Table of Contents

Maps and tables viii

Preface ix

Acknowledgements xiii

Part 1 The Var 1

1 The regional setting 1

2 Social and economic change 1871-1914 23

3 Political developments 1871-1914 53

4 The social geography of the left 100

Part 2 Why Socialism ? 138

5 The economic crisis 138

6 Provençal sociability 154

7 Education and an absent Church 175

8 Feuds and personalities 200

9 The'Var rouge'? 217

Part 3 Politics and the French Peasantry 239

10 From the Var to France 239

11 Politics in the countryside 254

12 The roots of socialism 281

Notes 311

A note on sources 337

Sources and bibliography 343

Index 363