Academic Review 2024

77 ACADEMIC REVIEW 2024

The passive resistance was militarily decisive The passive resistance was decisive as it laid the foundations for a military response. Through its ideological and political influence, the passive resistance transcended its initial role of changing mindsets and influenced the emergence of a militarised resistance. Passive resistance arguably served as a training ground for military activity and transitioned to call directly for the killing of Germans and French collaborators. The passive resistance was decisive militarily as it established a mindset and methodology for violent resistance. The acts of secretly operating a printing press and disseminating resistance publications, as well as broadcasting radio messages, required ‘great care and risk’ (Kochanski, 2022), as well as collective discipline. Such elements would become key in the formation of militarised resistance groups. Hence, Kochanski argues that the printing and dissemination of the underground press served as a training ground for military resistance movements. Moreover, the methods by which resistance propaganda was disseminated often required extensive preparations and were markedly similar to those used in performing acts of sabotage. For instance, on 14th July 1943, Défense de la France performed a meticulously organised stunt by sending men ‘under guard’ (Kochanski, 2022) to hand out copies of the newspaper in the carriages of the Paris metro. Such undertakings required significant preparation to ensure effectiveness and the security of those involved. In understanding the risks taken in operating clandestine press and radio, the “training ground” of the passive resistance therefore allowed resisters to discover the military potential of their movements. Similarly by 1943, ‘as the tide of the war began to turn against the occupying force’, so did the ‘tone of the press’ (Kochanski, 2022). From disseminating instructions on ‘how to behave’ (Guillon, 1999) towards Nazi occupiers, the press began to employ a more aggressive tone, encouraging its readers to act accordingly. A notable example of this evolved tone is Défense de la France’s editorial in March 1944, entitled ‘A Duty to Kill’. This editorial called upon the French to ‘Kill the German(s)’, ‘Kill the police’, ‘Kill the men of the Milice’ - to ‘Shoot them’ and ‘Destroy them like vermin’ (Cobb, 2010). By ruthlessly inciting the French to kill occupiers and

(Hsætrup, 1978). Consequently, violence against Nazis and collaborators became both accepted and encouraged by the resistance across their media platforms. Through such expressions, the clandestine press arguably normalised violence and encouraged the French to pursue an aggressive response towards the occupiers. The influence of the passive resistance may be overstated, as two other independent factors can be argued to have driven the French to take arms. First, the German declaration of war on the USSR on 22nd June 1941 was a catalyst in instigating military resistance (Albertelli, Blanc, & Douzou, 2019). From the summer of 1941, the French communists, arguably the largest resistance group in France, turned to terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage against the Germans, while following instructions from Stalin’s government (Albertelli, Blanc, & Douzou, 2019). This early move towards militarised resistance undermined the influence of the passive resistance, for Stalin instigated a military response in France long before the passive resistance did. It therefore demonstrated that the French communists prioritised the security of international communism rather than the survival of their own country. It must be acknowledged, however, that the clandestine press also played an influential role in bringing the communists to arms. Albertelli, Blanc, and Douzou, for instance reveal that publications, in particular, L’Humanité , “echoed” and disseminated the instructions from the Soviet government, while Libération similarly called on its readers to ‘Sabotage the conscription of slaves’ (Albertelli, Blanc, & Douzou, 2019). Therefore, despite Germany’s declaration of war, the passive resistance remained key in instigating an armed resistance among the communists. “ By ruthlessly inciting the French to kill occupiers and collaborators,

Défense de la France spread the view that

assassinating the enemy is ‘liquidation, not a murder’... ”

collaborators, Défense de la France spread the view that assassinating the enemy is ‘liquidation, not a murder’, and that ‘spontaneous justice (in this case, death) must be meted out to traitors’