Description
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction. Léon Blum and François Mitterrand: Two Socialist Experiences vii
From the Years of Preparation to the Years of Leadership
1. The Early Years, 1872-1914 3
2. "To Guard the Old House": War Socialism and Party Schism, 1914-1920 36
3. Party Leader: Theory and Tactics, 1921-1933 55
4. The Formation of the Popular Front: From the "Sixth of February" to the Elections of 1936 92
The Years of Responsibility
5. The "Great Fear" of June 1936 129
6. The "Exercise of Power": The Blum Experiment 160
7. The Quest for Peace: Foreign Affairs and National Defense 198
8. Drama of Conscience: The Non-Intervention Policy and the Spanish Civil War 234
9. End of the "Exercise of Power," June 1937 270
10. Decline of the Popular Front, June 1937-April 1938: Vice-Premier, "National Unity," Second Government 286
The Years of Anguish
11. Plowshares into Swords: Munich and War, April 1938-march 1940 311
12. Witness to Collapse: Paris and Bordeaux, May-June 1940 342
13. Vichy, July 1940 368
14. The Prisoner, 1940-1942 385
15. Witness for the Republic: The Riom Trial, 1942 405
16. Bourassol, Buchenwald, Liberation, 1943-1945 428
Epilogue. The Return
17. The Last Years, 1945-1950: Humanist Socialism, the Fourth Republic 447
18. End of the Apostolate 474
Appendix 1. Glossary 485
Appendix 2. Heads of the French Cabinet during Blum's Political Career, 1914-1950 488
Appendix 3. A Note on the Political Parties and Elections in the Third Republic 491
Bibliography 495
Supplementary Bibliography 513
Index 524
