The Eighty (Les Quatre-Vingts) were a group of elected French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted against the constitutional change that effectively dissolved the Third Republic and established the authoritarian regime of then-Prime Minister Philippe Pétain. Their efforts failed, and Pétain consolidated his regime into the client state of Nazi Germany now known as Vichy France.

Some of the Vichy 80, like Léon Blum, would go on to be imprisoned by regime, while others managed to join the French Resistance, through groups like the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans and the Brutus network. Several of the Eighty, including Vincent Auriol and Paul Ramadier, would play key roles in the establishment of the French Fourth Republic after the end of World War II.

Background Nazi Germany invaded France on 10 May 1940, and Paris fell a month later. Prime Minister Paul Reynaud was opposed to asking for armistice terms, and upon losing the cabinet vote, resigned. President Albert Lebrun appointed Marshal Philippe Pétain as his replacement. France capitulated on 22 June 1940. Under the terms of the armistice, the northern and Atlantic coast region of France was to be militarily occupied by Germany. The remainder would remain unoccupied, with the French Government remaining at Vichy, remaining responsible for all civil government in France, occupied and unoccupied.

Pétain began a revision of the constitution of the discredited Third Republic. This process was completed with a vote of the combined houses of the parliament on 10 July 1940.

Vote

27 deputies and senators did not take part in the vote. They had fled Metropolitan France on 21 June, from Bordeaux to Algiers, on board the liner SS Massilia, and they are referred to as the Massilia absentees. They were considered traitors by the collaborationist government, although they were seen as heroes after the war.For the complete list of Massilia's passengers, see Louis-Georges Planes and Robert Dufourg, Bordeaux, Capitale tragique, mai-juin 1940, Loos: Editions Medicis, 4-page unnumbered inset between pages 188 and 189.

The result of the vote was a constitutional amendment that created the new French government. The eighty deputies and senators who opposed the change are referred to as the Vichy 80 (French: "les quatre-vingts"), and they are now famous for their decision to oppose the vote.

Most of the eighty votes against the change were lodged by Socialists or Radical-Socialists. Sixty-one communist parliamentarians had previously had their rights to serve as deputies and senators denied to them in January 1940, as the Soviet Union was a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany at the time. Using data collected from the biographies of parliamentarians, Jean Lacroix, Pierre-Guillaume Méon, and Kim Oosterlinck (2023) observe that members of a democratic dynasty, defined as a dynasty whose founder was a defender of democratic ideals, were 9.6 to 15.1 percentage points more likely to oppose the act than other parliamentarians.

The historian Richard Vinen has observed that "the implications of supporting Pétain in July 1940 were not clear. This was not, for all its subsequent mythology, a vote that divided Pétaininsts and/or collaborators from resisters." He highlights the cases of Joseph Laniel who voted in favour of Pétain's inauguration but was subsequently a leading member of the French resistance and the Conseil national de la Résistance. Isidore Thivrier, by contrast, who was among the 80 to vote against, subsequently embraced the Vichy regime and became a member of Vichy's National Council.

Vote tally Deputies Senators Total Total 544 302 846 Voting 414 235 649 For 357 212 569 Against 57 23 80 Voluntary abstaining 12 8 20 Massilia absentees 26 1 27 Other abstaining 92 57 149 Not voting 1 1

List of the 80 Name House Département Parliamentary group Marcel Astier Senate Ardèche Radical-Socialist Jean-Fernand Audeguil Chamber of Deputies Gironde SFIO Vincent Auriol Chamber of Deputies Haute-Garonne SFIO Alexandre Bachelet Senate Seine SFIO Vincent Badie Chamber of Deputies Hérault Radical-Socialist Camille Bedin Chamber of Deputies Dordogne SFIO Émile Bender Senate Rhône Radical-Socialist Jean Biondi Chamber of Deputies Oise SFIO Léon Blum Chamber of Deputies Aude SFIO Laurent Bonnevay Chamber of Deputies Rhône AD Paul Boulet Chamber of Deputies Hérault LJR Georges Bruguier Senate Gard SFIO Séraphin Buisset Chamber of Deputies Isère SFIO Gaston Cabannes Chamber of Deputies Gironde SFIO Chamber of Deputies Ariège SFIO Pierre de Chambrun Senate Lozère Independent Auguste Champetier de Ribes Senate Basses-Pyrénées Independent Pierre Chaumié Senate Lot-et-Garonne Radical-Socialist Arthur Chaussy Chamber of Deputies Seine-et-Marne SFIO Chamber of Deputies Var SFIO Chamber of Deputies Seine-Inférieure Radical-Socialist Achille Daroux Chamber of Deputies Vendée Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Basses-Pyrénées Independent Left Senate Rhône SFIO Marx Dormoy Senate Allier SFIO Chamber of Deputies Rhône Independent Left Senate Seine Radical-Socialist Émile Fouchard Chamber of Deputies Seine-et-Marne UPF Chamber of Deputies Ardèche SFIO Senate Corse Radical-Socialist Justin Godart Senate Rhône Radical-Socialist Félix Gouin Chamber of Deputies Bouches-du-Rhône SFIO Henri Gout Chamber of Deputies Aude Radical-Socialist Senate Vaucluse SFIO Chamber of Deputies Haute-Savoie SFIO Jean Hennessy Chamber of Deputies Alpes-Maritimes Independent Left Chamber of Deputies Isère SFIO Chamber of Deputies Pas-de-Calais Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Allier UPF Chamber of Deputies Corrèze Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Rhône SFIO François Labrousse Senate Corrèze Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Finistère Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Manche AD Victor Le Gorgeu Senate Finistère Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Gironde SFIO Augustin Malroux Chamber of Deputies Tarn SFIO Chamber of Deputies Hautes-Pyrénées Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Marne Radical-Socialist Chamber of Deputies Isère SFIO Chamber of Deputies Loir-et-Cher SFIO Chamber of Deputies Basses-Pyrénées Radical-Socialist Jules Moch Chamber of Deputies Hérault SFIO Chamber of Deputies Cantal Independent Left Léonel de Moustier Chamber of Deputies Doubs Républicain indépendant Marius Moutet Chamber of Deputies Drôme SFIO René Nicod Chamber of Deputies Ain UPF Louis Noguères Chamber of Deputies Pyrénées-Orientales SFIO Jean Odin Senate Gironde Radical-Socialist Joseph Paul-Boncour Senate Loir-et-Cher Socialist Republican Union (USR) Jean Perrot Chamber of Deputies Finistère Radical-Socialist Georges Pézières Senate Pyrénées-Orientales SFIO André Philip Chamber of Deputies Rhône SFIO Marcel Plaisant Senate Cher Radical-Socialist François Tanguy-Prigent Chamber of Deputies Finistère SFIO Paul Ramadier Chamber of Deputies Aveyron Independent Joseph-Paul Rambaud Senate Ariège Radical-Socialist René Renout Senate Var Radical-Socialist Léon Roche Chamber of Deputies Haute-Vienne SFIO Camille Rolland Senate Rhône Radical-Socialist Jean-Louis Rolland Chamber of Deputies Finistère SFIO Joseph Rous Chamber of Deputies Pyrénées-Orientales SFIO Jean-Emmanuel Roy Chamber of Deputies Gironde Radical-Socialist Henry Sénès Senate Var SFIO Philippe Serre Chamber of Deputies Meurthe-et-Moselle Independent Left Paul Simon Chamber of Deputies Finistère Popular Democrat Gaston Thiébaut Chamber of Deputies Meuse Radical-Socialist Isidore Thivrier Chamber of Deputies Allier SFIO Pierre Trémintin Chamber of Deputies Finistère Popular Democrat Michel Zunino Chamber of Deputies Var SFIO

References

Further reading

External links List of the MPs Original vote Le vote du 10 Juillet 1940 (an account in French of the circumstances surrounding the vote) An account and statistical analysis of the vote and of the role played by dynastic parliamentarians (in English).