(, ''Peace and Liberty'') was an

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

movement that operated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during the 1950s.

Founding

In response to the Stockholm Appeal for

nuclear disarmament Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons. Its end state can also be a nuclear-weapons-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated. The term ''denuclearization'' is also used to describe the pro ...

, Jean-Paul David, then Radical Socialist Party deputy mayor of

Mantes-la-Jolie Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, f ...

and later Secretary General of the

Rally of Republican Lefts The Rally of Republican Lefts (, RGR) was an electoral alliance during the French Fourth Republic which contested elections from June 1946 to the 1956 French legislative election. It was composed of the Radical Party, the Independent Radicals, ...

, created in 1950, to counter the activities of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

. Its propaganda efforts received substantial financial backing from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.René Sommer, "Paix et Liberté : la Quatrième République contre le PC", L'Histoire, n° 40. was one of the organizations of the "anti-Communist apparatus" booming during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The organization had the support of prime minister

René Pleven René Jean Pleven (; 15 April 190113 January 1993) was a notable political figure of the French Resistance and Fourth Republic. An early associate of Jean Monnet then member of the Free French led by Charles de Gaulle, he took a leading role i ...

and many other politicians of the time. But the experiment stopped in 1955 because of a thaw in international relations.

Propaganda

Paix et Liberté published, distributed and posted hundreds of thousands of posters in France in the 1950s. These posters were reproduced in the form of vignettes, attacking the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

communist ideology Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

, but also the

and its leaders, such as

Maurice Thorez Maurice Thorez (; 28 April 1900 – 11 July 1964) was a French politician and longtime leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1930 until his death. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister of France from 1946 to 1947. Pre-war Thorez, ...

and Jacques Duclos, accusing them of being agents of the USSR. Jean-Paul David also used the radio with his show ''Les causeries au coin du feu'' (fireside chats), which lasted only a few minutes, inaugurated on September 22, 1950.

Posters

"The dove that goes BOOM" (1950, 300,000 copies) was the first in a series of posters (on average 3 per month were released between 1950 and 1955). It parodied

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

's Dove of Peace, that

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

had chosen to symbolize the congress of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization created in 1949 by the Cominform and propped up by the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, WPC engaged in propaganda efforts on behalf of the Soviet Union, whereby it criticize ...

, held in Paris in April 1949. In this picture, the dove was shown metamorphosing into a Soviet

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

: its wings have become tank treads and its head a tank turret. This picture was later used at the end of the 1951 US Army anti-communist propaganda film '' The Big Lie''. In reference to the Stockholm Appeal (''L'appel de Stockholm'' in French), a poster was produced of ''La pelle de Stockholm'' ("The shovel of Stockholm"), digging the grave of the countries in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

References

External links

Paix et Liberté - Graphical Posters

Paix et Liberté Collection at Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paix et Liberte French Fourth Republic Organizations established in 1950 Anti-communist organizations 1950 establishments in France Anti-communism in France Anti-communist propaganda France–United States relations