The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

the unique extraordinary session of the House does not demolish its usual
protocol, although military funds adoption is subjected to the vote, no incident
is to be raised during session. 15 So takes place the ceremony. Edouard Herriot,
president of the House, is given an ovation by all the MPs, including
communists, when he pronounces his speech and expresses „la réprobation de
tout être droit” 16 for the German-Soviet pact. Follows a text of the president of
the Republic, Albert Lebrun, the big commonness, read by Daladier expressed
himself in the name of the government, as president of council. In no way in
his speech, he makes reference to the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. After the
ceremonial must be directly made the vote, it was expected that nobody speaks
but a MPs, Bergery, tries all the same to engage an in-depth debate. He must be
solved with silence under the pressure of an insisting Chairman and a
disruptive House. There is no argued discussion about foreign policy questions,
in spite of the requests of isolated MPs. If no discussion is led on the entering
the war of France during a session dedicated to its financing, we do not find
more comments on the German-Soviet pact while no session adjoins its date of
signature, or is particular him.
However, only once and in only once place, the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact
was approached as a subject with day order. It is about a session of the Foreign
Affairs Commission held on August 26 th 1939 in plenary session. 17 Many
political officials are present and, in Le Temps opinion, this session makes it
possible to know the position of the various parties of the French political
world, but this analysis is a little presumptuous. If the majority of the parties
send a delegation to the Commission, the day order is rather quickly canted: the
MPs deliver their opinion on the pact – the condemnation is unanimous – but
very quickly take shape the internal political oppositions and in „une
réprobation complète et unanime” 18 the elected representatives of all edges
make fire on the Communists who defend the thesis of an act for peace on
behalf of USSR. The members of the Commission speak about „acte de haute
trahison internationale” 19 and analysis does not push further. The remainder of
the session aims to the condemnation of the intrigues of the Communist MPs in
adhesion with Moscow view. Elsewhere, the official statement of the
Commission translates strong intern suspicions towards the Communists almost
marked spying and voted motion denounces without much enthusiasm the
signature of the pact but announces all the same that „loin d'écarter le danger
15 rd
JODRF, September 3 1939.
16
Idem.
17 th
We found his trace on page 3 of Le Temps dated August 27 1939 without being able to
obtain an integral transcription of the meeting what thus obliges us to satisfy us with the report of
the newspaper, with its information and its analysis. It retranscibes sometimes pieces of the
debates which took place in the commission.
18 th
Le Temps, August 27 1939.
19 Idem.
115