21

A little-known socialist review, Révolte (1931-1934), gives us a glimpse of the “spirit of the thirties” within the French Section of the Workers’ International (SFIO), marked by post-war developments and the defeat at the Tours Congress. Within this small Parisian forum, a group of young activists sought to renew socialist doctrine and revitalize the “Vieille Maison” so that it could win over the new masses and finally assume its responsibilities by taking power. This “Class 22”, a generation both frightened and fascinated by post-war modernity, developed its own distinctive discourse and thought, which found little resonance within the French left. Stifled by a Party determined to maintain the French socialism’s fragile unity at all costs, and then made invisible by the Front Populaire, which represented the triumph of the next generation, Class 22 failed to maintain its existence. Nevertheless, this impeded generation still illustrates how the “spirit of the thirties” infused French socialism.