''Combat'' was a French

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

created during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was founded in 1941 as a clandestine newspaper of the French Resistance.

War years

In August 1944, ''Combat'' took over the headquarters of '' L'Intransigeant'' in Paris, and

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

became its editor in chief. The newspaper's production run decreased from 185,000 copies in January 1945 to 150,000 in August of the same year: it did not attain the circulation of other established newspapers (the Communist daily ''

L'Humanité (; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist." History ...

'' was publishing at the time 500,000 copies).

Liberation

Following the liberation, the main participants in the publication included Albert Ollivier, Jean-Paul de Dadelsen, Jean Bloch-Michel (1912–1987), and Georges Altschuler (fr). Among leading contributors were

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

, André Malraux, Emmanuel Mounier, Raymond Aron and Pierre Herbart. From 1943 to 1947, its editor-in-chief was

.J. Levi-Valensi (ed), ''Camus at Combat'' Princeton University Press, 2006 Its production was directed by André Bollier until Milice repression led to his death.

Post-war

During 1946, ''Combat'' was opposed to the "game of the parties" claiming to rebuild France, and thus became closer to

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

without, however, becoming the official voice of his movement. Loyal to its origins, ''Combat'' tried to become the place of expression for those who believed in creating a popular non-Communist Left movement in France. In July 1948 (more than a year after the May 1947 crisis and the expulsion of the Communist Party (ministers) from the government), Victor Fay (de), a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

activist, took over ''Combat''s direction, but he failed to stop the newspaper's evolution towards more popular subjects and less political information. In 1950, it hosted a debate about the Notre-Dame Affair stimulated by a vehement letter by

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

in response to the editor Louis Pauwels.Myriam Boucharenc (2005
''L'universel reportage''
pp. 94-6 Philippe Tesson (fr) became editor in chief from 1960 to 1974. Henri Smadja (fr) had thought Tesson could be a perfect puppet-editor but Smadja's situation, in part because of the

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

n regime, got worse. In March 1974, Philippe Tesson created ''

Le Quotidien de Paris ''Le Quotidien de Paris'' (; The Daily of Paris) was a French newspaper founded in 1974 by Philippe Tesson. Along with ' and ', ''Le Quotidien de Paris'' made up the (Daily Press Group) which employed over 550 individuals," Philippe Tesson : « ...

'' (1974–1996), which he had conceived as the successor of ''Combat''.

May 1968

During the May 1968 crisis, ''Combat'' supported the student movement although from a Stalinist point of view, through the signatures of the likes of Jacques-Arnaud Penent (fr). On 3 June, it published a falsified version of the ''Address to All Workers'' by the Council for Maintaining the Occupations, removing the references to the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

and the attacks against the Stalinists.

Dissolution

Henri Smadja died by suicide on 14 July 1974, and ''Combat'' definitively ceased to be published the following month.

References

External links

''Combat''
issues (1941–1953 only) online in Gallica, the digital library of the BnF
Albert Camus' editorial
on 8 August 1945 concerning the Hiroshima bombing {{DEFAULTSORT:Combat (Newspaper) 1974 disestablishments in France Publications disestablished in 1974 Defunct newspapers published in France French resistance publications Contemporary French history Underground press in World War II Daily newspapers published in France