Syndicalist France

After the Great War, France would go through a period of political and economic turbulence and transformation leading to the eventual collapse of the 3rd French Republic and the establishment of the syndicalist government, the Union of France.

## Post War: 1918-1928

### Economics

The economy of the postwar era was dominated by the costs of rebuilding, the cost of colonial military operations, and financing the massive public debt. Though the recovery of French industry was moving more quickly than expected, the GDP was growing by over 4% per year, the national debt was becoming a problem. In addition, most of the benefits of economic growth were not being felt by the working class.

Inefficient gathering of taxes was a persistent problem. Together with extensive government spending, widespread tax evasion contributed not only to the growing debt, but also to high inflation. The weakening Franc hurt the nation as France was still dependent on imports as their own production of key resources such as steel and food recovered.

Inflation was also hurting France’s ability to take out new debt. From the end of the war to 1924, those who held French debt effectively lost nearly 80% of their investment. To deal with these problems, in 1923, Prime Minister Poincare’s government slashed government spending and reformed tax collection to crackdown on tax evasion and greatly increase payment.

While the economic growth of 1918 through 1923 had been perceived as mostly benefiting the wealthy, the economic policy changes of 1923 disproportionately affected the working classes. The trade unionists responded by organizing a series of strikes.

Following the elections of 1924, a series of labor reforms were implemented by the center-left coalition government. The new government increased domestic spending again, and attempted to balance this by cutting military spending, and dramatically cutting spending on colonial territories. Inflation, which had been temporarily arrested, began to rise once again.

Economic growth stagnated following 1924, but the conditions for industrial workers improved. The financial situation of the country began to degrade from 1926 to 1928 as inflation began to be unmanageable.

### Politics

Following the war, the French political landscape was dominated by the center-right National Bloc, composed of anti-monarchist republicans who favored laissez faire economic policy. The main opposition was the center-left Cartel of the Left which was an alliance of anti-clerical social progressives and socialist parties.

During the war, the moderate socialists and syndicalists had set aside their political machinations to support the war effort. With the war over, the old divisions began to arise once more. The more moderate centrist left was composed of anti-clerical social progressives who wanted to see the Catholic Church removed from French life and the advancement of social “progress”, but otherwise favored parliamentary government and opposed revolution.

Further to the left there was a spectrum of more and less revolutionary Trade Unionists and Syndicalists. These groups tended to be pacifist/anti-militarist and anti-colonial. They tended to be divided on questions of involvement with international proletarian and communist movements. Those that favored such involvements eventually formed the French Communist Party on the extreme left.

Despite gains for the (SFIO) French Section of the Workers International, the center-right National Bloc, led by Georges Clemenceau and Raymond Poincare won a convincing victory in the elections of 1919. Nevertheless, the position of the left strengthened in the early 1920’s as dissatisfaction with the status quo grew among the labor unions. At the same time there was an influx of socialists drawn by the growing fame of Parisian culture. Of particular note, following the death of Lenin and Stalin’s successful ascension to control of Soviet Russia, Leon Trotsky and some of his followers fled to France.

The influx of Trotskyist marxists strengthened the French Communist Party and created further divisions among the Syndicalists. In the period from 1921 through 1923, the ideological sentiments of the Trade Unionists and Syndicalists, despite their opposition to Trotskyist ideology, were influenced and shifted away from Syndicalism’s anarchist roots towards a statist variation.

In the 1924 elections the Cartel of the Left won a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. Paul Painleve was elected president, and appointed Edouard Herriot prime minister. The new government focused on implementing labor reform policies to improve conditions for the industrial work base. The anti-militarist and anti-colonial sentiments also made themselves felt. Though Painleve and Herriot were unwilling to dispense with France’s colonial empire, the new Syndicalist deputies did everything they could to obstruct resources from being allocated to colonial projects.

Premiere Herriot’s labor reform policies included giving workers the right to strike, limiting regular work time, and increased wages. While these were extremely popular among the industrial working class, they exacerbated already existing problems with inflation, and slowed the recovery of France’s industrial base.

In the face of widespread dissatisfaction with his government, Herriot resigned as and was replaced as Prime Minister by Aristide Briand. As Premier Briand managed to keep a tense balance between appeasing the socialist and the laissez faire factions within the nation. Neither camp, however, was happy with the current state of affairs.

### Foreign Policy

In foreign affairs, France was intent on securing military alliances to secure the nation's future, and securing France’s colonial interests in the middle east and North Africa.

Efforts to secure alliances were largely unsuccessful. The Russian Civil war meant that France’s former ally, Tsarist Russia effectively no longer existed. The Americans were uninterested in further military entanglements on the continent, and the British were uninterested in closer ties with France. This left smaller nations like Romania, newly established Poland, Greece, and Serbia. Greece was already firmly ensconced in the British sphere of influence, but Poland, Romania, and Serbia were interested in partnerships with France. Unfortunately they were also more likely to be a drain on French resources than a strong support to French interests.

#### Middle East

France had long styled herself as the protector of Christian minorities in the Ottoman territories. In this role, the French took up the cause of the Armenian population. The first French troops landed in Beirut in October of 1918. This marked the transfer of control in the region from the British troops who had occupied it during the war to the French, as outlined in the Sykes-Picot agreement.

As other western powers were also landing troops on Turkish territory, the French rushed to occupy Cilicia and ensure the security of the Christian population. The ineffectual government of the new Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI rolled over before western demands and did not oppose occupation. The nationalist movement under Mustafa Kemal Pasha was consolidating control in the central regions of Anatolia and preparing to resist.

Italian troops landed in southern Anatolia attempting to claim what they felt they had been promised early in the war, despite having gained no such concessions in the peace conference negotiations.

British and American troops occupied Constantinople and the Turkish side of the Dardanelles. The Greeks, in their turn, had begun landing troops at Smyrna and occupying the surrounding countryside.

The first armed resistance arose from Turkish militia and paramilitary groups in the region of Smyrna. Sporadic clashes and outbreaks of violence plagued the region and the Greek occupation forces. In the north-central region, Mustafa Kemal was organizing the Turkish army for war. His first offensive would fall upon the French forces in Cilicia.

#### War in Anatolia

The French forces in Cilicia were few and stretched thin. They were depending on local Armenian militia as auxiliaries and a kind of paramilitary police force. In Spring of 1919 the nationalist Turkish forces launched an offensive into Cilicia.  Over the summer and into the autumn, the French occupying forces were pressed hard and took heavy losses. By winter of 1919, they were forced to withdraw across the border into the French controlled Syria.

The losses in Cilicia threatened France’s control over her other territories in Syria and Lebanon. In addition it was a significant blow to national prestige. At the same time, France was exhausted by war and the public had no stomach for more fighting. The need to send a new expeditionary force to Turkey was disputed by the Leftist opposition and was unpopular with the general population.

Despite opposition at home, Clemenceau’s government was committed to French control in the region. The fact that the Greeks, Italians, and most of all the Americans were intent on pacifying Turkish resistance, imposing penalties for the Armenian genocide, and establishing an Armenian state, also spurred on French military ambitions. The French High Commissioner of the Levant, General Gouraud, knew that Mustafa Kemal’s nationalist forces could not continue their focus on the French indefinitely. They would be forced, before long, to turn and deal with the Americans, Greeks, and Italians. That moment came in January of 1920.

As predicted, the nationalist Turkish forces turned from Cilicia and moved west to attack the Italian occupying forces. Troubles at home had already distracted the Italian government and their occupation forces had made little progress. They were unprepared when the Turks fell upon them. A string of defeats saw the Italians besieged in Antalya. Once again, the Turks were forced to move on quickly to address the advanced Greek and American forces further north.

General Gouraud, now reinforced by troops from home, reoccupied Cilicia and began to probe north hoping to link up with the Armenian heartland and thus threaten the Turkish Nationalist power base in Central Anatolia.

French efforts were to be hampered by distractions of their own. In addition to continual resistance from the local population and partisans, the French were forced to redeploy troops south to Syria to deal with the declaration of the Kingdom of Syria.

By March of 1921, French forces occupied Malatya and were advancing towards Caesarea. Opposition forces were composed of local militias and partisans. Nevertheless, resistance was fierce. Movement was slow as lines of supply and communication were routinely harassed and attacked by guerillas. In April Mustafa Kemal was captured by American forces in Samsun and his nationalist government collapsed. Though organized resistance ceased, guerrilla harassment continued.

The Treaty of Smyrna established zones of occupation for American, Italian, and French troops for a period of five years. The French occupation zone stretched south and east from Caesarea. The occupation would prove to be a continuous source of problems for the French.

The French occupation would essentially come to an end in 1924 when France’s spending on her colonial possessions dried up. The High Commissioner of the Levant could no longer afford to pay or supply French troops in Turkish territory that was still moderately hostile. Occupation troops were recalled to Syria, and then sent home to France.

#### Syria and Lebanon

The French colonial government of Syria began in late 1918 when British occupying forces withdrew, handing control over to the newly arrived French. The only locals happy to see the French arrive were the Christian population of Lebanon. The Arab population had been expecting to receive their promised independence and were hoping to establish a unified Kingdom of Syria. the Lebanese, on the other hand, were hoping to escape Arab domination and expected the French to establish an independent Lebanon.

It is unclear whether Clemenceau's government had any definitive plans for the region, other than French control. General Henri Gouraud was appointed High Commissioner of the Levant.

In 1920, with the French distracted by the Anatolian war, the Syrians declared the Kingdom of Syria and invited Feisal to take the throne. The French first attempted to deal with the Syrian revolution by negotiation and political means. Feisal was reticent at first, but soon agreed to French demands. Regardless the French attitude had changed and General Gouraud lead troops to put an end to the Kingdom of Syria. Feisal was forced to flee, and took up residence in Baghdad for the time being.

After the failed Syrian revolution, Gouraud divided the French administered territory up into six administrative districts, Greater Lebanon, Latakia, Jabal al-Druze, Alexandretta, Aleppo, and Greater Syria. It was hoped by the French that dividing Syria up according to ethnic and religious differences would mute Arab nationalism over time.

In 1924, High Commissioner Gouraud withdrew French occupying troops from southern Anatolia. Many of these troops would be redeployed to Morocco for the Rif war. With resources becoming limited, the increasing neglect of the Home Government often left Gouraud to his own devices. The High Commissioner declared Greater Lebanon an independent Republic in 1925, though the fledgling Lebanese state was still occupied by French colonial troops. Increasingly general Gouraud was forced to concentrate his troops in the coastal regions and around major centers such as Damascus and Aleppo. Local government was increasingly independent of the French colonial administration.

When the final order came to dismantle the colonial administration in 1933, Gouraud withdrew his remaining forces to the coast and prepared to disembark. Feisal I, now King of Iraq, was ready to take advantage of the situation, and less than a week after the last French soldiers left Damascus, Feisal installed his elder brother, Ali bin Hussein on the throne of the Kingdom of Syria. The newly formed Kingdom included the territory of Greater Syria, Aleppo, and Latakia. The Druze would join shortly, after receiving assurances of protection and local autonomy within the Kingdom.

General Gouraud, for his part, had no interest in returning to Syndicalist controlled France, and they had no desire to receive him. He travelled instead to Morocco, now under the control of his former commanding officer Resident-General Lyautey. Many of Gouraud's colonial troops would opt to take up service under Lyautey in Morocco, as well.

#### The Rif War

In 1924 the Spanish-Rif war spilled over into French occupied territory. The Riffian forces of Abd el-Krim attacked and stormed outposts all along the French defensive line. The outgoing Poincare government made the decision to intervene. Knowing that the incoming Leftist government would be reluctant to expend resources on a colonial expedition, Poincare’s government dispatched additional troops to Morocco under the command of Marshall Franchet d’Esperey.

Marshall d'Esperey arrived with a force of 160,000 well trained troops. The force was composed mainly of colonial regulars from Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, and the Foreign Legion. After several months of organization and deployment, the campaign began in force in spring of 1925. The French pushed into the Rif from the south while the Spanish landed troops on the Mediterranean coast.

The Rif tribes fought on for another year, but in May of 1926, Abd el-Krim surrendered to French forces. In the aftermath of the war, Marshall d'Esperey was viewed as politically dangerous by the Cartel of the Left. He was a war hero, a staunch Catholic and confirmed monarchist. It was deemed politically wise to keep him out of France, and therefore out of French politics for as long as possible. Consequently d'Esperey was appointed Inspector-General of French troops in North Africa.

## Rise of Syndicalism: 1928 - 1935

### Politics

In the 1928 elections, the center-right National Bloc was once again able to form a victorious coalition. The new government headed by Raymond Poincare once again slashed government spending, raised interest rates, and attempted to reverse the labor reforms implemented by Herriot. The response was a workers strike.

First the rail workers laid down their tools, followed by workers of the steel industry, and soon a general strike had brought France’s economy to a halt. Poincare had been putting pressure on Germany to increase their Indemnity payments, but the general strike created a crisis that could not go unaddressed. Poincare felt he had no choice but to respond to the strike with force and called in military units to break the strike.

Rightwing counter-demonstrators began to clash with syndicalists who supported the strike. The French government was forced to restore order by declaring martial law. Seeing the crisis as an opportunity, Germany took her revenge on Poincare by stopping indemnity payments altogether.

With France in the grip of social and financial crisis, and Poincare’s government on the brink of collapse, deliverance arrived in the form of an American offer of financing. Having stabilized the economic situation for the moment, Poincare turned his attention to restoring order. He put in place the necessary powers to force a return to work and restore order in the streets.

Nevertheless, the National Bloc government would fall apart in late 1929 when the Independent Radical party defected and joined a coalition with the CGT and SFIO (syndicalist/socialist parties). Edouard Daladier was initially made Prime Minister, but his government lasted only a few weeks and fell apart in the face of wide-spread riots by combinations of laissez faire, nationalist, Catholic, and monarchist elements.

Daladier was replaced by Leon Blum who formed a government composed mainly of syndicalists. Blum’s government dissolved nationalist and monarchist parties, and banned public demonstrations. The new government restored Herriot’s labor reforms and went further by outright nationalizing all arms industries.

In 1931, Blum’s government deliberately devalued the Franc by funding extensive public works programs and making loans available to industry.

In the 1932 elections, the Syndicalist parties won a major victory, though there were many claims of election tampering and fraud by the opposition.

Jeanne Allemane took the Presidency and Leon Jouhaux was appointed Prime Minister. The new government removed France from the gold standard and issued a new currency, the Worker’s Franc (FO).

Jouhaux’s government focused mainly on labor reforms, instituting such policies as the 8 hour work day, the 40 hour work week, paid vacation, and medical leave. Jouhaux also promised to investigate allegations of voter intimidation and election fraud. This, however, was a promise that he would not be able to deliver on. He did establish a commission to investigate, but the commission’s were minimal and made no significant progress.

Jouhaux’s own suspicions were roused by the internal resistance to investigation, but the outbreak of demonstrations and riots by right-wing activists would render the issue moot. Jouhaux’s inability to keep order led to his resignation.

Fernand Loriot succeeded Jouhaux as Prime Minister. By this time the left was split between the revolutionary syndicalists, known as the Anarcho’s, a small group of more moderate syndicalists, represented by Jouhaux, known within the left as Parliamentarians, and lastly those syndicalists who were influenced by Trotsky to blend bolshevism with syndicalism. The latter group referred to themselves as Unionists, but the Anarcho’s referred to them as the Statists.

When Jouhaux was forced to resign, the Unionists intended to replace him with Pierre Monatte. Loriot was chosen by the Anarcho’s and supported by the Parliamentarians to forestall the Unionists. Loriot was not necessarily less revolutionary, but the Parliamentarians rightly suspected that he would be largely ineffective. They hoped to be able to replace him later with a candidate of their own.

Loriot intended to make use of the power he was given. His first major action was suppressing right-wing parties and suspending elections. Second, Loriot ordered the beginning of the Colonial wind down. France’s colonial possessions had languished without adequate funding or resources for some time. Loriot gave the order to begin the process of withdrawing French colonial troops and turning over the colonies to local rule. Lastly, Loriot ended private ownership in the French armaments industry. Loriot stripped capitalist owners of arms companies of their industrial properties and turned them over to workers unions.

Loriot’s tenure as Premiere was significant, but short. His ideological inflexibility made him virtually incapable of building alliances and his radical changes left him deeply unpopular with much of the population as well. As a result, he was forced to resign, and was replaced by the Unionist candidate Pierre Monatte. The more optimistic and less studious among the population expected the return of elections and the re-legalization of right wing political organizations. Monatte’s government used the public anger at Loriot to effectively destroy the Anarcho wing of the left, and simple lack of support rendered the Parliamentarians irrelevant.

Under Monatte, the Unionist government continued the suppression of right wing opposition leading to the exodus of many to England, Austria, or French colonial Africa.

In 1935, president Jeanne Allemane died and was succeeded in office by Boris Souvarine. President Souvarine promulgated a new constitution bringing and end to the 3rd Republic and formally declaring the Union of France.

### Foreign Policy

French foreign policy languished in the period from 1928 to 1935. The major priorities of the Syndicalist governments were labor reform at home and maintaining control of the state. In foreign policy, syndicalism had really only two major ideological points, anti-colonialism, and spreading the syndicalist revolution to other states. French relations with The United States and the United Kingdom continued to sour as the syndicalists gained control. Neglect lead to dissolution of relations with Romania, Poland, and Serbia.

The only major event during this time was the colonial wind-down ordered in 1933 by Prime Minister Loriot. This was also conducted largely with indifference and neglect. Though some efforts were made to set up Syndicalist parties in the colonies of French Indo-China and Madagascar.

### Political Unrest and Persecution

The first major disruptions following the war began with the general strike in 1928. The National Bloc government of Poincare declared the strikes to be illegal and first attempted to use the police to control the situation. This proved insufficient, and indeed only seemed to provoke more problems in the form of mass political protests. With France on the brink of financial disaster, the National Bloc coalition passed laws restricting political demonstrations and authorizing the use of the military. It was short of full martial law, but would later prove to be a dangerous precedent.

Mass protests broke out among the right and center-right parties following the elections of 1932. The Syndicalist coalition had dramatic and unexpected gains, giving them control of the government once again. Many, both radical republicans and monarchists were convinced that election fraud was the only explanation. The Syndicalist government would now turn the laws originally passed by the National Bloc against their creators. As before, the government first relied on the police to break up protests and mass arrests.

Prime Minister Jouhaux, and President Allemane were proponents of the moderate syndicalist position, known as the Parliamentarians. Jouhaux established a commission to investigate the allegations of voter intimidation and election fraud. This action would eventually lead to the downfall of his government, and the end of the Parliamentarian faction within syndicalism. Internal resistance to investigation aroused Jouhaux's suspicions and he began to push harder. He also refused, according to his Parliamentarian beliefs, to use military force to suppress political demonstrations and political parties. The increasing disruption caused by mass rightwing demonstrations eventually brought down Jouhaux's government.

in 1933 Prime Minister Loriot's government banned not only political demonstrations, but also outlawed all monarchist political parties and most other rightwing parties, excepting a few of the center-right parties. Monarchist politicians such as Henri d'Astier and Edouard de Castelnau were forced out of politics. Known monarchist and nationalist activists were closely watched and subjected to harassment. Following the end of the 3rd Republic in 1935, this treatment would also extend to republicans. While mass purges never took place, assassination of high profile opposition leaders was not unheard of.

## Communist International Congress

In 1935 the French economy was stagnant. Trade was suffering due to the devaluation of the Franc and the new currency. In addition France’s position internationally was suffering heavily. President Souvarine requested that Prime Minister Monatte establish a committee to foster international relations with other socialist states. The Premier would call upon Alfred Rosmer, Raymond Molinier, and Jean Raffin-Dugens to undertake this effort.

The committee would plan and host the Communist International Congress in the city of Turin in the Union of Piedmont. It would take the better part of a year to plan and prepare for the event. The committee's purposes for the congress were first and foremost to establish France as the leader of the international socialist community, to support syndicalist movements in other countries, and to limit the influence of Soviet Russia on international socialism.

The Communist International Congress, known after as the Comintern, was largely a success. The French were, perhaps not surprisingly, unable to break Soviet Hungary away from the Russian sphere of Influence. The red Chinese movement remained stubbornly resistant to French syndicalist ideological influence. Nevertheless, France did secure a preeminent place in world socialism, and particularly secured a great deal of influence in South America.

## Space Race

In 1940 Prime Minister Monatte announced his grand plan to bring Syndicalism to the stars by getting France into the Space Race. France achieved their first space flight four years later. After achieving space flight, First Secretary Pericat directed France's efforts towards building an orbital space station. Construction of Vaillant Station began in 1945

By 1952 Vaillant station was operational and began receiving visitors. The station would serve all Comintern members and as such developed a diverse multi-national community. It also became the launch point for the majority of Comintern exploration and colonization efforts.

The first extra solar missions were conducted by the UFES (Union Francaise d’Etudes Spatiales - French Union of Space Studies) in 1987 and the French established their first extrasolar colony, Jouhaux.