17. The Popular Front

France Since 1871 (HIST 276)

A plethora of Far Right and fascist organizations emerged in the wake of World War I. Economic depression, nationalism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia all played a part in this upsurge. On the left, the tension between communist revolutionaries and socialist reformers was reconciled, for a time, in the Popular Front government of Leon Blum. While the Popular Front would eventually fall, it pioneered many of the reforms and progressive measures that French workers enjoy today.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Rise of the Right in Interwar France
11:54 - Chapter 2. Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism in France
16:17 - Chapter 3. The Stavisky Affair
28:22 - Chapter 4. The Reassertion of the Republic: The Victory of the Popular Front and Leon Blum
41:19 - Chapter 5. Unraveling the Popular Front: The Depression and the Spanish Civil War

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2007.