- The Vichy 80
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The Vichy 80 were a group of elected French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted against the constitutional change that dissolved the Third Republic and established an authoritarian regime known as Vichy France.
Nazi Germany invaded France on 14 May 1940, and Paris fell a month later. Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned rather than seek armistice terms, so President Albert Lebrun appointed Marshal Philippe Pétain as his replacement. France capitulated on 22 June 1940. Under the terms of the armistice, France was partitioned: the northern region was to be occupied by Germany, and the remainder, with its capital at Vichy, was, ostensibly, to be governed by a French government under Pétain.
Pétain began a revision of the constitution of the Third Republic. This process was completed with a vote of the combined houses of the parliament on 10 July 1940. The result was a constitutional amendment that created the new regime, Vichy France. The eighty deputies and senators who opposed the change are referred to as the Vichy 80 (French: "les quatre-vingts"), and they are now famous for their courageous decision.[1]
Additionally, twenty-seven deputies and senators did not take part in the vote. They had fled Metropolitan France on 21 June, from Bordeaux to Algiers, on board the ship, Massilia, and they are referred to as the Massilia absentees. They were considered traitors by the Vichy France regime.[2]
Sixty-one communist parliamentarians had had their rights to serve as deputies and senators denied to them in January 1940.[3]
The Pétain government always ruled under this act, the constitutional law of 10 July 1940, and they never produced a true constitution until the end of the war, insisting that it would have to be signed in Paris, once France was liberated. On January 30, 1944, a draft constitution was signed, but it remained without effect. After the overthrow of Pétain, the Free French Forces contested the legality of the Vichy regime and they voided most of its acts. More recently though, there has been some recognition of the responsibility of the French state for the crimes committed under the Vichy government.[4]
Contents
Vote tally
Deputies Senators Total Total 544 302 846 Voting 414 235 649 For 357 212 569 Against 57 23 80 Voluntary abstaining 12 8 20 Massilia absentees 26 1 27 Other abstaining 92 57 149 Not voting 1 1 Detailed list of the 80
Name House Département Parliamentary group Marcel Astier Senate Ardèche Radical-Socialist Jean-Fernand Audeguil Chamber of Deputies Gironde SFIO Vincent Auriol Chamber of Deputies Haute-Garonne SFIO Alexandre Bachelet Senate Seine SFIO Vincent Badie Chamber of Deputies Hérault Radical-Socialist Camille Bedin Chamber of Deputies Dordogne SFIO Émile Bender Senate Rhône Radical-Socialist Jean Biondi Chamber of Deputies Oise SFIO Léon Blum Chamber of Deputies Aude SFIO Laurent Bonnevay Chamber of Deputies Rhône AD Paul Boulet Chamber of Deputies Hérault Independent Left Georges Bruguier Senate Gard SFIO Séraphin Buisset Chamber of Deputies Isère SFIO Gaston Cabannes Chamber of Deputies Gironde SFIO François Camel Chamber of Deputies Ariège SFIO Pierre de Chambrun Senate Lozère Independent Auguste Champetier de Ribes Senate Basses-Pyrénées Independent Pierre Chaumié Senate Lot-et-Garonne Radical-Socialist Arthur Chaussy Chamber of Deputies Seine-et-Marne SFIO Joseph Collomp Chamber of Deputies Var SFIO Octave Crutel Chamber of Deputies Seine-Inférieure Radical-Socialist Achille Daroux Chamber of Deputies Vendée Radical-Socialist Maurice Delom-Sorbé Chamber of Deputies Basses-Pyrénées Independent Left Joseph Depierre Senate Rhône SFIO Marx Dormoy Senate Allier SFIO Alfred Elmiger Chamber of Deputies Rhône Independent Left Paul Fleurot Senate Seine Radical-Socialist Émile Fouchard Chamber of Deputies Seine-et-Marne UPF Édouard Froment Chamber of Deputies Ardêche SFIO Paul Giaccobi Senate Corse Radical-Socialist Justin Godart Senate Rhône Radical-Socialist Félix Gouin Chamber of Deputies Bouches-du-Rhône SFIO Henri Gout Chamber of Deputies Aude Radical-Socialist Louis Gros Senate Vaucluse SFIO Amédée Guy Chamber of Deputies Haute-Savoie SFIO Jean Hennessy Chamber of Deputies Alpes-Maritimes Independent Left Lucien Hussel Chamber of Deputies Isère SFIO André Isoré Chamber of Deputies Pas-de-Calais Radical-Socialist Eugène Jardon Chamber of Deputies Allier UPF Jean-Alexis Jaubert Chamber of Deputies Corrèze Radical-Socialist Claude Jordery Chamber of Deputies Rhône SFIO François Labrousse Senate Corrèze Radical-Socialist Albert Le Bail Chamber of Deputies Finistère Radical-Socialist Joseph Lecacheux Chamber of Deputies Manche AD Victor Le Gorgeu Senate Finistère Radical-Socialist Justin Luquot Chamber of Deputies Gironde SFIO Augustin Malroux Chamber of Deputies Tarn SFIO Gaston Manent Chamber of Deputies Hautes-Pyrénées Radical-Socialist Alfred Margaine Chamber of Deputies Marne Radical-Socialist Léon Martin Chamber of Deputies Isère SFIO Robert Mauger Chamber of Deputies Loir-et-Cher SFIO Jean Mendiondou Chamber of Deputies Basses-Pyrénées Radical-Socialist Jules Moch Chamber of Deputies Hérault SFIO Maurice Montel Chamber of Deputies Cantal Independent Left Léonel de Moustier Chamber of Deputies Doubs Républicain indépendant Marius Moutet Chamber of Deputies Drôme SFIO René Nicod Chamber of Deputies Ain UPF Louis Noguères Chamber of Deputies Pyrénées-Orientales SFIO Jean Odin Senate Gironde Radical-Socialist Joseph Paul-Boncour Senate Loir-et-Cher Radical-Socialist Jean Perrot Chamber of Deputies Finistère Radical-Socialist Georges Pézières Senate Pyrénées-Orientales SFIO André Philip Chamber of Deputies Rhône SFIO Marcel Plaisant Senate Cher Radical-Socialist François Tanguy-Prigent Chamber of Deputies Finistère SFIO Paul Ramadier Chamber of Deputies Aveyron Independent Joseph-Paul Rambaud Senate Ariège Radical-Socialist René Renout Senate Var Radical-Socialist Léon Roche Chamber of Deputies Haute-Vienne SFIO Camille Rolland Senate Rhône Radical-Socialist Jean-Louis Rolland Chamber of Deputies Finistère SFIO Joseph Rous Chamber of Deputies Pyrénées-Orientales SFIO Jean-Emmanuel Roy Chamber of Deputies Gironde Radical-Socialist Henry Sénès Senate Var SFIO Philippe Serre Chamber of Deputies Meurthe-et-Moselle Independent Left Paul Simon Chamber of Deputies Finistère Popular Democrat Gaston Thiébaut Chamber of Deputies Meuse Radical-Socialist Isidore Thivrier Chamber of Deputies Allier SFIO Pierre Trémintin Chamber of Deputies Finistère Popular Democrat Michel Zunino Chamber of Deputies Var SFIO Notes
- ^ "Proposition de Loi n° 729" (in French). http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/propositions/pion0729.asp. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
- ^ "21 juin 1940 : le "Massilia" quitte la France pour Alger" (in French). memoire.net. http://www.memoire-net.org/article.php3?id_article=144. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
- ^ http://mjp.univ-perp.fr/france/80.htm (French)
- ^ "Proposition de loi relative aux Justes de France" (in French). http://www.senat.fr/rap/l99-353/l99-353_mono.html. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
External links
- List of the MPs
- Original vote
- Le vote du 10 Juillet 1940 (an account in French of the circumstances surrounding the vote)
- Les quatre-vingts by Jean Odin (ISBN 2-87938-080-4)
Categories:- 1940 establishments
- People of Vichy France
- French Resistance
- 1940s in France
- Assembly votes
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