Vincent Badie — Vichy Casino, 10 July

Vincent Badie, 41, Radical-Socialist deputy for Hérault, witnesses the manoeuvre by which Laval intends to have constituent full powers voted to Pétain. On 10 July 1940, at the Vichy Casino, he has drafted with a few friends a counter-motion proposing an alternative formula: full powers strictly limited to the duration of hostilities, without constitutional revision or abandonment of the Republic.

Badie knows he will be in the minority. The atmosphere is heavy: the defeat, the German presence a few dozen kilometres away, Laval's pressure, and the absence of many opponents (prisoners or stuck on the Massilia) crush any inclination to resist. Many sense that voting against will cost dearly.

A Radical-Socialist attached to secularism and the Republic, Badie has few illusions about the outcome of the ballot. The dilemma is one of political courage in a time of collapse. He can vote no publicly and sign a protest, at the risk of reprisals; vote yes with an interpretive declaration to preserve the future; or abstain so as not to expose himself. Badie must choose before the vote opens.