After its dissolution by the Daladier government on September 26, 1939, the PCF went underground. Contacts with the M.O.I. were severed by the Party leadership, which feared police infiltration of foreign communities. Louis Gronowski, the national leader of the M.O.I., was the only one to maintain contact with immigrant activists.
The PCF was thrown into disarray by the general mobilization and weakened by defections from its ranks following the German-Soviet Pact and the “anti-imperialist” shift that blurred the distinction between democratic countries (France and Great Britain) and fascist regimes (Germany, Italy). Faced with the threat of arrests of its members, the PCF had to establish underground structures to ensure the safety of its leaders, provide for their livelihoods, and maintain communication among activists.
M.O.I. activists face the same difficulties. Furthermore, the new political line—which asserts that the war is driven, on both sides, by imperialist objectives that are alien to the interests of the working class—is confusing to the immigrants who volunteered to fight in the army alongside the French.
Under these circumstances, with the press—which unanimously condemned the Pact and the Communists—as the only source of information still available, Louis Gronowski, the national leader of the M.O.I., requested a meeting with the Party leadership. His request is denied, and the leadership’s representative, Henri Janin, informs him that “the leadership cannot deal with immigrants and their organizations; they must fend for themselves.” The reason given: the risk of police infiltration within the immigrant community.
To avoid worrying the activists who were awaiting instructions, Gronowski did not reveal that he had now been officially cut off from the PCF leadership. Throughout the “Phoney War,” he alone maintained contact with the immigrant activists, particularly those in the Jewish section.
Ties between the PCF and the M.O.I. were reestablished in August 1940.
Reference:
– Gronowski-Brunot, Louis, 1980, *Le dernier grand soir* (pages 120–122 and page 126; quote on p. 121), Paris: Éd. Le Seuil.
– Rayski, Adam, 1985, *Our Lost Illusions* (pages 66 and 67), Paris: Éditions Balland.
