The Groupe X-Crise (or ''X-Crise'') was a French

technocratic Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-maker or makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. This system explicitly contrasts wi ...

movement created in 1931 as a consequence of the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash and the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Formed by former students of the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(nicknamed "X"), it advocated ''

planisme A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, pa ...

'', or economic planning, as opposed to the then dominant ideology of

classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture. Definition Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...

which they held to have failed. Their ideas would not be put into practice until the Vichy era, when many technocrats seized the opportunity to reconstruct France. However, many members of the group joined the Resistance and opposed the Vichy regime, ultimately participating in the post-war administration.

Members

''X-Crise'' was founded by Gérard Bardet and André Loizillon, and its members included

Raymond Abellio Georges Soulès (11 November 1907 – 26 August 1986), known by his pen name Raymond Abellio, was a French writer. Life Abellio went to the École Polytechnique and then took part in the X-Crise Group. He advocated far-left ideas, but like many o ...

Louis Vallon Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

Jean Coutrot Jean Coutrot (27 March 1895 – 19 May 1941) was a French engineer. He was one of the pioneers of the X-Crise group. In 1936, he founded with Center for Studies of Human Problems with Aldous Huxley and Alexis Carrel. In June 1941, Coutrot's nam ...

Jules Moch Jules Salvador Moch (15 March 1893, in Paris – 1 August 1985, in Cabris, Alpes-Maritimes) was a French politician. Biography Moch was born into a renowned French Jewish military family, the son of Captain Gaston Moch and Rébecca Alice Po ...

and

Alfred Sauvy Alfred Sauvy (31 October 1898 – 30 October 1990) was a demographer, anthropologist and historian of the French economy. Sauvy coined the term Third World ("Tiers Monde") in reference to countries that were unaligned with either the Communis ...

, who as head of the INED demographic institute after World War II coined the term "

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

Bibliography

* Richard F. Kuisel (Spring 1970)
"The Legend of the Vichy Synarchy."
''

French Historical Studies ''French Historical Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering French history. It publishes articles in English and French. The journal is published by Duke University Press on behalf of the Society for French Historical Stu ...

'', vol. 6, no. 3. pp. 365–398. . * X-Crise (Centre polytechnicien d'études économiques), ''De la récurrence des crises économiques. Son cinquantenaire (1931-1981)''.

Economica ''Economica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of generalist economics published on behalf of the London School of Economics by Wiley-Blackwell. Established in 1921, it is currently edited by Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besley, Francesco ...

(1982). Contemporary French history French Third Republic {{france-org-stub