Abstract EN:

This doctoral thesis is about women's militancy within the french communist party during the interwar years. The first part deals with the party's organisational answers to the "woman question" as well as with the relationship between feminism and communism. The second part is both an analysis of the conditions of women's militancy and a study of three generations of militant women through a portrait of those who held responsibilities in the communist party and in mass organisations (whether exclusively feminine or not) but also of grass roots militant women. A distinction is to be made between three grnerations : the passing militants (1920-1927), the faithful militants (1928-1933) and the heiresses (1934-1939). The third part examines, for each generations, the roles, the functions and the powers of women. New personalities emerge : mythical or real heroines, housewives, women engaged in international solidarity and lastly female comrades. The conclusion highlights the constant weakness of women's involvement and their difficulty in finding their place in a party of men, in getting equal responsibilities. Yet it emphasizes the fact that militancy enabled a great number of women to free themselves from their traditional roles, organise collective actions, thus enabling the last generation of them to prepare their participation in the french resistance.