Et On Veut Que la France Désarme! [And They Want France Disarmed!]
- Title:
- Et On Veut Que la France Désarme! [And They Want France Disarmed!]
- Alternate Title:
- [And They Want France Disarmed!]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Centre de Propagande des Républicains Nationaux (CPRN)
- Date:
- 1932
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2396.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2396_01Adj.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1920 - 1939
- Subject:
- Between the Wars
Pictorial
Politics & Government - Measurement:
- 74 x 114 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This large art deco poster map makes a dramatic case against the disarmament proposals of left-wing French political parties between the wars. The nations surrounding France are shown bristling with arms - including a German dirigible - and their massive military budgets are listed with great specificity. (Even the U.S. is shown, with expenditures of 18,103,000,000 - presumably in French francs.) The message is sarcastic: “And They Want France Disarmed!”
During the 1920s and 1930s, following the pain and damage suffered in World War I, French political parties on all sides were deeply splintered. Among the most divisive issues were the disputes between pacifist and other forces seeking disarmament and those urging increased military readiness. In the 1924 elections, a conservative parliament was turned out by a coalition of socialists and radical socialists, the “Cartel des Gauches.”
Reacting to that defeat, a leading center-right politician and journalist named Henri de Kerillis formed the Centre de Propagande des Républicains Nationaux (CPRN) as an anti-socialist, anti-communist political support organization. Kerillis had travelled to Britain to study the organization of the Conservative Party, which he described as “a veritable science, which linked the surveillance of the electorate to methodical organization of propaganda and modern advertising.” Passmore 2017, 62. He recognized the impossibility of uniting center and right forces in France into a single political party, but conceived the CPRN instead as an umbrella organization providing research, organization and propaganda. Kerillis’ newspaper, L’Echo, provided support to the organization and routinely devoted a full page to activities of the CPRN. See, e.g., “La Page du Centre de Propaganda,” L’Echo de Paris, 13 December, 1934, p.4, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k8153866/f4.item, accessed September 20, 2019.
At the heart of CPRN’s activity was its production of political posters using the latest concepts in advertising: simple slogans, expressed with minimal text, and clear, bold images. One of his critics remarked that Kerillis’s techniques “were more suited to launching a new brand of chocolate than to politics.” Passmore 62. War and Disarmament were the most common themes of the CPRN’s posters. D’Almeida 2001, Table 2. Poster committees were created in Paris and in large provincial towns. Kerillis boasted that during the 1932 election campaigns, his posters and speakers appeared in 20,000 communes throughout France. Passmore 64.
This poster is undated, but it was published as part of the internal political fight before and during the World Disarmament Conference of 1932-1934 in Geneva. In France, “the rightist press from moderate right to staunch conservative to far right was deeply hostile to the reduction of French armaments, as can be seen the pages of such journals as . . . L’Echo of Paris” (Kerillis’s newspaper). Davies 2004, 8. A number of U.S. newspapers published wire service reports in February 1932 describing “a french newspaper cartoon” apparently identical to this poster, including the caption “et on veut que la France desarme.” E.g., Sandusky [Ohio] Register, February 26, 1932, p. 4, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/4644188/, accessed March 25, 2019. Accordingly, this poster was almost certainly published in late 1931 or early 1932. For another poster on the same theme, published by CPRN at about the same time, see ID #2418, "LA FRANCE qui a Connu 4 Fois l'INVASION en 100 Ans, ne doit pas Desarmer sans Etre Assuree de sa SECURITE. [FRANCE, Which Has Known INVASION 4 Times in 100 Years, Must Not Disarm Without Being Assured of its SECURITY.]"
The most prominent figure in translating Kerillis’s concepts into the posters of the CPRN was the well-known graphic artist Andre Galland. Although his signature does not appear on this poster, the artistic style and fonts conform closely to other works of his, and it’s likely that if he did not create it himself, he played a major role in its production.
The collection includes a number of maps in the art deco style of the time. For others, Search > "deco".
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.