Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- ONE: Introduction -- Social Gains in Interwar Europe -- The Tilt Toward Dictatorships -- Unemployment in Comparative Perspective -- The Impact of the German Tragedy -- Years of Social and Political Crisis -- The Contemporary Relevance of the European Left -- Moments of Opportunity -- The Comparative Dimension -- Overview of This Book -- TWO: The Itineraries of the LSI and the Comintern -- The Spanish Crucible -- Austro-Marxist (In)Action -- Discontent Within the SPD -- France and Belgium -- United and Popular Fronts in the Practice of the Comintern -- The PCF in October 1934 -- The Language of the PCF -- Spanish Communism in Transition -- Conclusion -- THREE: An International United Front? -- Pro-Unity Sentiments Within the LSI in Early 1933 -- The Paris Conference -- The Stalemate Within the LSI -- The LSI-Left -- Otto Bauer and the Comintern -- The Abyssinian Crisis -- Personal Crusades -- Conclusion -- FOUR: The Era of United Fronts -- The Peculiarities of Catalonia -- The Catalan United Front -- The Absence of a National Structure -- The Asturian Commune -- Moves Toward Unity in the Austrian Underground -- United Fronts in Germany -- United Fronts in Belgium, France and Italy -- Conclusion -- FIVE: The Promise of the Plan -- Hendrik de Man -- The Socialist Idea -- The End of the Reformist Era? -- The Plan de Man -- Popularizing the Plan -- Echoes of the Plan de Man: Germany, Austria and Spain -- "Planomania" in France -- The Sudden Fall of the Plan de Man -- Conclusion -- SIX: The Nature of a Popular Front -- French Socialists Debate the Popular Front -- The Waning of the French Radical Party -- The Genesis of the Spanish Popular Front -- The Electoral Manifesto -- El Acoplamiento -- Electoral Victories in Spain and France -- Contradictions Within the Victorious Popular Fronts.

The Two Dynamics of Popular Fronts -- Conclusion -- SEVEN: Transnational Consciousness Within the European Left -- The German Tragedy in European Perspective -- The Schutzbund Uprising -- The Radiance of Asturias -- The Victories of Popular Fronts -- Conclusion -- EIGHT: Piston-Box and Steam -- Unity in the Provinces: France, 1933 -- Unity in the Provinces: France, 1934 -- Grassroots Unity in the Saar -- Mechanisms of Unity in Spain -- Sources of PSOE Radicalization and Paralysis -- The Meanings of the Frente Popular -- The Meanings of the Rassemblement Populaire -- Conclusion -- NINE: Contingency in the Historical Process -- Social Movements and the Historical Process -- The Origins of Interwar Dictatorships -- The Relevance of Contingency -- Patterns of Discontinuities -- Constraints on Contingency -- The Conjunctural Importance of Contingency -- Social Movements and Contingency -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- Z.