Vichy and social revenge

Did the patronat see the Vichy regime as an opportunity to reverse the labour victory of 1936? It has been argued here that business did seek to overturn that labour victory. The Matignon accords were signed not because the controlling group in the business movement found them acceptable but because it found the consequences of not signing them unacceptable. Even before the signature of the accords business leaders were planning a mobilization that would overthrow them and the circumstances that had made them necessary. Because of the pivotal political role of the Radical party that mobilization focused on the classes moyennes, who were seen to constitute the electoral base of that party. Heavy industry sought alliances with the representatives of that class, or rather with those who claimed to represent that class. However, the destruction of the Popular Front and the labour legislation that had been imposed after Matignon had little to do with the great mobilization of the classes moyennes. It was achieved on the one hand by the state, which was motivated by the need to make the economy more efficient in order to be ready for war, and on the other hand by individual employers acting to restore authority within their own company. The suppression of working-class organization and Popular Front labour legislation had occurred before the fall of France. This suppression had brought changes to the tactics of the group that controlled the business movement. These changes were marked by the Majestic accords, which were an armistice in the class war, and by the abandonment of those social allies who had proved useful in 1936 and 1937.