France

The **Fourth Republic of France**, commonly called **France**, is a socialist state formed after the 5th French Revolution and Civil War that culminated in the collapse of the 3rd Republic and the rise of the new state.

France, just coming out of a brutal civil war, has still not recovered from the political and economic damages it faced, while fighting in Africa is still ongoing. In the wake of various political purges during the last few months which caused shock and horror throughout France, the provisional government, expected to disband and be replaced by a permanent civilian government is notoriously weak. With the government split over seemingly every issue, it is unpredictable how France will develop and change in 1936, for better or for worse.

## France

French flag, adopted shortly after the Commune’s proclamation

### **Government Structure**

Federal Syndicalist Semi-Presidential Republic

## History

### French colonization of Syria

Beginning in 1895, the French, British and Russian Empires signed the Erivan Accords, resulting in all 3 nations mobilizing for war against the Ottomans to secure what lands were promised in the Accords. The French landed in northern Syria against the wishes of the Arab insurgents present in the area 2 months after the accords were signed after decimating the Ottoman navy. Despite Arab guerrilla fighting, the superior French army decimated the Arabs and poured French troops into occupied ottoman territory. When the war ended the Erivan Accords, including French gains were ratified in the Treaty of Baku, which included France being gifted colonial gains in Northern Syria and part of Mesopotamia, stretching from the Mediterranean to Mosul as well as giving France strategic economic and trade gains in Maramara and Constantinople.

### The Great War

The French mobilized for the Great War in July, 1914 and after many horrendous battles, the French realize how high of a cost victory would be. While they gained Italy as an ally, various offensives ended in disaster. Around this time, pacifism began emerging by 1916 by a tired and groaning population, especially in northern France. The Germans, by 1915 became paranoid of loosing the war and poured troops to assault the French frontlines and the Russians, resulting in momentary losses and German gains. While the tenacity of the Germans weren’t broken at this time they were exhausted nonetheless, and on the verge of collapse. After the Russian Revolution broke the eastern front lines in February, French forces mustered around the Western Front, and at the behest of the conservative elites and generals, launched the Alsace Offensive which also ended in disaster. From February to July about 2 million men were lost.

The Germans, too proud to end the war didn’t formally surrender in the 5 months since the Russian Revolution, slowly but surely loosing on the western front, but it was a dragging and grueling process, as the French high command were desperate to end the war. However, by July the French forces mass mutinied across the battlefield, as did the Germans, resulting in a stalemate. It was only after Danzig was taken by Russian troops that the Germans surrendered and collapsed. In the end, the French 3rd Republic began suffering from instability, especially after alienation by Britain after the Cairo war. While the French regained Alsace Lorraine and soon after the Saarland during the German Revolution and various African colonies, it was too little for such a high price the French people had to pay.

### Decline and stagnation of the 20s

The Great War would change the French perspective on war, and laid the seeds of what would later spiral to become the 5th French Revolution. In the 20s, the French military also began seeing a rise in left-wing sympathies as did the working class. The sentiment that the Great War was a war for the elites and that it would have been better if France didn't involve itself ran wild in the French public. The working class as did the military felt exploited, resulting in a rise of the French Left in national elections, while the French Left saw a divergence and transformation in the next few years of the 1920s, moving to be explicitly syndicalist in nature and in practice after the German Revolution emboldened syndicalist organizations and trade unions, while French communism shrank, it would never be fully eradicated.

Meanwhile, those like Foch and Petain, that led the war became disgraced figureheads, and Foch resigned from his post, while Petain, bitter and angry aligned himself with conservatives in the French political scene. Socialism rose as a popular movement after the establishment of the German union in 1920, and despite government repression, the socialist party of France and the radicalized CGT became popular fronts for the French voice of syndicalism.

In the 1919 general election, Georges Clemenceau won by a little over 45% of the vote, seen as the right man to lead the population from the devastation of war. While cities were rebuilt and the unemployment rate went down, it did little to stop the anti-conservative and growing anti-liberal sentiments felt by the working class, while Clemenceau could do little to stop the influence of syndicalism, as the French people watched in awe as the Germans rebuilt their society along syndicalist lines, and saw great success in doing so.

In 1924, a new election began which gave way to a left-wing Cartel of the Left victory, as the conservatives saw increasing amounts of alienation after accepting Petain as a political figure. While the new French government was left-wing, their social democratic polices didn’t sit right with many unions who were continually repressed. Still, the economy was not recovering, and budget cuts had to be made, only increasing unemployment rates and resentment and the feeling that the French government was apathetic towards its citizens.

The 1928 general elections were imperative to French history, due to a shaky gamble made by the Democratic Republican Alliance, to prevent a left-wing victory rigged the election with the help of various government officials and representatives. The Democratic Republican Alliance also united with the Republican Federation, giving them over 60% of the reported votes, in reality though that number was closer to 50%. They didn’t need the election to be rigged, but did it out of fear and desperation. Many already smelled fraud, and soon riots broke out to contest the election, but it didn’t help. In the end, the election was recognized and Louis Marin became president. In 1931, as the alliance was already very unpopular, it was made worse by attempts to counteract syndicalist movements. Various acts were passed prohibiting the rights of the working class to unionize, resulting in a general strike being called. After 3 weeks and a complete halt of the economy, the measures were removed and the strikes ended after failed confrontations with the police. But to make things worse, an anonymous whistleblower from the government, expected to be a member of the CGT leaked documents exposing the fraud of the 1928 election. Subsequently the Left was emboldened by this humiliation, and never again would republican moderates rule over France.

In the 1932 election, Édouard Daladier won by a landslide, representing the slightly radical SFIO and with promises to end austerity, poverty and rampant privatization of the economy allowed him to become very popular for the people.

### Political meltdown and revolution

One of his first acts as president was to crack down on right-wing influence in the country in 1934, and fired various men within the government and replaced them with left-wingers instead, such as the new minister of the interior, Eugûene Frot.  This, alongside the Stavinsky Affair resulted in nationwide protests across France by the recently created Criox de la Feu, a right-wing militant party. Fear rose in veteran and conservative spaces that France was trying to overthrow the status quo and establish a socialist republic. Throughout 1934, paranoia was heightened, especially as the French media only emboldened it, while the French political scene was in turmoil after a man revealed that conservative Frenchmen, politicians and party members had planned to plot a coup to install Petain as leader of France. While the Criox (of which Petain was a member) denied these allegations, further government crackdowns resulted in widespread riots in northern France in the beginning of November. On the 21st, the Criox organized a rally in Paris, where in a fit of revolutionary fervor they stormed the presidential palace, and amid the chaos president Daladier was shot and killed. Political parties in France broke apart with the news of this assassination, and while everyone was fighting each other on the streets, the French left saw an opportunity. In Paris, various revolutionary unions and political parties affiliated with the Left signed the Coalition Manifesto on the 28th, which United the French left in a bid to secure the state and spread socialism across the country.

Smuggling operations soon began with the help of the German Union, and the French left was armed, ready to fight while the French Right was still in disarray and busy spouting their reactionary rhetoric. Despite this various attacks grew deadly, which allowed the French left to aid the government in repulsing the French Right. This didn’t stop anti-government sentiments in the French Left however, and plans were made to seize the country for themselves. After a series of battles that decimated the right-wing political parties and organizations from December 2nd to the 28th, the French Left finally put their plans into motion.

### Civil war

On January 5th, just as the political scene was beginning to recover, members of the CGT revolted in various cities. After short battles with the police and military, Amiens, Calais and Lille fell to CGT-aligned forces. Alarmed, the government quickly mobilized the masses against the left-wing revolution, to no avail. The new government didn’t even have enough popular support, while support in the military waned. Very disorganized and unable to fight back, government troops retreated to Rouen, while the Left Coalition in the following days seized a good portion of the Northeast, and made plans to attack and occupy Rouen, a key point to take over Paris. French loyalist forces met the revolutionaries in Beauvis, but unknown to the commanders and generals of the loyalist army was the plan to mutiny by the soldiers, convinced that the 3rd republic is lost. After 3 days of fighting, on the 18th of January, the city fell and the French army was decimated. After another 3 days, disorganized French forces fled Rouen to Paris, with orders to protect the city at all costs. At the same time, the French Left saw signs of revolution everywhere. Brest, Bordeaux and Lyon all fell to coalition-aligned movements and militias, making it even more unlikely the republicans would recover. On the 25th, coalition militias tried to enter Paris, but in vain, protected by the sheer tenacity of loyalist forces. Instead, the revolutionary high command decided to snuff them out, and before reinforcements could arrive, Paris was encircled while Versailles fell on the 27th. With most government troops now encircled in Paris, the French Left began a vast takeover of the French countryside. The government however left Paris shortly before the encirclement and was in Marseilles, one of the only secured cities on the mainland. Throughout all of February, the French loyalists lost battle after battle, and on the 18th of February, just as all of northern France was under the control of the coalition Paris finally succumbed and fell to the revolutionary mob outside the city.

This was a disaster as the French army scrambled for what to do, but they were too slow. In an effort to wipe out the government and fully secure France, the March on Marseilles began. Soon Northern France secured Lyon from being encircled by government forces, while several cities fell with the enthusiasm of the French population. Throughout March the Communards began to consolidate their power and planned for a final offensive to end the conflict.

During this brief period of piece, startling news emerged that Italian and Spanish troops, backed by the United Kingdom, moved to occupy French lands. It was a move neither the Republicans nor the Communards approved of, but with each side being so weak and in the middle of a war, there was little both sides could do.

The war, however, was still ongoing and raging in many provinces, especially by French colonists in French colonies who took up arms against the revolutionOn the 15th of March, the Fourth Republic of France was declared in Paris by various delegates from unions across the country, as well as several socialist political parties. In the Paris Conference, new articles, laws and a new constitution was established by a council of the Coalition to vote on whatever was proposed. In the end, the majority in the council voted for France to be decentralized, federal and secular state with the economy under the full control of syndicates. Ultimately, the Republic became a syndicalist state, while the Paris Conference drastically deteriorated the small but still influential Communists. But the ongoing war in Africa, loss of mainland territory, plus the ongoing violence on the mainland would eventually create a schism in the French political scene, dividing a then strong and united government.

Despite these setbacks, the Communards continued their victories against the Republicans. Despite Italian and Spanish interventions in the war, Paris hesistantly avoided creating any sort of unnecessary conflict with the two countries, and focused only on the war itself. In April, socialist forces pounded into Southern France, taking Montepellier on the 15th, Sayonne on the 17th and Provence just one day later. By May, the final bastion of the French 3rd Republic, Marseille, had finally fallen to rebel forces, What remained of the government either fled into Africa, Spain or Italy.

From this point onward, the civil war began to die down on the mainland, allowing the French Commune to secure the state and the people, but in the Mediterranean the war continued. Despite the exile of the French 3rd Republic to Algiers in hopes of continuing the fight and retake the homeland with the Mediterranean navy, shocking news broke out that the French navy had mutinied to the Communard forces. Without adequate defenses, the French republicans could only wait until the inevitable naval invasion, as Corsica fell within a few weeks. In the next month the Algerian coast was bombarded by naval invasions by the Communards, and try as they may they couldn't prevent Algiers from falling into socialist hands.

By July, the Communards secured the Algerian coast and began fighting the Republicans in North Africa. The region would be devastated as the republicans were continually pushed back, until a stalemate began in late summer between Communards and Republicans just outside the Algerian Desert, and it wasn't until December that the French Republicans formally surrendered, allowing the Communards to expand and occupy the rest of French Africa, but currently African colonies are in upheaval, while in Indochina the French were expelled from the region, as the the socialist republics of Vietnam and Laos were proclaimed.

### Consolidation of the Republic

Back in the mainland, the French began to consolidate their regime, and in July, the Marseilles Accords began, between French and native colonial delegates to decide how the colonies should be managed. This inadvertently caused a split within the global left, as many advocated for French decolonization, something that Paris viewed as “untenable”, so long as global capitalism remained a threat to the revolutionary order. Instead, the Accords were met in order to provide relief and aid to African people which suffered under French colonial occupation. In the end, the French colonies underwent various amounts of transformations. French colonies were united into various new entities, such as French North Africa, French Central Africa etc. which was done in order to “reverse colonial borders” as many tribes and ethnicities still did not adapt to the colonial geometric borders imposed on hundreds of African groups. Privatized assets in the colonies, either held by African elites or French elites were forked over and redistributed to the population, while these new territories were allowed self-governance. They, although under the rule of Paris governed with little French assistance and the government was organized into a large council consisting of various tribes, ethnicities and religions to grant equal representation to the Africans living in them.

To the detriment of its popular support and a further fracturing of its coalition government, the Republic under international pressure, eventually yielded and recognized Italian and Spanish annexations of French lands in September, despite a national uproar. In the resulting Treaty of Berne, France recognized the Italian annexation of Nice, Savoy, Corsica, French Libya and Tunisia. They recognized the Spanish takeover of the French Basque and North Catalonia regions, in exchange for the Spanish and Italian recognition of the new French state.

As the new year approaches, France has had a tumultuous year indeed, suffering a civil war for the majority of 1935, and it was only by December did it end and the French regime was finally able to slowly materialize, but even that has been tenuous as low-intensity battles still reign in the south of their African colonies. Further exacerbating the nation has been Rome's intervention in the war, securing key cities and colonies against the wishes of the French people.

## Issues

### The Colonial Question

One of the main issues the new French socialist regime needs to address is its stance on colonialism. Anti-colonialism became a widespread sentiment among the French Left years before the civil war, molded greatly by the German stance on colonialism. However, many felt that the French holding onto their colonies was a betrayal of their ideological struggle and principles of decolonization and self-determination, even if this new system implemented by the Left Coalition has pulled out most French forces from Africa, nationalized and redistributed privatized assets, reorganized colonial borders more naturally and gave their colonies much more autonomy than any other colonial power.

The communists for their part and the syndicalists agree that the colonies need "protection", but there are some who want full decolonization and an end to the French empire. Instead, while the colonies have been reorganized by democratic syndicalist councils made to represent every African ethnicity and tribe in said colonies, this issue has been put on temporary hiatus.

### Revolutionary divides

(Main article: French Political Schism)

While the French Revolution has ended in an overwhelming victory, France has been cursed with one of the most divisive governments to date. The provisional government, once thought to guide France in the aftermath of war has been torn apart by many political blocs and parties, all vying for control over the country and its colonies.