A Study Of Les Chantiers De La Jeunesse Under Vichy France

After taking over the power of French government in June 1940,Petain advocated for National Revolution(Revolution Nationale).This so-called revolution aimed to establish a new totalitarian system to replace parliamentary democracy of the Third Republic.At the same time,it tried to remove the influence of democratic ideas in French society,restore traditional moral values and rebuild France.In the opinions of Petain and other leaders,young man were the hope of French regeneration and the backstone of Revolution Nationale.In order to achieve the goal,the Vichy government set up the Chantiers de la Jeunesse to give educational exercises to the youth on libre zone and North Africa.However,the Chantiers didn't realize the aims of National Revolution.In one hand,the Chantiers only focused on the physical exercises of the youth,but ignored the education of morality and intelligence.In other hand,the awful relationship between Chantiers and the peasantry resulted in the failure of "return to earth".Thus,National Revolution aiming at developing new man ended in failure,and so did the Chantiers de la Jeunesse.