National Council of the Resistance

Administrative organ of the French Resistance

The National Council of the Resistance (; CNR; also, National Resistance Council) directed and coordinated the different movements of the French Resistance during World War II: the press, trade unions and political parties hostile to the Vichy regime, starting from mid 1943.

Various resistance movements had arisen in France since the start of the German occupation in June 1940. With the possible exception of the Francs Tireurs et Partisans and other groups loyal to the Communist Party of France, the maquis groups were mostly unorganised and unrelated to one another. This lack of coordination made them less effective in their actions against the Nazi occupiers.

However, shortly after the CNR's creation, its president Jean Moulin was arrested at Caluire by the SS. Over the next three days, Moulin was tortured by Klaus Barbie himself, and died during his transfer to Germany. He divulged no information to his torturers and his silence likely allowed the CNR to pursue its activities. After Moulin's capture and death, the Conseil National de la Résistance decided for security reasons to end its plenary sessions and created an executive office of five members, with each member representing his own group and two others. The new office was under the direction of Alexandre Parodi, delegate general, and Georges Bidault, the new president. On 9 September 1944 Louis Saillant succeeded Bidault as head of the CNR.

On 15 March 1944 the CNR adopted, after months of negotiations, the Programme of the Conseil National de la Résistance. The document was strongly influenced by communist groups like the Front National, especially in part II, "Measures to be taken immediately after the liberation of the territory", which envisioned the establishment of a social democracy with a planned economy in France after liberation. Some of the proposed measures were applied, at least to a certain extent, after liberation, including the nationalisation of energy (Électricité de France was founded in 1946), insurance companies (AGF in 1945) and banks (Crédit Lyonnais in 1945, Société Générale in 1946), the creation of social security programs and the independence of trade unions. They are many of the so called acquis sociaux (social rights) of the second half of the 20th century in France.