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As
the Depression deepened in the 1930s and Nazi power across the
Rhine became more menacing, fascist thuggery and antiparliamentary
activity increased in France, culminating in a pitched battle outside
the Chamber of Deputies in February 1934. The effect of this fascist
activism was to unite the Left, including the Communists led by the
Stalinist Maurice Thorez, in the Front Populaire . When they won
the 1936 elections with a handsome majority in the Chamber, there
followed a wave of strikes and factory sit-ins - a spontaneous
expression of working-class determination to get their just deserts
after a century and a half of frustration.
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Frightened by the apparently revolutionary situation, the major
employers signed the Matignon Agreement with Blum, which provided
for wage increases, nationalization of the armaments industry and
partial nationalization of the Bank of France, a forty-hour week, paid
annual leave and collective bargaining on wages. These reforms
were pushed through parliament, but when Blum tried to introduce
exchange controls to check the flight of capital, the Senate threw the
proposal out and he resigned. The Left remained out of power, with the
exception of coalition governments, until 1981. Most of the Front
Populaire's reforms were promptly undone. |
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