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Protesters pose with their makeshift weapons during a lull in the Stavisky riots of February, 193 ! "#ourtesy$P%orbis'(ettmann)

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shift was o**urring in still more threatening form! +eary of in*ompetent leadership, Fren*h*onservatives were eyeing with growing admiration the fas*ist e periments beyond their borders!

-nd so.as had happened in 19/0 and as was to happen on*e again in 193 2 theFren*h eft, after two years in power and with two years of its ele*toral mandate still to run,found itself bankrupt both finan*ially and ideologi*ally, and was thus obliged to hand over power to the *onservatives! (ut the *onservatives4 attempt to repeat the finan*ial mira*le of 19/0 didnot su**eed! 5he old e 'president whom they hoisted into of! fi*e, 6aston 7oumergue, was far from being a Poin*ar8, and his government failed to produ*e the anti*ipated national revival!ven the presen*e of the hero of :erdun, ;arshal P8tain, as minister of defense, *ould not giveit the proper patrioti* flavor! 7oumergue su**eeded only in restoring a minimum of order in thenational finan*es! +hen the old prime minister stepped down in une, all thought of national regeneration had long sin*evanished!

%n the last half of 193?, under the rule of Pierre aval, Fran*e tou*hed its lowest point of the interwar period! %n foreign affairs, aval inaugurated an uninspiring poli*y of appeasement!%n the e*onomi* sphere, the government had nothing better to offer than retren*hment, salaryredu*tions, and a pedanti* adheren*e to the gold standard! 5he206 The Great Depression, 19291935