The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

Faure 2 , remains hostile to war. Its attitude is that of British „app easers” for
whom neither the Spanish war nor the Czechoslovakian question should give
rise to intransigent positions. During the congress of the Party in Montrouge, in
December 1938, this faction unsuccessfully opposes Léon Blum’s supporters,
convinced of the need to put a stop to the expansion of Nazism. It is however
supported by the party’s far left, represented by Marceau Pivert, who advocates
revolutionary defeatism. An opportunistic pacifism or neo-pacifism dominates
the right and far right which renounce their anti-German nationalism because
of their anticommunism (fear of revolution) and admiration for fascist Italy. On
27 September 1938, À bas la guerre (No to war) is the headline of L’Action
française, the newspaper of Charles Maurras and Léon Daudet.
The Munich Agreement therefore marks the convergence of these different
types of pacifism, with an audience reaching its pinnacle in France at this time.
Their campaign for peace reflects the profound relief felt by a majority of
French people after the Sudetenland crisis. Less than one year later, the
announcement of the signing of the German-Soviet pact radically changes the
situation. The ideological turnaround of the French communist Party is the
most visible reflection of this.
The consequences of the Pact on the French Communist Party: a return
to ultra-pacifism?
As with all communist parties, the positions of the French communist Party
fluctuated in the 1930s according to Soviet diplomacy. Ultra-pacifists until 1934,
French communists then discover the existence of negotiations between Léon
Barthou, minister of Foreign Affairs, and the USSR in 1934. With the signing of
the Franco-Soviet Pact of mutual assistance in 1935, they evolve into a hard-line
pacifism tinged with antifascism. Their attitude reflects the new international
stance of the USSR which has become, since it joined the LoN in 1934, the
champion of the Geneva ideals via Litvinov, the people’s commissar for Foreign
Affairs. Their participation in the Universal peace Congress illustrates this
turnaround. This movement, the Paris branch of which is set up by Pierre Cot and
Louis Jolivet, affiliated to the Komintern, bridges the gap between the supporters
of the Geneva spirit and radical antifascists. After the Munich Agreement, the
PCF, in the name of national defence, now believes in a logic of war.
This state of mind persists after the signing of the German-Soviet Pact on 23
August 1939. From 23 to 25 August, the communist media tries to demonstrate
that the Pact is not incompatible with national defence. On the contrary, the Pact is
presented as a „peace factor” designed to weaken the enemy by disrupting the anti-
Komintern Pact. The communists are also expressing their desire to defend the
2
DOUGNAC, B.: Paul Faure, biographie (1878-1960). University of Bordeaux 3
(unpublished, 2006).
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