The Politics of Dissent

This book breaks new ground in examining for the first time the history of pacifism in inter-war France. Norman Ingram sets out to define the contours of the French peace movement, to explore its organization, tactics, and intellectual content, and to place it in the broader context of French political culture in the years between the two world wars.

Based particularly on hitherto untapped primary sources, The Politics of Dissent traces the development of French pacifism from its nineteenth-century roots. Dr Ingram analyses the intertwining of three strands of dissent: over the origins of the First World War and the thesis of unique German war guilt; over the nature of contemporary French political society; and over the belief that another war would spell the end of western civilization. He also explores the nature and development of feminist pacifism in the inter-war period. His comprehensive and scholarly analysis reveals that, unlike the primarily ethical or religious thinking which underpinned the Anglo-American peace movement, the nature of French pacifism was essentially political, with some elements prepared even to accept violence as a means to a desirable end, especially in response to the threat of incipient fascism.