The French Resistance 1944

The Parisian Liberation Committee to the People of Paris!


Source: L'Humanité, August 22, 1944;
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitchell Abidor.


The long awaited day has arrived!

Allied and French troops are at the gates of Paris!

The hour of the national insurrection has sounded!

It is Paris, capital of liberty, Paris, proud of its past of struggle and heroism; it is Paris, liberated by Parisians, that will greet the Allies.

Just as the National Council of the Resistance called on the entire nation to fight, the Parisian Committee of Liberation calls all of you to combat.

The hour has come to drive out the invader; the hour has come to once again proclaim the republic at the Hôtel de Ville.

The railroad workers, the police, and after them the workers of all corporations have unleashed the patriotic general strike.

TO ARMS CITIZENS!

Under the leadership of the local Committees of Liberation, with the heroic soldiers of the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur, the people of Paris have the sacred duty to reconquer and defend the national patrimony, to arm themselves against the enemy and to fight.

Retake the town halls where the authorities of the republic will sit. Occupy the strategic points of national, departmental and local interest, the seats of your organizations.

The FFI, the Resistance organizations, the Patriotic Militias know their objectives. Men and women of Paris, join with them!

Seize traitors and members of the fascist Militia.

At the moment when from east to west our English, American and Russian allies are crushing the German army, we must prepare ourselves by fighting to receive the victorious armies.

Let their flags be mixed with the folds of the tricolor!

Long live the national insurrection!

Long live the English, American, and Russian Allies!

Long live the provisional government of the French Republic and its president, general DeGaulle!

Long live the republic! Long live France!