Faced with the prospect that Léon Blum’s Popular Front government, which depended on Communist support, might complement its policy of domestic work creation with the imposition of exchange controls–Schacht’s formula since 1933–the French right wing abruptly abandoned its dogged attachment to the gold standard. If the choice was between devaluing the franc in cooperation with Britain and America, or following Germany into ‘economic fascism’, the decision was easy.
