Female Social Action and Reorganization of French Right-Wing Policies: The Croix-de-feu Movement and the French Social Party (1934 – 1947)

Population Policies
By Laura Lee Downs
English

This article explores the little-known contribution of the extreme right to the construction of the welfare state in France by analyzing the immense social welfare network established by the Croix-de-Feu and the French Social Party between 1934 and 1947. The social strategy that the movement first developed between 1934 and 1935 envisaged the political conquest of working-class districts via the implantation of highly needed social services in the destitute neighborhoods of the “red belt”€œ€ around Paris and Lyon, a mission that was to be given to the movement’s many female social activists. By organizing their social services with a clear political goal in mind—€”the conquest of “€œcommunist”€ strongholds—€”the women’s social action groups strove to modify and enlarge the bases of political mobilization on the right via a quest for “€œsocial reconciliation”€ that would replace class hatred by a new spirit of collaboration. In so doing, they put in place a politicization of social work—€”and a socialization of policies—€”that would improve the welfare state which emerged after the war and the Libération.

Keywords

  • France
  • Alsace
  • 20th century
  • social policy
  • gender
  • extreme right
Go to the article on Cairn-int.info