“Planting the Tricolor in the Citadels of Communism”: Women's Social Action in the Croix de feu and Parti social français

Abstract

The Croix de feu and its successor, the Parti social francais (PSF), were, in terms of membership, the most important political organizations seen in France before the Fourth Republic. In June 1936 the Croix de feu had around 400,000 members, and the PSF may have attracted as many as 1 million participants. The Croix de feu had been founded in 1928 with the intention of bringing together veterans who had been decorated for bravery during the Great War. In the following years, the movement’s field of recruitment was expanded through the creation of a number of linked organizations. The “Briscards” was set up in 1929 for those who had spent at least six months in the trenches; the Volontaires nationaux (VN) was added in 1933 for males too young to have experienced active service; and the Regroupement national autour des Croix de feu (RNCF) was established in the same year for older nonveteran men and women. It was the riots of February 6, 1934, in the course of which demonstrators of the extreme right had attempted to force their way into the Chamber of Deputies, that brought the Croix de feu to the attention of the public at large. The league’s behavior on that day had been somewhat equivocal, for it had seemingly refused to take advantage of a golden opportunity to break through police barriers and enter the Chamber. But uncertainty as to the league’s attitude toward parliamentary institutions did not prevent rapid expansion of membership in the course of 1934. Recruitment was given a further boost by the collapse of the right-wing government of Gaston Doumergue in November, which convinced many that reform of French political institutions depended on new forms of action. The Croix de feu refused to take part in elections and sought instead to convince respectable opinion through its notorious paramilitary mobilizations that it alone was equipped to deal with the threat of commu-