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:''This article is about the WWII French resistance movement. For the French far-right wing political party, see Front National.''
The 'National Front' (French: ''Front national'' or ''Front national de l'indépendance de la France'') was a World War II French Resistance movement, created in 1941 by Jacques Duclos and Pierre Villon, both members of the French Communist Party (PCF). Its name was inspired by the Popular Front left-wing coalition which governed France from 1936 to 1938.

Contents

The political front of the FTP

1961 Paris massacre

1998-1999 juridical ownership of the name "Front National"

References

See also

The political front of the FTP

Led by Pierre Villon, it then extended itself to Catholics and other religious Resistants. Pierre Villon thus stated: "The FN is the only movement where we find reconciliated the parish priest (''curé'') and the teacher, the Parti Social Français and the Communist, as the Radical and the Socialist." ^[1] Various specialized professional organizations were created under its authority (the workers' Front National, the peasants' Front National, , the lawyers' Front National, the doctors' Front National, the women' Front National, etc.). After the 22 June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, ''L'Humanité'' titled on July 2 and July 7: "Unite yourself, refuse to serve under fascism!" At that time, the FTP armed wing already was active since 1941, but the Resistance quickly expanded itself in 1942-1943, French population's moral getting higher with the difficulties faced by the Wehrmacht, in particular during the 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad. The September 4, 1942 Act on the STO, enacted by Pierre Laval and which proposed to exchange one prisoner of war against three Frenchmen going to work in Nazi Germany, also was an important cause of the Resistance's increase in numbers, many young male adults taking out for the Maquis.
The FN was destined to be the "political representative" of armed wings Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP) resistant movement. It engaged itself mainly in propaganda, editing several reviews, fabrication of false identity documents, logistical support to clandestine organisations and people, and sabotage. It was a member of the Conseil national de la Résistance (CNR), which federated under Jean Moulin's authority various French interior Resistant movements from the middle of 1943.
At the Liberation, after the deportation and death of much of the members of the clandestine direction, the FN resistant movement counted as members such figures as Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Pierre Villon, Henri Wallon, Laurent Casanova, François Mauriac and Louis Aragon.

1961 Paris massacre

A few days after the 1961 Paris massacre, carried out during the Algerian War (1954-62), some anonymous policemen published a text called ''A group of republican policemen declare...'' (''Un groupe de policiers républicains déclarent...'') on October 31, stating:

"What happened on October 17, 1961 and in the following days against the pacific demonstrators, on which no weapons were found, morally forces us to bring our testimony and to alert public opinion... All guilty people must be punished. The punition must be extended to all of the responsibles, those who give orders, those who feign of letting it happen, whatever their high office may be... Among the thousands of Algerians brought to the Parc des Expositions of the Porte de Versailles, tens have been killed struck by pistol grips, pick grips... In one of the extremity of the Neuilly bridge, groups of policemen on one side, CRS on the other, slowly operated their junction. All the Algerians captured in this huge trap were knocked out and systematically thrown in the Seine. A good hundred people were subjected to this treatment... [In the Parisian police headquarters], torturers sent their victims by tens in the Seine which flows at only a few meters from the courtyard, in order to subtract them to the forensics scientists. Not before having taken their watches and money. Mr. Papon, prefect of the police, and Mr. Legay, general director of the municipal police, assisted to these horrible scenes... These indisputable facts are only a small part of what has happened in these last days and what continues to happen. They are known by the municipal police. The exactions committed by the harkis, the special district brigades, the ''brigade des aggressions et violences'' are not any more secrets. The few information brought by the newspapers are nothing compared to the truth... We do not sign this text and sincerely regret it. We observe, not without sadness, that the current circumstances do not allow us to do so..."^[2]

The anonymous authors remained so until the late 1990s although police prefect Maurice Papon (condemned in 1997-98 for crimes against humanity for his collaborationist role during WWII) tried to discover them. In February 1999, its main author, Emile Portzer, former member of the National Front resistance organization during the war, testified in favor of historian Jean-Luc Einaudi during the trial which followed Papon's suit against him (won by Einaudi). On January 1, 1962, the police prefect Papon declared to the police forces under his orders: "On 17 October you won... the victory against Algerian terrorism... Your moral interests have been successfully defended, since the aim of the police prefecture's opponents to put in place an investigation committee have been defeated."^[3]

1998-1999 juridical ownership of the name "Front National"

A juridical battle between the far-right Front National and Bruno Mégret's split-out party, the National Republican Movement (MNR), for the appellation of "Front national," in December 1998-January 1999, prompted satirical newspaper ''Charlie Hebdo'' to outrace both by deposing at the INPI, the national institute in charge of brands, the term "Front National," in order to give its juridical ownership back to the original Resistant movement. Thus, the Resistant Front National is the only movement legally entitled to be named "Front National." ^{[4] [5]}.

References

1. Front National de la Résistance, memory site
2. Quoted by Jean-Luc Einaudi, ''La bataille de Paris : 17 octobre 1961'', 1991, ISBN 2-02-013547-7, pp.83-84
3. Quoted by Einaudi, op.cit., p85
4. Possible récupération d’une appellation usurpée par l’extrême droite, ''L'Humanité'', January 8, 1999
5. La nouvelle bataille des Résistants du vrai "Front national", ''L'Humanité'', January 16, 1999

See also

★ French Resistance

★ 1961 Paris massacre