The reconstruction of culture: Peuple et Culture and the popular education movement

Abstract

One of the most significant popular cultural movements of the Liberation was the organisation Peuple et Culture. Born in the Christian-Socialist ethos of the École des Cadres at Uriage under the Vichy regime, and inspired by the cultural policy of the Front Populaire, it developed as a Resistance organisation, bringing culture to the bands of résistants in the Vercors. At the Liberation and in the early years of the Fourth Republic, it played a key role in defining cultural reconstruction, emphasising the need for infrastructure and trained personnel, and working towards a holistic approach to workers’ education and culture from school years into all stages of adulthood. As such, in spite of political and theoretical inconsistencies and contradictions, it laid the ground for future cultural planning policies under the Fifth Republic.