The Institute of Corporation and Social Studies under the Vichy Regime: A Laboratory for a Corporatist Doctrine

Paradoxically, the abolition of the guilds-“corporations” in 18th century parlance-by the French Revolution engendered the “corporatist idea” which flourished during the 19th century, thickened in the wake of the Russian Revolution and the Great Depression, and reached its zenith under Vichy. This paper explores the trajectory of the Institute of Corporation and Social Studies (I.E.C.S.) which was charged, according to its very young director, M. Bouvier-Ajam, with the task of preparing, perhaps even establishing the corporate system, a socio-institutional keystone in the arch of the National Revolution. Directly inspired by an idealized vision of a protracted Ancien Regime, Christian, coherent, and harmonious, this corporatism nevertheless could boast of its modernity and its relevance. Bouvier-Ajam’s exegesis of the doctrine, however, aroused opposition within the I.E.C.S. and Pétain's entourage. The I.E.C.S. was dissolved just before the Liberation, which interned Bouvier-Ajam for a year. Repudiating the corporatist gospel, Bouvier-Ajam became a communist, mixed with the leaders of the P.C.F., and joined the Centre d'Études et Recherches Marxistes. He distanced himself from the party toward the end of his career when, as a best-selling historian, he tenaciously sought election to the French Academy, strongly supported by the Duke of Lévis-Mirepoix, who had served on the patronage committee of the I.E.C.S.