French Peasant Fascism Henry Dorgères' Greenshirts and the Crises of French Agriculture, 1929-1939

by Paxton, Robert O.

• ISBN13: 9780195111897
• ISBN10: 0195111893
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-10-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

French Peasant Fascism is the first account of the Greenshirts, a militant right-wing peasant movement in 1930s France that sought to transform the Republic into an authoritarian, agrarian state. Author Robert Paxton examines the Greenshirts in five case studies, throwing new light on French rural society and institutions during the Depression and on the emergence of a new rural leadership of authentic farmers. Paxton points out that fascism remained weak in the French countryside because the French state protected landowners more effectively than did those of Weimar Germany and Italy, and because French rural notables were so firmly embedded in social and economic power. Although the Greenshirts disappeared with the Third Republic, they left a double legacy: a tradition of peasant direct action, which is still exercised today; and the idea of France as a peasant nation, whose identity and virtues rest upon the persistence of a large peasant sector. That self-image continues to influence French policy choices today, long after the social structure on which it rested has disappeared.

Author Biography

Robert O. Paxton is Professor of History Columbia University. He has also taught at University of California at Berkeley, State University of New York at Stony Brook and Columbia University. His areas of specialization include the Vichy regime in France and the French Right and he is currently preparing a comparative study of fascism.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xi
Introduction	3	(1)
In Search of Henry Dorgeres	3	(8)
The Triple Crisis of the French Peasantry, 1929--39	11	(40)
The Depression	12	(15)
A Vanishing Way of Life	27	(9)
A Crisis of Representation	36	(15)
The Rise of Dorgerism	51	(18)
The Creation of Henry Dorgeres	51	(3)
Dorgeres and the Agrarian Press	54	(3)
Dorgeres, the Peasant Tribune	57	(4)
Dorgeres against the Republic	61	(8)
Five Scenarios of Peasant Action	69	(50)
Giving the Peasants a Voice: The Market-day Rally	70	(8)
Pushing Back the State: The Battle of Bray-sur-Somme, 18 June 1933	78	(6)
Pushing Back the Reds	84	(18)
Breaking Industrial Strikes: Isigny (Calvados), August--December 1936	102	(8)
Organizing the Market: Le Petrolage des Petits Pois, Finistere, June 1938	110	(9)
Dorgeres, the Agrarian Elite, and the State, 1934--44	119	(32)
Dorgerism, 1934--40: Who, Where, and How Many?	120	(9)
The Peasant Front	129	(5)
Where Did the Money Come From?	134	(1)
The Republic against Dorgeres	135	(3)
The Notables Drop Dorgeres	138	(4)
Triumph and Disappointment: Dorgeres at Vichy	142	(9)
Aftermath, Legacy, Meanings	151	(36)
Dorgeres after the War	151	(3)
A Village Fascism?	154	(11)
The Dorgerist Moment	165	(9)
France as a Peasant Nation	174	(13)
Notes	187	(40)
Bibliographical Essay	227	(8)
Index	235