Neo-Socialism and the Fascist Destiny of an Anti-Fascist Discourse

362 Pages·2016·5.58 MB·English

by  Mathieu Desan

"Order, Authority, Nation": Neo-Socialism and the Fascist Destiny
of an Anti-Fascist Discourse

by

Mathieu Hikaru Desan

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Sociology)
in the University of Michigan
2016

Doctoral Committee:

Professor George Steinmetz, Chair
Professor Howard Brick
Assistant Professor Robert S. Jansen
Emeritus Professor Howard Kimeldorf
Professor Gisèle Sapiro Centre national de la recherche
scientifique/École des hautes études en sciences sociales
Acknowledgments
Scholarly production is necessarily a collective endeavor. Even during the long isolated
hours spent in dusty archives, this basic fact was never far from my mind, and this dissertation
would be nothing without the community of scholars and friends that has nourished me over the
past ten years. First thanks are due to George Steinmetz, my advisor and Chair. From the very
beginning of my time as a graduate student, he has been my intellectual role model. He has also
been my champion throughout the years, and every opportunity I have had has been in large
measure thanks to him. Both his work and our conversations have been constant sources of
inspiration, and the breadth of his knowledge has been a vital resource, especially to someone
whose interests traverse disciplinary boundaries. George is that rare sociologist whose theoretical
curiosity and sophistication is matched only by the lucidity of this thought. Nobody is more
responsible for my scholarly development than George, and all my work bears his imprint. I will
spend a lifetime trying to live up to his scholarly example. I owe him an enormous debt of
gratitude.
Within the Department of Sociology, Howard Kimeldorf and Rob Jansen also deserve
special thanks. Both have been especially generous with their time and attention, and I have
benefitted immensely from their careful readings of my work throughout the years. Howard has
been an exemplar of clarity and rigor. He pushed me to discipline my thinking, and he has done
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more than he knows to improve my writing. I always looked forward to our conversations over
the years, and his free and easy manner was a welcome respite in the often anxiety-inducing
world of graduate school. His support has meant much to me, both professionally and personally.
When I think about what kind of colleague I would like to be, I think especially of Howard.
Rob has also been an invaluable mentor and friend. I have depended on him countless
times for professional and intellectual advice, and nobody has helped me more to navigate being
an early career scholar. His knowledge of the field, his work ethic, and the incisiveness of his
comments have been continued sources of admiration. As I moved from the research to the
writing phase of this dissertation, and as I juggled writing with going on the job market, Rob's
help was crucial in making everything more concrete and manageable. He came through in a
moment when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed and adrift, and it is in large measure
thanks to him that everything came together in the end.
Howard Brick has been my lifeline outside Sociology, and the source of many
stimulating conversations. I have benefitted greatly from his deep knowledge of intellectual,
socialist, and left history. Though an ocean separates our areas of study, our substantive interests
converge, and I have left every conversation with Howard with a better understanding of what
exactly my own work is about. He is a paragon of inter-disciplinary thinking, of which sociology
is much in need. I am lucky to have had his guidance.
I also owe a huge debt to the final member of my dissertation committee, Gisèle Sapiro,
who welcomed me among her students during my time in Paris. Thanks to her, I did not spend a
year and a half rotting away in the archives. Instead, I was fully integrated into a scientific
community of which she was the animating force. This experience was critical to my intellectual
and professional growth, and I owe it all to Gisèle's generosity. More directly, she did much to
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help me with moving my dissertation project forward. She was a consistent source of ideas and
references that proved to be absolutely essential to my work. Her own work, too, has been a
touchstone. Without Gisèle's hospitality and brilliance, this project would hardly have gotten off
the ground. I am forever indebted to her commitment to scholarly internationalism.
More broadly, I am lucky to have been part of the Department of Sociology at the
University of Michigan. It was a privilege to be trained among the best sociologists in the
country, and I have learned a great deal from all the excellent faculty and students. Among the
faculty, I want to specifically mention Barbara Anderson, Sarah Burgard, Fatma Müge Göçek, PJ
McGann, Peggy Somers, and Geneviève Zubrzycki. Among my fellow students in the
department, Andy Clarno, Mariana Craciun, Claire Decoteau, Kim Greenwell, Camilo Leslie,
Josh Mound, Atef Said, Jessica Wyse, Jon Zelner, and Sarah Zelner were especially important in
getting me through the ups and downs of academic life. I also want to thank the organizers and
participants of the Social Theory and Culture, History, and Politics workshops, both of which
became my intellectual homes within the department.
Outside the Department of Sociology, George Hoffmann and Elizabeth Wingrove were
particularly supportive, and both had a hand in making the research for this dissertation possible.
Federico Pous has been a loyal friend and intellectual accomplice. My involvement with the
Graduate Employees' Organization was also dear to me, and it was the nexus through which I
assembled the wider intellectual community that supported me over the years. Not only did my
time in GEO teach me how to do politics, it also taught me how to study it.
The research for this dissertation would not have been possible without a generous
fellowship from the Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust. In France, I was entirely
dependent on the friendly staff at the following archives: Archives Nationales; Archives de la
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Préfecture de Police; Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine; Centre
d'Études, de Documentation, d'Information et d'Action Sociales; Centre d'Histoire Sociale du
XXème Siècle; Institut d'Histoire Sociale; Office Universitaire de Recherche Socialiste. Virginie
Hébrard and Pierre Rigoulot of the Institut d'Histoire Sociale deserve special thanks for their
extensive help and kindness in making available a myriad of archival and primary materials.
Gilles Morin was a gracious guide through the archives, as well as an indispensable resource on
the history of French socialism. Running into him was always a pleasure. I also thank the École
des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the Centre Européen de Sociologie et de Science
Politique for welcoming me during my time in Paris. Johan Heilbron, in particular, advised me
regularly on the progress of my research, and we have since become collaborators. I thank him
especially for his goodwill and counsel.
I have made many friends in my years in Ann Arbor and Paris, all of whom have
sustained me in the long and grueling process of conceiving, researching, and writing this
dissertation. These friends are too numerous to thank by name, but I wish to single out those who
have been by my side in the home stretch: Sandy Bledsoe, Matt Burton, Ian Dickinson, Alex
Fraser, Paul Lagneau-Ymonet, Pascal Massinon, Grant Mandarino, Ian Mays, Dan Patch,
Monica Patel, Shannon Riffe, Sebastien Roux, Kristin Schroeder, and Josh Shipper.
Finally, I would like to thank my family. More than anybody, my parents, Philippe and
Eriko, are responsible for instilling in me the intellectual habitus that has allowed me to come
this far in my academic career. I thank and blame them in equal parts for setting me down this
path. My wife, Beth Coddington, has been my best friend and constant companion for over ten
years. In that time, she has read nearly every word I have written, including every word of this
dissertation. If it is at all coherent, it is largely thanks to her. More importantly, I would never
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have been able to get through graduate school were it not for her encouragement, love, and
patience. I owe her everything and more. Finally, I need to thank Charlie. Although on one level
he was frankly more of a hindrance than a help in assuring the timely completion of this
dissertation, on a deeper level I know that the fear of disappointing was just the kick in the ass I
needed.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... ii

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. viii

List of Illustrations ....................................................................................................................... ix

List of Abbreviations .....................................................................................................................x

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ xii

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1

Part I. Tactics and Doctrine: The 1933 Socialist Schism and the Birth of Neo-Socialism ....53

Chapter 1. French Socialist Doctrine and the Question of Ministerial Participation .........59

Chapter 2. Factional Conflict and the Emergence of a New Political Identity ..................83

Part II. The Vicissitudes of a Doctrine: The Rise and Fall of Neo-Socialism .......................135

Chapter 3. From Anti-Fascism to Equivocation: Neo-Socialism in 1933-1934. .............142

Chapter 4. The Popular Front and the Decomposition of Neo-Socialism .......................196

Part III. The Fascist Spiral: The RNP and the Occupation ...................................................249

Chapter 5. The Making of the RNP: Pacifism, Collaboration, and the "Totalitarian"
Embrace ...........................................................................................................................257

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................328

References ...................................................................................................................................334

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Explanatory approaches to the neo-socialists' fascist transformation ..........................33
Figure 2. References to neo-socialism in Le Populaire ............................................................116
Figure 3. Characterization of the conflict within the SFIO by the different factions................131
Figure 4. The neo-socialists and the French left, 1933 .............................................................159
Figure 5. Political alignment of original PSdF executive bureau during the Occupation .........161
Figure 6. The neo-socialists' equivocal turn, 1934 ....................................................................176
Figure 7. Planism in France .......................................................................................................219
Figure 8. Results of the 1936 legislative elections for the left ..................................................240
Figure 9. Displacement of the neo-socialists within the Popular Front, 1935-1936 .................244
Figure 10. Pre-WWII political affiliations of the 1943 RNP permanent commission ................267
Figure 11. The disarticulation of pacifism and anti-fascism on the French left, 1938-1939 ......272

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List of Illustrations

Illustration 1. Marcel Déat, 1943.................................................................................................2
Illustration 2. Young women of the RNP give the Nazi salute in Paris ......................................4
Illustration 3. Marcel Déat at the 1932 SFIO Congress ..............................................................5
Illustration 4. Portrait of Barthélémy Montagnon, 1933 ...........................................................67
Illustration 5. Portrait of Marcel Déat, 1932 .............................................................................68
Illustration 6. Léon Blum at the 1925 SFIO Congress ..............................................................91
Illustration 7. The participationists at the 1930 SFIO Congress ...............................................96
Illustration 8. La Bataille Socialiste at the 1932 SFIO Congress ..............................................99
Illustration 9. Paul Faure at the 1932 SFIO Congress .............................................................100
Illustration 10. The 1932 SFIO Congress at the Gymnase Huyghens ......................................119
Illustration 11. "Order, Authority, Nation" ...............................................................................133
Illustration 12. 1934 Poster from the Centre de Propagande des Républicains Nationaux.......146
Illustration 13. Déat at the founding congress of the PSdF, December 1933 ...........................156
Illustration 14. Rioters at the Place de la Concorde, February 6 1934 ......................................166
Illustration 15. L'Homme Nouveau ............................................................................................186
Illustration 16. Official tribune at the July 14 1935 Popular Front demonstration ...................204
Illustration 17. The Tricolore at the head the July 14 1935 Popular Front demonstration .......206
Illustration 18. Insignia of the Union Socialiste Républicaine ..................................................213
Illustration 19. First public meeting of the RNP, February 1941 ..............................................296
Illustration 20. RNP meeting, May 1941 ..................................................................................297
Illustration 21. PPF meeting, February 1942 ............................................................................305
Illustration 22. PPF congress, 1943 ...........................................................................................305
Illustration 23. Franciste meeting, September 1942 ..................................................................306
Illustration 24. Franciste meeting, July 1943 ............................................................................306
Illustration 25. LVF recruitment poster .....................................................................................311
Illustration 26. Second anniversary of LVF, August 1943........................................................312
Illustration 27. Cadets Marcel Déat ...........................................................................................318
Illustration 28. RNP posters showing the party insignia ...........................................................321
Illustration 29. Marcel Déat in uniform.....................................................................................322
Illustration 30. RNP meeting, June 1943 ..................................................................................323
Illustration 31. RNP meeting, May 1944 ..................................................................................323
Illustration 32. Déat and Darnand, December 1943 ..................................................................326

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List of Abbreviations

AF—Action Française

ARAC—Association Républicaine des Anciens Combattants

CAP—Commission Administrative Permanente

CGT—Confédération Générale du Travail

CGTU—Confédération Générale du Travail

CSP—Centre Syndicaliste de Propagande

CVIA—Comité de Vigilance des Intellectuels Antifascistes

FRN—Front Révolutionnaire National

FST—Front Social du Travail

GP—Groupe Parlementaire SFIO

JNP—Jeunesses Nationales Populaires

LBS—La Bataille Socialiste

LICA—Ligue Intertionale Contre l'Antisémitisme

LICP—Ligue Internationale des Combattants de la Paix

LVF—Légion des Voluntaires Français Contre le Bolchevisme

LVS—La Vie Socialiste

MNP—Milice Nationale Populaire

MSR—Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire
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