On May 3, 1936, the Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing forces, won the legislative elections in France. In its wake, a large strike movement was launched leading to the establishment of important social reforms. Ninety years later, this victory remains one of the major references of the left.

Published on: 05/03/2026 - 08:49 Modified on: 05/04/2026 - 1:45 p.m.

“It is not enough to say that the second round completes the victory. It gives it proportions and a meaning that no one almost dared to hope for. The triumph of the Popular Front is overwhelming.” It is with these words that Léon Blum, the future president of the council, greets the victory of the coalition of left-wing forces on the front page of the socialist newspaper "Le Populaire" on May 3, 1936. This "Popular Front" has just obtained 386 seats out of 608 in the Chamber of Deputies, including 147 for the SFIO. For the first time, socialists, allied with radicals and communists, will rule the country.

The fascist danger

“It is a broad alliance which results from a long and slow process”, summarizes the historian Jean Vigreux, professor at the University of Burgundy, specialist in the left in the 20th century. “What made this union possible was the shock wave of Adolf Hitler’s coming to power,” adds the author of “Discovering the Popular Front” (Les éditions sociale). Two years ago, an event changed things. While France was in turn affected by the Great Depression, far-right leagues attacked the parliamentary system. On February 6, 1934, they demonstrated in front of the Chamber of Deputies. The gathering turned into a riot, leaving around fifteen dead and nearly 1,500 injured.

“This was seen as a coup on the left and as an attack on democracy and the Republic. The implementation of the Nazi dictatorship in a few months at the same period in Germany raised awareness of the danger that fascism represents,” describes Jean Vigreux.

The left then decides to unite. In the days following this coup by the far-right leagues, communists and socialists marched together with the blessing of Moscow. In July, the two parties signed an “anti-fascist action unity pact”. In June 1935, the radical party, positioned rather on the center right, also made a rapprochement with the SFIO and the PC. On July 14, 1935, these three groups gathered together for the first time, alongside other small parties, unions and associations, during a demonstration bringing together 500,000 people.

“They took an oath to remain united to defend threatened democratic freedoms, to bring peace to the world and to build a future for the world of work. In this sense, they drafted a program known as the Popular Front,” explains historian Danielle Tartakowsky, specialist in social and political history in France in the 20th century. “Their program was organized around three themes: bread, peace and freedom. Their measures were intended to fight against the crisis and against the danger of war,” adds the author of “Le Front populaire: La vie est à nous” (editions Gallimard).

A climate of violence

The electoral campaign is taking place in a very heavy climate, both from a national and international point of view, as Nicolas Brisset, historian of economic thought at the University of the Côte d'Azur, points out: "The institution of fascist and Nazi regimes respectively in Italy and Germany and the feeling of the rise in power of the far-right leagues are accompanied by a climate of violence. The figure of Léon Blum crystallizes this violence. Attacked because he is Jewish, because intellectual, but also for an allegedly weak and 'effeminate' appearance.

On February 13, 1936, the socialist deputy was the victim of an attempted lynching by a group of Camelots du roi, activists of the nationalist extreme right, who were waiting for the funeral procession of Jacques Bainville, a figure of Action Française. "There is truly a bipolarization of political life which was well perceived at the time by the press. Already in 1935, the magazine Vu headlined 'National Front against Popular Front'. The latter aroused immense hope for some, but also great fears for others, with the fear of the communists", adds historian Jean Vigreux.

Also read: Charles Berling: “Léon Blum was a visionary”

A large strike movement

This divide was accentuated with the strikes which began at the beginning of May 1936. For Nicolas Brisset, they were not "turned against the Popular Front", but on the contrary were its "emanation": "The starting point was the strike of May 1, 1936, chosen by the CGT as a great moment of support for the Popular Front. The employers reacted quite violently, by dismissing a certain number of strikers, which triggered others strikes."

“These strikes of joy”, as they were nicknamed, spread almost everywhere in France. There are up to 2 million strikers. The numerous photographs of these joyful factory occupations have remained in our memories: picnics, popular balls to the sound of the accordion, boxing matches, or even belotes games.

Installed at the head of a government made up of socialist and radical ministers supported by the Communist Party since June 6, the new president of the council Léon Blum hastens to respond, according to Nicolas Brisset: "The strikes play a decisive role in the implementation of rapid measures, via the Matignon agreements. They are today part of French union memory, just like the words of Maurice Thorez (the boss of the PCF, Editor's note) pronounced on June 11 1936: 'You must know how to end a strike, as soon as satisfaction has been obtained'".

In less than two months, the forty-hour week, paid leave and collective agreements were voted on. For Danielle Tartakowsky, these measures changed the world of work, but also the lives of the French: "For the first time in the summer of 1936, men and women were paid while stopping work. They were able to go see the sea. They therefore felt the gains of this struggle deep within themselves in this ability to have time to themselves."

Workers and employees were not the only ones to benefit from this reform, the historian insists: "Agricultural workers also went on strike. A wheat office was created to support the prices paid to farmers. Farming families were also able to see their children who had become workers return thanks to country leave." “It was a unique moment,” summarizes this Popular Front specialist.

Internal and external difficulties

But this great popular victory was also marked by disillusionment. Jean Vigreux recalls, for example, that this united left "did not go all the way to give women the right to vote." The Popular Front was also "very quickly confronted with the Spanish War", adds the historian. Even if Léon Blum supported the Republicans against the Francoists, he ultimately decided not to intervene for fear of a breakup of the government coalition.

At the same time, the government also faced economic difficulties, as Nicolas Brisset explains: "External constraint and capital flight, in a context of rising international perils, push us to favor military spending, to the detriment of the extension of the 1936 social program. This fuels disappointment within the worker and activist base."

To respond to these challenges, Léon Blum requests full financial powers which are refused to him. On June 21, 1937, one year and two weeks after his inauguration, Léon Blum gave up his apron. Recalled to the presidency of the Council in March 1938, he did not last a month. The adventure of the Popular Front ended in November 1938 with the repression of a wave of strikes in response to the decree-laws taken by the government of the radical Daladier, calling into question social conquests.

Read alsoAfter the call for a new “Popular Front”, a look back at the “immense hope” raised in 1936

“A major experience”

Despite the brevity of this adventure, "the Popular Front laid the foundations not only of the social state, but of the thought according to which the state is legitimate to intervene in matters of social policies and the economy. The Popular Front has become a major experience opening the field of political possibilities, as was the New Deal", estimates Nicolas Brisset. As proof, ten years later, at the end of the Second World War, the National Council of the Resistance was largely inspired by his program.

In the decades that followed, the Popular Front remained a compass for the left. Jean Vigreux recalls the 5th week of paid leave and retirement at 60 under the presidency of François Mitterrand or the 35 hours under the government of Lionel Jospin. “There is always this projection in relation to these social achievements and the possibility of changing people’s lives,” he summarizes.

More recently, the Popular Front was invoked again during the early legislative elections in June 2024. The different left-wing parties came together to form a “New Popular Front”. The NFP came first in the poll, obtaining a relative majority in the national assembly, but the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron did not choose to appoint one of his candidates to Matignon. “There was a missing figure and there were too many internal divisions,” notes Jean Vigreux.

One year before the next presidential elections and while the far right is in the lead in the polls, some on the left are once again calling for unity. In an editorial published on the occasion of May 1, the newspaper La Marseillaise invites "to find in history the keys to our future": "The name of the Popular Front program, 'Bread, peace, freedom' is a manifesto against oppression and injustice and has not aged a bit as these scourges rage on our planet."

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