French pacifism before WWII was so strong it accepted fascism rather than war

Evidence

France did have some far-right organisations — Action française and the newer, more radical Croix-de-Feu or Iron Cross movement — but the general mood of pacifism kept their influence limited. The novelist Roger Martin du Gard voiced a common feeling when he wrote to a friend in September 1936, ‘Anything rather than war! Anything!… Even Fascism in Spain! And don’t push me, for I would say: yes … and “even Fascism in France!” ’ Beauvoir felt similarly, and said to Sartre, ‘Surely France at war would be worse than France under the Nazis?’ But Sartre, who had seen the Nazis at close hand, disagreed. As usual, his imagination supplied lurid details: ‘I have no wish to be made to eat my manuscripts. I don’t want Nizan to have his eyes gouged out with teaspoons.’ — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 400

Categorization

• CANDY: Sartre’s line about Nizan’s eyes being gouged out with teaspoons is a vivid, quotable detail of his dark imagination.
• XREF: The willingness to accept fascism rather than war echoes the Munich appeasement mindset and connects to later themes about bad faith and choosing in ambiguity. — connects to: French fascism drew on syndicalist and anti-bolshevik movements rooted in ex-servicemen; Fascism was an aggressive offensive, not a desperate defensive move; The army’s anti-Communist doctrine threatened French democracy by courting fascism — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 532 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Fascism was an aggressive offensive, not a desperate defensive move #contradicts (0.85)
• The army’s anti-Communist doctrine threatened French democracy by courting fascism #corroborates (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 532
• State connivance drove fascism’s rise from marginal to mass scale #expands (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 107
• French fascism drew on syndicalist and anti-bolshevik movements rooted in ex-servicemen #complicates (0.72)