FRANCE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Transcription

1 FRANCE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

2 FRANCE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY PHILIP OUSTON PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

3 Philip Ouston 1972 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published I9J2 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Toronto Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI /

4 FOR ELIZABETH

5 Contents List of Maps and Diagrams List of Plates Acknowledgements IX X xi PART ONE: THE NATION The Land and the People The crucible. Borderlands. Static France and dynamic France. 3 2 Social Classes The middle class. The working class. The aristocracy. Craftsmen. Shopkeepers. Farmers. 3 The Economy Agricultural production. Industrial production. The structure of French industry. Services and commerce. The role of the state. 6o 4 Pressure Groups, Unions, Leagues, Creeds and Causes 70 The Le Chapelier Law. Business interests. Farmers' unions. The labour movement. Roman Catholicism. The Protestant churches. Democratic Catholicism. France overseas. Political leagues and clubs. Some pillars of tradition. PART TWO: THE STATE 5 The Constitution Origins. Parliament. The Executive. Law-making and rulemaking. Government and Opposition. L'Hemicycle. 99

6 viii CONTENTS 6 The Civil Service and Local Government The administrative structure. The administrative grade. Le Conseil d'etat. Rue de Rivoli, Rue de Varenne, Rue de Valois. Place Beauvau. Local authorities. 7 Education and Justice State schools and universities. The private sector. Primary schools. Secondary schools. Higher education. Justice PART THREE: THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS 8 The Establishment of the Republic The Franco-Prussian War. The Paris Commune. The Sixteenth of May. Boulangisme. The Panama scandal. Literature and thought in France after The Dreyfus Affair. Colonial expansion and war fever. Syndicalism against the state. Literature and art, 190o-14. g The Great wars The First World War. The depression. 6 February 1934 The Popular Front. Literature and art, The Second World War. 10 Post-War France L'Epuration. Social and economic reforms. The Fourth Republic. The Third Force. The Algerian war. 13 May Algerian independence. France under de Gaulle. Literature, art and thought since Notes Abbreviations Index

7 List of Maps and Diagrams Maps Density of population in Western Europe page 4 2 Centres of culture and lines of movement 8 3 Place-names and Provinces 9 4 Agricultural land use 21 5 Mineral resources 23 6 Distribution of manufacturing industry 25 7 Industrial establishments employing more than 200 workers 26 8 The rewards of farming 27 9 Subsidies and tax abatements for underdeveloped areas 29 IO Departements and Regions 30 I I The Paris Region 33 I2 Catholicism in rural France 84 I3 Protestant France 8s Diagrams Fig. I Population of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom from I8oo to the present day 34 Fig. 2 Political party strengths in selected Parliaments 107

8 List of Plates between pages 20 and 2I La Grande Motte Michel Mach 2 Saint-Cirq-Lapopie Ministere de l'equipement et du Logement 3 A nose for Armagnac Phototheque du Ministere de l' Agriculture: cliche Pierre Bringe 4 Laboratory work at Rennes Agricultural College Phototheque du Ministere de ['Agriculture: cliche Pierre Bringe 5 Wedding group in Savoie Phototheque du Ministere de l'agriculture: cliche Pierre Bringe 6 Reception of a new 'Immortal' at the French Academy Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres 7 Vineyard workers in Burgundy Phototheque du Ministere de!'agriculture: cliche Pierre Bringe 8 Creteil-sur-Marne Ministere de l'equipement et du Logement between pages 52 and 53 9 Conversation at Deauville racecourse, about 1900 Roger-Viollet 10 Jaures in 1913 Roger-Viollet 11 Infantrymen, 1914 Etablissement Cinematographique et Photographique des Armees 12 De Gaulle at Saint-Lo, 1945 Archives Documentation Fran~aise 13 Leaders of the Popular Front at the Mur des Federes, 1936 Roger- Viollet 14 President de Gaulle and Premier Khruschev, 1960 Etablissement Cinematographique et Photographique des Armees 15 A debate in the Chamber of Deputies of the Third Republic Roger-Viollet 16 Student demonstration, Paris, 1968 Central Press Photos J Agence France Presse

9 Acknowledgements Many colleagues and friends helped me to write this book. I thank them all, and should like in particular to record here my deep gratitude to Bill Cooper, Jonathan Dale and Philip Thody, who read the entire first draft, and who made many invaluable suggestions for its improvement, and to Xavier Beauchamps, Christopher Blake, Harry Brumfitt, John Coombes, Ian Higgins, Kay Maciver and Philippe and Elizabeth Servan-Schreiber, who devoted much time, unbounded kindness and an abundance of special skills and knowledge to the elaboration of individual chapters. I am also most grateful to Harry Bawden for the patience and discernment he has brought to the task of seeing this book through the press. The errors are mine. St Andrews August I97I PHILIP OUSTON The author and publishers wish to thank the following, who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: George Allen & Unwin Ltd for the extract from Economic Planning in France by ]. and A. M. Hackett; Jonathan Cape Ltd for the extract from The Sovereigns (J2J,ooo francs) by Roger Vailland, translated by P. Wiles; Andre Deutsch Ltd and Rosica Colin Ltd for the extract from Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir, translated by James Kirkup; Victor Gollancz Ltd and Curtis Brown Ltd for the extract from France: Change and Tradition by Professor Laurence Wylie; Hodder & Stoughton Ltd for the extract from The Generous Earth by Philip Oyler; Pitman Publishing for the extract from The Dominici Affair by Jean Giono, translated by P. de Mendelssohn; Weidenfeld

10 xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & Nicolson Ltd and Hill & Wang Inc. for the extract from A Modern French Republic by Pierre Mendes-France. Map 1 is based on Statistiques et Indicateurs des Regions Franfaises (Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes :Economiques, 1967), with additional information from Atlas of Western Europe (John Murray, 1963). Maps 2-4 have been specially drawn by Dr K. M. Maciver: of these, 3 and 4 are based on the Larousse Atlas Moderne. Other maps are reproduced by kind permission of the following: Macdonald & Evans Ltd (Map 5, from J. J. Branigan, Europe excluding the British Isles and the U.S.S.R., 1965); John Bartholomew & Son Ltd (Map 6, from The Statesman's Year-Book zg68-6g); Butterworth & Co. Ltd (the superimposed east-west boundary, from I. B. Thompson, Modern France: A Social and Economic Geography, 1970); Presses Universitaires de France (Map 7, from Pierre George, La France, 1967); Les :Editions Ouvrieres (Map 8, from R. Livet, L' Avenir des Regions Agricoles); Delegation a l'amenagement du Territoire eta I' Action Regionale (Maps 9 and 10); Map 12 was originally drawn by M. le Chanoine Boulard; Librairie Protestante (Map 13, from S. Mours, Les.Eglises Reformees en France). Figure 2 is based on data published in A. Cobban, A History of Modern France, 1965; G. and E. Bonnefous, Histoire politique de la Troisieme Republique, 1g6o-8; and Philip Williams, Crisis and Compromise: Politics in the Fourth Republic, 1964, and French Politicians and Elections I95z-zg69, The author and publishers also wish to thank the photographers and organisations whose names appear in the list of plates, and in particular. M. Pierre Bringe of the French Ministry of Agriculture; the staff of Documentation Franc:;:aise, which in many cases was the primary source; and the publishers of Paris-Match, for their help in identifying pictures which had appeared in their columns. The publishers have made every effort to trace the copyright-holders, but if they have inadvertently overlooked any, they will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.