The Great Hope

Scenes and images from the French Communist Party's (PCF) 1937 Congress in Arles. La Grande Espérance highlights some of the PCF's new concerns under the Popular Front: a warning against international fascism, a desire for organic unity, and the defense of national heritage and regional cultures. It also reveals the first signs of a cult of personality surrounding Maurice Thorez. La Grande Espérance was screened (and possibly re-edited) after the Liberation. A commentary was then added to the credits emphasizing the continuity of the Communist Party’s political line and the sacrifice of its activists during the war. Today, only this post-1945 version exists.

Cast

Maurice Thorez Himself Marcel Cachin Himself Jacques Duclos Himself

Danièle Casanova Herself

Benoît Frachon Himself

Georges Politzer Himself

Marie Politzer Herself

Joseph Ramier Himself

Martha Desrumeaux Herself

Pierre Semard Himself

Julien Racamond Himself

Jean-Richard Bloch Himself

Metadata from the source database.