The Politics of French Business 1936–1945

A re-examination of French industry's relations with the Popular Front government and its Vichy successor.

Richard Vinen (Author)

9780521522403, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 8 August 2002

264 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.43 kg

It has long been assumed that large-scale industry was one of the pillars of support for the Vichy regime which ruled France - under the German aegis - from 1940 to 1944. In particular it has been assumed that business used Vichy to reverse the advantages that labour had secured after the election of the Popular Front government in 1936. Richard Vinen argues that this assumption is false. He suggests that large-scale industry, mostly based in northern France, was geographically and psychologically isolated from the preoccupations of a government which was based in the south. Furthermore, business soon became aware of the probability of an allied victory and was consequently eager to distance itself from a government that it saw as doomed. Most important of all, the Popular Front legislation of 1936 had already been undermined by the rearmament programme that preceded the fall of France in 1940.

Preface
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Sources and methodology
3. Background
4. The mobilization of French business
5. New ideologies
6. The counter-attack
7. The patronat and the war
8. The patronat and the establishment of the Vichy regime
9. Labour relations during the occupation
10. Who controlled the Vichy industrial organization?
11. An industrial new order?
12. Pro-Vichy business leaders
13. Business at the liberation
14. Comparative and theoretical perspectives
15. Conclusions
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]