National Front ( French Resistance ) The National Front ( or " Front national de l ' indépendance de la France " ) was a World War II French Resistance movement , created in 1941 by Jacques Duclos and Pierre Villon , both members of the French Communist Party ( PCF ) . Its name was inspired by the Popular Front , a left - wing coalition which governed France from 1936 to 1938 . The political front of the FTP . The National Front ( FN ) was destined to be the " political representative " of the armed force called the Francs - Tireurs et Partisans ( FTP ) . It engaged mainly in propaganda , editing reviews , fabricating false identity documents , supporting clandestine organizations logistically , and sabotaging German and Vichy facilities and capabilities . It was a member of the Conseil national de la Résistance ( CNR ) , which federated , under Jean Moulin ' s authority , various Resistance movements , beginning in the middle of 1943 . Led by Pierre Villon , it then extended itself to Catholics and other religious resistants . Pierre Villon stated : " The FN is the only movement where we have finally reconciled the parish priest ( " curé " ) and the teacher , the Parti Social Français and the Communist , and the Radical with the Socialist . " Various specialized professional organizations were created under the authority of the Front National ( the workers ' Front National , the peasants ' Front National , the lawyers ' Front National , the doctors ' Front National , the women ' s Front National , etc . ) . After the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 , " L ' Humanité " , in its issues of July 2 and July 7 , wrote : " Unite yourself , refuse to serve under fascism ! " At that time , the FTP armed wing had already been active since 1941 , but the Resistance quickly expanded itself during 1942 and 1943 . The French population ' s morale improved as the difficulties faced by the Wehrmacht increased , in particular during the protracted Battle of Stalingrad . The 4 September 1942 Law on the STO ( " Service du travail obligatoire " ) , signed by Pierre Laval , the head of government in the Vichy régime , proposed to exchange one prisoner - of - war for three Frenchmen to go to work in Nazi Germany . This was an important cause of the Resistance ' s dramatic increase in numbers , inspiring many young male adults to stand up and volunteer for the Maquis . At the time of the liberation of Paris , after the deportation and death of many of the members of the original clandestine leadership , the FN resistance movement counted such figures as Frédéric Joliot - Curie , Pierre Villon , Henri Wallon , Laurent Casanova , François Mauriac , and Louis Aragon among its members . Legal ownership of the name , " Front National " . A juridical battle between the far - right Front National and Bruno Mégret ' s splinter party , the National Republican Movement ( MNR ) , for the name , " Front national , " in December 1998 and January 1999 , prompted the satirical newspaper , " Charlie Hebdo " , to outrace both by deposing at the National Industrial Property Institute ( INPI ) , the national institute in charge of trademarks , the term " Front National , " in order to give its juridical ownership back to the original Resistance movement of that name . Thus , the World War II resisters , the Front National , is once again the only movement legally entitled to be named " Front National . " .