Contenu du sommaire

The Kremlin wars of succession (1924-1984), Hélène Carrère d'Encausse. The difficulties of succession which the Soviet System experienced on the deaths of Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Andropov are discussed. No apparent rule could ever be established in the USSR to ensure the transfer of power without a crisis. But a careful examination of the circumstances and the stakes of the wars of succession clarifies successively the roles of individuals until 1953, of the apparatus until 1982, and of the generational conflict within the party since the death of Brezhnev. History seems to reinforce Max Weber's analysis of the routinization of power and the final victory of the System over the individuals.

The long term evolution of French nationalization, Pierre Bauchet. A point by point comparison of the nationalizations of the 1930s, of 1945-1946 and of 1982 shows the originality of those of the Liberation. Their motives were in keeping with pre-war hopes. The urgency of a purge and the political conditions of the country helped to make them well accepted, and the management methods of the new national firms were to set the way for others. Today, however, the idea of nationalization is in a crisis. Having gone in 1982 beyond the limits set in 1945, France might do well to ponder : should there be denationalization ?

The North Constantine demonstration of May 1945 an insurrectional attempt ?, Charles-Robert Ageron. In May 1945, very violent demonstrations broke out in Algeria. Since then, various explanations have been given in an attempt to understand something that European public opinion hardly noticed. For some, it was an insurrectional attempt ; for others, hunger riots or a peasant uprising. All such theses were based on political biases. New sources now make it possible to evaluate better both the divergent interpretations of the events, the number of victims and the state of political forces of a budding nation. Thus the idea of a colonialist provocation or that of an Algerian Popular Party maneuvre can be rejected. On the other hand, the APP's leaders' hesitations concerning strategy and their catastrophic consequence on the movement itself can no longer be neglected. The demonstrations now appear to have been essential as preparations for the Algerian revolution.

Colonization, decolonization and capitalism (1880-1960). Divorce, French style, Jacques Marseille. Decolonization has not been, as some politicians had predicted, a catastrophe for the French economy, far from it. In the decade which followed the downfall of the colonial empire, the growth of capitalism, seldom as vigorous, was accompanied by the structural transformations necessary to modernization. The business community seemed to understand that well before the state since, as early as the 1930s, certain economic agents were already feeling unsatisfaction. Public opinion relayed by political forces, became passionately and unexpectedly interes in the empire, just as the world of business and finance was moving away from it. A painful divorce, which only General de Gaulle alone could declare.

Vienna at the end of last century. The limits of the historic example, Michael Pollak. The cultural flowering of Vienna at the end of the 19th century fascinates many historians. They try to elucidate the apparent contradiction between the political decline of the Empire, undermined by the powerlessness of authoritarianism as of liberalism, ready to sink under the shock of the First world war, and the extraordinary artistic, literary, and philosophic flowering of its capital. Searching for their cultural identity, writers, journalists, and artists contributed to the glow and influence of a nation which was playing a lesser economic and diplomatic role. Is it proper to use this historical case to make a parallel with situations which are different in time and space, such as the United States in the 1970s? In history, what are the limits of historic example ?

The European organisation for nuclear research (CENR). A political and scien-tific success, Dominique Pestre After 30 years of existence, the CENR (in French CERN) created in 1954, is a scientific as well as a political success. Launched after the Second World War the plan for a major European nuclear physics laboratory was implemented at the same time as the first Community organizations were being set up (ECSC, OEEC, etc.). Its success was due to the role of the « scientific administrators » and European physicists whose Community convictions were stronger than the politic differences among member states, to the impossibility for any European count to carry out such a scientific and financial endeavour alone, and to the quality of the discoveries of the CENR in the physics of nuclear particles.

Mickey go home! The de-Americanization of the comic strip (1945-1950), Pascal Ory. American cultural hegemony, which had reached France even before the Second World War, became more marked after 1945. In the case of the comic strip, a Francophone tradition succeeded in resisting the influence of American funnies. Thanks to protectionist legislation, a «moderate synthesis», joining moralism and modernity inspired by Catholic movements, managed to impose a style, a « clean line », which long ensured the reputation of a French-Belgian school (Herge, Jacobs, Franquin, etc.) at the expense of American heroes.

Origins of the contemporary collective-action répertoire in France and Great Britain, Charles Tilly. Eight examples of various types of conflict from 1682 to 1982 divide into two relatively distinct repertoires of collective action. The first, localized and oriented largely to local powerholders, lasted until the 19th century. The other, more national and autonomous, came to predominate in Great Britain around 1832 and in France around 1848. Compared to the 19th, the 20th century produced few changes in the repertoire ; with respect to organization and action even the « new social movements » occurring since 1968 do not constitute a large innovation. The forms of collective action result from a cumulative historical process.