Focusing on the years 1938 through 1945, this book tells the history of the French Left's activities to subvert the German occupying army. Although there have been many accounts of the French Resistance, this is the first to concentrate on the radical Trotskyists living in France. Incorporating firsthand experiences, the book chronicles the coming of the war and the independent stance taken by Trotskyists in opposition to the French Communist Party. Arguing that mass resistance can, in fact, work, this history also features reproductions of surviving published texts from the period.