235-485: André Léon Blum ( French: [ɑ̃dʁe leɔ̃ blum] ; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister of France . As a Jew , he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of socialist leader Jean Jaurès . After Jaurès' assassination in 1914, he became his successor. Despite Blum's relatively short tenures, his time in office
470-602: A self-made man both in person and persona , who emulated the aristocratic style of life regardless of his middle-class origin, birth, and background, especially during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Britain. Early manifestations of dandyism were Le petit-maître (the Little Master) and the musk-wearing Muscadin ruffians of the middle-class Thermidorean reaction (1794–1795). Modern dandyism, however, emerged in stratified societies of Europe during
705-475: A "honest broker" in an attempt to find a compromise. Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler at a summit at Berchtesgaden where he agreed that the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia would be transferred to Germany. At a subsequent Anglo-German summit at Bad Godesberg, Hitler rejected Chamberlain's plan over a secondary issue as he demanded that the Sudetenland be transferred to Germany before 1 October 1938 while
940-670: A Dreyfusard brought him into contact with the socialist leader Jean Jaurès , whom he greatly admired. He began contributing to the socialist daily, L'Humanité , and joined the French Section of the Workers' International ( French : Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière , SFIO). Soon he was the party's main theoretician. It is possible that Blum's interest in politics began somewhat earlier, as Fernand Gregh mentioned in his personal memoirs that Blum had expressed interest in politics as early as 1892. In July 1914, just as
1175-649: A Franco-Italian alliance and appointed Darlan as his successor. Darlan became increasing vociferous in advocating the view that France needed a strong Marine to ensure command of the sea in the Mediterranean in order to bring over soldiers from the Maghreb to help the French Army face the Wehrmacht on more equal terms. Gamelin strongly argued in favor of a renewed attempt to make an alliance with Italy under
1410-720: A French government in peacetime". Intelligence from the Deuxième Bureau and André François-Poncet , the French ambassador in Berlin, showed that the factories of the major German armaments firms such as Krupp AG, Rheinmetall AG and Borsig AG were running at full capacity as the German state seemed to have a limitless appetite for arms. All the intelligence from François-Poncet and the Deuxième Bureau indicated that Germany
1645-667: A Socialist Party congress in January 1930, Marcel Déat gave a strong speech in favor of taking up Daladier's offer, but Blum's speech in favor of rejecting Daladier's offer carried the congress with 2, 066 delegates voting against joining the cabinet and 1, 057 voting for. In the 1932 election fought under the shadow of the Great Depression, the Radicals and the Socialists made gains, and Blum once again promised to support
1880-584: A Victorian Dandy (1998) reimagines one day in the life of a dandy in Victorian England, through which the author challenges conventional Victorian depictions of race, class, and British identity by depicting the Victorian dandy as Black, surrounded by white servants. By reversing concepts of the Victorian master-servant relationship, by rewriting stereotypings of the Victorian dandy to include Black masculinities, and by positioning his dandy figure as
2115-493: A cabinet that included 20 Socialists, 13 Radicals and two Socialist Republicans. The Communists won 15 percent of the vote, and 12 percent of the seats. They supported the government, although they refused to take any cabinet positions. For the first time, the cabinet included three women in minor roles, even though women were not able to vote. Blum had long been accused by his critics within the Socialist Party of avoiding
2350-527: A car and almost beaten to death by the Camelots du Roi , a group of antisemites and royalists. The group's parent organisation, the right-wing Action Française league, was dissolved by the government following this incident, not long before the elections that brought Blum to power. Blum became the first socialist and the first Jew to serve as Prime Minister of France . As such he was an object of particular hatred from antisemitic elements. In its short life,
2585-408: A consciously designed personality , men whose way of being broke with inflexible tradition that limited the social progress of greater French society; thus, with their elaborate dress and decadent styles of life, the French dandies conveyed their moral superiority to and political contempt for the conformist bourgeoisie . Regarding the social function of the dandy in a stratified society , like
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#17327767325482820-413: A crucial element in maintaining social boundaries and individual status." This process "creates a market for new social models, with the dandy as a prime example of how individuals navigate and resist the pressures of a capitalist society." Here, another paradoxical relation between dandyism and capitalism emerges: dandyism's emphasis on individuality and on forming an idiomatic sense of style can be read as
3055-586: A fascist coup attempt. Blum approached Daladier on 7 February 1934 to talk about an alliance between the Radicals and the Socialists against the fascists who had rioted the night before, saying that French democracy was in peril, which marked the beginning of what became the Popular Front. After the Stavisky riots caused the downfall of Daladier's government, a new government was formed by Gaston Doumergue , which Blum refused to join when Doumergue offered him
3290-463: A government headed by Herriot, through he would not enter the cabinet as usual by proposing a set of demands for cabinet participation that he knew were too left-wing for Herriot to accept. In Foreign policy, Blum's main theme was the need to strengthen the League of Nations along with a fervent support for disarmament. Blum consistently argued that the millions of francs spent on defense was wasteful, and
3525-476: A highly controversial (for the period) and much talked about critical essay about the problems with traditional marriage as envisioned in the late 19th century, with its religious and economic background and strong stress on women remaining virgins until their marriage day. Blum stated that both men and women should enjoy a period of "polygamic" free sex life in order to experience a more mature and stable relationship during later married life: “For both men and women,
3760-428: A living religion. The dandy lifestyle, in certain respects, "comes close to spirituality and to stoicism " as an approach to living daily life, while its followers "have no other status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons, of satisfying their passions, of feeling and thinking … [because] Dandyism is a form of Romanticism . Contrary to what many thoughtless people seem to believe, dandyism
3995-470: A major program to speed up arms production. The cost forced the abandonment of the social reform programmes that the Popular Front had counted heavily on. By mid-August 1936, the parliament had voted for: It also raised the pay, pensions, and allowances of public-sector workers and ex-servicemen. The 1920 Sales Tax, opposed by the Left as a tax on consumers, was abolished and replaced by a production tax, which
4230-489: A majority. While prime ministers are usually chosen from amongst the ranks of the National Assembly, on rare occasions the president has selected a non-officeholder because of experience in bureaucracy or foreign service, or success in business management—former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin , for example, served as prime minister from 2005 to 2007 without having held elected office. Although
4465-474: A marked distrust of the French Army generals whose politics tended towards the right, and he believed warnings about Germany were merely scaremongering to increase the military budget at the expense of social spending. Renaudel criticized Blum under the grounds the "spread of fascism in Europe" required the Socialists to vote for military credits. In 1933, Blum came into conflict with Renaudel who kept pressing for
4700-621: A minority of the Socialists started to become opposed to the war, Blum displayed much tact in seeking party unity as he maintained that the German threat necessitated support for the war. He disapproved of the French Socialists who attended the Zimmerwald Conference in September 1915 to seek an end to the war. Blum was a lifelong Anglophile who greatly appreciated Britain's role in helping to defend France and admired
4935-609: A more passive role. Blum did not trust Thorez, and was weary of his offers for an alliance. Faure, still an influential figure in the Socialist Party, charged that new anti-fascist line from the Comintern was all part of a devious scheme by Joseph Stalin to start another world war to bring to power Communist regimes everywhere. The opposition from Faure and his followers to an alliance with the Communists imposed constraints on Blum's ability to form an alliance with them. In May 1935,
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#17327767325485170-456: A noble man who is the leader of his social circle, Shonibare uses neo-Victorianism as a genre to interrogate and counter normative historical narratives and the power hierarchies they produce(d). Black dandyism serves as a catalyst for contemporary Black identities to explore self-fashioning and expressions of neo-Victorian Blacks: The Black dandy's look is highly tailored – the antithesis of baggy wear. [...] Black dandyism rejects this. In fact,
5405-587: A paternal inheritance of thirty thousand pounds sterling, which he squandered on a high life of gambling, lavish tailors, and visits to brothels. Eventually declaring bankruptcy in 1816, Brummell fled England to France, where he lived in destitution and pursued by creditors; in 1840, at the age of sixty-one years, Beau Brummell passed away in a lunatic asylum in Caen , marking the tragic end to his once-glamorous legacy. Nonetheless, despite his ignominious end, Brummell's influence on European fashion endured, with men across
5640-406: A person of beautiful dress and refined speech. By the 18th century, coint became quaint , indicating elegant speech and beauty. Middle English dictionaries note quaintrelle as a beautifully dressed woman (or overly dressed), but do not include the favorable personality elements of grace and charm. The notion of a quaintrelle sharing the major philosophical components of refinement with dandies
5875-564: A plan for an elite corps of armored divisions, which Blum voted against under the grounds it would be a "praetorian guard" that would meddle in politics. At the same time, Blum and the other Socialists were voting in unison with the "young Radicals" in the Chamber of Deputies against the deflationary policy of the Laval government, which formed the basis of an alliance. The Popular Front was founded on Bastille Day 1935 with Blum, Édouard Daladier of
6110-698: A policy of neutrality rather than assisting his ideological fellows, the Spanish Left-leaning Republicans. He acted from fear of splitting his domestic alliance with the centrist Radicals, or even precipitating an ideological civil war inside France. His refusal to send arms to Spain strained his alliance with the Communists, who followed Soviet policy and demanded all-out support for the Spanish Republic . The impossible dilemma caused by this issue led Blum to resign in June 1937. All
6345-416: A reviewer with interesting and provocative views about the state of modern French literature. He also contributed poetry to the magazines La Conque and Le Banquet . Blum was greatly influenced by Stendhal whose novels he loved, and he was to become one of the world's leading experts on Stendhal whom he often wrote about. As a young man, he effected the style of an aesthete " dandy " and was an associate of
6580-418: A revolt against capitalism's emphasis on mass production and utilitarianism . Underscoring this somewhat paradoxical nature, philosopher Thorsten Botz-Bornstein describes the dandy as "an anarchist who does not claim anarchy ." He argues that this simultaneous abiding by and also ignorance of capitalist social pressures speaks to what he calls a “playful attitude towards life’s conventions." Not only does
6815-459: A rhetorical stance that made him sound more extreme left-wing than he really was in an attempt to keep Socialist voters from defecting over to the Communists. Blum led the SFIO through the 1920s and 1930s, and was also editor of the party's newspaper, Le Populaire . Blum was always very neatly in his suit together with his pince-nez glasses which made an unlikely leader of a party meant to represent
7050-646: A schedule that favored the German demand to have the Sudetenland "go home to the Reich " as soon as possible. When the Munich Agreement was signed on 30 September 1938, Blum wrote that he felt " soulagement honteux " ("shameful relief") as he wrote that he was happy that France would not be going to war with Germany, but he felt ashamed of an agreement that favored Germany at the expense of Czechoslovakia. On 1 October 1938, Blue wrote in Le Popularie : "There
7285-627: A seat in the cabinet. Blum charged that most of the figures in Domergue's government were associated with either the centre-right such as Herriot or the right such as Louis Barthou , André Tardieu , and Marshal Philippe Pétain , saying he would be powerless in such a cabinet. When the Foreign Minister Louis Barthou issued the Barthou note on 17 April 1934 that accused Hitler of dealing in bad faith for Germany's return to
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7520-461: A self-fashioning that created an illusion of mobility in a highly stratified society . In the early discussion of the tax, the London Packet posed the question, “Is an actor, who in his own private character uniformly appears in a scratch wig, or wears his hair without powder, liable to pay the tax imposed by the new act, for any of the parts which he is necessitated to dress with powder on
7755-637: A series of resolute speeches on French radio where he rejected all of the Italian demands, which won him much popularity in France. From the viewpoint of Blum, being opposed to Daladier at a time when he won himself many accolades as the defender of France's territorial integrity against Italy was politically difficult. At the next session of the Chambre des députés on 9 December 1938, the Popular Front formally came to an end as Daladier chose to base his majority of
7990-442: A sort of marketing or commodification of the self. The counterpart to the dandy is the quaintrelle , a woman whose life is dedicated to the passionate expression of personal charm and style, to enjoying leisurely pastimes, and the dedicated cultivation of the pleasures of life. In the 12th century, cointerrels (male) and cointrelles (female) emerged, based upon coint , a word applied to things skillfully made, later indicating
8225-602: A special pride in the heritage of the French Revolution , which for him marked the beginning of a civic and secular society in which religion did not matter. He wrote that as a Jew he belonged "to a race which owed to the French Revolution human liberty and equality, something that could never be forgotten". Blum first attended the Lycée Charlemagne, but was so successful academically that he
8460-478: A spy for Germany and Japan then logically all the information that he shared with Tukhachevsky must had reached Berlin and Tokyo. Gamelin started that staff talks would only be resumed only once the executions of senior Red Army officers on charges of espionage for Germany and Japan ended, saying at present it was far risky for the French general staff to be engaged in staff talks with the Red Army general staff given
8695-664: A staunch opponent of Vichy France . Tried (but never judged) by the Vichy government on charges of treason, he was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp . After the war, he resumed a transitional leadership role in French politics, helping to bring about the French Fourth Republic , until his death in 1950. Blum was born in 1872 in Paris to a moderately prosperous, middle class, assimilated Jewish family in
8930-513: A steep increase in taxes on income and corporate profits, to borrow on a massive scale on the bond markets, to embark on an inflationary course by printing more francs in the form of credit notes to pay for munitions, and for exchange controls to stop the expected flight of capital. The American Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. sent word to Blum that the Roosevelt administration would not oppose "temporary" exchange controls in France, though
9165-480: A strange race. "Dandizette" was a term applied to the feminine devotees to dress, and their absurdities were fully equal to those of the dandies." In 1819, Charms of Dandyism , in three volumes, was published by Olivia Moreland, Chief of the Female Dandies; most likely one of many pseudonyms used by Thomas Ashe. Olivia Moreland may have existed, as Ashe did write several novels about living persons. Throughout
9400-447: A struggle between militaristic monarchy of Germany vs. the democratic French republic. On 8 April 1917, Blum wrote in an editorial in L'Humanité that: "Our victory will be the emancipation and reconciliation of men through Liberty and Justice". In the same editorial, he praised the call of the U.S. president Woodrow Wilson for "peace without victory", writing that the problem was not the German people, but rather Germany's leaders such as
9635-635: A triumvirate of intellectuals, namely Herriot, Blum and Paul Painlevé , the leader of the Socialist Republicans. Blum supported the Herriot government in forcing the resignation of President Alexandre Millerand , and the government's anti-clerical bills designed to weaken the influence of the Catholic Church over French life. In foreign policy, Blum supported the Herriot government's conciliatory policy towards Germany and he voted for
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9870-659: A war while seeking to strengthen France's alliances and to conclude an alliance with Britain. Following a botched coup d'état on 17 July 1936, a civil war broke out in Spain. Blum initially allowed weapons to be shipped to the Frente Popular government, but the arms shipments to the Spanish Republic caused much opposition from Britain. Charles Corbin , the French ambassador in London, strongly advised Blum to cease
10105-589: A way to pay for rearmament as he told the cabinet "by attempting to oppose fascism's bid for power...one is too often tempted to follow its footsteps". However, Blum was told by the Finance ministry that "Germany is on the verge of an economic and financial catastrophe because of rearmament". Moreover, the Radical Party threatened to pull out of the Popular Front if exchange controls were imposed and both American and British diplomats quietly told Blum that neither
10340-421: A week. Blum persuaded the workers to accept pay raises and go back to work. Wages increased sharply; in two years the national average was up 48 percent. However inflation also rose 46%. The imposition of the 40-hour week proved highly inefficient, as industry had a difficult time adjusting to it. The economic confusion hindered the rearmament effort, and the rapid growth of German armaments alarmed Blum. He launched
10575-514: Is Michel Barnier , who was appointed on 5 September 2024. The prime minister is appointed by the president of France , who is theoretically free to pick anyone for the post. In practice, because the National Assembly has the power to force the resignation of the government by adopting a motion of no confidence , the choice of prime minister must reflect the will of the majority in the National Assembly. In periods of cohabitation ,
10810-523: Is a modern development that returns quaintrelles to their historic roots. Female dandies did overlap with male dandies for a brief period during the early 19th century when dandy had a derisive definition of "fop" or "over-the-top fellow"; the female equivalents were dandyess or dandizette . Charles Dickens, in All the Year Around (1869) comments, "The dandies and dandizettes of 1819–20 must have been
11045-495: Is depicted as a stylish and flamboyant individual from the state of Carolina. The song often highlights Dandy Jim's extravagant clothing, his charm, and his prowess with the ladies. While the song does not explicitly address race, Dandy Jim's stylish and flamboyant persona aligns with aspects of Black dandyism, a cultural phenomenon characterized by sharp dressing, self-assurance, and individuality within Black communities. According to
11280-506: Is heroically consecrated to this one object, the wearing of Clothes wisely and well: so that as others dress to live, he lives to dress. . . . And now, for all this perennial Martyrdom , and Poesy , and even Prophecy , what is it that the Dandy asks in return? Solely, we may say, that you would recognise his existence; would admit him to be a living object; or even failing this, a visual object, or thing that will reflect rays of light. In
11515-405: Is not a woman and a man to refuse MM. Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier their rightful tribute of gratitude. War is avoided. The scourge recedes. Life can become natural again. One can resume one's work and sleep again. One can enjoy the beauty of an autumn sun. How would it be possible for me not to understand this sense of deliverance when I feel it myself?" The Munich Agreement badly split
11750-418: Is not even an excessive delight in clothes and material elegance. For the perfect dandy, these [material] things are no more than the symbol of the aristocratic superiority of mind ." The linkage of clothing and political protest was a particularly English characteristic in 18th-century Britain; the sociologic connotation was that dandyism embodied a reactionary form of protest against social equality and
11985-452: Is stronger than a few months ago. France does not tremble in the face of war, but does not want war". Blum still held hopes that the arms race in Europe could be ended, and feeling that the Treaty of Versailles was excessively harsh, he welcomed Schacht's offer, which seemed to be a sincere proposal to end the arms race. The British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden who visited Paris told Blum he
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#173277673254812220-701: Is the only member of the government able to introduce legislation in Parliament. Under the Third Republic , the French Constitutional Laws of 1875 titled the head of government as the "President of the Council of Ministers" ( French : Président du Conseil des Ministres ), though he was informally called "prime minister" or "premier" outside of France . The president of the council was vested with similar formal powers to those of
12455-673: Is unable to live [life]. Further addressing that vein of male narcissism , in the book Simulacra and Simulation (1981), Jean Baudrillard said that dandyism is "an aesthetic form of nihilism" that is centred upon the Self as the centre of the world. Elizabeth Amann's Dandyism in the Age of Revolution: The Art of the Cut (2015) quotes, "Dandyism has always been a cross-cultural phenomenon". Male self-fashioning carries socio-political implications beyond its superficiality and opulent external. Through
12690-843: The Balfour Declaration promising a "Jewish national home" in Palestine if the Allies won the war. However, Blum saw Zionism as a solution to the problems of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, not of France. Blum always saw himself as a Frenchman and wrote about he had no intention of ever going to Palestine as he was "a French Jew, of a long line of French ancestors, speaking only the language of his country, nurtured predominantly on its culture". In March 1918, Germany launched Operation Michael , an offensive intended to win
12925-564: The Fifth Republic . It was at this point that the post was formally named "Prime Minister" and took its present form. The 1958 Constitution includes several provisions intended to strengthen the prime minister's position, for instance by restricting the legislature's power to censure the government. As a result, a prime minister has only been censured once during the existence of the Fifth Republic, in 1962 when Georges Pompidou
13160-599: The French Communist Party in 1920. In the two years that followed 1918, Blum's reputation as the leader of a "centrist" group who might be able to hold the Socialists together raised his profile immensely. In an editorial in L'Humanité on 19 July 1919, Blum attacked the Treaty of Versailles , which he called "a denial, a betrayal" of the Allied principles held during the war. Blum opposed French intervention in
13395-482: The Hair Powder Act of 1795 , which aimed to levy a tax on from affluent consumers of hair powder to raise money for the war. Critics of the act expressed fear regarding the association between wearing hair powder and "a tendency to produce a famine,” and those who did so would “run the further risque of being knocked on the head”. In August 1975, journalists and new reports complained that "the papers had misled
13630-805: The Marine and the Royal Navy against Italy, but the effort was rebuked by the Admiralty. On 4 December 1936, Blum approved of a three-year naval construction programmne designed to make the Marine the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean. Blum praised Darlan as an admiral who "thinks exactly as I do" about a potential naval threat from Italy. Blum sacked the Naval Commander-in-Chief, the Italianophile Admiral Georges Durand-Viel who had advocated
13865-483: The Prince Regent (George IV) – all despite not being an aristocrat. Always bathed and shaved, always powdered and perfumed, always groomed and immaculately dressed in a dark-blue coat of plain style. Sartorially, the look of Brummell's tailoring was perfectly fitted, clean, and displayed much linen; an elaborately knotted cravat completed the aesthetics of Brummell's suite of clothes . During
14100-565: The Reich was the decision on the part of Belgium to renounce the alliance with France it had signed in 1920 and declare itself neutral again. The Maginot Line covered the Franco-German border and Franco-Luxembourg border, but did not cover the Franco-Belgian border as Belgium was a French ally when construction of the line started in 1930. With Belgium neutral, a way was open for Germany to invade France again as Blum noted that France would respect Belgian neutrality, but Germany would not. The precedent of 1914 when Germany violated Belgian neutrality as
14335-403: The Russian Civil War , but was cautious about calls from the more radical Socialists to affiliate with the Comintern that had been founded in Moscow in 1919. In 1919 he was chosen as chair of the party's executive committee, and was also elected to the National Assembly as a representative of Paris. In the election of November 1919, the center-right coalition bloc national won the majority of
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#173277673254814570-478: The Stresa Front after the sanctions on Italy were ended and as the American historian Barry Sullivan noted "...the French displayed an almost humiliating determination to retain Italy as an ally". Benito Mussolini rejected all of the French overtures and instead aligned Italy with Germany. Sullivan noted: "...Germany, which consistently treated Italy worse than did the other two countries, was rewarded with Mussolini's friendship; France, which generally offered Italy
14805-429: The prime minister of the French Republic ( Premier ministre de la République française ), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers . The prime minister is the holder of the second-highest office in France, after the president of France . The president, who appoints but cannot dismiss the prime minister, can request resignation. The Government of France , including
15040-400: The prime minister of the United Kingdom . In practice, this proved insufficient to command the confidence of France's multi-party parliament. Most notably, the legislature had the power to force the entire cabinet out of office by a vote of censure . As a result, cabinets were often toppled twice a year, and there were long stretches where France was left with only a caretaker government. Under
15275-414: The public sphere . Figures such as playwright Oscar Wilde and poet Lord Byron personified the dual social roles of the dandy: the dandy-as-writer, and the dandy-as- persona ; each role a source of gossip and scandal , confining each man to the realm of entertaining high society . The earliest record of the word dandy dates back to the late 1700s, in Scottish Song . Since the late 18th century,
15510-426: The union sacrée ("sacred union") coalition government formed to resist the German aggression. Blum was exempt from military service because he was near-sighted and 42 years old, but he was described as being full of "ardent patriotism" as he sought to do everything within his power to assist with the war effort. In August 1914 Blum became assistant to the Socialist Minister of Public Works Marcel Sembat . In 1915, when
15745-417: The union sacrée government who had fought against strikes to maximize war production with many Socialists such as Longuet and Faure charging Renaudel and Thomas had failed to achieve concessions to the workers in exchange for no strikes. By late 1918, the more left-wing antiwar group in the Socialist Party was in the ascendency and many of the younger members of the party expressed much admiration for Lenin and
15980-408: The "Truth of Art" included the artist to the work of art. Black dandies have existed since the beginnings of dandyism and have been formative for its aesthetics in many ways. Maria Weilandt in "The Black Dandy and Neo-Victorianism : Re-fashioning a Stereotype " (2021) critiques the history of Western European dandyism as primarily centered around white individuals and the homogenization whiteness as
16215-422: The 1790s revolution periods, especially in London and Paris. Within social settings, the dandy cultivated a persona characterized by extreme posed cynicism , or "intellectual dandyism" as defined by Victorian novelist George Meredith ; whereas Thomas Carlyle , in his novel Sartor Resartus (1831), dismissed the dandy as "a clothes-wearing man"; Honoré de Balzac 's La fille aux yeux d'or (1835) chronicled
16450-419: The Anglo-French plan called for a transfer to occur after 1 October. For a time in September 1938, it appeared that Europe was on brink of a war again. The fact that that issue at stake was only a secondary issue, namely the timetable for transferring the Sudetenland, after the primary issue had been settled struck many as bizarre. When Blum learned on 28 September that an emergency summit would be held in Munich
16685-406: The BEF of the First World War would allow the French to face any challenge from Germany on more even terms. The need for the "continental commitment" allowed Britain to have a sort of veto power over French foreign policy in the interwar period as the French wanted the "continental commitment" very badly, and thus could not afford to alienate the British too much. The other major ally the French wanted
16920-471: The Black dandy is often making a concerted effort to juxtapose himself against racist stereotyping seen in mass media and popular culture [...] For dandies, dress becomes a strategy for negotiating the complexities of Black male identity [...]. "Dandy Jim of Carolina" is a minstrel song that originated in the United States during the 19th century. It tells the story of a character named Dandy Jim, who
17155-635: The Blum cabinet approved Daladier's 14 billion franc plan for rearmament. At the time the franc was overvalued, as it was still based on the gold standard. Blum, however, had promised during the election to uphold the gold standard, in order to reassure voters worried about inflation. In the expectation of the franc being devalued, throughout the prior year, investors had been moving a massive amount of capital and gold out of France. The overvalued franc made French exports expensive while making foreign imports cheaper in comparison with French goods. The sums allocated to
17390-745: The Bolsheviks was too extreme in their beliefs and methods. Therefore, in 1920, he worked to prevent a split between supporters and opponents of the Russian Revolution at the Congress of Tours, but the radicals seceded, taking L'Humanité with them, and formed the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC). Throughout the 1920s, Blum saw the French Communists as his main rivals, and hence often took
17625-505: The Bolsheviks, who had done what the Socialists only merely talked about. By July 1918, the antiwar group had come close to taking control of the Socialist Party executive. In an attempt to hold the Socialist Party together, Blum tried to paper over the chasm between the pro-war socialists vs. the anti-war socialists by writing on 19 August 1918 that the Socialists were "republicans and socialists, socialists and French patriots, French patriots and champions of working-class internationalism". Only
17860-461: The Britain's war efforts against France and discouraged the use of foodstuffs as hair powder, the dandy Brummell already had abandoned wearing a powdered wig and wore his hair cut à la Brutus , in the Roman fashion. Moreover, Brummell also led the sartorial transition from breeches to tailored pantaloons , which eventually evolved into modern trousers . Upon coming of age in 1799, Brummell received
18095-620: The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was non-committal when sounded out. Blum's armament plan was defeated in the Senate on 5 April 1938, leading to him to resign. He was unable to establish a stable ministry; on 10 April 1938, his socialist government fell and he was removed from office. In foreign policy, his government was torn between the traditional anti-militarism of the French Left and
18330-631: The British Westminster system. Blum felt that the system of government under the Troisième République where the premier was more of a chairman of a cumbersome committee than an executive leader was inefficient, and he advocated France adopting a republican version of the Westminster system with a strong executive prime minister. In April 1917, he welcomed the entry of the United States into the war, which he portrayed as
18565-574: The British writer Carlyle, in Sartor Resartus , the French poet Baudelaire said that dandies have "no profession other than elegance … no other [social] status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons. … The dandy must aspire to be sublime without interruption; he must live and sleep before a mirror." Likewise, French intellectuals investigated the sociology of the dandies ( flâneurs ) who strolled Parisian boulevards; in
18800-423: The Chamber helped to bring down Laval's government, something that Laval never forgave him for. The failure of the League of Nations sanctions against Italy marked the beginning of a change in Blum's views about rearmament as he forced to concede that sanctions did not always work, and in face of aggression military force was justified as a means of self-defense. Blum was elected as Deputy for Narbonne in 1929, and
19035-531: The Chamber that would have involved cutting the salaries and pensions of civil servants, which caused much tension with his allies in the Radical Party. In the 1928 election, the conservatives were victorious and Blum lost his seat in Paris to the Communist Jacques Duclos . Blum was returned to the Chamber of Deputies in a by-election in May 1929. In 1929, Blum along with Albert Einstein attended
19270-601: The Constitution, the prime minister "shall direct the actions of the Government". Additionally, Article 20 stipulates that the government "shall determine and conduct the policy of the Nation", and it includes domestic issues, while the president concentrates on formulating directions on national defense and foreign policy while arbitrating the efficient service of all governmental authorities in France. Other members of
19505-586: The Dreyfusard cause, and was greatly hurt when Barrè told him he was an anti-Dreyfusard. Blum described himself as "almost in mourning" when Barrès rejected his appeal, and instead wrote the article "The Protest of the Intellectuals" condemning the "Jewish signers" who championed the cause of Dreyfus. The Dreyfus Affair marked the beginning of Blum's interest in socialism, which promoted internationalism and secularism. Blum became convinced that antisemitism
19740-502: The Emperor Wilhelm II. By 1917, the Socialists had divided into an antiwar group led by Paul Faure and Jean Longuet vs. a "national defense" group led by Albert Thomas and Pierre Renaudel . Thomas and Renaudel represented a moderate, reformist, and definitely French strain of socialism while Faure and Longuet represented a more militant, pacifistic and internationalist strain of socialism that became increasing opposed to
19975-585: The Finance Minister Paul Reynaud supported by Daladier, brought in a series of sweeping laws that undid much of the Popular Front's economic policies, most notably ending the 48 hour work week. Blum joined forces with the Communists in opposing the Daladier government's economic policies, and supported the general strike called by the Communists on 30 November 1938. Daladier called out the French Army to operate essential services and had
20210-575: The First World War broke out, Jaurès was assassinated, and Blum became more active in the Socialist party leadership. Before the war, Blum had supported the plans of Jaurès for a general strike to prevent a war, but in August 1914 he supported the war under the grounds that France was faced with German aggression. Blum in general favored a pacifistic position, but he also believed that France had
20445-579: The Four Year Plan. On 18 December 1936, Blum met Welczeck to tell him that the entire cabinet had approved of the offer, saying this was the best chance to save the peace in Europe. Welczeck was personally in favor of accepting Blum's offer, but the German Foreign Minister, Baron Konstantin von Neurath was opposed and persuaded Hitler to reject the offer. Part of the reason for the French urgency in seeking to improve relations with
20680-681: The Franco-Soviet alliance. On 9 November 1936, Blum told the Soviet ambassador, Vladimir Potemkin , that it was "a step forward" for France and the Soviet Union to begin staff talks. Because Germany's population was three times greater than France's, the French Army had been heavily dependent upon manpower recruited in the Maghreb in the First World War and it was expected to be so again in another war. The need to bring over soldiers from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in turn required control of
20915-426: The Franco-Soviet alliance. When Coulondre presented his credentials as an ambassador for France to Soviet Chairman Mikhail Kalinin , he was told quite bluntly that if the French were really serious about the alliance, staff talks should have been started sometime ago. On 6 November 1936, Blum ordered Daladier and Gamelin to open Franco-Soviet staff talks with the aim of concluding a military convention to give effect to
21150-572: The French Premier Pierre Laval signed an alliance with Stalin in Moscow, and the Comintern ordered the French Communists to support increased defense spending in France, which left Blum in the odd position of criticizing the Communists for wanting more defense spending. Blum voted for the Franco-Soviet alliance under the grounds it was "not to make war, but to prevent it". He took the contradictory line of supporting disarmament as
21385-603: The French Socialist Party followed a similar trajectory to what happened in Russia. Blum wrote he was disgusted by the "intransigent fanaticism" of the Bolsheviks along with their cruelty and their "mystical belief in the sole immediate virtue of revolution in itself, no matter what the conditions, the circumstances, the means employed". However, he charged that Thomas and Renaudel had become too moderate and had diluted their socialism. In November 1917, Blum supported
21620-536: The French alliance system in Eastern Europe was that the French Army would use the demilitarized status of the Rhineland to launch an offensive into western Germany if the Reich should invade any of France's allies in Eastern Europe, namely Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. With the building of the Siegfried Line, it was possible for Germany to invade any of France's Eastern European allies with
21855-446: The French could not afford to antagonize the British for the sake of the Spanish Republic. The need for British support played a major role in causing Blum to cease the arms shipments to Spain and instead have France join the ineffectual Non-Intervention Committee. In July 1936, the League of Nations ended the sanctions imposed on Italy for invading Ethiopia, and therefore, France ended its sanctions on Italy. The French tried hard to revive
22090-406: The French government "was virtually paralyzed by the menace of civil war at home, the German danger abroad, and the weakness of her own defenses." The Republicans by 1938 were losing badly (they gave up in 1939), sending upwards of 500,000 political refugees across the border into France, where they were held in camps. On 13 February 1936, shortly before becoming Prime Minister, Blum was dragged from
22325-492: The French language and culture regardless of religion, ethnicity, and race. Blum himself was not especially religious, but was always very proud to be Jewish and frequently affirmed his Jewish identity when subjected to anti-Semitic insults. Blum was more influenced by the rationalistic and anticlerical ideas of the French Enlightenment than by Judaism. Blum always saw himself as both French and Jewish, and he took
22560-606: The French police use tear gas to evict striking workers at the Renault works. The use of the military to operate essential services while sending out the police to arrest the strike leaders broke the general strike. In a speech, Blum accused Daladier of using repressive methods to crush the French working class and revert France back to the pre-1936 economic system. Complicating matters was the beginning of an acute crisis in Italo-French relations. On 30 November 1938-the same day as
22795-630: The Grand Synagogue of Paris. He was initially convinced of the guilt of Captain Alfred Dreyfus who had been convicted of treason for Germany in 1894, but in the late summer of 1897 Lucien Herr convinced Blum that Dreyfus was innocent and as an intellectual with influence he had the duty to take a stand in favor of Dreyfus. Starting in September 1897, Blum became deeply involved in the Dreyfus Affair, where he resolved to "restore
23030-511: The Great Depression. By this stage, Blum had acquired the unenviable reputation as someone who refused to take the responsibility of power, who acted in a purely negative and irresponsible fashion by bringing down Radical governments without being prepared to propose constructive ideas and solutions. The appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor on 30 January 1933 did not at first change Blum's views about defense spending as he remained resolutely opposed to military spending. Blum had always felt that
23265-661: The Horn of Africa, and keep them well away from France. In December 1936, the French Foreign Minister Yvon Delbos contracted Welczeck with an offer for joint Franco-German mediation to end the Spanish Civil War. Provided that the Spanish Civil War could be ended, Delbos was willing to begin talks on the return of the former German colonies plus agreements to end the arms race and the trade wars in Europe. In exchange, Delbos wanted an end to
23500-632: The League Council (the executive council of the League), the threat of a French veto led to the sanctions that were imposed on Italy being watered down, and oil (which Italy lacked) was never included in the sanctions lists of material forbidden to Italy. Blum was strongly against the Hoare–Laval Pact in December 1935 that essentially rewarded Mussolini for invading Ethiopia, and his speeches in
23735-467: The League of Nations and the end of the trade wars in Europe in exchange for Germany cutting back dramatically its level of military spending. Blum told Schacht that he was willing to return French Togoland (modern Togo) and French Cameroon (modern Cameroon) to Germany as the price of peace, and pursued this line of negotiation with Schacht well into 1937. However, Blum also told Schacht that France would not be bullied as he stated: "We believe our position
23970-468: The New Deal as Blum declared in a speech: "Seeing him [Roosevelt] act, the French democracy has a feeling that an example was traced for it, and it is this example we are following". Bullitt came to be an influential man in France and was known as the "unofficial minister without portfolio" in the French cabinet. Knowing that Bullitt was one of the best friends of Roosevelt, Blum tried hard to use him to get
24205-481: The Popular Front government passed important legislation, including the 40-hour week, 12 paid annual holidays for the workers, collective bargaining on wage claims, and the full nationalisation of the armament and military aviation industries. This latter sweeping action had the unanticipated effect of disrupting the production of armaments at the wrong time, only three years away from the beginning of war in September 1939. Blum also attempted to pass legislation extending
24440-509: The Radicals and Maurice Thorez of the Communists marching from the Place de la Bastille to the Place de la Nation in Paris alongside thousands of their followers carrying tricolores and red flags while singing La Marseillaise . The speeches given that day emphasized that fascism would never be allowed to come to power in France, that what had happened in Italy and Germany would be opposed to
24675-658: The Rhineland remiltarization. Franco-Polish relations had been badly strained ever since the German-Polish non-aggression pact of 1934, but in the aftermath of the Rhineland remiltarization, the Polish Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck expressed the wish for French financial and military aid to modernize the Polish military. Beck's friendship with Hermann Göring led to doubts on Blum's part about his precise loyalty to France, but
24910-529: The Socialists and Communists hold a joint demonstration against Nazi Germany. Blum was weary of the Communist offer, but many of the younger Socialists were not, and Blum found himself being driven forward by younger Socialist activists who held a joint anti-Nazi demonstration on 2 July 1934 with the Communists without seeking Blum's approval. In an editorial in Le Populaire on 10 July 1934, Blum stated he
25145-486: The Socialists and Communists. Daladier, the long-time rival of Herriot, quietly encouraged the "young Radicals", as a way to undermine his leadership. In the spring of 1934, the Comintern changed its policy, and on 31 May 1934 an article appeared in Pravda that was reprinted in "L'Humanité the same day that stated that Communists should work with Socialists against fascists. In June 1934, the Communists suggested to Blum that
25380-482: The Socialists into a pacifistic antiwar group that supported the agreement vs. an antifascist group that was opposed, and Blum struggled to find a compromise that would avoid splitting the Socialists. The debate was also made more difficult as Blum faced accusations that because he was a Jew that he wanted a war with Germany for the sake of German Jews instead of French national interests, which explained Blum's reluctance to be appear to be too anti-German and pro-war. During
25615-454: The Socialists to enter the cabinet in alliance with the Radicals under the grounds that some power was better than none, and who charged that Blum was an ineffectual leader more concerned about keeping his principles pure than with achieving anything. Blum was also opposed to a neo-Socialist group led by Déat and Adrien Marquet who wanted a more nationalistic and authoritarian socialism as both Déat and Marquet charged that democracy had failed in
25850-470: The Treaty of Locarno in 1925. Blum also declared himself a supporter of the League of Nations, and favored establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Blum wanted the Herriot government to bring taxes on capital and a consolidation of Treasury bonds, measures that Herriot was opposed to. On 25 March 1925, Blum wrote to Herriot urging to impose the taxes and "to break with all delays, vain hopes, half hopes, half measures". Herriot's attempt to bring in
26085-495: The Treaty of Versailles was too harsh towards Germany, and the best way to deal with Hitler was to disarm France down to the same level as the Treaty of Versailles had disarmed Germany, which he believed would end any threat from the Third Reich. For a considerable period of time, Blum believed revising the Treaty of Versailles in favor of Germany was the best and most reasonable way of dealing with Hitler. Blum put great hopes in
26320-539: The United States and the United Kingdom was announced. In a show of support for Blum, neither the Americans nor the British increased their tariffs on French goods nor were the dollar and pound devalued in response, which allowed the French to increase their exports now made cheaper by a devalued franc. The devaluation of the franc did not prompt the return of gold and capital to France as Blum had hoped, and Blum
26555-462: The United States more involved in Europe. Blum told Bullitt: "America alone of the great powers was genuinely interested in the same policies he was trying to put through. The British government was working with him wholeheartedly and sincerely in certain fields but because it was a Conservative government it disapproved highly of his domestic policy and the sympathy he received in London was therefore half-hearted". Of France's eastern European allies,
26790-410: The United States nor the United Kingdom would support France if it imposed exchange controls. Blum told the Chamber of Deputies: "The logical inclination of our internal policy would lead us to adopt coercive measures against the export of capital and currency speculation. But that would be to create a contradiction between our policy which seeks a community of action with the great Anglo-Saxon nations and
27025-510: The World Disarmament Conference and stated that France would look after its own security, Blum came out in opposition to the Barthou note, which he accused of a starting a new arms race. Herriot continued to take part in the right-learning coalition governments that followed the riot of 6 February 1934 while being opposed by the left-learing "young Radicals" such as Pierre Cot and Jean Zay who wanted an alliance with
27260-465: The World Disarmament Conference held in Geneva between 1932 and 1934, and tended to cast the French government as the villain with for its warnings that German rearmament would mean another world war. Blum's favored formula was " la paix désarméé " ("peace and disarmament") and "security through arbitration and disarmament". Alongside these beliefs was an intense opposition to "French militarism" as Blum had
27495-433: The analysis of clothing, aesthetics, and societal norms, Amann examines how dandyism emerged as a means of asserting identity, power, and autonomy in the midst of revolutionary change. Male self-fashioning, in particular, was wielded as a resistance expression in denial of itself due to the influence of the French Revolution on British discussions of masculinity. British prime minister William Pitt proposed an unusual measure:
27730-420: The arms race by converting from an "armed peace" into a "disarmed peace". When Schacht approached Blum with an offer to end the arms race in exchange for the return of former German African colonies, Blum took him up on his offer. In August 1936, Schacht visited Paris where he met Blum to discuss a possible deal under which France would return the former German African colonies administered by France as mandates for
27965-431: The arms race with some 21 billion francs for the French military committed in total accelerated this capital flight as bond investors saw the Popular Front's fiscal policies as irresponsible. Maiolo wrote: "Everyone knew the Popular Front could not cut the deficit and fund work creation projects, nationalize the arms industry and buy arms without borrowing. By hoarding their capital abroad, private speculators in effect vetoed
28200-585: The arms shipments to the Spanish Republicans. Corbin warned that the government of Stanley Baldwin was strongly against French arms for the Spanish republic, and that France could not afford a rift with Britain over Spain given the threat posed by Germany. Alexis St. Léger , the secretary-general of the Quai d'Orsay , met Blum to tell him that France needed Britain more than Britain needed France, and
28435-503: The best way to achieve peace while also stating he was opposed to aggression from the fascist states. In 1935 Blum voted against extending compulsory military service from 1 year to 2 years, saying he wanted France "to disarm on its own as much as is necessary in order to encourage an international agreement". The same year, the Democratic Republican politician, Paul Reynaud , and his acolyte, Charles de Gaulle , championed
28670-748: The best way to invade France did not suggest that Germany would respect Belgian neutrality again. Blum ordered the Maginot line to be extended along the Franco-Belgian border, but only little work had been accomplished by 1939 and France was still very much exposed to a German invasion via Belgium. Blum met in secret with the Belgian prime minister Paul van Zeeland to ask him to allow secret Franco-Belgian staff talks to coordinate operations should Germany invade Belgium again but van Zeeland refused. By early 1937, Blum had grown disenchanted with Schacht whom he
28905-470: The broader cultural landscape surrounding Black dandyism and its portrayal in American folk music. Regarding the existence and the political and cultural functions of the dandy in a society, in the essay L'Homme révolté (1951), Albert Camus said that: The dandy creates his own unity by aesthetic means. But it is an aesthetic of negation. To live and die before a mirror : that, according to Baudelaire,
29140-536: The business community panicked and met secretly with Blum, who negotiated a series of reforms, and then gave labour unions the credit for the Matignon Accords . The new laws: The government legislated its promised reforms as rapidly as possible. On 11 June, the Chamber of Deputies voted for the forty-hour workweek, the restoration of civil servants' salaries, and two weeks' paid holidays, by a majority of 528 to 7. The Senate voted in favour of these laws within
29375-464: The chief of the Comintern, in an open letter to "all French Socialists and proletarians" denounced in the most violent terms the leaders of the French Socialists for supporting World War One and demanded "21 conditions" for affiliation with the Comintern. Zinoviev demanded that the French Socialists reorganize along Leninist lines, merge the trade unions into the Socialist Party instead of being merely allied to them, expel all reformist Socialists and accept
29610-412: The circumstances, the president of the council was usually a fairly weak figure whose strength was more dependent on charisma than formal powers. Often, he was little more than primus inter pares , and was more the cabinet's chairman than its leader. After several unsuccessful attempts to strengthen the role in the first half of the twentieth century, a semi-presidential system was introduced under
29845-631: The constituents of the French left supported the Republican government in Madrid, while the right supported the Nationalist insurgents. Blum's cabinet was deeply divided and he decided on a policy of non-intervention , and collaborated with Britain and 25 other countries to formalize an agreement against sending any munitions or volunteer soldiers to Spain. The Air Minister defied the cabinet and secretly sold warplanes to Madrid. Jackson concludes that
30080-514: The continent seeking to emulate his dandyism. Among them was the poetical persona of Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron, 1788–1824), who wore a poet's shirt featuring a lace-collar, a lace-placket, and lace-cuffs in a portrait of himself in Albanian national costume in 1813; Count d'Orsay (Alfred Guillaume Gabriel Grimod d'Orsay, 1801–1852), himself a prominent figure in upper-class social circles and an acquaintance of Lord Byron, likewise embodied
30315-465: The dandy play with traditional conceptions of gender, but also with the socioeconomic norms of the society they inhabit; he agrees the importance that dandyism places on uniquely personal style directly opposes capitalism's call for conformity. Thomas Spence Smith highlights the function of style in maintaining social boundaries and individual status, particularly as traditional social structures have decrystallized in modernity. He notes that "style becomes
30550-480: The derisive British usage populated in colonial North America. Since the 18th century, contemporary British usage has drawn a distinction between a dandy and a fop , with the former characterized by a more restrained and refined wardrobe compared to the flamboyant and ostentatious attire of the latter. Beau Brummell (George Bryan Brummell, 1778–1840) was the model British dandy since his days as an undergraduate at Oriel College, Oxford , and later as an associate of
30785-499: The distinction what is just and unjust". Blum's contorted position of voting for the Munich Agreement, but being opposed to further appeasement was largely an attempt to hold together the Socialists. In the months that followed, Blum became more critical of the "men of Munich". The principle object of his criticism was not Daladier-whom he knew to be a reluctant appeaser-but rather the Foreign Minister, Georges Bonnet . Bonnet
31020-472: The editor. In a 1922 speech, Blum expressed his disagreement with Communism, saying the Bolshevik regime in Russia was not a "dictatorship of the proletariat", but rather a "dictatorship over the proletariat". In the same speech, he called for a socialism that "will improve the condition of women, children, emotional life and family life". Central to his critique of Bolshevism was his criticism that "cruelty"
31255-685: The enemy. We must know whether the Poles are our allies or not". Blum sent Gamelin to Warsaw to ask Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły , another member of the triumvirate that was the leadership of the Sanacja military dictatorship, to dismiss Beck as foreign minister. Rydz-Śmigły insisted that his country was still committed to upholding the Franco-Polish alliance, but refused to sack Beck. In September 1936, Rydz-Śmigły visited Paris for two weeks, and Blum met him several times to request that he sack Beck. Beck
31490-462: The essay " On Dandyism and George Brummell " (1845) Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly analysed the personal and social career of Beau Brummell as a man-about-town who arbitrated what was fashionable and what was unfashionable in polite society. In the late 19th century, dandified bohemianism was characteristic of the artists who were the Symbolist movement in French poetry and literature, wherein
31725-518: The face of Hitler, which Renaudel stated was the most important issue. The same party congress that saw Renaudel expelled also saw the expulsion of Deat and his neo-Socialist faction, which costed the Socialists 28 Deputies and 7 Senators. Blum was greatly shaken by the Stavisky affair in early 1934 along with the riots by royalists and fascists that pushed France to a state that seemed to many to being very close to civil war. The Stavisky affair forced
31960-586: The face of the Depression, and a dictatorship was needed. At Socialist Party congresses in April and July 1933 Blum and Faure accused Renaudel of wanting to "remain in tow" behind the Radicals, and charged that Renaudel had betrayed party principles by calling for increased military spending. At a Socialist Party congress in July 1933, Blum had the neo-Socialist fraction censured for advocating a dictatorship, saying he
32195-481: The face of the Great Depression, most French people did not understand why France was giving the first priority to repaying wealthy Wall Street investors instead of helping the millions left destitute by the Depression. In January 1933, Blum and the Socialists brought down the Radical government of Joseph Paul-Boncour when he proposed cuts to the salaries of civil servants to help deal with the economic crisis caused by
32430-495: The fact that Blum had made an offer to return Togoland and Cameroon to Germany, which was felt to have weaken Britain's case for hanging onto Tanganyika. The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote both the governments of Blum and Chamberlain were serious about returning the former German African colonies in some form by 1937 as he noted there was a consensus that "...the price-as perceived from London and Paris if not from Douala and Lomé-would be worth paying". However, Hitler wanted
32665-505: The fact that Germany was still laying claim to the Polish corridor, Upper Silesia and the Free City of Danzig suggested that the German-Polish rapprochement might be only ephemeral. Blum told Daladier and Gamelin: "We cannot live this way. We are bound by an alliance with a state and a people, yet we have so little confidence in them that we hesitate to deliver them arms, designs, plans-for the fear that they will betray us and deliver them to
32900-522: The figurehead of the movement. It is important to acknowledge Black dandyism as distinct and a highly political effort at challenging stereotypes of race, class, gender, and nationality. British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare (b. 1962) employs the neo-Victorian dandy stereotypes to illustrate the Black man experiences in Western European societies. Shonibare's photographic suite Dorian Gray (2001) refers to Oscar Wilde 's literary creation of
33135-654: The former African colonies "go home to the Reich ". Blum believed that the colonial question was the principal problem in Franco-German relations and that there was a "moderate" faction within the German government led by the Reichsbank president Dr. Hjalmar Schacht who were both willing and able to restrain Adolf Hitler . During the 1936 election, Blum had run on an anti-militarist platform that called for "bread, peace and freedom" while he had promised to end
33370-521: The founding of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, where both Blum and Einstein spoke in favor of Zionism. In October 1929, Édouard Daladier , the leader of the left-wing of the Radical Party invited Blum and the Socialists to join his government, an offer Blum refused under the grounds that it would mean compromising his principles and would drive Socialist voters into the arms of the Communists. At
33605-415: The francs would be better used in social programs to alleviate the Great Depression. In December 1932, Blum and the Socialists broke with Herriot when he insisted on continuing to pay war debts to the United States, and he voted to default on the war debts on 15 December 1932, which thereby brought down Herriot's government. Blum privately admitted that defaulting on the war debts was unwise, but he argued in
33840-592: The frequency that Red Army officers kept being executed for espionage. The decision to suspend the staff talks became a major issue in Franco-Soviet relations, and Jakob Suritz , the new Soviet ambassador in Paris who replaced Potemkin, pressed Blum very strongly to have the staff talks resumed as soon as possible. Likewise, Suritz was furious over the decision to halt the arms shipments to the Spanish Republic and accused Blum of being too concerned about maintaining good Anglo-French relations. The Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936 and deeply divided France. Blum adopted
34075-663: The general strike-a carefully staged "spontaneous" demonstration organized by the Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano took place in the Italian Chamber of Deputies where on cue all of the deputies rose up to shout "Tunis, Corsica, Nice, Savoy!" Benito Mussolini had intended to use what he called "Sudeten methods" on France as the Italian media started a violent anti-French campaign demanding that France cede Corsica, Nice, Savoy and Tunisia to Italy. Daladier responded with
34310-410: The government are appointed by the president "on the recommendation of the prime minister". In practice, the prime minister acts in harmony with the president, except when there is a cohabitation . During cohabitation, according to the Constitutional Council, "the center of gravity of power shifts from the Elysée to Matignon", with the president losing his status as head of the executive. In such cases,
34545-477: The government he was forming, a request that was refused with Blum merely promising that the Socialists would support Herriot's government in the Chamber. Blum feared that entering the cabinet would cause the Socialists to lose votes to the Communists since inevitably the Socialists would have to compromise on some of their principles in office. Despite not entering the cabinet, French newspapers portrayed France as governed by "a republic of professors" that consisted of
34780-455: The government still has support in the house, some bills that might prove too controversial to pass through the normal assembly rules are able to be passed this way. The prime minister may also submit a bill that has not been yet signed into law to the Constitutional Council (article 61). Before dissolving the assembly, the president must consult the prime minister and the presidents of both houses of Parliament (article 12). The prime minister
35015-407: The greater size of the German economy. To even the odds against the Reich , it was the unanimous opinion of all French foreign policy and military experts that France needed allies. The nation that France wanted the most as an ally was Great Britain, which had the world's largest navy and provided that Britain made the "continental commitment" of sending another large expeditionary force to France like
35250-429: The grounds that a rapprochement with Mussolini would be cheaper than a naval arms race, but Blum chose to accept Darlan's counsel that a stronger Mediterranean Fleet was the best way of safeguarding the sea-lanes to Algeria. In a covert operation, the Deuxième Bureau started to smuggle in arms from the colony of French Somaliland (modern Djibouti) to anti-Italian guerrillas in Ethiopia as a way to tie down Italian forces in
35485-430: The guidance of the Comintern in all matters. At the time, the Bolsheviks had tremendous prestige in left-wing circles as the first Communist government in the world and most of the more radical Socialists supported accepting Zinoviev's "21 conditions". Believing that there was no such thing as a "good dictatorship", Blum opposed participation in the Comintern and fought hard against accepting Zinoviev's terms, writing that
35720-406: The highest level of co-operation and true partnership, was rewarded with rebuffs and abuse.". The prospect of an Italian-German alliance threatened to divert French resources from a potential conflict with Germany, and drove the French into seeking closer ties with Britain as a counterbalance. Shortly after his election, Blum together with his entire cabinet visited the German embassy to meet
35955-427: The idle life of Henri de Marsay , a model French dandy whose downfall stemmed from his obsessive Romanticism in the pursuit of love, which led him to yield to sexual passion and murderous jealousy. In the metaphysical phase of dandyism, the poet Charles Baudelaire portrayed the dandy as an existential reproach to the conformity of contemporary middle-class men, cultivating the idea of beauty and aesthetics akin to
36190-455: The innocent man's good name". Blum was in contact with Georges Clemenceau , who served as the lawyer for the newspaper L'Aurore and Fernand Labori , who served as the lawyer for Émile Zola , writing legal briefs for both Clemenceau and Labori. Blum attended the trial in 1898 of Zola for his letter J'Accuse...! published in L'Aurore . Blum tried to recruit Maurice Barrès , whom he called "my guide" and "my teacher" to French literature to
36425-432: The leveling effects of egalitarian principles. Thus, the dandy represented a nostalgic yearning for feudal values and the ideals of the perfect gentleman as well as the autonomous aristocrat – referring to men of self-made person and persona . The social existence of the dandy, paradoxically, required the gaze of spectators, an audience, and readers who consumed their "successfully marketed lives" in
36660-549: The life of adventure must precede the life of marriage, the life of instinct must precede the life of reason” Unsurprisingly he was targeted by the then-powerful Catholic Church in France, in the wake of the turmoil caused by the separation between church and state implemented by Emile Combes in 1905. Far right and royalist politicians and agitators, and most preeminently Charles Maurras , were incensed, and pelted mostly anti-semitic insults and public outrage at Blum, famously dubbing him "le pornographe du Conseil d'état " as Blum
36895-429: The majority of the Wehrmacht being sent east with the remainder of the Wehrmacht staying on the defensive in the Rhineland to halt any French offensive into Germany, a situation that boded ill for the survival of the French alliance system in Eastern Europe. A further complication for the French was the greater population of Germany as France could only field a third of the young men that the Reich could field along with
37130-409: The matchmaker and achieve an Anglo-Soviet rapprochement. Blum's ultimate aim was to recreate "a combination reproducing the Triple Entente before 1914". Blum was later to claim that his "grand design" would have prevented World War Two as he stated in 1947: "The close rapprochement of the Anglo-Saxon and French democracies with Soviet Russia, that is to say, an international Popular Front, would have been
37365-408: The mercantile business. His father Abraham, a merchant, was born in Alsace and moved to Paris in 1848. Blum's mother, Adèle-Marie-Alice Picart was born in Paris, but her family likewise originated in Alsace. Blum's mother observed Orthodox rituals faithfully, but his father was less religious, being only seen in the synagogue on the high holy days. Blum came from a family that very much identified with
37600-427: The mid-1790s, the handsome Beau Brummell became a personable man-about-town in Regency London 's high society , who was famous for being famous and celebrated "based on nothing at all" but personal charm and social connections. During the national politics of the Regency era (1795–1837), by the time that Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger had introduced the Duty on Hair Powder Act (1795) in order to fund
37835-404: The mid-19th century, amidst the restricted palette of muted colors for men's clothing, the English dandy dedicated meticulous attention to the finer details of sartorial refinement (design, cut, and style), including: "The quality of the fine woollen cloth, the slope of a pocket flap or coat revers, exactly the right colour for the gloves, the correct amount of shine on boots and shoes, and so on. It
38070-439: The military, General Maurice Gamelin to submit a four-year plan for military modernization. When Gamelin handed in a plan that was budgeted at 9 billion francs for the French Army, Daladier rejected it as too low and added an extra 5 billion francs. During an "emotional" interview with Blum, Daladier persuaded him to accept the 14 billion franc plan as he warned that Germany was winning the arms race at present. On 7 September 1936,
38305-436: The more left-wing French Socialists from supporting the war in 1914 to opposing it by 1918 was also reflected in Russia. In 1914, most Russian socialists had either declared their support for war or least their neutrality as many socialists could not bring themselves to supporting Emperor Nicholas II; by 1917 the radical views of Lenin who called for Russia's defeat were in the mainstream of Russian socialism. The anti-war group in
38540-497: The music and the step, / And with the girls be handy … ." derided the rustic manner and perceived poverty of colonial American. The lyrics, particularly the reference to "stuck a feather in his hat" and "called it Macoroni ," suggested that adorning fashionable attire (a fine horse and gold-braided clothing) was what set the dandy apart from colonial society. In other cultural contexts, an Anglo–Scottish border ballad dated around 1780 utilized dandy in its Scottish connotation and not
38775-452: The new American ambassador in Paris. Besides being the first American ambassador to France in the last 16 years who actually spoke French, Bullitt was one of the best friends of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with whom he spoke on the telephone once a day. Blum had a very close friendship with Bullitt, a man he greatly liked and admired. Though Blum never met Roosevelt, he admired him and he openly admitted that his social reforms were based on
39010-403: The new German ambassador, Count Johannes von Welczeck , to tell him that France wanted good relations with Germany and that his government intended to return to the "Locarno era" of the 1920s (i.e. friendship with Germany). German propaganda constantly stressed that one of the many alleged "injustices" of the Treaty of Versailles was the loss of Germany's African colonies and demanded that all of
39245-475: The next day to resolve the crisis, he wrote that felt "an immense response of joy and hope". On 29 September, Blum wrote in an editorial in Le Popularie newspaper: " The Munich meeting is an armful of tinder thrown on a sacred flame at the very moment the flame was flickering and threatening to go out". The Munich Agreement that ended the crisis was a compromise as it was affirmed that the Sudetenland would be transferred to Germany but only after 1 October, albeit on
39480-452: The one that Blum considered the most important was the Soviet Union. Blum's past battles with the French Communists made him wary of Soviet Russia, but he noted that the Soviet Union was easily the most powerful of France's eastern European allies. Blum favored what he called his "grand design" under which first Anglo-French relations would be strengthened, to be followed by a strengthening of Franco-Soviet relations, and finally France would play
39715-409: The opposite sides of the ideological divide, starting on 14 April 1938 the Conservative MP Winston Churchill started a correspondence with Blum, sending him a series of letters written in his idiosyncratic French, encouraging him to support rearmament and oppose appeasement. During the Sudetenland crisis of 1938, Daladier accepted the offer of the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to serve as
39950-428: The parties of the right and center. Despite the end of the Popular Front, Blum did not press for a vote of no-confidence or new elections. Blum believed that Daladier would win an election if one was called, and the Socialists did not vote for a Communist motion of no-confidence in the Daladier government. Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (French: Premier ministre français ), officially
40185-461: The peace of Europe, a request that Blum rejected. The Franco-Soviet staff talks came to a sudden end in June 1937 due to the Yezhovshchina ("Yezhov times"). On 12 June 1937, Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky along with two other Marshals of the Soviet Union were shot on charges of treason and espionage for Germany and Japan. Gamelin promptly suspended the staff talks under the grounds that since the Soviet government itself had accused Tukhachevsky of being
40420-425: The policies of the Popular Front". By mid-September 1936 France's gold reserves had fallen close to 50 billion francs, which was the minimum amount considered necessary to fund rearmament. To stabilize the economy and pay for rearmament, Blum engaged in secret talks for Anglo-American financial support. On 26 September 1936, the franc was devalued while on the same day an economic agreement on currency stabilization with
40655-472: The poor and encouraged them to consider powdered heads their enemies," a “calculated to excite riots.” With the new legislation, the powdered look became a marker of class in English society and a much more exclusive one, polarizing those who used the products and those who did not. Those who feared making class boundaries too visible considered the distinctions to be deep and significant and therefore wished to protect them by making them less evident, by allowing
40890-422: The present crisis, an offer that was rejected. Besides for allowing arms to be shipped to Spain, on 15 March 1938 Blum proposed at a cabinet meeting that France intervene in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans. Blum told the cabinet: "Why not send General Franco an ultimatum? If, within twenty-four hours, you do not renounce the assistance of foreign troops France will resume its liberty of action and
41125-429: The president's choice of prime minister must be in accordance with the majority in the National Assembly, a prime minister does not have to ask for a vote of confidence after a government formation, having been legitimized by the president's assignment and approval of the government. Prior to the 1958 Constitution, the government was required to pass a motion of confidence upon entering office. According to article 21 of
41360-456: The prime minister is entitled to preside. Ministers defend the programmes of their ministries to the prime minister, who makes budgetary choices. The extent to which those decisions lie with the prime minister or president often depends upon whether they are of the same political party. If so, the president may serve as both the head of state and de facto head of government, while the prime minister serves as his deputy. The current prime minister
41595-425: The prime minister is only responsible to the parliament. One example of cohabitation includes President François Mitterrand 's appointment of Jacques Chirac as prime minister after the legislative election of 1986 . While Mitterrand's Socialist Party was the largest party in the National Assembly, it did not have an absolute majority. The RPR had an alliance with the Union for French Democracy , which gave them
41830-461: The prime minister traditionally exercises primacy in domestic affairs, while the president limits their action to defense and, to a lesser degree, to foreign affairs. The prime minister can "engage the responsibility" of the government before the National Assembly. This process consists of placing a bill before the assembly, and either the assembly overthrows the government, or the bill is passed automatically (article 49). In addition to ensuring that
42065-407: The prime minister, can be dismissed by the National Assembly . Upon appointment, the prime minister proposes a list of ministers to the president. Decrees and decisions signed by the prime minister, like almost all executive decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system. Some decrees are taken after advice from the Council of State (French: Conseil d'État ), over which
42300-496: The remilitarization of the Rhineland, both King Carol II of Romania and Milan Stojadinović of Yugoslavia rejected the French offer and preferred to move closer to Germany out of the belief that France would do nothing to assist their nations in the event of a German invasion. Even President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia-generally regarded as the Eastern European leader most committed to upholding his country's alliance with France-attempted to improve his relations with Germany after
42535-432: The republic, and as a child he attended the public funeral services of defenders of French republican values such as Léon Gambetta in 1882 and Victor Hugo in 1885. He came to identify with the universalism of French republicanism, which portrayed France as an especially enlightened nation that was leading the rest of the world in the right direction, and where French civilization was open to all who were willing to embrace
42770-413: The resignation of the premier Camille Chautemps on 30 January 1934 and led to Daladier forming another government. Blum saw the riot of 6 February 1934 in the Place de la Concorde when a group of royalists and fascists attempted to storm the National Assembly as an act of insurrection against the republic, and argued that the main danger facing France was fascism. He always saw the riot of 6 February as
43005-480: The responsibility of power as he was accursed of wanting to be the leader of a perpetual opposition party rather compromise his principles, leading Blum to give a speech that he had decided to embrace the responsibility of office to achieve the social change he had long promised. The election of the left-wing government brought a wave of strikes, involving two million workers, and the seizure of many factories. The strikes were spontaneous and unorganised, but nevertheless
43240-420: The return of the former African colonies without the conditions that Blum and Chamberlain wanted such as a drastic reduction in military spending and the end of the Four Year Plan. The Franco-Soviet staff talks stained Anglo-French relations with the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden telling Blum during a visit to Paris in May 1937 that his government was opposed to Franco-Soviet staff talks as dangerous to
43475-424: The right and duty to defend itself against aggression, which he viewed as the case when Germany presented an ultimatum whose terms were designed to be rejected, followed up by an invasion of neutral Belgium as the best way to invade France. Blum did not feel that he was betraying Jaurès's vision as he believed Jaurès would have rallied to the support of the war after Germany invaded France on 2 August 1914. He supported
43710-418: The right to intervene". As Italy and Germany had intervened on the side of the Spanish Nationalists, the majority of the cabinet led by Daladier rejected Blum's course under the grounds that it would mean war with Italy and Germany. Blum drew up a new armament plan in early 1938 that was as he put it "analogous to the Russian Five Year Plans or Göring's Four Year Plan". To finance the armament plan, Blum planned
43945-458: The rights of the Arab population of Algeria , but this was blocked by "colons", colonist representatives in the Chamber and Senate. Blum was briefly Prime Minister again in March and April 1938, long enough to ship heavy artillery and other much needed military equipment to the Spanish Republicans . Blum made a call to the parties of the centre-right to create a "sacred union" government like that which had governed France in World War One to face
44180-452: The salvation of the peace". The Franco-Soviet alliance had been signed in May 1935, but no staff talks had been opened to draft operational plans. By the fall of 1936, the Soviets were openly impatient and pressing for Franco-Soviet staff talks as it was noted that a military alliance without staff talks for a military convention was in effect worthless. Blum appointed Robert Coulondre as the French ambassador in Moscow with orders to strengthen
44415-463: The same name, The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1890), but with the substitution of a disfigured Black protagonist. As the series progress, readers soon notice that there exists no real picture of "Dorian Gray" but only illustrations of other white protagonists. It is through this theme of isolation and Otherness that the Black Dorian Gray becomes Shonibare's comment on the absence of Black representation in Victorian Britain . Shonibare's artwork Diary of
44650-406: The seats in the Chamber of Deputies while the Socialists went from holding 103 seats down to 68. Many of the wartime Socialist leaders such as Renaudel, Faure, and Longuet lost their seats while Blum was elected, giving him a greater prominence. Blum's maiden speech on 30 December 1919 gave him a reputation as one of the finest speakers in the National Assembly. In the fall of 1920, Grigory Zinoviev ,
44885-417: The signing of a monetary agreement aimed at restoring activity and liberty to international trade". As the talks with Schacht faltered, Blum turned towards the alliance with the Soviet Union and France's other eastern European allies. The Blum government attempted to build an institutional bond to link France on a collective basis with the Little Entente alliance of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania. After
45120-480: The social fabric rather than stand out. Dandyism is intricately linked with modern capitalism , embodying both a product of and a critique against it. According to Elisa Glick, the dandy's attention to their appearance and their engagement "consumption and display of luxury goods" can be read as an expression of capitalist commodification . However, interestingly, this meticulous attention to personal appearance can also be seen as an assertion of individuality and thus
45355-411: The spirit of dandyism within elite British society. In chapter "The Dandiacal Body" of the novel Sartor Resartus (Carlyle, 1831), Thomas Carlyle described the dandy's symbolic social function as a man and a persona of refined masculinity: A Dandy is a Clothes-wearing Man, a Man whose trade, office, and existence consists in the wearing of Clothes. Every faculty of his soul, spirit, purse, and person
45590-499: The stage?” This seemingly trivial inquiry unveils a profound aspect of the legislation: By paying the tax, citizens were essentially purchasing the right to craft a persona, akin to an actor who took on a stage role. Exaggerated self-fashioning was no longer an oppositional strategy and instead became the prevailing norm. To protest the tax and the war against France was to embrace a new aesthetic of invisibility, wherein individuals favored natural attire and simplicity in order to blend into
45825-434: The standards of the day, it was ludicrous and hilarious to see a person of perceived lower social standing donning fashionable attire and "putting on airs." For most of racist 19th century America a well dressed African American was an odd thing, and naturally someone of that ilk would be seen as acting out of place. The representation of Dandy Jim, while potentially rooted in caricature or exaggeration, nonetheless contribute to
46060-402: The tax increases that Blum wanted caused the downfall of his government on 11 April 1925, which was defeated in the Senate when a number of Radical senators voted with the conservatives against the tax increases, a blow that the cartel des gauchers never really recovered from. Despite being a member of the cartel des gauchers , Blum had the Socialists vote against a number of government bills in
46295-508: The two other factions, which along with Blum's reputation as a protégé of Jaurès made him into one of the leaders of the Socialist Party by the end of the war. In 1914, almost all Socialists had supported the union sacrée as Blum had done, but as the war continued, many Socialists felt the burden of the war had not been shared equally with the working class making all the sacrifices while the bourgeoise made no such sacrifices. Renaudel and Thomas had discredited themselves by serving as ministers in
46530-405: The upmost in France. During the Ethiopian crisis, Blum supported the League of Nations and he harshly criticised Benito Mussolini for his invasion of Ethiopia launched on 3 October 1935. Blum was very critical of Laval's foreign policy for seeking an alliance with Italy, which led to Laval being opposed to the League of Nations imposing oil sanctions on Italy. As a permanent veto-holding member of
46765-492: The urgency of the rising threat of Nazi Germany . Many historians judge the Popular Front a failure in terms of economics, foreign policy, and long-term stability. "Disappointment and failure," says Jackson, "was the legacy of the Popular Front." There is general agreement that at first it created enormous excitement and expectation on the left, but in the end it failed to live up to its promise. The new government led by Édouard Daladier cooperated with Britain. Despite being on
47000-415: The victory of the Allies with Germany surrendering on 11 November 1918 prevented the Socialist Party from breaking up with Blum attempting to reconcile the two factions after the war. Blum worked hard at rebuilding Socialist Party unity, but the wounds left by the split between the antiwar and prowar Socialists was too deep and visceral, and set the stage for most of the antiwar Socialists breaking off to found
47235-408: The vote on the Munich Agreement in the Chambre des députés on 4 October 1938, Blum voted for the Munich Agreement. During the debate on the Munich Agreement, Blum declared: "This deeply felt and impassioned will for peace cannot lead a people to accept everything; on the contrary, it strengthens the resolve to struggle, to sacrifice itself, in necessary for independence and freedom, it does not abolish
47470-442: The war as it dragged on. Blum became the leader of a "centrist" group in the Socialist Party that supported the war like the "national defense" group, but in many ways were more ideologically closer to the antiwar group. Blum was strongly opposed to Vladimir Lenin who called for the defeat of Russia as the best way to bring about a Communist revolution, and in November 1917 he condemned the Bolshevik coup in Petrograd. The evolution of
47705-494: The war. As the German Army advanced within 50 miles of Paris in the spring of 1918, Blum called for a "Jacobin" defense of Paris with every citizen to be handed a gun. On 19 August 1918, Blum wrote in L'Humanité that the choice "between Wilson and Lenin, between democracy and Bolshevik fanaticism" was a false one as "I chose neither Wilson nor Lenin. I chose Jaurès". In a bitterly divided Socialist Party, Blum's "centrist" faction had an oversized importance despite being outnumbered by
47940-496: The western Mediterranean Sea . The increasing hostile stance of Fascist Italy towards France led to fears in Paris that Italy would ally itself with the Reich and that the Regia Marina would cut France off from the Maghreb. Mussolini's strident speeches in the fall of 1936 denouncing the "Jewish socialist" Blum who headed a "decadent plutodemocracy" did not auger well for the future of Franco-Italian relations. Blum sent Admiral François Darlan to London to seek staff talks between
48175-461: The word dandy has been rumored to be an abbreviated usage of the 17th-century British jack-a-dandy used to described a conceited man. In British North America , prior to American Revolution (1765–1791), a British version of the song " Yankee Doodle " in its first verse: "Yankee Doodle went to town, / Upon a little pony; / He stuck a feather in his hat, / And called it Macoroni … ." and chorus: "Yankee Doodle, keep it up, / Yankee Doodle Dandy, / Mind
48410-428: The working class. However, Blum had loyally supported the war effort in the First World War, but had not held a ministerial rank like Thomas and Renaudel had. Blum won respect for his courage in standing up to Communist heckling and threats of violence at Socialist rallies, and was famed for being able to "work magic with words". On 6 April 1921, Blum launched Le Populaire newspaper to replace L'Humanité with himself as
48645-401: The works of the nationalist writer Maurice Barrès , Blum had shown little interest in politics until the Dreyfus Affair of 1894, which had a traumatic effect on him as it did on many French Jews . Blum first became personally involved in the Affair when he aided the defense case of Émile Zola in 1898 as a jurist, before which he had not demonstrated interest in public affairs. Campaigning as
48880-431: The worldwide economic depression, wages had fallen and the working class demanded reforms. The Popular Front won a sweeping victory in June 1936. The Popular Front won a solid majority with 386 seats out of 608. For the first time, the Socialists won more seats than the Radicals; they formed an effective coalition. As Socialist leader Blum became Prime Minister of France and the first socialist to hold that office, he formed
49115-421: The writer Marcel Proust . Proust did not have much respect for Blum as a writer, whom he dismissed as "mediocre". Blum was usually dressed as a dandy in the salons of Paris, wearing an expensive suit, top hat, gloves and a monocle. His way of dressing led to the young Blum often being denounced as a homosexual, with the poet Charles Maurras calling Blum "the maiden" in one of his poems. Throughout his life, Blum
49350-442: Was "thoroughly astounded" by his talks with Schacht, which he warned that the British government would be opposed under the grounds if France returned the former German colonies in Africa to the Reich it would pressure for Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to return the former German colonies they administered as mandates for the League of Nations. Schacht gave Blum the impression that he held more power in Berlin than
49585-517: Was actually the case, and that the key to preventing another world war lay in the restoration of the German colonial empire in Africa. At the time, Schacht was losing a power struggle over the control of German economic policy to the other Nazi leaders and he was keen for a foreign policy success such as the restoration of Germany's former African colonies that might restore his prestige with Hitler. Blum had good relations with both Welczeck and Schacht whom he viewed as "rational, civilized Europeans" whom it
49820-446: Was always subjected to accusations that he was gay, but it appears that the effeminate style that he fancied in his youth was more of an act of youthful rebellion. Blum described himself as "a vulnerable and fragile being, 'like a girl in a novel', an overtly delicate plant". To rebut the charge that he was too "soft" and a homosexual, Blum sought to prove his "strength" by engaging in duels with rivals. In 1896, Blum married Lise Bloch at
50055-402: Was an image of a well-dressed man who, while taking infinite pains about his appearance, affected indifference to it. This refined dandyism continued to be regarded as an essential strand of male Englishness." In monarchic France, dandyism was ideologically bound to the egalitarian politics of the French Revolution (1789–1799); thus the dandyism of the jeunesse dorée (the Gilded Youth)
50290-430: Was by then a counsellor of this institution. Although Blum's views are nowadays accepted and mostly mainstream in many developed countries, the book remained an object of scandal long after WWI and the shift to the emancipation of women. On 14 October 1912, Blum fought a duel with swords with a rival theater critic Pierre Weber, which ended with Weber surrendering after Blum wounded him. While in his youth an avid reader of
50525-406: Was considered to be a tax on the producer instead of the consumer. Blum dissolved the far-right fascist leagues. In turn, the Popular Front was actively fought by right-wing and far-right movements, which often used antisemitic slurs against Blum and other Jewish ministers. The Cagoule far-right group even staged bombings to disrupt the government. The most important factor in French foreign policy
50760-421: Was for democracy. In October 1933, Daladier who was once again serving as premier, brought in a bill to cut pensions and salaries of civil servants, which Blum had the Socialists voted against, causing the downfall of Daladier's government. The debate about whatever to support Daladier led to Renaudel being expelled as Renaudel had argued for support for Daladier, who had also advocated increased military spending in
50995-440: Was forced to turn towards Britain to ask for a loan to stabilize the franc, which gave the British leverage over his government. Blum's experience in government left him convinced that it was the traders on the bond markets that really dominated the world, not national governments as he constantly faced himself having to adjust his policies to appease the bond markets. Blum seriously considered pursuing autarky and exchange controls as
51230-415: Was known to be the advocate of some sort of Franco-German understanding under which France would recognize Eastern Europe as being in the German sphere of influence and abandon all of France's allies in Eastern Europe. Blum focused his criticism on Bonnet as the main advocate of appeasement in the cabinet. In an attempt to improve productivity in the French armament industry, especially its aviation industry,
51465-412: Was largely the work of the Catholic Church and the upper classes, and socialism in France would end antisemitism forever. Despite all of the passions created by the Dreyfus Affair, in 1899 he wrote he had no fears of "a Saint Bartholomew's Day of the Jews", writing that pogroms were possible "in Poland, Galicia, or Romania or maybe in Algiers, but not in France". Between 1905 and 1907 he wrote Du Mariage
51700-399: Was not dismissed, but Blum signed an agreement for France to provide the money to allow Poland to create an arms industry. In regards to Asia, Blum appointed Émile Naggiar as the French ambassador to China with instructions to provide French aid to assist with the modernization of China as a way to counterbalance the power of Japan. In October 1936, William Christian Bullitt Jr. arrived as
51935-485: Was possible for him to negotiate with. Notably, Hitler refused to see Blum under any conditions and Welczeck was Blum's main conduit with the Reich government. In September 1936, Hitler at the Nuremberg Party Rally launched the Four Year Plan to have the German economy ready for a "total war" by September 1940, which greatly alarmed Blum. In response to the Four Year Plan, Blum launched what the American historian Joseph Maiolo called "the biggest arms program ever attempted by
52170-423: Was preparing for a major war in the near-future. The fact that Germany had an economy three times larger than France's ensured that the Reich had a massive lead in the arms race. However, the French took consolation in the fact that Germany had to import a number of crucial raw materials such as high-grade iron and oil that the Reich lacked, thereby making Germany very vulnerable to a naval blockade. However, there
52405-426: Was re-elected in 1932 and 1936. In 1933, he expelled Marcel Déat , Pierre Renaudel , and other neosocialists from the SFIO. Political circumstances changed in 1934, when the rise of German dictator Adolf Hitler and fascist riots in Paris caused Stalin and the French Communists to change their policy. In 1935 all the parties of left and centre formed the Popular Front . France had not successfully recovered from
52640-427: Was starting to suspect had less power in Germany than what he claimed. On 30 January 1937, Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag where he stated that he wanted the return of Germany's former African colonies without preconditions such as cuts to military spending. On 13 February 1937, Blum told the Chamber of Deputies that his government had imposed a "pause" on social reforms and a 20 billion franc plan for public works
52875-449: Was suspended until further notice to pay for rearmament. Despite the rejection of the offer for a colonial settlement, Blum's continuing talks with Dr. Schacht into 1937 led to concerns within the cabinet of new British prime minister Neville Chamberlain that if France returned Togoland and Cameroon to Germany, Britain would come under pressure to return Tanganyika (modern Tanzania) to Germany. The Chamberlain cabinet expressed concern over
53110-407: Was the Remilitarization of the Rhineland on 7 March 1936 in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles , which had been declared to be a permanent demilitarized zone. With the Rhineland remilitarized, for the first time since 1918 German military forces could menace France directly, and equally importantly the Germans started to build the Siegfried line along the Franco-German border. The assumption behind
53345-401: Was the Soviet Union. However, the lack of a common German-Soviet frontier, the unwillingness of Romania and especially Poland to grant the Red Army transit rights, and the strong British dislike of the alliance that the French signed with the Soviet Union in 1935 all presented problems from the French viewpoint. Blum's foreign policy was one of attempting to improve relations with Germany to avoid
53580-415: Was the caveat that many of the raw materials that Germany lacked could be found in eastern Europe and if Germany were to obtain such raw materials in eastern Europe via alliances or conquests, the German economy would be immune to a blockade. As such from the French viewpoint it was crucial to keep Eastern Europe out of the German sphere of influence. The War Minister, Édouard Daladier asked the commander of
53815-410: Was the dandy's slogan. It is indeed a coherent slogan. The dandy is, by occupation, always in opposition [to society]. He can only exist by defiance … The dandy, therefore, is always compelled to astonish. Singularity is his vocation, excess his way to perfection. Perpetually incomplete, always on the fringe of things, he compels others to create him, while denying their values. He plays at life because he
54050-445: Was the essence of the Communist regime in Soviet Russia, which he contrasted with the "humanism" that he saw as the essence of socialism. In May 1924, Blum had the Socialists join the centre-left cartel des gauchers alliance that won the subsequent elections with the Socialists going from 55 seats to 104 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. On 31 May 1924, Édouard Herriot , the leader of the Radical Socialist Party, asked for Blum to join
54285-566: Was their political statement of aristocratic style in effort to differentiate and distinguish themselves from the working-class sans-culottes , from the poor men who owned no stylish knee-breeches made of silk. In the late 18th century, British and French men abided Beau Brummell's dictates about fashion and etiquette , especially the French bohemians who closely imitated Brummell's habits of dress, manner, and style. In that time of political progress, French dandies were celebrated as social revolutionaries who were self-created men possessed of
54520-443: Was toppled over opposition objections to President Charles de Gaulle 's effort to have the president popularly elected. At the ensuing 1962 French legislative election , de Gaulle's coalition won an increased majority, and Pompidou was reappointed prime minister. Dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance and personal grooming, refined language and leisurely hobbies. A dandy could be
54755-558: Was transferred over to the Lycée Henri VI, the favored school of the elite. Blum entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1890 and excelled there, but he dropped out a year later, entering instead the Faculty of Law. He attended the University of Paris and became both a lawyer and literary critic. Starting in 1892, he became the critic for La Revue Blanche magazine, where he reviewed works by Anatole France , Pierre Louÿs , Jules Renard and André Gide . His reviews made him famous in Parisian intellectual circles, where he became known as
54990-407: Was very influential. As Prime Minister in the left-wing Popular Front government in 1936–1937, he provided a series of major economic and social reforms. Blum declared neutrality in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) to avoid the civil conflict spilling over into France itself. Once out of office in 1938, he denounced the appeasement of Germany. When Germany defeated France in 1940, Blum became
55225-446: Was willing to work with the Communists against fascism, but he would not be a "dupe" of the Communists, whom Blum had a deep distrust of. On 27 July 1934, Blum signed a pact with the Communists for an anti-fascist platform. The pressure for a Popular Front came more from the Communist leader Maurice Thorez who following the new line from the Comintern called in October 1934 for "a Popular Front of work, liberty and peace" while Blum played
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