1934, if a fascist dictatorshin
were to be forced upon us by the bayo nets of Hitler and
Mussolini. For our peop le, for our wo rk ing class, the strug-
gle for libe rty and peace coincides at this moment with the
fight for the independence and security of France . ( At -
plause .)
Such a struggle does not have a narrow nati onal character
At this moment, as at other glorious mom ents in the history
of our people, it takes on a universal cha racte r, which assure
it the sympathy and support of the masses o f the people ('
every country.
Those who refuse to understand this new and gelll/i"
form of proleta rian struggle against wa r and fascism, in our
period, those who hope to oppose it by following the exam-
Ie of the p .O.D.M.-ists, Trotskyites and other agents of

~he Gestapo, traitors to the cause of the Spanish people,
though they spout beautiful revolutionary phrases, they are
in fact the worst enemies of the revolution, the shameful
accomplices of fascism.
III.
IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD
N ?RDE.R to go forward,.for France to accomplish her mis.

I sion m the world, we must fulfill two conditions at
home: (I) We must continue at a faster pace the work of
social and political progress undertaken since May, 1936;
(2) We must unite still more closely all workers, all demo.
crats, all Frenchmen worthy of the name.
COMPLETE APPLICATION OF THE PROGRA~
We must not hide from ourselves the fact that a great

deal remains to be done.
Since May, 1936, the cost of living has risen an average
of 40 per cent. This is especially the result of the two mone-
tary devaluations carried on in spite of our opposition. The
high cost of living demands an adjustment in wages, sal-
aries, and civil and military pensions, and also the setting up
of a sliding wage scale in private industry, and for the em-
ployees of the state and the public utilities.
The situation of the unemployed is dreadful. There are
far too many out of work. The govern ments, especially
since the "pause" was announced, have not faced the ques-
tion of a genuine program of public works, such as the
88
IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD &)
e.G.T.• has dema~ded. Unemployment benefits have been

vcrY inadequately increased.
I~ the shops, the employers have launched a stubborn
oflem;ive against collective agreements. They violate con-
tracts,fire shop delegates, and seek to abolish the forty-hour
week.Unfortunately they are encouraged in this by the fact
that the state itself, particularly in the question of postal
workers,does not yet apply the forty-hour week everywhere.
It is not only the working class which must fight to defend
and improve its gains of June, 1936. The peasants have still
many demands to satisfy. They would especially like to
obtain the establishment of a National Treasury for insur-
ance against agricultural disasters, collective sales agree-
ments for the various products of the soil, the settlement of
rates of payment to share-croppers and complete reform of
the statute on tenant farming.
For many peasants, the definite advantages accruing from
the Wheat Bureau and the measures to aid the wine-
g-rowers are not yet sufficient, in view of the nature and
diversity of their products.
In his excellent book, La Tragedie Paysanne, Marcel
Hraibantgives useful information upon this point:
"The 1936 wheat crop was produced by 1,926,060 growers; it

furnished 67,000,000 quintals, of which 20,000,000 remained for
the home consumption of middle and small producers. There
were placed on the market 47,000,000 quintals produced as
follows:
* General Confederation of Labor.

F:ft.AN FT P PLE' F:ft. T
"J7,600,ooo quintals by 1,7'1,715 producers .f less than 100

quintals each;
"II,924, quintal 'by 117,715 producers of 100 to 300 quintals.
th~~~n~~~~a:~C:~~anq~~~~~gebYot~~~~ pro du ce rs of mor~

"Thus 47,3'1 prHucers s.11i as much wheat a s 1,7 1,372 !final!
gr wers.
"As fer wine, referring t. the year 1'34, which produced
75,000,000 hectoliters for the metropolis, the la rgest cr op since
the war, we note that 1,657,190 declarations of p roducers were
registered, out of which 1,503,486 were pro du cer s of 100 and
more hectoliters, wha pre uced 29,5, hectoliters; 88.469
declarations were made by producers of 101 to 200 hectoliters
who yielded 11,500,000 hectoliters; 65,500 repo r ting more tha~
200 hectos each produced a total of 34.000,000 hectos , or much
more than 1,5 3,4 small producers." ( p. 3~-4 .)
Small growers therefore to be assisted by means of col

lective agreements for all their other pr oducts, since the
are not the principal suppliers of wine and wheat upon th
market.
Public works must be undertaken in rur al districts. T
state has invested two billion francs for works since Juu
1936. This sum is a joke. Larger credits would permit t
rebuilding and the creation of rural roads, electrification
the countryside, village waterworks, draining irrunense trac
construction of comfortable rural dwelli ngs and also t
organization of the leisure time of the peasa nt and his fami
There would be work for the unempl oyed, it would
possible to prime the national pump by stimulating an
creased demand in the internal market thanks to the bett
IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD 91
went of the lot of th.e French peasant. This would be a

means of reviving national economy.
Lastly, the demands of the peasants coincide with those of
all French workers on two essentia~ points: the granting of
family allowances and old age pensions.
At Villeurbanne, we raised the vital issue for our country
of an effective policy of protection for the family and chil-
dren. Some results, though modest ones, have been obtained,
especiallyfor workers and state employees.
~ow something absolutely must be done for our peasant
brothers. The following table shows the shockingly unequal
treatment of the peasant head of a family because of the
absenceof family grants. Taking into account state aid for
large families and premiums for lactation granted to peasant
families,starting with the third child, here is an illuminating
comparison:
Family
Grants to Average family grants
peasant families gralltillFrance in Paris
1St child nothing 361 720
and child nothing 960 1,920
3rdchild 120 2,400 3,720
4th child 480 4,800 5.120
~th child 7,200 7,520
OLD AGE PENSIONS-BUT FO R THE PEASANTS TOO
This is the reform which is dearest to us. Our Party car-

ried out an energetic campaign which won us the touching
gratitude of thou sands and thousands of aged men and
wo~en, workers and peasants, bent toward the grave by the

weight of years before they have had a chan ce to taste a
moment of true happiness.
\Ve have received hundreds, thousands of moving letter
telling of the distress of those who have contributed to the
creation of the wealth of this country and yet have not
always a bite of bread in their declining days.
\Ve went to Paris, to Saint-Etienne, every where through_
out the country, at the call of the aged. W e helped in the
success of their day on June 12, 1936. W e do not wish the
aged to be without help, or to be obliged to vegetate wretch-
edly on thirty sous* per day. We do not wish the grand-
father to fear to eat lest he take the bread out of the mouth
of his grandchildren, as one grandfathe r wrote us. We do
not wish-for the example in the film "C her rytime" is drawn
from life-that the old peasant driven fro m his land should
have to break stones for a few francs, and his old wife, at
70, should do washing in order to eat . We demand old age
pensions. We are ashamed for our working class, for Our
People's Front, that such a reform inscribe d upon our com-
mon program has not yet been realized. \ Ve have expressed
our indignation against the unjust decisio n which has made
our aged poor the first victims of the "p ause."
Certain people, feeling the bitter reproaches of the aged.
have dared to speak of demagogy in con nection with our
campaign for pensions. The demagogues are not those who
call for fulfillment of electoral promises. Th e demagogues
• One and a half francs.

L' RDER TO GO F ORWARD
are those who accept election on a platform which they are

not firmly resolved to c~rry .out. (.Prolollg~d applause.)
It is true that financIal difficulties are gIven as an excuse .
But we will point out that:
J, The financial difficulties are not new, they are above all
the result of the war and of the improvident and reckles s

oliciesof the reactionary governments since the war;
p 2. If financial difficulties have remained and have even
beenaggravated since June, 1936, it is because on this point,
as on many others , the program of the People's Front has
beenignored. The program called for the enforcement of the
card system for tax-payers, tax reforms, and severe meas-
ures against the flight of capital.
None of these measures has been carried out. The J938
budget,like that of 1937, is not substantially different from
previousbudgets. Leon Jouhaux, in speaking of the "pause, "
could write: "At bottom, the new financial policy is a con-
cessionto private interests."
In this report, we shall not emphasize financial problems,
which have been dealt with many times by our speakers at
all our meetings. We shall only point out that:
1. The old "a rguments" against our tax reform proposals
-to wit: that you cannot strike at capital in a period of
deflation; that capitalist profits are already very much re-
duced, and especially that capital is in flight from the coun-
try-no longer hold.
We are again in the midst of an inflationary period; capi-
talist enterprises are realizing increased profits (105 differ-
ent companies have reported an income of 890,640,034 francs
in 1936 compared with 74 0,848,783 francs in 1935, an in-

crease of 20 per cent) ; French capital is returning, less On
account of the privileges which have been gua ra nteed them
than because of · the new crisis on the Ne w York stock
market.
2. Tax reform, in addition to progressive tax ation On in-
comes, must especially include complete re organ ization of
the financial structure of capitalist corporations ; taxation of
their capital, their reserves, their income, with special provi-
sions aimed at the surplus profits of mono poly trusts, and
the super-dividends of big financial compan ies.
3. The progressive and extraordinary levy on big for-
tunes which our Communist Party propo sed remains the
way, during an exceptional period, to make the rich pay, to
alleviate the misery of the poor.
4. Certain nationalizations, for example the nationaliza-
tion of insurance, might furnish the state with immediate
resources and especially assure it a grea ter ind ependence
towards the financial oligarchies.
In the present situation, characterized by the existence of
the People's Front at the head of the nation's affairs, our
Communist Party can and must suppo rt such a demand-
on condition, however, that nationalization and socialization
are not confused, that to nationalize shall not be construed
as a socialist step.
Engels has taught us:
"It is only when the means of production or communication
have actually outgrown management by share companies, and
therefore their transfer to the state has become inevitable [rom
economicstandpoint-it is only then that this transfer to the

(l!I
te even when carried out by the state of today [and all the
::r: so under a People's ~ront regime-M.T.]. r:p:esents an
economic advanc~, the attainment of an~ther preliminary ~tep
towar,~~ the takmg over of all productive forces by society
itself.
But he also adds immediately, so that no one shall make
any mistake as to the significance of such measures:
"If, however, the taking over of the tobacco trade by the state
was socialistic, Napoleon and Metternich would rank among the
iounders of socialism."
Our Communist Party, whose program calls for the ex-
propriation of the expropriators, cannot therefore but ap-
prove the proposals for complementing the People's Front
program. Our Party cannot retreat before any demand of a
socialcharacter, since it aims at the complete transformation
of the social system, and the organization of socialist or
communistsociety.
We have shown that the achievement of socialism demands
more than the formulation of a program. Marx wrote:
"Every step of real movement is more important than a
dozenprograms." ** The common sense of the French work-
ers and peasants likewise tells them that "he who can do a
lot,can do a little; instead of putting upon paper formulas
which are more revolutionary in appearance, it would be
• Frederick Engels, Antl-Duehrinq, p, 305, International Publishers,

New York.
•• Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, "Letter to Wilhelm
Bracke," p. 34, International Publishers, New York.
¢ FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
better to put into force the more modest measures which

already appear in the People's Fr011t program."
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASC ISM
In the political field, the last cantonal elections confirmec

the progress of the People's Front, and emphasized the set.
back of the parties of the Right. The fascist leaders are now
quarreling in public, as a result of their repea ted defeat.
Nevertheless we must not close our eyes to a contin ued grave
fascist danger.
First, the existence of fascism is bound up with the capi.
talist mode of production. As long as capitalist domination
remains, there will remain the factors which determine the
rise and development of the fascist danger.
Secondly, defeated in the elections, on the legal field, re-
action will more and more be tempted to turn to the methods
of fascist violence, to recruit and arm hired gangs which they
will seek to hurl against the workers and republicans, who
are peaceful and unarmed.
Thirdly, jointly with the big French capitalists, the foreign
fascist dictators are attempting to organize in our country
the military squads, motorized groups and shock troops whr
would have the double task of crushing the working clas
and democracy, and of opening the frontier to foreign in-
vasion.
The conspiracy of the "Hooded Ones" proves how correct
we were in arousing public opinion and the People's Front
government too (read once more the speech at Mutualite on
October 30,1 936, and ha~e.it read by y.onr friends ) by ~se

lesslydenouncing the activity and armll1g of the reorganized
seditious leagues. .
More than ever the people must demand and obtain the
disarming and effective dissolution of the fascist leagues and
their military organizations. More than ever the people must
demand and obtain the imprisonment of the fascist leaders,
who are foreign agents. More than ever the people must de-
mand and obtain, as Mouton says, that the willd of dem o c-
rGCV shall blow thr ough the high officialdom, through the
co;rts, through the arm y and the police. Is it not scandalous
that the State Council should be able to annul the decree of
the Minister of the Interior recalling the traitor Doriot?
(Applause.)
Isn't it a scandal ' that our paper, L'Hunuinite, has been
convicted for having pointed out the proven existence of
arms depots? Isn 't it a scandal that officers and generals have
been found guilty of conspiring against the Republic?
And now that the criminal activities of the French fascist
leaders are known , now that their connecti ons with Rome
and Berlin have been exposed, now that it is known in
France how men can betray their country, is there anyone
who still can honestly bewail the retribution reserved for
traitors of this kind by the supreme justice of the proletarian
state? (Applause.)
Is there anyone who doesn't wish for our rulers a little of
the fierce energy of the leaders of the Soviet Union? (Ap-
plause.)
It is true that for the Bolshevik leaders "the winds of
98 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S F R O NT
democracy" is not a meaningless literary expression. ( Laugh_

ter.)
Another very important problem of our statecraft is the
attitude of the People's Front towards the legitimate de-
mands of the colonial peoples. Satisfaction must be granted
the colonial peoples, first of all in the very inte rest of the
unhappy populations of North Africa, Syria, Lebanon and
Indo-China. It must be done in the interest of the People's
Front which must be true to the hopes, now considerably
cooled, which the colonial natives had placed in it.
It must be done in the interest of France, so that fascism
can no longer use the demagogic arguments by which it tries
to arouse certain strata of the native popu lation s against Our
country.
For the workers: an increase in their wretched wages,
complete enforcement of the social laws ; fo r the fellahs, the
unfortunate peasants, an immediate grant in food, tools and
seed; then, in Algeria, the redistribution of the land, to re-
turn to the natives the good soil from which the y have been
expropriated and driven (applause); then the giving of
water [irrigation] to all, to the colonists, to the French and to
the natives)' the drafting of special measures to aid artisans,
who are so numerous in the large cities of No rth Africa, in
Fez as well as in Tunis and in Algiers.
The Native Code of laws must be abolished , natives must
be permitted to hold public office. As a first step toward the
right to vote and the eligibility to office of all natives, the
Blum-Viollette bill must he passed immedi ately. In Lebanon
and in Syria, France cannot continue to fav or the activities
of the fascists, the agents of !Mussolini, the enemy of the

People's Front of France, who are carrying on a reign of
terror against a people who wish to live in friendship with
France.
The fundamental demand of our Communist Party con-
ceming the colonial peoples remains the right of self-deter-
milwtion, the right to independence.
Recalling the formulation of Lenin's, we have already told
the comrades from Tunis, who approve, that the right to
separation does not signify the obligation to separate. If the
decisive question of the moment is the victorious struggle
against fascism, the interest of the colonial peoples lies in
t"eir unity with the French people and not in an attitude
which could favor the projects of fascism and, for instance,
place Algeria, Tunis and Morocco under the heel of Musso-
lini or Hitler, or make Indo-China a base for militaristic
Japan. (Applause.)
To create the conditions for this free, confident and frater-
nal union of the colonial peoples with our people, is that not
also to work toward the fulfillment of France's mission in
the world? (ApplaltSe.)
Concerning the first condition for the forward advance of
the People's Front, the strict, speedier application of its pro-
gram, there remains to he said that the Communists are
ready to share responsibility in a genuine People's Front
government, in a government constituted in the image of the
People's Front, as they declared at the time of the last
Cabinetcrisis.
UNITY, UNITY, UNITY
Let us pass to the second condition : to unify ever more

closely the masses of the people o f France.
At the Seventh Congre ss of the Communist Inte rnational
in July, 1935, Comrade Dimitroff declared: .
"T he great service which the French Communist Party per-
form ed consi sts in the fa ct that it gr asped the need of the hour
that it paid no heed to the secta rians who tried to hold back th~
Party and hamp er the reali zation of th e united front of s trug~lc
against fascism, but acted boldly and in a Bolshevi k fashion
and, by its pact with the Socialist Party providing for join;
action, prepared the united front of the proletariat as the ba;,is
for the anti- fascist People's Front now in the making ." *
Since the glorious hero of the Leipzig trial mad e this state-
ment in praise of our Party and its policies-a prais e which
obligates us-events have definitely confirmed the correctness
and effectiveness of our policy of unity, and especially the
possibilities of the People 's Front.
For the Communists the People's Front has never been
and never will be a tactic of the moment, an electoral trick.
It is the close and lasting alliance of the worki ng class and
the middle classes, a fundamental conception of Leninism.
The People's Front is not a parliamentary coalition. It j,
the movement of the masses, united in action for bread, lib-
erty and peace, with its legal expression in the parliamentary
and governmental field.
The People 's Front advances the movement of the masses
*Georgi Dimitroff, The United Front Against W ar and Fascism,

p. 134, Workers Library Publishers. New York.
IN ORDER TO GO FOR\VARD
from the double point of view of ideology and organization.

It brings political and cultural improvements in the lot of
the workers of every strata: It rai~es .their political con-
sciousness. It strengthens their organizations.
That is the difference from the so-called policy of the
'.lesser evil" of the German Social-Democracy which accept-
ed and made the workers accept the sacrifices and restrictions
which,they said, were necessary to save democracy.
The fact is, the fate of democracy is bound up with the
vital demands of the workers; the struggle for liberty is in-
.eparable from the struggle for bread. (Applause.) That is
the reason for our insistence, for our stubbornness, even, in
defense of the demands of the workers and peasants. Knowl-
edge of gains made, and the will to defend them, explain the
deepattachment of the working masses to the People's Front.
The movement of the masses of the people must not be
ieared. On the contrary, the initiative of the masses must
be encouraged, their actions supported. This is what we said
ill June, when we asked our Comrade Leon Blum not to go
away, to face the assault of reaction, to remain in the gov-
ernment-if need be with us-by relying upon the masses
of the people as on February 9 and February 12, 1934.
(Applause.)
We must also help in the creation and development of the
committees of the People's Front, no matter what they are
called. The committee is the most direct grouping of all the
supporters of the People's Front in the shop, in the neigh-
borhoods of the big cities, and the villages. Sometimes it is
composed of delegates elected by broad assemblies, or of
FRAXCE OF THE PEOPLE'S F RO NT
representatives of organizations. Our Party has alway

given unconditional suppo rt to the popular and anti-fascist
committees, such as the .Committees of Amsterdam-PleYel.
which became the Committees of Peace and Liberty,* found_
ed at the initiative of Romain Rolland and our dear Henri
Barbusse, whom we mourn.
For the execution of the program, for unity and action of
the Peop le's Front, for the organization of committees with
a broad basis, we remain convinced that it would be Worth
while to call a great national congress of all the organiza_
tions of the People's Front. We repeat and shall insist on
our proposal that all the problems concerni ng the common
program and its execution be submitted to such a Congres .
THE OUTSTRETCHED HAND

In its determination to lead the people of France to unity,
our Pa rty had made an open appeal to the Catholic workers,
and also to the youth and the veterans who m the demagogy
of a La Rocque might have misled.
Permi t me to recall to you our appea l over the radio on
Ap ril 17, 1936 :
"\Ve extend our hand to you, Catholic worke r, employee,
artisan or peasant, we who are laymen, because you ar e our
brother, and like us are burdened by the same cares.
"We extend our hand to you, National Vol untee r, war veteran
turned Croix de Feu, because you are a son of our people, be-
cause you suffer as we do from disorder and cor ruption, because
* Corresponding to the American League for P eace and Democracy.

IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD 10 3
like us you want to save the country from sliding down to ruin
and catastrophe.
"We are the great Communist Party, with its poor and devoted
militants, whose names have never been involved in any scandal
nd whom corruption cannot touch. We are the partisans of the
;urest and noble!'ft ideal which man can set himself."
Don't you think that this appeal against corruption and

for honesty to those honest followers of the Colonel-Count,
convicted of having been a secret agent in the pay of Tar-
dieu, is more appropriate than ever and that it has not ceased
to give thought to those to whom we addressed it?
As for the hand extended to the Catholics, this is a ques-
tion which has aroused a great deal of interest, even heated
interest. You can estimate it by the quantity of articles and
even volumes which have been written for or against, by the
warmth of the approvals and the sharpness of the reproaches
addressed to us, and also by the distribution of the last
speech on this subject (more than 200,000 copies). Never-
theless the Congress surely will not consider some further
remarks out of place.
The question of collaboration among Communist and So-
cialist workers and their brothers who are Catholic or Chris-
tians of other denominations is not a new one. It was posed
by the very founders of the international working class
movement.
But today the question is posed with much more emphasis
in connection with the fundamental issue of the moment, the
one which has determined the entire policy of our Commu-
nist Party and which is attracting the masses of the people
more and more: "Who will win, the working class and de-
inocracy, or fascism?" In other words, towards whom will
the Catholic workers turn? Will they as in Aus tria, and, for
a certain time, in Germany, in the Saar, form a base, a re-
serve for fascism, or will they as in Belgium, at the time of a
stirring election, and in the Basque country, even in the
Republican trenches, join the ranks of the followers of
democracy? That is the question. It is well beyond the reach
of the petty calculations of those little politicia ns for whom
the beginning and the end of all wisdom lies in reckoning up
the votes. (Applause.)
It is well known that we are Communists, adherents of
philosophical materialism, laymen. In the sphere of philos-
opy and doctrine we have never consented and, unlike others,
never will consent to any concession in principles. (Ap-
plause.) We are firmly convinced that our philosophy yields
the only rational and scientific explanation of the world and
its evolution. We do not wish to employ any but purely and
exclusively ideological weapons in the prop agating of Our
views. We have already proved that in this way we are
following the precise advice of our teachers, Marx, Engels.
Lenin, and Guesde.
Let us add to the arguments which you alrea dy know this
answer of Engels to Mr. Duehring, who had written: "A
socialitarian system, rightly conceived, has therefore ... to
abolish all the paraphernalia of religious magic, and there-
with all the essential elements of religious cults."
"Religion will be prohibited!" Engels exclaimed, and he
sharply mocked the so-called philosopher who didn't under-
IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD lOS
_and that "religion is the fantastic reflection in men's minds

~tf those external forces which control thei.r da~ly life," and
that therefore we must first transform society In order that
"the last extraneous force [extraneous to man's understand-
ing] which is s~i1l reflected in religion" .may ~anis~.. .
"Herr Duehnng, however, cannot walt until religion dies
this natural death," Engels continues. "He proceeds in more
deep-rooted fashion. He out-Bismarcks Bismarck; he decrees
sharper May laws, not merely against Catholicism, but
against all religion whatsoever; he incites his gendarmes of
the future to attack religion, and thereby helps it to martyr-
dom and a prolonged lease of life." ·*
War must not be declared against religion, that is but an
Anarchist phrase, Lenin said. We must work to bring to-
gether, to unite all workers, whatever may be their beliefs,
against the real enemy: capitalism and its hateful product,
fascism.
We have been asked: "Have you forgotten that Lenin
wrote: 'Religion is the opium of the people'?" No, we have
not forgotten this sentence which, by the way, is Marx's.
To collide with the religious sentiments of Christian work-
ers, to satirize religious ceremonies, will not advance the
question of necessary unity one step, will not help us con-
vince a single Christian worker that we are right. 'rVe said
this at the National Conference at Ivry in June, 1934, advis-
ing against demonstrations against processions which, more-
• Frederick Engels, Anti-Duehrinq, pp. 346, 348. International Pub-

lishers,New York.
over, quite ?ften take p~ac: in this or that city governed by

elected Radicals or Socialists, who are very broad -minded.
We do not wish to mock either the religious vestments of
the Catholic priests, or the insignia and attri butes of those
who are faithful to Freemasonry. (Applause.) We wish to
be truly free of all religious influence and opposi ng reactions.
But once again, the question is more serious, on a higher
plane. The Church, because it influences great masses of the
peop le, has always been more or less shaken by great social
events. In other periods class conflict man ife sted itself in
religious forms. Was not the Reformation in essence the re-
volt of the peasants and artisans against the ruling classes?
Even now, in certain countries which are economically and
politically less developed, it happens that opposition mOve-
ments take on a religious form, for instance, in the countries
of North Africa, and particu larly in Algeria.
Could the birth of the new socialist wor ld upon one-sixth
of the globe have failed to have repercussions even within
the churches? Already almost half a century ago the encycli-
cals of Pope Leo XVIII revealed that the inte rna tional work-
ing class movement, that "Communism, the spectre which is
haunting Europe," had not failed to win adh erents among
believers .
Now the appearance of fascism, negator of all liberty,
poses new problems to the faithful. Is this not the lesson of
the events in Germany and Spain? Ou r Alsatian comrades
will perhaps be able to explain in this connection one of the
reasons for their recent successes.
It is likewise in comformity with Ma rx's and Lenin's
teachings not to scorn the lessons of the past. Only petty

bourgeois filled with self-importance can suppose that the
world started with their first cries, that their "science" is the
pure revelation of "their time." These people have not re-
flected upon Lenin's recommendation to young Communists
to seek to assimilate the treasures of knowledge accumulated
by the whole of humanity.
To the words of Engels concerning the role of primitive
Christianity which we quoted at Mutualite hall, and which
has brought us some lively criticism, we shall add these state-
ments of Jules Guesde from the rostrum of the Palais
Bourbon on June 24, 1896·
Answering a questioner of the Right who was accusing
him of clericalism-as you see, we were not the first to ex-
pose ourselves to this reproach, isn't it so, comr .des ?-
Guesde, the apostle of socialism in France, answered:
"I neither fear nor worry about this accusation of clericalism,
and still I am more correct towards Christianity, towards the
great people of the Catholic Church, than were the members of
the Center with whom you are more and more combining your
votes,"
Guesde said:
"We regret the role of public prosecutors against the succes-
sion of centuries which have preceded us. We do not under-
estimate nor insult any of the different phases of social
evolution; we classify them, explain their historical sequence,
and render them jus-tice accordingly. That is how, in the thir-
teenth century, the Church-we have no compunctions about
admitting it-played a very great and useful role. It is the
Church which, rising before the ironclad men of that day, iron-
lOB FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRO NT
clad not only phy sically but also morall;', was the only intel ,
lectual power capable of imposing bounds , of applying a brake
at least relatively, to the every-day violence and brutality." * '
It should not be surprising, comrades, that Socialists and

Commu nists trained in the school of Guesde and Cachin
should maintain a correct attitude toward Catho lic workers.
The paper of the Socialists of Roubaix, a fte r having
hurled violent criticisms at us, finally came to the following
lines by which it emphasized its agreement with our out-
stretched hand policy:
"The attitude of the Socialist Party-at Roubaix as well as
elsewhere [notic e, comrades of the provinces I)-is and always
has been in harmony with the teachings of the mas te rs of so-
cialism.
"We welcome the worker with joy into our ranks, 110 matter
what his philosophical or religio us convictions may be , Whether
he believes in God or not, whether or not he goes to church,
temp le or synagogue, so long as he is determined to put an end
to the bourgeois order which 'is in its death throes, and to estab-
lish socialist property and production on its ruins.
"Bu t we do not ask them at all [these new Socia lists) to dis-
avow t heir religious faith, if they have one. Never! T ha t is the
hand which we have alway s extended to all worker s, to the
Catholics as well as to the others, without any menta l reserva-
tion."
Thi s is very good. Comra de Lebas and th e Socialists of
Ro ubaix are righ t. But it is difficult to understand why other
Socialist comrades shou ld be opposed to the appeal to Cath-
olic workers, to collaboration with them .
,..Fo ur Years of Class Struggle ill the Chamber, Vol. II, p. 19J.
Leon Blum made a statement to a Catholic weekly which

has hardly been brought to the attention of the Socialist
workers by the papers of their Party:
"You ask me if I believe collaboration between French Catho-
lics and the government of the People's Front to be possible?
Certainly, I think it possible . . . and since it is possible, will
not the French Catholics agree that it is desirable?"
The wish of Leon Blum has at least been partially real-
ized, since at his side in the People's Front government there
sits the Catholic Philippe Serre. For some people, then, col-
laboration would be possible in the government but not in
the factory or village? They would approve the Belgian
Workers Party, the party which gives its presidents to the
Second International, and which has been practicing for
twenty years almost without a break a policy of govern-
mental coalition with .Catholic conservatives, but they would
disapprove of the Communist workers of France who are
extending their hand to their brother Catholic workers?
(App!<ulse.)
Those who "proclaim atheism as an obligatory article of
faith" would then ask for the exclusion from the Socialist
Party of Citizen Philip, Deputy from Lyons and militant
Christian? They would indict the Labor Party, whose leaders
read the Bible more readily than Capital?
Gustave Delory, who was elected Deputy and Mayor of
LiIIe, told the following anecdote in a book written in 1921 :
"In May, 1910, Lille wag visited by English Socialists led by
Kcir Hardie; the Party received them magnificently. On this
occasion, the Party once again showed its , spirit of liberalism.
"For the groups led by Citizen Keir Hardie, altho ugh So-
cialist, for the most part belonged to religious confess ions.
"This curious thing was to be seen: a procession lavisltlng
appeals to Jesus, led by the band of the Union of Lille playing
the International.
"The public, after a moment of astonishment, burst into ap-
plause, approving the attitude of the Party."
And today everyone approves the attitude of our Commu-

nist Party, whose only error, we will never tire of repeating,
is that it is always right before everyone else. (A pplause.)
Let us therefore work patiently for unity amo ng Commu-
nists, Catho lics and Protestants of all denomi nations. Our
goal is not a mysterious, unacceptable collusion with the
leaders of the Church. Our aim is unity of the masses of the
people for their well-being, fo r liberty and peace. This means
that it is not merely a question of the Comm unists carrying
on propaganda for the "outstretched hand." T heir actions
above all must win over the Catholics and dra w them into
joint activity.
There is no other way of winning over all the workers to
the cause of the people except through action, actions of
solidarity and kindness, and through mult iplying the gains
all around us. We wiII win over to the Peop le's Front and
to Communism those who are kept away from us by their
prejudices to just the extent that we prove to them that
Communism, our noble ideal, is inspiration fo r selfl essness
and good deeds, to the extent that we prove that nowhere
else is to be found such a spring of pure and generous
feelings.
And now a few words on the question of education in this

connection.
We are laymen. We are children of public schools. Most
of us have attended only our village public school. We have
supported and we shall support the public schools and their
teaching personnel, which is beyond all praise. But we will
not replace the word "God" by the word "secularity." We
are defenders of the secular laws, and upholders of academic
freedom. We accept neither monopoly in education nor the
quota system for school enrollment. This should dispel, if
need be, all misunderstanding in connection with our policies.
WORKING CLASS UNITY
The foundation, the condition for unity and cohesion of

the People's Front, is unity of the working class.
Our Comrade Jacques Duclos will present a special report
on this major point. I shall therefore limit myself to a few
remarks.
Unity of action between Communists and Socialists was
realized only at the cost of tenacious and persevering efforts
on the part of our Party for more than thirteen years.
Our Party never resigned itself to the split provoked by
an undisciplined minority by their departure from the Tours
Congress. Those who had the duty of organizing another
Party at that time refused to bow before the sovereign will
of the members and organizations of the Party, who had
expressed themselves in the decisive vote on affiliation to
the Third International by a majority of 3,208 mandates,
against 1,022 for adherence with reservations, and 39i ab-

stentions.
Since 1922 our Communist Party again and again renewed
its proposals for a united front, without ever per mitting
itself to be rebuffed either by difficulties or by insults, lip
to the happy day when upon our initiative the pact for
unity of action which binds us to the Socialist Party are
signed.
The good results of unity of action are evident. Unit y of
action has enabled us to resist victoriously the assaults of
fascism. It facilitated and hastened the reestablishment of
trade union unity through the coming together of Communist
and Socialist brothers. It has permitted the working class to
exercise a healthy influence on the lower midd le classes, and
to win them over to the People's Front. Unity of action has
advanced the idea of the United Party of the Working Class.
If we have this happy record of unity ever prese nt in our
minds, if we take into account the constant dange rs which
threaten the working class, democracy and peace, we shall
be forearmed against any thought, any gesture which might
harm the cause of unity or the interests of the pro leta riat, or
imperil its future.
For some time now difficulties have been looming . Let liS
frankly recognize that life has posed problems concern ing
which Communists and Socialists have different opinions,
instead of letting it be thought that it is a matter of petty
issues on one side or the other.
Difficulties developed especially as a result of our diver-
gencies concerning the methods of carrying out the People's
IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD II3
Front program, regarding the "pause," the "wind of democ-

racy," old age pensions, peasant demands and the attitude
towards Republican Spain.
Why not loyally discuss alI these political problems and
try to resolve them in a fraternal spirit of mutual confidence?
Toward this end why not multiply the contacts between
our militants, from top to bottom, and between representa-
tives of our organizations at every level? That is the task
of the Coordinating Committees, the Entente Committees!
Why not do everything to facilitate and set into motion
vigorous common action in France and in the world, between
adherents of the Second and Third Internationals, between
Socialists and Communists?
For its part, our Party does and shall persevere in the
struggle for unity. We have proposed going still further than
unity of action; we have proposed complete unity in a single
Party of the Working Class. It will soon be three years since
our Socialist comrades were presented with our first draft
plall for unity.
We proposed the holding of common meetings; we pro-
posed the convocation of a National Unity Conference for
unity to prepare for a great Unity Congress. Step by step we
consented to the ever new demands of the c.A.P.* of the
Socialist Party. We accepted the conditions which the So-
cialist Congress of Marseilles thought necessary and suffi-
cient for the realization of unity: (I) democracy in all the
bodies of the organization; (2) sovereignty of the national
* Permanent Administrative Committee, the national executive
body.
and international conventions; (3) independence towards all

governments.
\Ve proposed that, without waiting any longer for the
completion of the final declaration of agreement by the Uni-
fication Committee set up at the top, our two Pa rt ies should
pool all their means, resources and forces.
Not only did the c.A.P. refuse, but it also dema nded that
the Communist groups cease making unity pro posals to the
Socialist Sections. Although we disagreed with such meth-
ods-for we still think that the members of both parties have
their word to say on the question of unity-we gave new
proof of our spirit of conciliation, in order not to hold back
the work of the Unification Committee any furt her.
Thus having succeeded in preventing discussion from be-
low, the C.A.P. seized upon an art icle of our great Comrade
Dimitroff as a pretext to break off conve rsa tions at the top.
Yet Dimitroff's article contains nothing which a revolu-
tionary Socialist or Communist worker cannot ac cept . The
General Secretary of the Communist International stated that
at the twentieth anniversary of the Soviet Un ion, the work-
ing class could judge which of the two paths was right, that
of the Bolsheviks, of Lenin and Stalin, or that of Social-
Democracy, of Noske and Otto Bauer. (Applause.)
He developed a thought which is famili ar to us. Permit
me, comrades, to quote this extract from the report of the
Villeurbanne Congress, commenting upon our plan for the
Charter of Unity:
"We have been inspired by the double experience o f the inter-
national proletariat, on the one hand the unfortunate experiences
of the German and Austrian workers who in the majority re-

mained under the influence of Social-Democracy and today are
under the yoke of Iascism : on the other hand, by the happy
experience of the workers of the Soviet Union led to the con-
quest of power and the building of socialism by the Bolsheviks."
Quoting Stalin, Dimitroff pointed out that the victory over
capitalism, over fascism is not possible without putting an
end to the reformist ideology and practice of "Social-Demo-
cratism," as he puts it, which led to the defeats in Germany
and in Austria. He declared that this was the opinion of a
oreet number of Socialists, especially French Socialists,
~vhom, far from insulting, Dimitroff quotes as an example.
While German Social-Democracy opposed a united front
with the Communists up to the last moment; while in May,
1933, the German Social-Democratic Deputies approved the
foreign policy of Hitler, the war lord, in the first Hitlerian
Reichstag where the Communists could not sit, the French
Socialist Party agreed to struggle in common with the Com-
munist Party against fascism.
At the Seventh World Congress of the Communist Inter-
national Dimitroff said:
"By this action [the united front] which accords with the vital
interests of all the toilers, the French workers, both Commu-
nists and Socialists, have once more advanced the French labor
movement to first place, to a leading position. in capitalist
Europe, and have shown that they are worthy successors of the
Communards, worthy exponents of the glorious heritage of the
Paris Commune." *
* Georgi Dimitroff, The United Front Against War and Fascism,

p. 134, International Publishers, New York.
II6 FR .\ ! TCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
Dimitroff, in his homage from the rostrum of the Seventh

Congress, put the Socialist and Communist workers together.
(Applause.)
In his article, which the French Socialist workers are
told is an attack against them and their Party, while
care is taken not to let them see it, Dimitroff again praises
the United Front realized "between Communists and Social-
ists in France." He shows that the necessary conditions for
unity in a single Party "are ripening in France, thanks to the
joint struggle of Socialists and Communists within the rank
of the anti-fascist People's Front." But Dimitroff cannot fail
to regret and criticize-and we are with him in showing the
same regret and making the same criticism-the persistent
refusals of the leaders of the Second International, who op-
pose unity of action between Communist and Socialist work-
ers. Unfortunately, there is no pact of unity between the
Socialist and Communist Internationals. Unfortunately,
events as tragic as fascism's aggression against the Spanish
people, as the Japanese war again st China, do not move cer-
tain reactionary leaders of the Second International.
The Communist International has not the right to be silent,
to hide from the workers the danger which results from the
division among the workers in many countries and Oil all
international scale. The Socialist workers of France are in
agreement with their Communist comrades on this point.
They strongly approve a joint call of the Socialist Party and
the Communist Party and the General Union of Workers of
Spain, summoning the two political Internationals and the
International Federation of Trade Unions to effect unity of
IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD Il7
action. They cannot understand why what was possible with

LIS and in Spain can fail to be realizable elsewhere.
And so Dimitroff's article cannot be a motive for rupture

of conversations on unity. And our Congress will decide that
in any event our Communist Party must pursue and inten-
sify its efforts in favor of proletarian unity, for the creation
of the United Party of the \Vorking Class .
THE COMMUNIST PARTY
Let us examine briefly, in concluding this report, some of

the questions which arise as a result of the magnificent devel-
opment of our great Communist Party.
What a distance has been traversed in seventeen years,
since December, 1920, since the memorable day of our affil-
iation to the Communist International!
It was during the first days after the war. The soldiers
who had escaped the massacre came back, their eyes still filled
with visions of horror and fright. They shouted their hatred
for war. Having returned to their villages, their factories,
they found themselves again under the ferocious yoke of
capital.
The crisis shook the foundations uf the regime. The work-
ing class condemned the war-time policy of the Socialist
Party, hopefully turned towards the great country which was
lit up by the bright flame of proletarian revolution. Lenin
had risen up, pointing the way to millions of proletarians.
\\' e answered his call, Marcel Cachin at our head.
Uh, the way wasn't easy, and it remains difficult. We have
118 FRANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S FRO NT
been insulted, slandered, beaten, imprisoned. We have known

abandonment and betrayal. Death has taken the best of Our
best, those war veterans who became soldiers of Communism.
Raymond Lefebvre, Georges Bruyere, who have gone to join
Henri Barbusse and Paul Vaillant-Couturier in the grave;
the pioneers of our movement, those who belonged to the
little group of deputies who remained faithful to the Party,
other old comrades: Alexandre Blanc, Ausso leil, Philbois
and Grandclernent, and Jean Colly, and Riche tta; younger
ones like Alloyer, Doron, Meunier; the veteran of the Com-
mune, Carnelinat, who saved L'Humanite, Jau res' paper, for
the worki ng class Party, and so many others to whose mem-
ory our Congress unites in grateful and deep-felt homage.
But we have always raised our banner ever higher, the
banner of Communism, which the Commu na rds waved above
the last barricades at Belleville, which has tri umphed over
one-sixth of the globe, which floats victoriously over the
North Pole and beyond the Caucasus, from the Baltic to
the Pacific.
Thus we have been fighting firmly for seven teen years.
Struggles for bread, wages, the price of wheat, for milk for
children and old-age pensions. The struggle fo r liberty,
against the so-called "national bloc" and agains t all forms of
reaction, against fascism. The fight for peace, against the
occupation of the Ruhr, against the war in Moroc co, against
all the manifestations of imperia lism and milita rism, against
the blot of colonialism.
And we have fought for unity, inch by inch, for the unity
of the working class, for the unity of our people, which is
the guarantee of the fraternity of all peoples of the world.

We have fought within our ranks to keep the Party on the
path of Lenin and the Communist International. Vve can
already contemplate with some pride the happy results for
the French people, for the working class, for the Party, of
our efforts as militant Communists devoted and faithful to
their people and to the International.
We can state with a clear conscience that the path of our
Party is indeed the one which leads to a free, strong and
happy France, to a France which will become a country of
free producers, masters of their shops and land, contrib-
uting with the other peoples, in peaceful emulation, to the
happiness of mankind.
Our Communist Party has 341,000 members. It is the first
Party of France. A single one of its organizations, the sec-
tion in the Renault shops, has 7,500 members. Several other
shop sections contain more than 1,000 members. Besides
these giants, which prove that we are indeed the Party of
the working class, flesh of the flesh of the proletariat, hun-
dreds and thousands of groups, even in the smallest villages,
indicate the deep roots of Communism in working class and
peasant France.
It is to all the obscure militants of the great Communist
Party, especially to alI those who struggled and suffered with-
out weakening during the difficult years, that our fraternal
thoughts go out at this moment.
Let us honor, comrades, those modest and reliable artisans
of Bur success. Let us give honor to the "unit member," who
was mocked before being imitated (applause), who rebuilt
his group twenty times, twenty times saw it broken up under

the blows of boss and police repression, and at the twenty_
first time became the leader of hundreds of militant Commu-
nists. Let us give honor to the laborer, the artisan, the peas-
ant Communist isolated in his village, often scorned, always
fought against, who prepared the fine harvest of the present
and those still finer ones of tomorrow.
Let us give honor -to those who made and continue to make
known our Party arid our Hunumite, who contact each
worker in their shop or office, or who cover miles and miles
on foot or by bicycle, often over unbelievable roa ds, to win
over a heart and a brain to Communism.
The militants have broadened the Party. The P a rty has
broadened the militants. It has steeled them, educated them
in every respect. I t has made them more capable men and
women, and also inspired them wit h more gener osity and
a rdo r. It has awakened and stimu lated in them the finest
qualities of the heart and mind.
Consider ou r men at the head of large working class organ-
izations or in the administration of important cities; consider
them on the platform of meetings or during their parlia-
mentary activities, or again in the editorial roo ms of our
papers .
Almost all are workers, real peasants; there are among
them great, true intellectuals; there are also learn ed univer-
sity men, famous scientists, talented writers and renowned
artists. They are the sons of the people, they are the people
of France. (Applause.)
Our Congress wishes to greet with special affectio n, with
emotion and gratitude, the th ousands of members of our

Communist Party o f France, rank and file members, unit and
section organizers, member s of the district committees and
the Central Committ ee, organized 'by Andre Marty, who are
fighting in Spain at the front of liberty.
We bow in pride and grief to our glorious dead, her oes of
the inte rna tional brigades, soldiers of the Republican Army,
who have faIlen beside their Spanish brothers and those of
other countries for the triumph of the sacred cause of
liberty.
Yes, our Party is big and strong. It is united like a block
of grani te, while all the other parties con stantly offer a pub-
lic spectacle of their divisions, their internal quarrels carried
even to physical fights among their members, at their con-
ventj on s, The Communist Party is united around its Central
Committee. One can well say that never in France has a
Part y leadership enjoyed within its ranks as well as without
such auth orit y, based on mutual confidence and affection.
Were it not for the resignation of our Comrades Frachon,
Racamond and Martha Desrumeaux, who honored them-
selves and our Party by consenting to this heavy sacrifice in
the cause of trade union unity, were it not for the death of
our poor VaiIlant, the Central Coaunittee elected at Villeur-
banne would stand complete before this Congress . ( A p-
plause.)
That is because the unity of our Communist Party rests
upon the acceptance without re servation of the teachings of
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin .
Our unity was forged in our struggles for the purity of
the principles of Marxism-Leninism, for the firm and COn-

sistent application of a policy absolutely conforming to the
interests of the working class, both present and future.
Communism is characterized above all by unshakeable
confidence in the capabilities of the working class, in the in-
exhaustible resources of the movement of the masses. Lack
of faith in the working class, in its ability, its future, are at
the base of all opportunist deviations, of the Right or of the
"Left," whether liquidatory or sectarian.
Our method is to appeal to the spirit of initiative of the
French workers to whom Marx and Lenin often paid tribute.
\Vithin our own ranks we constantly demand a sense of
personal and collective responsibility. The revolutionary
workers remember the internal campaign which ended in the
liquidation of the Barbe-Celor group and the reestablishment
of democracy which they had choked in the Party: "No dum-
mies in the Party!" "Let people speak!" such were, such
have always been the slogans of our Party. (Applause.)
Every Communist must use his own head. Every Commu-
nist must strive to assimilate and make those around him
understand the principles and methods of action of Leninism-
Stalinism.
This reminder of our principles and of our struggles in
behalf of them is necessary. Have not the unquestionable.
successes of the Party, its tremendous progress sometimes
made some of our militants dizzy?
Is it not true that a spirit of excessive confidence, of boast-
fulness, we can even say of petty-bourgeois self-sufficiency,
has shown itself in certain comrades in some regions, where
people went to sleep on the laurels of the electoral victories

of May, 1936 ?
How can we forget that nothing is finished as long as
something remains to be done? How can we forget that
though the struggle may sometimes change its forms, it
never stops; that it will not end except with the taking of
power 'by the working class won to Communism, and when
society will have reached the stage of complete Communism?
The class enemy multiplies the obstacles, concentrates all
its weapons against the working class and its Communist
Party.
The spirit of vigilance sometimes falters in certain people,
at a moment when, on the contrary, the greatest political and
ideological firmness and extreme alertness in organizational
questions are needed.
One must know how to track down and drive out without
pity, if there are any, every scabby sheep, every element for-
eign to the Party, whether Trotskyite or provocator, who
might try to do the work of the enemy in our ranks--natur-
ally without suspecting and unjustly striking at the good
comrade who, as is his right, may have expressed a different
opinion on a question of tactics, on some practical problem,
so long as the fundamental principles of Communism are
not involved.
"Incredulity is sometimes the defect of a fool, and cred-
ulity the weakness of an intelligent man," said Diderot. This
certainly applies to some of our Communists, who show too
much "political childishness" to say the least, so much have
they come to believe in their own superiority.
Such comrades forget that modesty is an essential Bolshe-

vik quality. They forget that it is necessary to know how to
learn from the masses, to listen to the voices from below.
They forget that one's desires must not be taken for reality .
They also forget that honest and sincere self-criticism is
the hallmark of a serious Party and of militant Communists
worthy of confidence. It is not a question of bewailing erro rs
and shortcomings; it is a question of discovering their causes,
of recognizing in what precise circumstances they took place,
in order to correct them and prevent their repetition.
To raise ever higher the political level of the members of
the Party, to avoid narrow, limited practices in our milita nts
and the absence of perspectives, to display miracles of orga n-
ization in all the domains of our activity-these are the gre at
inner-Party tasks of the moment.
The Party has developed its network of schools, courses ,
lectures. It has published many pamphlets, several books on
problems of philosophy and history, and also on cur re nt
events. But book learning cannot suffice, we must learn in the
greatest of all books, in the book of life; we must learn in
struggle, in success and defeat, through joy and trials.
\Ve must not be afraid to repeat the same things ofte n,
as much to instruct younger people as to remind the olde r.
In organizational questions, of which Comrade Gitton will
speak particularly, the most important thing is the choice of
people, checking on each one by the results of his work,
checking up on the carrying out of decisions.
Each man must be put in his proper place, the old mus t be
helped, their useful advice must be taken advantage of, and
at the same time we must appeal to the new forces rising in

the Party and the working class. "Our Party," said Lenin,
"will always be the Party of youth." You can see that at all
our meetings and at this Convention.
And we still have not mentioned that fine Young Commu-
nist League, which has almost 90,000 members, nor OUl'
charming little comrades of the Union of Young Girls of
France with their 19,000 members, nor of the Union of Farm
Youth, which has just started.
The Communist Party is proud of the confidence of these
organizations of toiling youth, to which the Party gives full
and complete independence.
Young and old, we fight under the same banner, for the
same ideal, the noblest, the purest, for Communism.
CONCLUSION
OM RADES, the Central Committee wished this report to

C be a record of these past two years and a complemen t to
the Villeurbanne report.
Allow me to repeat:
Concentrating our attention on the principal questio n of
the moment: the defeat of fascism, saving the workin g class
by saving democracy and peace, we have indicated and clari-
fied the perspectives before the people of France.
Our Ninth Congre ss is going to make possible a new step
forward for the French workers, strong and united thanks
to the People's Front.
The Communist Party of France proclaims the mission in
the world of France of the Peop le's Front.
The happy results for our people, in the past and in the
present, of the unity policy and the numerous initiat ives of
our Communist Party, are the guarantees for the successes
of tomorrow.
'vVe have advocated and applied an unquestionably correct
and fruitful policy, the only correct one, the only one which
has procured new advantages for the workers of our coun-
try, and which has thus given them confidence and hope for
their future.
For we are fighting for the future. We are prepari ng for
the future. We have ever present to our minds this tho ught
of Marx's and Engels' Communist Manifesto:
126
CONCLUSION 12 7
"The Communists fight for the attairunent of the immediate

aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the
working class; but in the movement of the present, they also
represent and take care of the future of that movement." *
The future which we represent and which we are prepar-

ing by deeds, while others chatter, is the overthrow of the
domination of capital, it is the taking of power by the work-
ing class raised to the position of ruling class, proceeding to
the socialization of the large means of production and ex-
change, returning the soil to the peasants, offering new crea-
tive possibilities to the scientists and engineers, procuring
happiness and joy for our people, thanks to the free labor of
all its sons reconciled in the communist society of tomorrow.
"Utopia!" the capitalist exploiters and their ideologists
shouted to our fathers and grandfathers, pioneers of social-
ism. Nevertheless, they always counted more on their police
and their judges to maintain their power and their privileges
than upon their ideological "arguments."
"Certainty!" answer 180,000,000 men and women of the
great country of victorious Soviets.
The new Soviet Constitution, said Stalin at the Eighth
Extraordinary Soviet Congress,
". .. will be a document testifying to the fact that what millions

of honest people in capitalist countries have dreamed and con-
tinu e to dream of has already been achieved in the U.S.S.R. It
* The Communist Monif esto, p. 43. International Publishers, New

York.
will be a document proving that what has been achieved in the

U.S.S.R. can be achieved in other countries."·
The Bolshevik Party of Lenin and Stalin has made the
socialist dream of yesterday the reality of today.
Lenin, Stalin, the Bolsheviks were inspired by the glorious
example of our Paris Commune. The Communists of Fra nce
will be inspired by the victorious example of the great Soviet
Commune.
They shout with more strength and determination than
ever:
"Lonq live Soviet power!"
Forward, comrades! Forward, workers and peasants oi
France to fulfill the destinies oi our people!
Long lice the Conununist Party of France!
Long live the Communist lnternational!
Long live free, strong and happy France, faithful to its
mission of progress, liberty alia peace!
• Stalin 011 tile NC"O.,· Soviet Constitution, p. 29. International Pub-

lishers, New York.
BOOKS OF INTERNATIONAL
SIGNIFICANCE
THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
The authoritative statement b)' the General Secretary of the

Communist Part)' of the United States of the Communist posi-
tiononnational and international affairs. including the con-
stitutional crisis, the Supreme Court. intervention in Spain, the
~I~~~o~n~~~ ~~~~}'w~[~~r ";r~~ie~de union unity, the Negro
J5f pages. $2.25
THE UNITED FRONT

PROBLEMS OF WORKING CLASS UNITY AND THE PEOPLE'S
FRONT IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASCISM AND WAR
This book presents the position of the Communist International

on the basic issues of our lime. It covers all important inter-
~~t~:ff~:r::!;~~~~?;:iSSi~fc~hl;~;t~r~eo~ff~~~s~~~J~e~:;.~
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France of The Peoples Front

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AND HER MISSION IN THE WORLD

WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHERS

WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHERS, Inc.

P. O. BOX 148, STATION D, NEW YORK CITY

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

H E NINTH CO:>;GRESS of the French Communist Pan}"

It is impossible in this foreword to do more than indicate

Foreword, by Alexander Trachtenberg

I. France of the People's From: Land of Liberty and

II. France's Mission in the \ \Torl d 49

III. In Order to Go Forw ard 88

OMRADES, almost two years ago, on January 25, 1936,

"The Communist Party wishes at all costs to obtain unity of

Our Party proposed and brought about the acceptance of

*Confederation Generale du Travail (General Confederation of

Front and the Communist Party in the elections of 1936.

THE UNITY OF THE FRENCH NATION

report of the Central Committee at the Villeurbanne

the quantity, variety and quality of its wines. Stock raising

of scandal and corruption, the poisonous flowers of the capi-

In Holland the animals were fed with:

* One kilogram equals approximately two and two-tenths pounds .

4 million kil os of cauliflow er

In August, 1936, there were destroyed:

Thus France, which for a long time had been a country

past two years, and is to be found in all the manifestoes and

both the "pause?" and the blockade of republican Spain,

• This term was applied to the government policy of not carrying

policy of our Communist Party, of its appeal for the Peo-

WHAT THE PEOPLE'S FRONT HAS GIVEN:

a. To the working class:

Sin ce the Villeurbanne C ongress, how many happy changes

count. Before IMay, 1936, only a few contracts, covering a

everywhere (except at Roubaix, where, through a peculiar

can at last see them around him. He rejoices because they

back to France at the end of their leave. (Applause.)

b. To the sta,te employees, to the veterans:

which M. Laval had imposed upon the pensions and grants

In that same period. M. Tardieu did not balk at the secret

August,1935 August, 1937

• A quintet of wheat weighs 220.46 pounds, equal to 3.67 bushels.

Augu-st, 1935 August, 1937

In brief, the price of wheat and other cereals has more

d. To the middle classes:

bilitv of credits, temporary government aid to commercial

THE CULTURAL UPSURGE

This social advance has been complemented by a veritable

From the big stations of Paris, during the summer months

* General Labor Sports Federation.

shop clubs have been formed. Gr~ups of campers, cyclist s

The sale of camping equipmen t has yielded 484,000 fran cs

ized the vigorous cultural movement which is embodied in

* Ministry of P09!S and Communications.

this hall. Amateur photographers are increasing greatly, as

• Subway. •• People's Association of Friends of the Museums.

The Theatre Populaire presents the best plays. Even the

am letely successful in spite of the sabotage of reaction,

parably better conditions, for the very simple reason that

After having depicted the conditions of the free masses

ury for Industrial Accidents, the index of average real

For a long time M ussol ini ha s been boasting of having

policy of war , especially in the preparation of the war in

And the comparison between 1926 and 1934 shows how