Popular Front
France 1934-1938
Synopsis
Alarmed by the expanding fascist menace both at home and abroad, the main components of the bitterly divided French left—that is, the radicals of the Radical Socialist Party, the socialists of the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvriè re (French Chapter of the International Workers' Party or SFIO), and the communists (Parti Communist Français, PCF)—began in early 1934 to discuss proposals for united action. These discussions resulted in an electoral alliance (the Front Populaire or Popular Front) and victory in the 1936 parliamentary elections. The communists supported the formation of a coalition government of radicals and socialists, with the socialist Léon Blum as prime minister.
In the wake of the election result, sit-in strikes occurred all over France, to the terror of employers and the propertied classes in general. In June 1936 agreements, reinforced by the new government's legislation and signed by the employers' representatives, made numerous concessions. In the following months, however, a combination of internal and external pressures divided the components of the Front, permitted an employers' counterattack, and eventually led to the fall of Blum's government in June 1937. This constituted the effective end of the Popular Front, but its memory remained a rallying symbol for the French labor movement.
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