Editing French Resistance (section)

===Communists===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1983-077-13A, Frankreich, Einsatz gegen die Resistance.jpg|thumb|[[Communism|Communist]] prisoner in France, July 1944]]
[[File:Secretariat clandestin PCF 1943.jpg|thumb|Artist's impression of a meeting of the PCF (Parti communiste français) central committee at [[Longjumeau]], 1943. Left to right: [[Benoît Frachon]], Auguste Lecoeur, [[Jacques Duclos]] and [[Charles Tillon]].]]

After the signing of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] and the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the [[French Communist Party]] (PCF) was declared a proscribed organisation by [[Édouard Daladier]]'s government.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=114}} Many of its leaders were arrested and imprisoned or forced to go underground.{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=60}} The PCF adopted an antiwar position on orders of the [[Comintern]] in Moscow,{{Sfn|Crowdy|2007|p=10}}{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=115}} which remained in place for the first year of the German occupation, reflecting the September 1939 [[nonaggression pact]] between Germany and the USSR.{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=421}} Conflicts erupted within the party, as many of its members opposed collaboration with the Germans while others toed the party line of neutrality as directed by [[Stalin]] in Moscow.{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=60}}{{Sfn|Davies|2000|p=60}} On Armistice Day, November 11, 1940, communists were among the university students demonstrating against German repression by marching along the [[Champs-Élysées]].{{Sfn|Jackson|2003|p=422}} It was only when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 that French communists actively began to organize a resistance effort.{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=62}}{{Sfn|Marshall|2001|pp=41–42}} They benefited from their experience in [[clandestine operation]]s during the [[Spanish Civil War]].{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=60}}

On 21 August 1941, Colonel [[Pierre-Georges Fabien]] committed the first overt violent act of communist resistance by assassinating a German officer at the [[Barbès - Rochechouart (Paris Métro)|Barbès-Rochechouart]] station of the [[Paris Métro]].{{Sfn|Prost|Vincent|1998|p=423}} The attack, and others perpetrated in the following weeks, provoked fierce reprisals, culminating in the execution of 98 hostages after the Feldkommandant of [[Nantes]] was shot on 20 October.{{Sfn|Crowdy|2007|p=11}}

The military strength of the communists was still relatively feeble at the end of 1941, but the rapid growth of the [[Francs-Tireurs et Partisans]] (FTP), a radical armed movement, ensured that French communists regained their reputation as an effective anti-fascist force.{{Sfn|Prost|Vincent|1998|p=341}} The FTP was open to non-communists but operated under communist control,{{Sfn|Marshall|2001|p=40}} with its members predominantly engaged in acts of sabotage and guerrilla warfare.{{Sfn|Weitz|1995|p=148}} By 1944, the FTP had an estimated strength of 100,000 men.{{Sfn|Marshall|2001|p=41}}

Towards the end of the occupation the PCF reached the height of its influence, controlling large areas of France through the Resistance units under its command. Some in the PCF wanted to launch a revolution as the Germans withdrew from the country,{{Sfn|Marshall|2001|p=42}} but the leadership, acting on Stalin's instructions, opposed this and adopted a policy of cooperating with the Allied powers and advocating a new [[Popular Front]] government.{{Sfn|Godin|Chafer|2004|p=49}}

During the Nazi occupation of France, the French [[Trotskyist]] group Parti Ouvrier Internationaliste printed the clandestine magazine ''[[Arbeiter und Soldat]]'' (''Worker and Soldier'') for German troops. The publication opposed both fascism and western imperialism, and 12 issues were distributed from July 1943 through July 1944.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/soldat/index.htm|title=Arbeiter Und Soldat/Worker and Soldier – Contents by Issue (1943–1944)|website=www.marxists.org}}</ref><ref name=mia>{{cite web|title=Glossary. Periodicals|url=https://www.marxists.org/glossary/periodicals/archive/|publisher=Marxists Internet Archive|access-date=25 October 2015}}</ref>

Many well-known intellectual and artistic figures were attracted to the Communist party during the war, including the artist [[Pablo Picasso]] and the writer and philosopher [[Jean-Paul Sartre]].{{Sfn|Knapp|2006|p=8}} Philosophers [[Georges Politzer]] and [[Valentin Feldman]] and writer [[Jacques Decour]] were among others. After the German invasion of the USSR, many Russian [[white émigré]]s, inspired by Russian patriotic sentiment, would support the Soviet war effort. A number of them formed the [[Union of Russian Patriots]], which adopted pro-Soviet positions and collaborated closely with the French Communist Party.