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Despite the wealth of scholarly research on the French Resistance, there are many aspects that remain in the shadows or ‘penumbra’ surrounding the more brightly-lit central organisations. Focusing on the resources and connections of French trade unionists in London exile — usually peripheral to accounts of wartime trade unionism — this critical reflection explores the potential of the MRC’s collections to open up new research perspectives and possibilities. It foregrounds two key themes meriting further exploration: transnational encounters and popular propaganda. It first examines how French delegates of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) worked not only with their counterparts in occupied France but equally with members of British trade unions and the Labour Party in a complex network of relationships between individuals and associations. Second, it uses a close analysis of some of the resistance flyers received — and sometimes translated and disseminated — by the CGT in London to highlight visual and rhetorical strategies of resistance in popular propaganda. Cumulatively, these case studies invite a wider reflection on how resistance should be defined, and on its spaces, strategies, and balances of power.
Jessica Wardhaugh (Wed,) studied this question.