The routes to exile: France and the Spanish Civil War refugees, 1939-2009 (Studies in Modern French History MUP) by Soo Scott

Author:Soo, Scott [Soo, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2016-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

We want to be of use to France but not treated like slaves.

In the fight against fascism and for the defence of France we say ‘Present’. In the Labour Companies we say ‘Conditions’.

Fellow refugees, by going to work without the same conditions as French workers we're dismissing the real character of our struggle.

We do not know anything about the people or organisation behind this poster campaign and therefore cannot say for certain if it was linked to political or syndical activities. Nor do the French documents contain many concrete details of political/syndical activities within the CTE. The reason may reflect the refugees' efforts to conceal their activities from the authorities, but more likely indicates a decrease in organisational activity as tens of thousands of refugees were relocated from the camps and dispersed across metropolitan France. Attempts were made to maintain political and syndical cohesion. One group of Socialists in Barcarès camp managed to be incorporated into the same Labour Company.91 The MLE General Council advised militants to remain together within the CTE and obtain positions of responsibility.92 There was a thus certain degree of continuity as small numbers of refugees grouped around their respective political/syndical affinities, but their activities were mainly limited to maintaining contact with their respective organisations. All the same, the refugees undoubtedly drew on their political and syndical experience when reacting to poor working conditions. As with the 150th CTE in the Landes, some refugees collectively organised work stoppages. Elsewhere, workers elected delegates to represent their interests. In the Alps, Luis de Lafuente López was interned for relaying complaints about the tented accommodation to the unit's commander. In the Aude, a similar tactic seems to have succeeded in improving the quality of food for workers in the 44th CTE.93

As the examples suggest, the precise modalities of work in the Foreign Labour Companies varied between départements, and further research is needed in this respect. It may well be that CTEs based in sensitive areas of France, and notably in the north-eastern part of the country, were subject to greater restrictions. The military certainly appear to have experienced more problems with Labour Companies located in the north-east and Alpine regions. Some refugees had asked to be repatriated only to change their mind on arrival at the border with Spain, while others simply escaped. One worker left his unit in the Moselle, returned to Septfonds camp and enrolled in the 218th CTE stationed at Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, close to Bordeaux. He refused to return to the Moselle and was interned in Vernet camp.94

Proximity to where hostilities were expected to erupt undoubtedly explains some of the workers' motivations for escaping from the north-eastern and Alpine regions. In the rest of France the most widespread reason for escaping, or in the French military's terminology, ‘deserting’, stemmed from the dual system of labour created by the French authorities. Free workers could earn higher wages and enjoy greater freedom of movement, better accommodation and the possibility of being closer to families. The authorities were well aware of the contradictions.

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