The National Council of the Resistance (also, National Resistance Council; in French: ''Conseil National de la Résistance'' (CNR), was the body that directed and coordinated the different movements of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

: the press, trade unions and members of political parties hostile to the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

, starting from mid-1943.

Background

Various

resistance movements A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

had arisen in France since the start of the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

in June 1940. With the possible exception of the '' Francs-Tireurs et Partisans'' and other groups loyal to the Communist Party of France, the ''

maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The netwo ...

'' groups were mostly unorganised and unrelated to one another. This lack of coordination made them less effective in their actions against the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupiers.

Formation and Meeting of Resistance Fighters

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 Governm ...

, exiled in London and recognized by the UK as

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...

of a French

government in exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile ...

, began seeking the formation of a committee to unify the resistance movements. On January 1, 1942, he delegated this task to

Jean Moulin Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and French Resistance, resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less ...

. Moulin achieved the feat on May 27, 1943 with the first meeting of the Conseil National de la Résistance in the apartment of René Corbin on the second floor of 48, Rue du Four, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Aside from Moulin and his two assistants, {{{ill, Pierre Meunier, fr, v=sup and {{ill, Robert Chambeiron, fr, participants in the first meeting included representatives of the eight main French resistance movements, members of six of France's major political parties and the two large pre-war trade unions all attended the Rue du Four meeting. Representatives of the eight major resistance movements: * Pierre Villon (''

Front National The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: * ...

'') *{{ill, Roger Coquoin, fr ('' Ceux de la Libération'') *{{ill, Jacques Lecompte-Boinet, fr (''

Ceux de la Résistance ''Ceux de la Résistance'' ("Those of the Resistance") (CDLR) was a French resistance movement during the German occupation of France in World War II. At first, the members of CDLR distributed copies of the underground newspaper Combat Comb ...

'') * Charles Laurent ('' Libération-Nord'') *{{ill, Pascal Copeau, fr ('' Libération-Sud'') * Jacques-Henri Simon ('' Organisation Civile et Militaire'') * Claude Bourdet (''

Combat Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

'') *

Eugène Claudius-Petit Eugène Claudius-Petit was a French politician. He participated in many governments under the Fourth Republic and was a proponent of Firminy Vert. He later added his pseudonym from the Resistance, "Claudius", to his name. Early life and care ...

('' Franc-Tireur'') Under Jean Moulin's earlier influence, Combat, Franc-Tireur and Libération-Sud had already agreed to regroup themselves in January 1943 to create the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance, with their joint military arms forming the Armée secrète (Secret Army). Representatives of the two trade unions which had been outlawed with the creation of the Labour Charter of the 4th of October: *

Louis Saillant Louis André Saillant (27 November 1910 – 28 October 1974) was a French trade unionist and resistance fighter. Born in Valance, Saillant worked as a cabinet maker. He became active in the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), becoming se ...

(''

Confédération générale du travail The General Confederation of Labour (french: Confédération Générale du Travail, CGT) is a national trade union center, founded in 1895 in the city of Limoges. It is the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions. It is ...

'') *

Gaston Tessier Aimé Auguste Tessier, known as Gaston Tessier (15 June 1887 – 8 August 1960) was a French trade unionist and Resistance member. Born in Paris, Tessier attended a Christian Brothers' school. In 1905, he joined the Trade and Industry Employ ...

(''

Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens The French Confederation of Christian Workers (french: italic=no, Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens; CFTC) is one of the five major French confederation of trade unions, belonging to the social Christian tradition. It wa ...

'') Representatives of the six main political parties of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

: * André Mercier ('' PCF'') *

André Le Troquer André Le Troquer (27 October 1884, in Paris – 11 November 1963) was a French politician and socialist lawyer. He served as president of the National Assembly from 12 January 1954 to 10 January 1955, and a second time from 24 January 1956 to ...

('' Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière'') *

Marc Rucart Marc Émile Rucart (24 July 1893 – 23 January 1964) was a French journalist and Radical politician who was a deputy from 1928 to 1942. He alternated between the posts of Minister of Justice and Minister of Health from 1936 to 1940. Although he ...

('' Radical-Socialists'') *

Georges Bidault Georges-Augustin Bidault (; 5 October 189927 January 1983) was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions. He joined the ...

('' Parti démocrate populaire'') * Joseph Laniel ('' l'Alliance Démocratique'') *{{ill, Jacques Debu-Bridel, fr ('' Fédération républicaine'')

Arrest of Jean Moulin

However, shortly after the CNR's creation, its president Jean Moulin was arrested at Caluire by the SS. Over the next three days, Moulin was tortured by

Klaus Barbie Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primar ...

himself, and would die during his transfer to Germany. He divulged no information to his torturers and his silence was likely to have allowed the CNR to pursue its activities. After Moulin's capture and death, the ''Conseil National de la Résistance'' decided for security reasons to end its plenary sessions and created an executive office of five members, with each member representing his own group and two others. The new office was under the direction of Alexandre Parodi, delegate-general, and

, the new president. On September 9, 1944,

succeeded Bidault as head of the CNR.

Programme

On March 15, 1944, the CNR adopted, after months of negotiations, the Programme of the Conseil National de la Résistance.{{in lang, fr :fr:Programme of the Conseil National de la Résistance The document was strongly influenced by communist groups like the ''

'', especially in part II, "Measures to be taken immediately after the liberation of the territory", which envisioned the establishment of a

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

with a

planned economy 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, ...

in France after liberation. Some of the proposed measures were applied, at least to a certain extent, after

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

, including the

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

of energy (

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

was founded in 1946), insurance companies ( AGF in 1945) and banks (

Crédit Lyonnais The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cent ...

in 1945,

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English as SocGen (), is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense. Société Générale ...

in 1946), the creation of

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

programs and the independence of trade unions. They are many of the so-called '' acquis sociaux'' (social rights) of the second half of the 20th century in France.

References

{{Reflist * The text of this article was translated fro
this version
of the French-language Wikipedia article " Conseil National de la Résistance".

External links

List of members of the ''Conseil National de la Résistance''
from the archival web site of former French Prime Minister Alain Juppé,
Description of the ''Conseil National de la Résistance''
from the ''Musée de la Résistance Nationale'',
''Programme du Conseil National de la Résistance''
from

Wikisource Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually re ...

,
''France Républicaine'' - ''Conseil National de la Résistance''

Article in the magazine ''l'Humanité''

''Le Programme du Conseil National de la Résistance''
{{French Resistance {{Liberation of France {{Authority control Charles de Gaulle French Resistance networks and movements Military history of France World War II non-governmental organizations