Reviews for The Third Republic in France: Conflicts and Continuities

The average rating for The Third Republic in France: Conflicts and Continuities based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-09-22 00:00:00 Kevin Goodes This book is a detailed historical study of the popular front in France. An as such it contains many truly interesting historical facts. For example: Of the three parties that constituted the Popular Front in France, only members of the Radical Socialist Party proclaimed the "unity of the Left" !!! In other words, only the Liberal Democratic Party of the classes (the classes moyennes) were in favor of the frontal congregation of the left parties. This book also highlights all the faults the popular front in France made, such as the illusion that the achievements of the "Matignon" Agreement were the result of equal bargaining and not a consequence of the employers' subordination to the strangulation of workers. The Popular Front's mistakes also include the semi-nationalization of the Bank of France, the fact that no People's Front committees were set up in the neighborhoods to reinforce workers' resistance, the personal indecision of Prime Minister Leon Bloom and others. However this book also shows the positive aspects of the PF: In the first place, the Popular Front as a tactic was never intended to overthrow capitalism. The main aim of the Popular Front was to halt the rise of fascism. Hence the definition of "anti-fascist" that Dimitrov always used when referring to the Popular Front. And this goal was fulfilled by the Popular Front in France by dismantling the fascist slums that terrorized the people. It is important to remember that the French Republic was not overthrown by the internal enemy, as in Germany and Italy, but by external intervention, especially by the Germans in 1940.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-02-03 00:00:00 Ray Schwebs If you don't mind academic writing, this is well-compartmentalized and very easy to follow. Full review at link: