''Combat'' was a French

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

created during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was founded in 1941 as a clandestine newspaper of the French Resistance.

War years

In August 1944, ''Combat'' took over the headquarters of ''

L'Intransigeant ''L'Intransigeant'' was a French newspaper founded in July 1880 by Victor Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay, Henri Rochefort. Initially representing the left-wing opposition, it moved towards the right during the Georges Ernest Boulanger ...

'' in Paris, and

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

became its

editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

. The newspaper's production run decreased from 185,000 copies in January 1945 to 150,000 in August of the same year: it did not attain the circulation of other established newspapers (the Communist daily ''

L'Humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist." History and profile Pre-World Wa ...

'' was publishing at the time 500,000 copies).

Liberation

Following the liberation, the main participants in the publication included

Albert Ollivier Albert Ollivier (1915-1964) was a French historian, author, journalist, politician and member of the French resistance. He was born on 1 March 1915 in Paris and died there on 18 July 1964. Biography

After studying law and literature in Univ ...

, Jean-Paul de Dadelsen,

Jean Bloch-Michel Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

(1912–1987), and

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(fr). Among leading contributors were

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed by P ...

Emmanuel Mounier Emmanuel Mounier (; ; 1 April 1905 – 22 March 1950) was a French philosopher, theologian, teacher and essayist. Biography Mounier was the guiding spirit in the French personalist movement, and founder and director of '' Esprit'', the magazine ...

Raymond Aron Raymond Claude Ferdinand Aron (; 14 March 1905 – 17 October 1983) was a French philosopher, sociologist, political scientist, historian and journalist, one of France's most prominent thinkers of the 20th century. Aron is best known for his 19 ...

and Pierre Herbart. From 1943 to 1947, its editor-in-chief was

.J. Levi-Valensi (ed), ''Camus at Combat'' Princeton University Press, 2006 Its production was directed by

André Bollier André Bollier (May 30, 1920 – June 17, 1944) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II. Bollier was born in Paris and enrolled in the École Polytechnique in 1938. He was called up for military service after his first year of s ...

until

Milice The ''Milice française'' (French Militia), generally called ''la Milice'' (literally ''the militia'') (), was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy France, Vichy regime (with Nazi Germany, German aid) t ...

repression led to his death.

Post-war

During 1946, ''Combat'' was opposed to the "game of the parties" claiming to rebuild France, and thus became closer to

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

without, however, becoming the official voice of his movement. Loyal to its origins, ''Combat'' tried to become the place of expression for those who believed in creating a popular non-Communist

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

movement in France. In July 1948 (more than a year after the May 1947 crisis and the expulsion of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

(ministers) from the government),

Victor Fay The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

(de), a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

activist, took over ''Combat''s direction, but he failed to stop the newspaper's evolution towards more popular subjects and less political information. In 1950, it hosted a debate about the

Notre-Dame Affair The Notre-Dame Affair was an action performed by , , Ghislain Desnoyers de Marbaix, and Jean Rullier, members of the radical wing of the Lettrist movement, on Easter Sunday, 9 April 1950, at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, while the mass was aired l ...

stimulated by a vehement letter by

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

in response to the editor

Louis Pauwels Louis Pauwels (; 2 August 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a French journalist and writer. Born in Paris, France, he wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 (including ''Esprit'' and ''Variété'') until the 1950s. He partic ...

.Myriam Boucharenc (2005
''L'universel reportage''
pp. 94-6

Philippe Tesson Philippe Tesson (1 March 1928 – 1 February 2023) was a French journalist and television columnist who primarily focused on theatre. In 1974, he founded the newspaper ''Le Quotidien de Paris'', of which he was the owner and director of publicati ...

(fr) became editor in chief from 1960 to 1974. Henri Smadja (fr) had thought Tesson could be a perfect puppet-editor but Smadja's situation, in part because of the

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

n regime, got worse. In March 1974, Philippe Tesson created ''

Le Quotidien de Paris ''Le Quotidien de Paris'' was a French newspaper founded in 1974 by . Along with ' and ', ''Le Quotidien de Paris'' made up the (Daily Press Group) which employed over 550 individuals," Philippe Tesson : « Mes trois critères d'appréciation » " ...

'' (1974–1996), which he had conceived as the successor of ''Combat''.

May 1968

During the May 1968 crisis, ''Combat'' supported the student movement although from a

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

point of view, through the signatures of the likes of Jacques-Arnaud Penent (fr). On 3 June, it published a falsified version of the ''Address to All Workers'' by the

Council for Maintaining the Occupations The Council for Maintaining the Occupations (french: Conseil pour le Maintien des Occupations), or CMDO, was a revolutionary committee formed during the May 1968 events in France originating in the Sorbonne.René Viénet (1968) The "Council for Mai ...

, removing the references to the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

and the attacks against the Stalinists.

Dissolution

Henri Smadja died by suicide on 14 July 1974, and ''Combat'' definitively ceased to be published the following month.

References

External links

''Combat''
issues (1941–1944 only) online in Gallica, the digital library of the BnF
Albert Camus' editorial
on 8 August 1945 concerning the

Hiroshima bombing The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the on ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Combat (Newspaper) 1974 disestablishments in France Publications disestablished in 1974 Defunct newspapers published in France French resistance publications Contemporary French history Underground press in World War II Daily newspapers published in France