History of France, 1848-1998 (HI172)
The Modern Records Centre holds nationally important collections for the study of political, social and economic history (particularly from the 20th century). Just a small selection of documents relevant to the course 'History of France, 1848-1998' are shown below, arranged into sections on 'Fascism and the Popular Front', 'Second World War: Resistance and Collaboration', 'Algeria' and 'May 1968'.
Most of the documents are available online in full - click on the thumbnail images to read the primary sources.
'Ready-made' searches of the MRC catalogue are available on the following subjects: Occupied France and the French Resistance, France and Algerian independence, 1950s-1960s, and May 1968 (these are not comprehensive lists of everything we hold on these subjects, but a selection of relevant documents).
Interested in using primary sources in your work? - find out more about using archives
Fascism and the Popular Front |
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Copy of a letter from Victor Schiff, Paris correspondent of the 'Daily Herald'. The 'Daily Herald' was a popular pro-socialist newspaper partly funded by the Trades Union Congress (it would later be rebranded as 'The Sun'). Schiff describes the divisions in the French Socialist Party over the question of a 'United Front' with the Communists, and comments on violent clashes between Communists and supporters of far-right political parties. [Included in a file on 'International Communism: United Front', from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/773.9/1] |
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![]() 'France: The United Front', August 1934 Trades Union Congress memorandum on the agreement for political unity between the Socialist Party and Communist Party, and discussions on trade union unity between socialist and Communist groups. [Included in a file on 'International Communism: United Front', from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/773.9/1] |
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![]() '14 Juillet [14 July]', 1935 Front page of an edition of the French newspaper 'Monde'. This issue celebrated the signing of an anti-fascist pact between the socialists and communists on Bastille Day. 'Monde' was edited by Henri Barbusse, a communist. [Included in the archive of the National Union of Teachers; document reference: MSS.179/1/13/1]
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This memorandum from Victor Schiff, Paris correspondent of the 'Daily Herald', provides a brief outline of the main French fascist organisations and gives information about their strength, core areas of support, programmes, and the motives of their supporters. [Included in a file on 'France: General', from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/1] |
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The summaries include information about the number of votes cast for pro- and anti-Popular Front candidates, the differences between votes cast in the 1932 and 1936 elections, the distribution of seats between the political parties, and leading politicians. [Included in a file on 'France: Popular Front', 1936-1938, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/18] |
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Translation of a declaration on the foreign policy of the Popular Front government, read by Leon Blum in the Senate and Yvon Delbos in Chamber of Deputies. Less than a month after this declaration was read, the outbreak of civil war in Spain provided a major test for the French government. [Included in a file on 'France: Popular Front', 1936-1938, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/18] Information on the Spanish Civil War and the attitude of the French government towards it is included in Trabajadores : The Spanish Civil War through the eyes of organised labour (more than 14,000 pages of contemporary sources on the conflict) |
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![]() 'Situation in France': Paris strikes, 12 June 1936 Letter from George Stolz, Assistant Secretary of the International Federation of Trade Unions, to Walter Citrine, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. Stolz describes the role of the Communists in Paris strikes ("more as a break than a motive force") and the public reaction to the industrial unrest. [Included in a file on 'France: Popular Front', 1936-1938, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/18] |
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Report of an investigation into conditions in France during early 1938, shortly after the formation of the second Chautemps Government. The investigation was conducted by J. Baker White, the Director of the Economic League (a British pressure group or think tank on the right of the political spectrum). The pamphlet includes a diary of key events in France between 1934 and 1938. [From the Maitland Sara Hallinan collection; document reference: MSS.15X/2/144/2] |
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![]() Notes on the political situation, 23 March 1938 Copy of a letter sent to William Gillies, International Secretary of the British Labour Party, from Victor Schiff, Paris correspondent of the 'Daily Herald'. Schiff describes the position of the new Blum Cabinet, the splits within the Popular Front, and "the degree of demoralisation in French political quarters". [Included in a file on 'France: Popular Front', 1936-1938, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/18] Another letter from Schiff, written a month later, is also available online. |
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Translation of a letter from Paul Faure, French socialist politician and former Popular Front minister, refuting Communist allegations that "that France is a semi-fascist country, where all liberties have been abolished, where parliamentary government no longer exists, where the Trade Unions have been suppressed and their leaders imprisoned". [Included in a file on 'France: Second World War', 1939-1941, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/19] An example of the anti-French government propaganda produced by the Communist Party - What is happening in France by Isabel Brown - is also available online. |
Second World War: Resistance and Collaboration |
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Translation of manifesto issued by the trade union organisation Confédération Générale du Travail during the German invasion of France and the Low Countries. It calls for workers to stay in their workplace and increase production to help fight the invading army. [Included in a file on 'France: Second World War', 1939-1941, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/19] |
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14 page report written by Max Braun, following his arrival in London. The ship 'Massilia' had carried French parliamentarians from France to North Africa shortly before the capitulation of France and establishment of the Vichy Government. Braun argues that political opponents of Marshal Petain were tricked into leaving, so that they could subsequently be attacked as traitors or cowards. [Included in a file on 'France: General', from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/1] |
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Communist Party manifesto published in the journal of the Communist International (or Comintern). It includes an attack on the government of Daladier and the "French bourgeoisie" or middle classes, who the manifesto claimed had "contributed to the outbreak of the present war [and] by their imperialist and reactionary policy paved the way for the invaders". [From the Maitland Sara Hallinan collection; document reference: MSS.15X/1/54/237] A Communist Party of France manifesto from January 1944, which focuses more on the resistance movement, is also available online. |
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![]() 'Open letter to British workers', 17 June 1940 Statement from "a group of French Internationalist Communists, partisans of the Fourth International" (e.g. French Trotskyists). They accuse the French Government and capitalist class of prefering to hand over their country to the Germans rather than "arm the workers" to defend it. [From the archives of Jimmy Deane, Trotskyist; document reference: MSS.325/1/A40(11)] A similar statement on 'The capitulation of the French bourgeoisie' is also available online. |
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![]() Statement made on the French trade union movement and the fall of France, 5 December 1940 Statement made by Walter Schevenels, General Secretary of the International Federation of Trade Unions, to the International Committee of the British Trades Union Congress. The document includes a description of the situation at the time of the fall of France, the reasons why "the June capitulation was unavoidable", and divisions in the Vichy Government. Schevenels also refers to his own escape from France. The document is heavily annotated, with some of the more sensitive or contentious passages marked for deletion. [Included in a file on 'France: Second World War', 1939-1941, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/19] |
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Translation of a leaflet issued by the Jean-Jaures Group of French Socialists in Britain. It attacks the Vichy government for allowing German forces to use French bases in Syria, thus "handing over to the enemy the Empire just as they have already delivered Metropolitan France", and calls for French workers to "build up in secret the front of resistance!". [Included in a file on 'France: Second World War', 1939-1941, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/19] |
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![]() 'Extract from report of a trade union leader active in the resistance movement, made July, 1941' The anonymous trade unionist discusses "the men behind resistance" and "collaborators" within the labour movement. The English translation was made in November 1944, around the time of a joint meeting of the British Trades Union Congress and the French Confederation Generale du Travail. [Included in a file on France, 1944-5, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292C/944/3]
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Statement on the war and post-war policy made by General de Gaulle following consultation with the underground organisations in France. It was intended to form the basis of an agreement between the different groups and was published in underground newspapers in both occupied and Vichy France. [Included in a file on 'France: General', 1935-1945, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/1] |
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![]() 'France's uncensored press', December 1942 This booklet contains English translations of nine bulletins issued by French resistance groups between November 1941 and September 1942. A similar booklet, 'Resistance in France', contains translated bulletins from 1943 and is also available online in full. [From the archives of Jimmy Deane, Trotskyist; document reference: MSS.325/57/Y40/24] |
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![]() ![]() Examples of visual propaganda, c.1942-3 Cartoons attacking the German occupation and the actions of French collaborators. These are included in two files of French resistance bulletins and leaflets - a small selection of other documents from these files have also been digitised. [Included in files on the French underground, from the archives of the International Transport Workers' Federation; document references: MSS.159/3/C/A/118 and MSS.159/3/C/A/143] |
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![]() 'The situation in France', April 1943 Intelligence report included in the archives of the International Transport Workers' Federation. It includes observations on collaborators, sabotage and resistance, the mood of occupying troops, and French workers' opinions of political leaders and post-war aspirations. [Included in a file on the French underground, from the archives of the ITF; document reference: MSS.159/3/C/A/118] |
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Published programme of action (in French) of the National Council of the Resistance, adopted on 15 March 1944. The Council acted as a co-ordinating body for the various resistance organisations and had been formed at the instigation of General de Gaulle. [Included in a file on 'France: General', 1935-1945, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/1] |
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' Illustrated report on the ritual humiliation of female collaborators after the liberation of Normandy, published in the British newspaper the 'Daily Herald'. It condemns the scenes as recalling "the exhibitionist "punishments" which were popularised by the Nazis in Germany". [Included in a file on 'France: General', 1935-1945, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/1] |
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Recollections of a female member of the French Resistance in Paris, published in the October 1945 issue of 'The Blue Triangle', the magazine of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). She describes her work in different sections of the Resistance during 1943 and 1944, including distribution of propaganda, provision of supplies to those in hiding, collection of information and sabotage through placing of explosives. [Included in the archive of the YWCA; document reference: MSS.243/1/11/9/1] |
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Memorandum by the French trade union organisation Confederation Generale du Travail on the economic and industrial state of France after liberation. It includes an appeal for France's "Anglo-Saxon allies" to not just use the country as "a battleground and a strategic route", but to provide assistance so that it "can still play an important part in the fight against Hitler, both from an economic and a military point of view". An appendix provides a summary of the amount of food (and wine) available to citizens under rationing. [Included in a file on 'France: General', 1935-1945, from the archives of the Trades Union Congress; document reference: MSS.292/944/1] |