Duncan Bowie on the French left
Beyond the Tricolour by Ian Birchall Published by Haymarket
This is Ian Birchall’s magnum opus: a study of the French left from the late 19th century to the 1960’s. Birchall’s focus is on the inter-relationship between nationalism and internationalism within the French left. This could have been a very dry book, full of analysis of the different theoretical positions of different elements of the French left. Far from it. Birchall has combined a chronological study with a clear analysis of the role of the various socialist parties, the communist party, the syndicalists, and various other leftist groupings in a series of political contexts. He draws on a very wide range of French primary sources, not generally available in English, and handles complex issues in a very clear manner.
The book opens with an examination of the French republican tradition and the French tradition of “laicite”, which he sees as central to the development of French political life – liberty of conscience, state neutrality between religions and religious pluralism. With the Socialist Party and Communist Party committed to both “laicite” and French nationalist republicanism, it is perhaps not surprising that much of Birchall’s focus is on internationalist dissidents within these parties but also on those in the relatively small groupings outside these parties.
Birchall does not seek to cover up the more difficult political tendencies within the left – the Communist and Labour parties’ complicity in the suppression of anti-militarists, both in the context of the First World War (and postwar mutinies) and the anti-colonial struggles in Algeria and Indochina. He also recognises that some socialists, communists and leading syndicalists supported collaboration during the German occupation, with some becoming active fascists, although he rightly rejects the notion of equivalence between the far left and the far right.
He examines the political histories and trajectories of a multitude of forgotten activists – in fact, the study has relatively little on party leaders such as Thorez or Blum, Mendes-France and Mitterand. The study also focuses on action rather than theory, which is a pleasant change from the writing of many previous studies of French socialism. This is perhaps what makes the book most interesting and more readable than most contemporary works. So congratulations to Birchall, to Brill (least of all for actually providing a hard copy to a reviewer – many academic publishers will only provide digital copies of new academic texts) and especially to Haymarket on getting a cheaper paperback edition out so quickly. The book is highly recommended – and not just for the specialist reader.