Alain Chatriot on Post-WWI challenges in France

Attending a history conference in the middle of midterms might not have been your first instinct, but French historian Alain Chatriot, a specialist on the State and 20th-21st century France who teaches at Sciences Po’s Center for History (CHSP) and the Poitiers campus, made it worth the effort. His talk on post-WWI France proved to be a surprising highlight. From food rationing to the birth of labour laws and the “transformation” of the French government, here’s what you missed.

The conference, which he presented at the Falala mediatheque in the city center, focused on post-WWI France and how it dealt with its modernization and the rebuilding of its agriculture, which had been severely affected by battles in the northeastern territory. Chatriot first focused on the implemented agricultural policies both during and after WWI, stressing how the war impacted France, a state known for its strength in agricultural production.

A situation that prompted the country to import a substantial amount of food from partners in the Americas, mostly from the United States and Argentina, in order to sustain its own war effort. While we typically think of the use of submarines to sink cargo ships going toward Europe, those containing agricultural goods were also a major target and oftentimes caused severe shortage issues for European Allies. This is, as explained by Chatriot, what forced France to implement ration tickets starting in August 1917, all the way into 1919. He then delved into the debates after the war, notably those concerning bread prices as well as laws that were passed in 1918 and 1919 to reorganize land in order to bring production up again.

Mr Chatriot addressed another major area of debate of post-WWI France: labor laws. Another major area of debate of post-WWI France Mr. Chatriot addressed was labour laws. In a continuation of the Industrial Revolution, working rights had indeed improved, especially at the end of the 19th century, but there still wasn’t any official “Code du Travail” present in French law. In April 1919, changes were made to the daily working hours, switching from ten to eight hours a day and 48 hours per week, along with changes to the teaching of agricultural practices (“Enseignement Agricole”) to better inform farmers of the new agricultural needs of the time. A final point on labour rights, which likely few people know about, is that it was a subject of discussion during the Treaty of Versailles. Part of Section 13 of the Treaty dealt with propositions to improve overall working rights and conditions. However, while most countries seemed to be in favor of these changes, having them ratify them was a lot more difficult. This was worsened by the hardships faced by the League of Nations, making it obvious that reality compared to the proposed promises did not match.

Lastly, he addressed the transformation that occurred within the French state itself, namely the Third Republic. As a reminder, the Third Republic was a parliamentary regime with a relatively small and weak executive branch compared to the National Assembly. Yet, Mr. Chatriot pointed out that, while WWI didn’t change the regime in place, the executive was able to gain a little more influence as the war context necessitated a strong and unique direction led by an executive force. This context gave an opportunity to the President of the Council — the chief of government in the executive — to have some services and secretaries that would work directly for him, a novelty compared to the past. Nonetheless, these exceptional changes prompted significant debates on the longevity of such a “new style of government” and the need to limit its powers.

With any luck, this small history conference did not disrupt the 1As’ revisions on 19th-century Europe too much. It did, however, provide a fresh look at the agricultural, labor, and governmental challenges faced by France after WWI, which is not always the first aspect we may typically think about.