A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

The Dynamics of Fascism 1019

increased unemployment benefits, support for the League of Nations and
international disarmament, and the dissolution of the fascist leagues.
The Popular Front won a clear victory in the subsequent elections of
May 1936. But the Communists refused to participate in the ensuing gov­
ernment, on orders from Moscow. Leon Blum (1872-1950) became prime
minister of the Popular Front government. That the Socialist leader was
Jewish intensified the rage of the extreme right. Shouts of “Better Hitler
than Blum!” echoed in Paris.
As unions, encouraged by the Popular Front’s pre-election promises, put
forward demands for better work conditions, the largest strike wave in
French history broke out across the country. For the first time, workers occu­
pied plants, singing, putting on theatrical productions, and staging mock tri­
als of bosses. The strikes, many by non-unionized workers, took both French
labor organizations and the Communist Party by surprise. The Communists
tried to bring the strikes to a speedy conclusion, fearful that defeat might
hurt their influence with workers or help the Socialists. The Communist
Party newspaper L’Humanite answered the workers’ optimistic slogan
“Everything is possible” with the headline “Everything is not possible!”
Blum convinced employers and union representatives to sign the
“Matignon Agreements,” establishing a forty-hour workweek, pay raises, and
paid vacations. The strikes gradually ended. But the economy continued to
falter in the face of intransigent opposition from employers and wealthy
families shipping assets out of France. Moreover, the reduced workweek
undercut production. Blum declared a “pause” in his reform program, and
cut back social benefits and other state expenditures.
The Popular Front began to unravel. In March 1937, police fired on
workers demonstrating against the rightist Cross of Fire group. The Com­
munists denounced the government, which they had helped bring to power
but never joined. The government had to devalue the franc several times
because of the flow of gold abroad. Blum asked the Senate to grant him
power to rule by decree. When the conservative-dominated Senate refused,
he resigned in June 1937. For all intents and purposes, the Popular Front
was over. A centrist government lurched on in France as the international
situation worsened.

Fascism in the Low Countries and Britain

Fascism threatened even Belgium and the Netherlands, as well. In Belgium,

the fascist party “Rex” (from the Latin for “Christ the King”), led by Leon

Degrelle (1906—1994), drew on the frustrations of white-collar workers and

shopkeepers, victims of the Depression who blamed competition from

department stores and socialist consumer cooperatives for their plight. Eco­

nomic malaise compounded tensions generated by the linguistic division

between French-speaking Walloons and the Flemish speakers of Flanders,

some of whom demanded Flemish autonomy. A wave of strikes tore through