What connects Camille Chautemps, Edouard Daladier, Gaston Doumergue and Pierre-Etienne Flandin to Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal, Michel Barnier and François Bayrou?
The first four were president of the council the last time France had four different heads of government in a single calendar year: in 1934! Not exactly the golden age of the Third Republic. The year 1934 began in a heavy climate of anti-parliamentarism, fueled by several corruption scandals. The most famous of them, the Stavisky affair, precipitated the fall of the government of radical Camille Chautemps on January 27.
His successor, Edouard Daladier, also from the radical party, failed to maintain his position. Under pressure from the street, he was forced to resign on February 7. The day before, February 6, the far-right leagues demonstrated in Paris aiming to take the Palais Bourbon, where Mr. Daladier and his government were to be invested. The demonstration degenerated into a bloody confrontation, leaving 15 dead and nearly a thousand injured.
To bring back a semblance of stability, the former President of the Republic Gaston Doumergue, also radical, is called to head a government of« union nationale ». This cabinet brought a momentary respite and marked the entry into politics of a certain Philippe Pétain, then a novice in ministerial affairs.
Political instability is also the result of economic and social instability: “Great Depression”coming from the United States, reached France in those years. Since the start of the decade, this is already the fourth year that the country has had four different council presidents between January 1 and December 31. The Doumergue government tried to stop this spiral by proposing constitutional reforms, but its efforts ended in failure.
On October 9, the murder of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louis Barthou, further shook the government. Gaston Doumergue resigned on November 8, giving way to Pierre-Etienne Flandin, from the ranks of the right. The latter ruled the country until May 1935. During this time, the left organized itself: in response to the demonstration of February 6, which it perceived as the symbol of the fascist threat in France, began the formation of what became the Popular Front which won the 1936 elections.
