Editing Marc Bloch (section)

=== Move to Paris ===
In 1930, both keen to make a move to Paris, Febvre and Bloch applied to the ''[[École pratique des hautes études]]'' for a position: both failed.{{Sfn|Friedman|1996|p=12}} Three years later Febvre was elected to the [[Collège de France]]. He moved to Paris, and in doing so, says Fink, became all the more aloof.{{Sfn|Epstein|1993|p=276}} This placed a strain on Bloch's and his relations,{{Sfn|Epstein|1993|p=276}} although they communicated regularly by letter and much of their correspondence is preserved.{{Sfn|Burguière|2009|p=39}} In 1934, Bloch was invited to speak at the [[London School of Economics]]. There he met [[Eileen Power]], [[R. H. Tawney]] and [[Michael Postan]], among others. While in London, he was asked to write a section of the ''Cambridge Economic History of Europe;'' at the same time, he also attempted to foster interest in the ''Annales'' among British historians.{{Sfn|Epstein|1993|p=275}}{{Refn|This appeared in 1941. Bloch's chapter was "The Rise of Dependent Cultivation and Seignorial Institutions" in the first volume.{{sfn|Lyon|1987|p=204}}|group=note}} He later told Febvre in some ways he felt he had a closer affinity with academic life in England than that of France.{{Sfn|Fink|1998|pp=44–45}} For example, in comparing the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|''Bibliothèque Nationale'']] with the [[British Museum]], he said that{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=249 n.<!--note number needed?--><!--Not possible I'm afraid; Weber doesn't over-indulge in footnotes and, when he uses them at all, they're just indicated by asterisks-->}}

{{Blockquote|text=A few hours work in the British [Museum] inspire the irresistible desire to build in the Square Louvois a vast pyre of all the B.N.'s regulations and to burn on it, in splendid ''auto-de-fé'', Julian Cain [the director], his librarians and his staff...[and] also a few malodorous readers, if you like, and no doubt also the architect ... after which we could work and invite the foreigners to come and work".{{sfn|Weber|1991|p=249 n.}}|sign=|source=}}{{Quote box
| quote = Isolated, each [historian] will understand only by halves, even within his own field of study, for the only true history, which can advance only through mutual aid, is universal history'.{{sfn|Bloch|1963|p=39}}
| source = Marc Bloch, ''The Historian's Craft''
| width = 25em
| bgcolor = #FFFFF0
| salign = Center
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}}During this period he supported the [[Popular Front (France)|Popular Front]] politically.{{Sfn|Dosse|1994|p=43}} Although he did not believe it would do any good, he signed Alain's—[[Émile Chartier]]'s pseudonym—petition against [[Paul Boncour]]'s [[Militarisation]] laws in 1935.{{Sfn|Friedman|1996|p=11}}{{Sfn|Bianco|2013|p=248}} While he was opposed to the rise of [[Fascism in Europe|European fascism]], he also objected to attempting to counter the ideology through "demagogic appeals to the masses", as the [[French Communist Party|Communist Party]] was doing.{{Sfn|Friedman|1996|p=11}} Febvre and Bloch were both firmly on the left, although with different emphases. Febvre, for example, was more militantly Marxist than Bloch, while the latter criticised both the [[Pacifism|pacifist left]] and corporate trade unionism.{{Sfn|Burguière|2009|p=47}}

In 1934, [[Étienne Gilson]] sponsored Bloch's candidacy for a chair at the Collège de France.{{Sfn|Raftis|1999|p=63}} The college, says the historian [[Eugen Weber]], was Bloch's "dream" appointment—although one never to be realised—as it was one of the few (possibly the only) institutions in France where personal research was central to lecturing.{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=254}} [[Camille Jullian]] had died the previous year, and his position was now available. While he had lived, Julian had wished for his chair to go to one of his students, [[Albert Grenier (historian)|Albert Grenier]], and after his death, his colleagues generally agreed with him.{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=254}} However, Gilson proposed that not only should Bloch be appointed, but that the position be redesignated the study of comparative history. Bloch, says Weber, enjoyed and welcomed new schools of thought and ideas, but mistakenly believed the college should do so also; the college did not. The contest between Bloch and Grenier was not just the struggle for one post between two historians; it was also a struggle to determine which path historiography within the college would take for the next generation.{{Sfn|Weber|1991|pp=254–255}} To complicate the situation further, the country was in both [[6 February 1934 crisis|political]] and [[Great Depression in France|economic crises]], and the college's budget was slashed by 10%. No matter who filled it, this made another new chair financially unviable. By the end of the year, and with further retirements, the college had lost four professors: it could replace only one, and Bloch was not appointed.{{Sfn|Weber|1991|p=255}} Bloch personally suspected his failure was due to antisemitism and [[Jewish quota]]s. At the time, Febvre blamed it on a distrust of Bloch's approach to scholarship by the academic establishment, although Epstein has argued that this could not have been an over-riding fear as Bloch's next appointment indicated.{{Sfn|Epstein|1993|p=275}}