ABSTRACT
The Popular Front transformed France's political landscape and with it the movements of the unemployed. The Popular Front had therefore created a new context for French communists and their unemployed organizations. The year 1936 witnessed phenomenal increases in French Communist Party (PCF) and Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) membership. In November 1936, as the numbers of CGT and PCF swelled dramatically, a second national conference of the unemployed was called. The third national conference of the unemployed opened on 16 November 1937 to a much reduced audience compared to the previous year. This was symptomatic of the fortunes of the Popular Front, the waning confidence of the working class and the contraction of the unemployed movement. The Popular Front entailed a new approach to unemployed movements. This novel strategy possessed a stark uniformity across France. On the question of philanthropy, all the regional unemployed movements altered their attitudes and practices.
