Mobilizing Youth

Susan B. Whitney is Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

• Acknowledgments ixIntroduction 11. The Politics of Age and Generation in French Communism, 1920–1931 162. Building a Communist Youth Organization 513. Age, Generation, and Catholic Anticommunism: The Emergence of the J.O.C 804. Rereading the J.O.C. through the Lens of Gender: Young Women and the J.O.C.F. 1075. Youth and the Emergence of Communist Antifascist Politics 1376. Embracing the Status Quo: Communists, Young People, and Popular Front Politics 1717. Refusing la main tendue: Catholics, the J.O.C., and the Challenge of Communist Popular Front Societies 209Conclusion 243Notes 251Bibliography of Primary Resources 303Index 307

“Mobilizing Youth offers an ambitious and imaginative look at two vital movements in interwar France, with a comparison that adds greatly to our understanding not just of French social and political history, but of the emergence of youth as an organized (and manipulated) force.”-Peter N. Stearns, Provost, George Mason University “In this fascinating book, the social history of French youth in the interwar years has finally found its historian. Susan B. Whitney’s extensive and careful research in the archives of communist and Catholic youth movements introduces us to the critical issues at stake: competition for the allegiance of the young between communists and Catholics, the key role played by adults in shaping youth activism, the influence of the changing political scene in the 1920's and 30's, and the long-term effects membership had on those who joined up. Whitney is particularly astute in her analysis of the place of gender; she shows us how traditional notions of sexual difference were at once reinforced and changed in the experience of young Catholics and communists who participated in these movements.”-Joan W. Scott, Institute for Advanced Study “Susan Whitney has a fascinating story to tell, and she tells it very well. She weaves individual voices and stories throughout her narrative, giving a human face to the highly contested landscape of youth organization in interwar France. Her thickly described sociocultural history plunges the reader into the world of young workers (Catholics and Communists, male and female), and her superb analysis reminds us of the often brutal impact that the First World War had on the children who lived through it and grew up to become young workers in its immediate aftermath.”-Laura Lee Downs, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales