Printed below are selections from Leon Trotsky on France, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for October. It is a compilation of Trotsky’s writings during the working-class revolutionary upsurge of the mid-1930s in France.

In these writings Trotsky responds to the rise of fascism in Germany and the deepening revolutionary crisis in France, outlining the course the working class in that country must take to defeat the fascist threat and conquer power from the exploiting classes.

Drawing on the experiences of the October 1917 Russian Revolution that arose out of World War I, Trotsky analyzes the "People’s Front" policy of the French Communist Party, which--at a time when millions of workers and ruined middle-class layers were seeking a radical solution to the sharpening crisis of capitalism--called for political support to the Radicals, a left bourgeois party, in place of independent working-class political action.

The refusal of the French Communist Party, which by 1934 had 50,000 members, to present a clear revolutionary alternative to the capitalist crisis opened up the door for the radical-sounding alternative offered by the fascists to gain ground.

In the first selection printed below, Trotsky explains the social base of fascism and how the capitalists use such a reactionary movement to smash the working class, destroy its institutions, and thereby defend their rule at a time of acute crisis. The second selection takes up how the labor movement must form militias and arm the workers, in the face of the rising danger of fascism. Copyright © 1979 by Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permission. Subheadings are by the Militant.
 

The French people for a long time thought that fascism had nothing whatever to do with them. They had a republic in which all questions were dealt with by the sovereign people through the exercise of universal suffrage. But on February 6, 1934, several thousand fascists and royalists--armed with revolvers, clubs, and razors--imposed upon the country the reactionary government of Doumergue, under whose protection the fascist bands continue to grow and arm themselves. What does tomorrow hold?

Of course in France, as in certain other European countries (England, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries), there still exist parliaments, elections, democratic liberties, or their remnants. But in all these countries the class struggle is sharpening, just as it did previously in Italy and Germany. Whoever consoles himself with the phrase "France is not Germany" is hopeless. In all countries the same historical laws operate, the laws of capitalist decline. If the means of production remain in the hands of a small number of capitalists, there is no way out for society. It is condemned to go from crisis to crisis, from need to misery, from bad to worse. In the various countries the decrepitude and disintegration of capitalism are expressed in diverse forms and at unequal rhythms. But the basic features of the process are the same everywhere. The bourgeoisie is leading its society to complete bankruptcy. It is capable of assuring the people neither bread nor peace. This is precisely why it cannot any longer tolerate the democratic order. It is forced to smash the workers by the use of physical violence. The discontent of the workers and peasants, however, cannot be brought to an end by the police alone. Moreover, it is often impossible to make the army march against the people. It begins by disintegrating and ends with the passage of a large section of the soldiers over to the people’s side. That is why finance capital is obliged to create special armed bands trained to fight the workers, just as certain breeds of dogs are trained to hunt game. The historic function of fascism is to smash the working class, destroy its organizations, and stifle political liberties when the capitalists find themselves unable to govern and dominate with the help of democratic machinery.

The fascists find their human material mainly in the petty bourgeoisie. The latter has been entirely ruined by big capital. There is no way out for it in the present social order, but it knows of no other. Its dissatisfaction, indignation, and despair are diverted by the fascists away from big capital and against the workers. It may be said that fascism is the act of placing the petty bourgeoisie at the disposal of its most bitter enemies. In this way big capital ruins the middle classes and then with the help of hired fascist demagogues incites the despairing petty bourgeois against the worker. The bourgeois regime can be preserved only by such murderous means as these. For how long? Until it is overthrown by proletarian revolution.  
 
Defense of working class
But how to disarm the fascists? Naturally, it is impossible to do so with newspaper articles alone. Fighting squads must be created. An intelligence service must be established. Thousands of informers and friendly helpers will volunteer from all sides when they realize that the business has been seriously undertaken by us. It requires a will to proletarian action. But the arms of the fascists are of course not the only source. In France there are more than one million organized workers. Generally speaking, this number is small. But it is entirely sufficient to make a beginning in the organization of a workers’ militia. If the parties and unions armed only a tenth of their members, that would already be a force of 100,000 men. There is no doubt whatever that the number of volunteers who would come forward on the morrow of a "united front" appeal for a workers’ militia would far exceed that number. The contributions of the parties and unions, collections and voluntary subscriptions, would within a month or two make it possible to assure the arming of 100,000 to 200,000 working class fighters. The fascist rabble would immediately sink its tail between its legs. The whole perspective of development would become incomparably more favorable.  
 
 
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