French Resistance by Wieviorka Olivier

Author:Wieviorka, Olivier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard University Press

The Nerve Center of the War

Just as Moulin’s death gave Brossolette a boost—or so he hoped—it also opened un-hoped-for prospects to the movements. They had not welcomed supervision from London in general and the growing power of its delegate in particular. But Moulin had the means to command respect, since the financing of the movements depended on him.

Until 1942, the underground groups had relied on the generosity of their members or on the largesse of their patrons to provide for their operations. Over time, however, such funding proved to be inadequate. The growth of the organizations made it necessary to hire permanent employees who, since they often quit their previous jobs, had to be remunerated, unless they were in possession of a personal fortune. The Vengeance movement, for example, paid its national leader, Victor Dupon, 7,000 francs a month. In July 1942, a decree defined the status of resistance fighters: permanent employees (P2) were entitled to a salary; agents who kept their professional employment (P1) received an allowance; and occasional workers (PO) also received compensation if necessary. In the Cohors network, the pay scale ranged between 3,000 and 5,500 francs a month,27 not insignificant figures, given that the average minimum wage was between 1,050 and 1,700 francs a month.28 In addition to payroll expenses, for which the underground groups were responsible, there were the investments necessary for their operations: the purchase or rental of offices, printing works, bicycles, and trucks—not to mention printing costs. Between 1942 and 1944, the price of a metric ton of paper rose from 25,000 to 60,000 francs;29 in 1943, it cost the newspaper Libération-sud between 100,000 and 130,000 francs to print 130,000 copies, not counting the resistance fighters’ salaries.30 Finally, social services required growing expenditures to assist families forced into a downward spiral by the arrest of one of their members. All together, Combat spent between 20,000 and 30,000 francs a month in 1941, 200,000 francs a month in 1942, and between 5 million and 7 million francs a month in 1943. The propaganda-distribution service of Libération-sud consumed 300,000 francs a month in early 1943, but 900,000 francs in 1944.31 In October 1943, the CDLR, with a civilian budget of 673,000 francs, allotted 300,000 to the fight against the STO, 87,000 francs to the NAP, 60,000 to the secretarial office, 50,000 to social services, 25,000 to worker action, 20,000 to false identity papers, and the rest to local groups.32

Increasing expenditures thus obliged the underground groups to abandon the improvisation of the early days and to secure regular financing. The aid Free France provided as of 1942 was therefore welcome. Jean Moulin, who parachuted into France in 1942, brought large sums of money on his first mission, and, between January and October of that year, a total of 12 million francs passed through his hands.33 Between January and May 1943, Libération-sud received 1.5 million francs, Franc-Tireur 600,000 francs, and Combat 2.5 million francs. The political parties were also subsidized—the CAS for the southern zone was allotted

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