The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

acked by a „belligerent” coalition which constitutes a majority in the
government, among whom are Paul Reynaud, minister of Finance, Albert
Sarraut, minister of the Interior, Georges Mandel, minister of Colonies, and
Jean Zay, minister of national Education. 7 Georges Bonnet is now ostracised as
attested by the Cabinet reshuffle of 13 September 1939: he loses the Foreign
Affairs portfolio and is given the ministry of Justice. This eviction is proof of
the government’s determination to go to war and its desire to eliminate a
movement hostile to the patriotic consensus.
Nevertheless, Edouard Daladier perceives the PCF’s support of the peace
side as the main threat, not parliamentary pacifism. The measures taken by
the government against the communists must therefore be interpreted in this
context. Two days after the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the
government suspends communist newspapers L’Humanité and Ce Soir and,
on 26 August, bans the communist press from further publication. One month
later, on 26 September, before the communists even adopt the „fight against
the imperialist war” stance, the PCF is dissolved, as is its parliamentary
group. Subsequently, following the publication of the „letter to Herriot” on 1
October, the government waits until the end of the extraordinary Parliament
session, on the 5 th , to launch an investigation into collusion with the enemy
before the Paris military tribunal. As the MPs supporting the Germany-Soviet
agreements no longer benefit from parliamentary immunity, the police raid
the homes of Arthur Ramette and Florimond Bonte that very morning.
Communist leaders decide to flee : Duclos and Ramette take refuge in
Belgium while Maurice Thorez deserts his regiment and goes to Moscow.
The Daladier government has therefore killed two birds with one stone :
liquidating the communists whose support of pacifism was perceived as a
threat and avoiding the peace debate in Parliament under the pretence of
fighting against communists 8 . On 29 September, Paris was aware of the
German-Soviet call for an overall resolution of the conflict. The final act of
this deterrent policy aimed at preventing the collusion of pacifists against the
war takes place at the beginning of December. Further to the Soviet invasion
of Finland, Daladier seizes the PCF’s assets. From an external perspective, he
supports the action of the LoN 9 which, putting an end to its strict selfimposed
neutrality observed since the Pact and the declaration of war,
decides to exclude the USSR on 14 December 1939.
7
See the biography by PUYAUBERT, J.: Georges Bonnet (1889-1973), les combats d’un
pacifiste. Rennes, 2007. 201-207.
8
For more information on this question see BOURGEOIS, G.: Octobre 1939: sortir de la
crise pacifiste pour continuer à faire la guerre. Communication pronounced in the conference
Exits of crisis, university of Poitiers, 27-28 November 2008. All our thanks to the author who
had the kindness to pass on to us the text of this communication before its publication in the acts
of the conference, in autumn 2010.
9 e
PAUL-BONCOUR, J.: Entre-deux-guerres. Souvenirs de la III République, t. III: Sur les
chemins de la défaite 1935-1940. Paris, 1946. 183.
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