The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál
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writer affirmed that radicals „had never trusted Stalin or his lackeys” 27 . By „his<br />
lackeys” he meant French Communist leaders like Duclos and Thorez or<br />
Gilbert Vital 28 in the department. Beyond the fear of Bolsheviks, he couldn't<br />
accept that the same party which had led antifascist resistance a few years<br />
before now approved of this pact.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was no chance for communists to find support from the socialists'<br />
side. <strong>The</strong> split of Tours in 1920 was still noticeable. Lamarque Cando's<br />
conclusions were final: „Is there still anyone, who yesterday was a sincere<br />
communist, to believe in the superiority of dictatorship?” 29 He denounced<br />
communist leaders. „Between Stalin’s servants, Thorez, Duclos, today in the<br />
pay of Hitler and us there is a moral incompatibility”. „Between them (Stalin's<br />
lackeys) and us, there is a murdered peace” 30 . Lamarque Cando was a wellknown<br />
anticommunist in the department. Pierre Brossollette 31 , another member<br />
of the SFIO incriminated communist writers like Aragon in Le Travailleurs<br />
Landais. He reproached them for celebrating the pact as an act of peace in their<br />
newspapers such as „Ce Soir”. He denounced their „blind and aggressive<br />
commitment” 32 . He underlined their lack of humility, their lack of decency for<br />
people who were in antifascist sections and who now applauded „the coming<br />
together of communism and Nazism” 33 . Socialists didn’t believe the communist<br />
excuse that if the USSR chose Germany’s side it was to blackmail France and<br />
Britain and because of their negligence. Politicians were aware that something<br />
important had happened in the country's political life. Le Démocrate published<br />
a press release from La Dépêche: „it’s an event which will affect in their<br />
consciences those who believed in Stalin like you believe in Christ” 34 . (Festival<br />
du Film from Pessac: Once upon a faith the communism). Jacques Lemoine<br />
dares to say that „there is just a definitive collapse for the party who linked his<br />
life to a foreign pawn” 35 .<br />
Besides outside criticism, something was broken inside the PCF itself.<br />
Indeed, two main political lines were decided upon. One chose to follow<br />
27<br />
Idem.<br />
28<br />
From the Sarthe he was hurt during the First World War. He came in the department in 1930<br />
like electrician. He left the SFIO to the PC. He lost the Council Department election in 1934. He<br />
was elected town councilor of Soorts-Hossegor in 1935. He allowed the win of the Popular Front in<br />
the department giving his points to the left candidate. In 1937 he became member of the Council<br />
department. In 1941 he was summed to stay in his house like the other dangerous communist. In<br />
1944 he led the Council department of liberation with Lamarque Cando.<br />
29<br />
CANDO, Charles Lamarque, In Le Travailleurs Landais, 17 décembre 1939.<br />
30<br />
CANDO, Charles Lamarque, In Le Travailleurs Landais, 17 décembre 1939.<br />
31<br />
Member of the SFIO in 1929, he started as journalist in Le Populaire. Lieutenant in 1940, he<br />
went to London and De Gaulle and became a leader of <strong>The</strong> Resistance in France. He worked in the<br />
BCRA. In February, 1944, he was taken by German and without talking he committed a suicide.<br />
32<br />
BROSSOLETTE, Pierre In Le Populaire, in Le Travailleurs Landais, 26 août 1939.<br />
33<br />
Idem.<br />
34<br />
Extrait de La Dépêche, in Le Démocrate, 27 août 1939.<br />
35<br />
La Petite Gironde, 23 août 1939.<br />
151