In the photo, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier shakes hands with Benito Mussolini, with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the background.

At the same time , throughout 1938, right-wing and nationalist deputies in France demanded a ban on the French Communist Party. And more than 400 newspapers, picking up on the theses of Mein Kampf, spoke of communists as conductors of foreign influence in the country and a conspiracy of world Jewry.

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
    6·
    15 hours ago

    As war seemed inevitable, Prime Minister Daladier led the government to outlaw the PCF on the grounds that it was officially subordinate to a hostile foreign power. When war broke out the government banned all communist-led organizations. Police routinely reported that communists were sabotaging industries to weaken the country. The narrative that the communists were crippling France before the war was at best greatly exaggerated as every mishap at a factory was blamed on communist sabotage. The communists had been pushed underground and formed networks for clandestine activities, which primarily meant anti-war propaganda.

    https://www.thefrenchhistorypodcast.com/what-happened-to-the-french-communist-party/

    I don’t have a source for the anti-communist media campaign on hand though.