... expanding town-centred employment. Since the Liberation, the government's aim was to promote industrialisation, with a drive towards production and distribution on a commerical level; the introduction of chainstores and supermarkets, that threatened the livelihood of the small businessmen - shopkeepers, farmers, wine growers, butchers, would all be affected. Small-scale agriculture was to make way for 'big business.' Under these conditions, taxation quickly became an unbearable burden and the most obvious target for protest. The Poujadists Rise to Power The Poujadist movement had gained real momentum - their protesting was in the form of a direct attack, through holding mass meetings, infiltrating professional institutions and carrying out raids on tax offices. The movement reflected the fears of rural France confronted with the onset of modernisation. Dissatisfaction with high taxes led to the League for Small and Medium Businesses, which tried to persuade members of the Assemblée Nationale to grant them much ...

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