title: Economic history of France

text: The only period in the 19th century in which economic growth accelerated at the rate of other industrializing nations was 1852–1857, during which modern industry gained preeminence over smaller, artisanal production. The advent of the railway integrated previously isolated markets, facilitated easy transportation of raw materials and finished products, and facilitated the development of mechanization and financing systems. By removing transportation barriers, the railways eliminated the limits on growth for industries like coal and metallurgy. Railway construction also provided a massive stimulus in itself to metallurgy, coal and engineering, "stimulating the further concentration of production by which capitalism became industrial rather than commercial." Small firms which had dominated local markets with their products made using small-scale, artisanal methods, now had to compete with mass-produced, cheaper, and often higher quality products coming from factories.


title: Economic history of France

text: Paris became world-famous for making consumerism a social priority and economic force, especially through its upscale arcades filled with luxury shops and its grand department stores. These were "dream machines" that set the world standard for consumption of fine products by the upper classes as well as the rising middle class.


title: Economic history of France

text: Paris took the lead internationally in elaborate department stores reaching upscale consumers with luxury items and high quality goods presented in a novel and highly seductive fashion. The Paris department store had its roots in the "magasin de nouveautés", or novelty store; the first, the Tapis Rouge, was created in 1784. They flourished in the early 19th century, with "La Belle Jardiniere" (1824), "Aux Trois Quartiers" (1829), and "Le Petit Saint Thomas" (1830). Balzac described their functioning in his novel "César Birotteau". In the 1840s, the new railroads brought wealthy consumers to Paris from a wide region. Luxury stores grew in size, and featured plate glass display windows, fixed prices and price tags, and advertising in newspapers.


title: Economic history of France

text: The entrepreneur Aristide Boucicaut in 1852 took "Au Bon Marché", a small shop in Paris, set fixed prices (with no need to negotiate with clerks), and offered guarantees that allowed exchanges and refunds. He invested heavily in advertising, and added a wide variety of merchandise. Sales reached five million francs in 1860. In 1869 he moved to larger premises; sales reached 72 million in 1877. The multi-department enterprise occupied fifty thousand square meters with 1788 employees. Half the employees were women; unmarried women employees lived in dormitories on the upper floors. The success inspired numerous competitors all vying for upscale customers.


title: Economic history of France

text: The French gloried in the national prestige brought by the great Parisian stores. The great writer Émile Zola (1840–1902) set his novel "Au Bonheur des Dames" (1882–83) in the typical department store. Zola represented it as a symbol of the new technology that was both improving society and devouring it. The novel describes merchandising, management techniques, marketing, and consumerism.


title: Economic history of France

text: Other competitors moved downscale to reach much larger numbers of shoppers. The Grands Magasins Dufayel featured inexpensive prices and worked to teach workers how to shop in the new impersonal environment. Its advertisements promised the opportunity to participate in the newest, most fashionable consumerism at reasonable cost. The latest technology was featured, such as cinemas and exhibits of inventions like X-ray machines (used to fit shoes) and the gramophone. Increasingly after 1870 the stores' work force included greater numbers of young women. Despite the low pay and long hours they gained access to the newest and most fashionable merchandise and to interactions with upscale customers.


title: Economic history of France

text: By the 21st century, the grand Paris department stores had difficulty surviving in the new economic world. In 2015, just four remained; Au Bon Marché, now owned by the luxury goods firm LVMH; BHV; Galeries Lafayette and Printemps.


title: Economic history of France

text: In France, railways became a national medium for the modernization of backward regions, and a leading advocate of this approach was the poet-politician Alphonse de Lamartine. One writer hoped that railways might improve the lot of "populations two or three centuries behind their fellows" and eliminate 'the savage instincts born of isolation and misery." Consequently, France built a centralized system that radiated from Paris (plus lines that cut east to west in the south). This design was intended to achieve political and cultural goals rather than maximize efficiency.


title: Economic history of France

text: The development of the railways was "one of the major achievements of the Second Empire in the area of economic policy." In the first few months of 1852, more than 1,500 kilometers of new track were approved by the French state, and the average rate of construction grew to 1,000 kilometers of new track per year. The Second Empire was responsible for over half of the network at its maximum extent, in terms of the concessions granted. Over one third of the network was constructed during the Second Empire. Investment in railways grew dramatically to average 300 million francs per year in the four years between 1852 and 1856. This was three times the rate of investment per year for the period between 1848 and 1852.


title: Economic history of France

text: After some consolidation, six companies controlled monopolies of their regions, subject to close control by the government in terms of fares, finances, and even minute technical details. The central government department of Ponts et Chaussées (bridges and roads, or the Highways Department) brought in British engineers and workers, handled much of the construction work, provided engineering expertise and planning, land acquisition, and construction of permanent infrastructure such as the track bed, bridges and tunnels. It also subsidized militarily necessary lines along the German border, which was considered necessary for the national defense. In 1878, the Minister of Public Works Charles de Freycinet launched an ambitious public works program, often called the Freycinet Plan, to counter an economic downturn. The plan involved the purchasing of railroads by the state and the financing of new railways, waterways, and roads. Around 150 lines were constructed under this program, which was nearly complete by 1914.


title: Economic history of France

text: Private operating companies provided management, hired labor, laid the tracks, and built and operated stations. They purchased and maintained the rolling stock—6,000 locomotives were in operation in 1880, which averaged 51,600 passengers a year or 21,200 tons of freight. Much of the equipment was imported from Britain and therefore did not stimulate machinery makers. Although starting the whole system at once was politically expedient, it delayed completion, and forced even more reliance on temporary exports brought in from Britain. Financing was also a problem. The solution was a narrow base of funding through the Rothschilds and the closed circles of the Bourse in Paris, so France did not develop the same kind of national stock exchange that flourished in London and New York. The system did help modernize the parts of rural France it reached, but it did not help create local industrial centers. Critics such as Émile Zola complained that it never overcame the corruption of the political system, but rather contributed to it.


title: Economic history of France

text: The railways helped the industrial revolution in France by facilitating a national market for raw materials, wines, cheeses, and imported manufactured products. Yet the goals set by the French for their railway system were moralistic, political, and military rather than economic. As a result, the freight trains were shorter and less heavily loaded than those in such rapidly industrializing nations such as Britain, Belgium or Germany. Other infrastructure needs in rural France, such as better roads and canals, were neglected because of the expense of the railways, so it seems likely that there were net negative effects in areas not served by the trains.


title: Economic history of France

text: In 1870 the relative decline in industrial strength, compared to Bismarck's Germany, proved decisive in the Franco-Prussian War. The total defeat of France, in this conflict, was less a demonstration of French weakness than it was of German militarism and industrial strength. This contrasted with France's occupation of Germany during the Napoleonic wars. By 1914, however, German armament and general industrialization had out-distanced not only France but all of its neighbors. Just before 1914, France was producing about one-sixth as much coal as Germany, and a quarter as much steel.


title: Economic history of France

text: From the 1850s onwards, French agriculture underwent dramatic structural change, underpinned by several factors. Agriculture became more productive due to the increased use of fertilizers and the greater availability of manure (grain yields increased by 50% between 1850 and 1880). Farmers replaced the fallowing of land with fodder crops and the sugar beet, which permitted more livestock to be raised. In the south, the three-stage system used in northern France replaced the two-stage system, with fodder crops substituted for fallow. More livestock provided more income for farmers and more manure. In the Paris basin, the introduction of the sugar beet after 1850 drastically increased the productivity of the land; the turnover of a hectare of land in this region rose from 150 to 200 francs in 1840 to 400 francs in 1880.


title: Economic history of France

text: Better equipment was also introduced, with the horse plow replacing the swing plow and the scythe replacing the sickle. In areas like the Paris basin with large-scale farming operations, capital-intensive tedding machines, reapers, threshers, and mowing machines were introduced between 1873 and 1882.


title: Economic history of France

text: Investment in agriculture, previously a sector of the economy starved for capital, also rose. This was in part due to the migration of peasants to the towns, motivating employers to introduce improved tools and harvesting machinery to offset the tightening labor market. The damaging economic effects of poor harvests were also eliminated in the 1850s, as prices were stabilized. This was due substantially to the development of the railways, which provided fast, cheap, and bulk transport for grain and other foodstuffs which helped ensure demand was met across the country. This was first demonstrated after the harvest failure of 1846, when the Paris-Orléans line distributed food quickly to the areas it reached, shielding those areas from the catastrophic effects of the harvest failure suffered in other parts of the country. By the 1850s the railways had developed to such an extent that they were able to minimize the effects of the poor harvests in 1853 and 1855 throughout the country.


title: Economic history of France

text: Grain could be transported from regions with surplus harvest to those with shortages, or imported from abroad. Merchants were encouraged to expand their markets by the cheapness of rail transport. A sliding scale of tariffs on grain imports discouraged merchants from importing sufficient quantities of grain, since they could be subject to higher tariffs if prices decreased at home. This came to an end when the tariffs were repealed in 1860, not to be reintroduced until 1885. Imports jumped from 3 to 5 million hectoliters in 1846 following the poor harvest, and the next year stood at 10 million. In 1855, 10 million hectoliters were imported, but because the railway network was not yet mature and because of the discouraging effect of the tariffs, it took 8 months to distribute this grain throughout the country. By 1861, 13.5 million hectoliters were imported, but this time distribution was much faster because of the progress of the railway network. In 1879, 29.8 million hectoliters were imported following several years of poor harvests.


title: Economic history of France

text: Winemaking regions like the former province of Languedoc and the Côte-d'Or benefited greatly from the railways, with a “frenzy” of vine-planting taking place in the former region after 1850, and the productive output of the Côte-d'Or rising from 400,000 to 800,000 hectoliters of wine.


title: Economic history of France

text: France was a rural nation as late as 1940, but a major change took place after railways started arriving in the 1850s–60s. In his seminal book "Peasants Into Frenchmen" (1976), historian Eugen Weber traced the modernization of French villages and argued that rural France went from backward and isolated to modern and possessing a sense of French nationhood during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He emphasized the roles of railroads, republican schools, and universal military conscription. He based his findings on school records, migration patterns, military service documents and economic trends. Weber argued that until 1900 or so a sense of French nationhood was weak in the provinces. Weber then looked at how the policies of the Third Republic created a sense of French nationality in rural areas. The book was widely praised, but was criticized by some, such as Ted W. Margadant, who argued that a sense of Frenchness already existed in the provinces before 1870.


title: Economic history of France

text: French national policy was protectionist with regard to agricultural products, to protect the very large agricultural population, especially through the Méline tariff of 1892. France maintained two forms of agriculture, a modern, mechanized, capitalistic system in the Northeast, and in the rest of the country a reliance on subsistence agriculture on very small farms with low income levels. Modernization of the subsistence sector began in the 1940s, and resulted in a rapid depopulation of rural France, although protectionist measures remained national policy.


title: Economic history of France

text: In the 1880s, increasing competition amongst the great European powers for territory overseas led France to acquire new colonies. By 1912, the French colonial empire constituted 3.4 million square miles and 55 million inhabitants. While some of these territories had little to no economic interest (they were instead valuable for their geopolitical/strategic interest), others possessed lucrative raw materials and were exploited as markets for French goods. The development of the new colonies spurred a demand for equipment, machinery, and other goods which could only be sourced in France. The railroads and other infrastructure projects required French engineering expertise and a whole range of machinery/tools for their construction. Farmers and miners turned to France for the tools, chemicals, seed, etc. needed for their new enterprises.


title: Economic history of France

text: Some colonies were exporters of key raw materials to France. French West Africa was the primary source of coffee for the French market and a major source of cocoa. Sugar was supplied from Martinique, Réunion, and Guadeloupe. The colonies in north Africa, West Africa, and the Caribbean provided a range of tropical fruits like bananas, citrus, pineapples, and coconuts.


title: Economic history of France

text: Although the French government encouraged investment and development of the nation's overseas possessions, the government itself was reluctant to commit funds beyond their initial conquest and establishment. In 1900, the French parliament passed a law requiring the colonies to be fiscally self-sufficient. There was an active imperial lobby in France promoting greater investment and closer trading links between France and her colonies. This lobby argued for exclusionary tariff policy which would favor colonial trade. As protectionism returned in the 1870s and 1880s, subjecting imports to high tariffs, steps were taken to exempt the colonies. A customs union was established with Algeria in 1884, and with French Indochina in 1887. In 1892, a tariff-exemption zone was established between France and Algeria, Indochina, the old Caribbean colonies of the "ancien régime", Gabon, Tunisia, and Madagascar. This allowed France and the chosen colonies to trade freely with one another. Another category of colonies exempted French imports from tariffs, but had to pay most favoured nation tariff rates when exporting their goods to France. This category included much of French West Africa, New Caledonia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Through this "highly preferential system", France was able to supply around 65.5% of the imports to her colonies.


title: Economic history of France

text: By the time the First World War broke out, the French overseas empire had become an important economic asset to the mother country. The empire absorbed 13% of French exports in 1913 and constituted 9.4% of her imports. This increased the national income by 5 to 6%. From 1902 the share of colonial trade was larger than France's trade with Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg combined. The imperial markets were especially important as a prop for French industries which were in decline, like textile, candle and soap manufacture. The preferential colonial markets compensated for the weakness of French exports elsewhere.


title: Economic history of France

text: France, like other industrializing countries of the time, suffered the effects of a worldwide economic downturn in the late 19th century. Depressions and periods of recovery characterized the entire epoch between 1880 and 1914. By the time full recovery began at the end of the century, French industrialization was behind 15 years and the long period of crisis had scarred entrepreneurs and investors.


title: Economic history of France

text: France recovered better from the Panic of 1873 than other countries like Germany, and resumed strong growth on a par with that of the 1850s until the end of 1881. There was a severe business depression in England, France, Belgium and Germany lasting from 1882 to 1885 or 1886. The failure of the French bank Union Générale in early 1882 had reverberations throughout Europe. According to Alan Sorkin, "Nearly £3 million were withdrawn from the Bank of England for France between 30 January 1882 and 15 February 1882. Stock prices fell dramatically, affecting not only France but other neighboring countries." There was an uptick in growth in the economy 1887–1889, but it wasn't until 1897-98 that full recovery took place."


title: Economic history of France

text: The worldwide downturn was particularly severe in France, because of demand problems like slow demographic growth and the large proportion of the population employed in agriculture (45% in 1891). This was a sector whose already low paid workers suffered even greater losses of income from the downturn. The distribution of the national income left workers with little extra money to spend, and also ensured that bourgeois demand continued to be “highly individualistic”. These characteristics limited the development of mass consumption. Scourges like the Great French Wine Blight, caused by the Phylloxera insect, and the parasitic disease known as Pébrine which affected silkworms and the silk industry, made the depression of 1882 worse and more prolonged. The importance of wine production to the economy was such that around 37% of French GDP was lost between 1885 and 1894 due to phylloxera. Other factors contributing to the length and seriousness of the depression were the debt defaults of a number of foreign governments, railway company bankruptcies, a trade war between Italy and France between 1887 and 1898, new French tariffs on imports, and the general adoption of protectionism throughout the world. Between 1881 and 1892, the French government adopted tariff protection, including the Méline tariff of 1892. The Méline Tariff was levelled on grain imports and stopped the fall of prices, leading to a substantial rise in agricultural wages.


title: Economic history of France

text: From the 1860s agricultural prices began to stagnate, and the general fall of prices caused a “great depression” in agriculture between 1874 and 1895. The strong growth in worldwide agricultural output of previous decades culminated in a glut of foodstuffs on world markets once transportation costs, hitherto prohibitively high, fell. Cereal prices, the first to experience price declines, were 27% lower in 1895 compared to their 1871-75 levels. Land lost about one third of its value between 1879 and 1913, caused not just by the agricultural crisis but by declining population densities in the countryside. Production stagnated, with the mean annual growth in agricultural production 0.26% between 1865 and 1900. Mean annual production fell by 0.8% in the years 1874-8 and 1889–93.


title: Economic history of France

text: The phylloxera outbreak ravaged French vineyards, reducing French wine output by two thirds between 1875 and 1889. In 1878, one quarter of French vineyards were affected by phylloxera. Wine production, which stood at 84 million hectoliters in 1875, declined sharply to below 40 million for a period of 15 years. Local vineyards perished and the market for table wines was overtaken by producers of low quality wine in Lower Languedoc, and Algerian wines. The industry recovered as resistant varieties of grape vine were gradually introduced from North America.


title: Economic history of France

text: From 1897, healthy economic growth on a par with that of 1815-1848 resumed. It was aided by the extension of iron mining in Lorraine and the birth of new industries like automobile manufacture, electricity, aluminum and nickel mining.


title: Economic history of France

text: The overall growth rate of the French economy shows a very strong performance in the 1920s and again in the 1960s, with poor performances in the 1910s, 1930s, and 1990s.


title: Economic history of France

text: The economy was critically hurt by the German seizure of major industrial areas in the northeast. While the occupied area in 1913 contained only 14% of France's industrial workers, it produced 58% of the steel, and 40% of the coal. Considerable relief came with the massive influx of American food, money and raw materials in 1917–1928. The Dalbiez Law of August 1915 set the number of workers required for the different sectors of the war economy, in an attempt to balance the labor needs of industry with the conscription requirements of the army. Individual examinations were established to keep workers in factories, and under the Dalbiez Law "military workers" under the control of the war ministry were deployed away from the front to work in the war economy.


title: Economic history of France

text: Agricultural productivity fell precipitously due to the German occupation, the requisitioning of draught animals, as well as manpower, fertilizer, and machinery shortages. At its lowest point in 1917, the grain harvest was 40% below pre-war levels. The high prices for agricultural products which resulted were a boon for farmers, incentivizing "superhuman efforts" to cultivate by those left behind on farms. Separation allowances provided to the dependents of soldiers also gave an unexpected boost to the income of poor, rural families. Many peasants were able to pay off debts, purchase more land, and enjoy a higher quality of living. Conversely, the urban population and industrial workers became increasingly discontented with rising food prices, and the failure of their wages to keep pace.


title: Economic history of France

text: French credit collapsed in 1916 and Britain began loaning large sums to Paris. The J.P. Morgan & Co bank in New York assumed control of French loans in the fall of 1916 and relinquished it to the U.S. government when the U.S. entered the war in 1917. On the other hand, the economy was helped by American loans which were used to purchase foods and manufactured goods that allowed a decent standard of living. The arrival of over a million American soldiers in 1918 brought heavy spending for food and construction materials. Labor shortages were in part alleviated by the use of volunteer and forced labor from the colonies.


title: Economic history of France

text: The war damages amounted to about 113% of the GDP of 1913, chiefly the destruction of productive capital and housing. 91% of settlements across 10 départements in the north and northeast suffered material damage, and 620 communes were destroyed. The national debt rose from 66% of GDP in 1913 to 170% in 1919, reflecting the heavy use of bond issues to pay for the war. Inflation was severe, with the franc losing over half its value against the British pound.


title: Economic history of France

text: The war effort and the occupation of French territory by Germany had dealt a heavy blow to the French economy. Overall French industrial and agricultural production was down 45% in 1919 compared to 1913. Infrastructure in the occupied region - towns, villages, factories, mines, and railways - suffered extensive destruction and/or over-exploitation in the case of mines and factories, reducing their output. Prime agricultural land had been ruined and livestock lost. 27% of young men between the ages of 18 and 27 were killed, with a consequent negative impact on marriages and births which would impact the labor force in the 1930s. Fertility rates sharply declined during the First World War, with the deficit of births estimated to be 1.4 million. Combined with an equivalent number of casualties, the French population was 2.8 million people smaller than it otherwise would have been due to the war.


title: Economic history of France

text: At the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vengeance against defeated Germany was the main French theme. France demanded full payment by Germany of the damages it imposed in the German-occupied areas. It also wanted the full cost of postwar veterans benefits. Prime Minister Clemenceau was largely effective against the moderating influences of the British and Americans. France obtained large (but unspecified) reparations, regained Alsace-Lorraine and obtained mandates to rule parts of former German colonies in Africa.


title: Economic history of France

text: In January 1923 as a response to the failure of the German to ship enough coal as part of its reparations, France (and Belgium) occupied the industrial region of the Ruhr. Germany responded with passive resistance including printing vast amounts of marks to pay for the occupation, thereby causing runaway inflation. Inflation heavily damaged the German middle class (because their bank accounts became worthless) but it also damaged the French franc. France fomented a separatist movement pointing to an independent buffer state, but it collapsed after some bloodshed. The intervention was a failure, and in summer 1924 France accepted the American solution to the reparations issues, as expressed in the Dawes Plan.


title: Economic history of France

text: Industrial productivity returned to pre-war levels by 1924 and by 1929 it was 40% above 1913 levels. The French government eased immigration rules to offset the manpower shortage - some 2 million workers arrived in France as a result. Inflation was a serious problem, fueled by high government borrowing and a huge increase in the amount of money in circulation (37,900 million francs were in circulation at the end of 1920, compared to 6000 million in 1914). Consumer prices doubled between 1922 and 1926, and the franc suffered continual devaluation (in 1914 one British Pound was worth 25 francs, by July 1926 one Pound was worth 243 francs). The devaluation of the franc was a boon for exports, while inflation reduced the debt burden. As a result, "most social groups seem to have enjoyed rising real incomes, in the case of workers for example by somewhere between 9 and 26 per cent." The government of Raymond Poincaré, which came to power in July 1926, managed to stabilize France's financial situation by reducing government expenditure, raising interest rates, raising taxes, and returning in part to the gold standard in June 1928. This placed the value of the franc at one-fifth of its pre-war level, which kept French goods competitive internationally.


title: Economic history of France

text: The worldwide decline after 1929 affected France a bit later than other countries, hitting around 1931. The depression was relatively mild: unemployment peaked under 5%, the fall in production was at most 20% below the 1929 output; there was no banking crisis.


title: Economic history of France

text: But the depression also lasted longer in France than in most other countries. Like many other countries, France had introduced the gold standard in the nineteenth century, meaning that it was generally possible to exchange bank notes for gold. Unlike other countries (e.g. Great Britain, which abandoned the gold standard in 1931), France stuck to the gold standard until 1936, which caused a number of problems in times of recession and deflation. France lost competitiveness relative to Great Britain, because the latter was able to offer its products at a cheaper price due to the devaluation of its currency after leaving the gold standard. Furthermore, terminating fixed exchange rate regimes opened up opportunities for expansive monetary policy and thus influenced consumers’ expectations of future inflation, which was crucial for domestic demand. The French economy only started to recover when France abandoned the gold standard.


title: Economic history of France

text: However, the depression had some effects on the local economy, and partly explains the February 6, 1934 riots and even more the formation of the Popular Front, led by SFIO socialist leader Léon Blum, which won the elections in 1936.


title: Economic history of France

text: France's relatively high degree of self-sufficiency meant the damage was considerably less than in nations like Germany.


title: Economic history of France

text: Hardship and unemployment were high enough to lead to rioting and the rise of the socialist Popular Front, which won the 1936 elections with a coalition of Socialists and Radicals, and support from the Communists. Léon Blum became the first Socialist prime minister.


title: Economic history of France

text: The election brought a massive wave of strikes, with involving 2 million workers, and their seizure of many factories and stores. The strikes were spontaneous and unorganized, but nevertheless the business community panicked and met secretly with Blum, Who negotiated a series of reforms, and then gave labor unions the credit for the Matignon Accords. The new laws:


title: Economic history of France

text: Blum persuaded the workers to accept pay raises and go back to work. Wages increased sharply, in two years the national average was up 48 percent. However inflation also rose 46%. The imposition of the 40-hour week proved highly inefficient, as industry had a difficult time adjusting to it. The economic confusion hindered the rearmament effort, and the rapid growth of German armaments alarmed Blum. He launched a major program to speed up arms production. The cost forced the abandonment of the social reform programs of the popular front had counted heavily on.


title: Economic history of France

text: Economic historians point to numerous bad financial and economic policies, such as delayed devaluation of the franc, which made French exports uncompetitive. Economists especially emphasize the bad effects of the 40-hour week, which made overtime illegal, forcing employers to stop work or to replace their best workers with inferior and less experienced workers when that 40-hour limit was reached. More generally the argument is made that France could not afford the labor reforms, in the face of poor economic conditions, the fears of the business community and the threat of Nazi Germany.


title: Economic history of France

text: Some historians have judged the Popular Front a failure in terms of economics, foreign policy, and long-term political stability. "Disappointment and failure," says Jackson, "was the legacy of the Popular Front." However, it did inspire later reformers who set up the modern French welfare state.


title: Economic history of France

text: Conditions in Vichy France under German occupation were very harsh, because the Germans stripped France of millions of workers (as prisoners of war and "voluntary" workers), and as well stripped much of the food supply, while demanding heavy cash payments. It was a period of severe economic hardship under a totalitarian government.


title: Economic history of France

text: Vichy rhetoric exalted the skilled laborer and small businessman. In practice, however, the needs of artisans for raw materials was neglected in favor of large businesses. The General Committee for the Organization of Commerce (CGOC) was a national program to modernize and professionalize small business.


title: Economic history of France

text: In 1940 the government took direct control of all production, which was synchronized with the demands of the Germans. It replaced free trade unions with compulsory state unions that dictated labor policy without regard to the voice or needs of the workers. The centralized, bureaucratic control of the French economy was not a success, as German demands grew heavier and more unrealistic, passive resistance and inefficiencies multiplied, and Allied bombers hit the rail yards; however, Vichy made the first comprehensive long-range plans for the French economy. The government had never before attempted a comprehensive overview. De Gaulle's Provisional Government in 1944–45, quietly used the Vichy plans as a base for its own reconstruction program. The Monnet Plan of 1946 was closely based on Vichy plans. Thus both teams of wartime and early postwar planners repudiated prewar laissez-faire practices and embraced the cause of drastic economic overhaul and a planned economy.


title: Economic history of France

text: Nazi Germany kept nearly 2.5 million French Army POWs as forced laborers throughout the war. They added compulsory (and volunteer) workers from occupied nations, especially in metal factories. The shortage of volunteers led the Vichy government to pass a law in September 1941 that effectively deported workers to Germany, where, they constituted 17% of the labor force by August 1943. The largest number worked in the giant Krupp steel works in Essen. Low pay, long hours, frequent bombings, and crowded air raid shelters added to the unpleasantness of poor housing, inadequate heating, limited food, and poor medical care, all compounded by harsh Nazi discipline. They finally returned home in the summer of 1945. The forced labour draft encouraged the French Resistance and undermined the Vichy government.


title: Economic history of France

text: Civilians suffered shortages of all varieties of consumer goods. The rationing system was stringent but badly mismanaged, leading to produced malnourishment, black markets, and hostility to state management of the food supply. The Germans seized about 20% of the French food production, which caused severe disruption to the household economy of the French people. French farm production fell in half because of lack of fuel, fertilizer and workers; even so the Germans seized half the meat, 20 percent of the produce, and 2 percent of the champagne. Supply problems quickly affected French stores which lacked most items. The government answered by rationing, but German officials set the policies and hunger prevailed, especially affecting youth in urban areas. The queues lengthened in front of shops. Some people—including German soldiers—benefited from the black market, where food was sold without tickets at very high prices. Farmers especially diverted meat to the black market, which meant that much less for the open market. Counterfeit food tickets were also in circulation. Direct buying from farmers in the countryside and barter against cigarettes became common. These activities were strictly forbidden, however, and thus carried out at the risk of confiscation and fines. Food shortages were most acute in the large cities. In the more remote country villages, however, clandestine slaughtering, vegetable gardens and the availability of milk products permitted better survival. The official ration provided starvation level diets of 1300 or fewer calories a day, supplemented by home gardens and, especially, black market purchases.


title: Economic history of France

text: The great hardships of wartime, and of the immediate post-war period, were succeeded by a period of steady economic development, in France, now often fondly recalled there as "The Thirty Glorious Years (Les Trente Glorieuses"). Alternating policies of "interventionist" and "free market" ideas enabled the French to build a society in which both industrial and technological advances could be made but also worker security and privileges established and protected. In the year 1946 France signed a treaty with US that waved off a large part of its debt. It was known as The Blum-Byrnes agreement (in French accord Blum-Byrnes) which was a French-American agreement, signed May 28, 1946 by the Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and representatives of the French government Léon Blum and Jean Monnet. This agreement erased part of the French debt to the United States after the Second World War (2 billion dollars).


title: Economic history of France

text: By the end of the 20th century, France once again was among the leading economic powers of the world, although by the year 2000 there already was some fraying around the edges: people in France and elsewhere were asking whether France alone, without becoming even more an integral part of a pan-European economy, would have sufficient market presence to maintain its position, and that worker security and those privileges, in an increasingly "Globalized" and "transnational" economic world.


title: Economic history of France

text: Reconstruction began at the end of the war, in 1945, and confidence in the future was brought back. With the baby boom (which had started as soon as 1942) the birthrate surged rapidly. It took several years to fix the damages caused by the war – battles and bombing had destroyed several cities, factories, bridges, railway infrastructures. 1,200,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged.


title: Economic history of France

text: In 1945, the provisional government of the French Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle and made up of communists, socialists and gaullists, nationalized key economic sectors (energy, air transport, savings banks, assurances) and big companies (e.g. Renault), with the creation of Social Security and of works councils. A welfare state was set up. Economic planning was initiated with the Commissariat général du Plan in 1946, led by Jean Monnet. The first « Plan de modernisation et d’équipement », for the 1947-1952 period, focused on basic economic activities (energy, steel, cement, transports, agriculture equipment); the second Plan (1954–1957) had broader aims: housing construction, urban development, scientific research, manufacturing industries.


title: Economic history of France

text: The debts left over from the First World War, whose payment had been suspended since 1931, was renegotiated in the Blum-Byrnes agreement of 1946. The U.S. forgave all $2.8 billion in debt, and gave France a new loan of $650 million. In return French negotiator Jean Monnet set out the French five-year plan for recovery and development. American films were now allowed in French cinemas three weeks per month.


title: Economic history of France

text: The nationalization of major industries took place in the 1930s and 1940s but was never complete. The railways were nationalized in 1937 because they were losing money, but were strategically important. Likewise, the aeronautics and armaments industries were nationalized. During the war, the Vichy government froze wages, froze prices, controlled external trade, and supervise the distribution of raw materials to the manufacturing sector. The French economy accepted increasing levels of nationalization without major political opposition. After the war, the power industry, gas, and electricity were nationalized in 1946, with the goal of bringing increased efficiency. Banking and insurance were nationalized along with iron and steel. However, oil was not considered so important and was not nationalized. The enlarged role of government necessitated systematic national planning, which was a key feature of the postwar industries.


title: Economic history of France

text: Although the economic situation in France was very grim in 1945, resources did exist and the economy regained normal growth by the 1950s. The US government had planned a major aid program, but it unexpectedly ended Lend Lease in late summer 1945, and additional aid was stymied by Congress in 1945–46. However, there were $2 billion in American loans. France managed to regain its international status thanks to a successful production strategy, a demographic spurt, and technical and political innovations. Conditions varied from firm to firm. Some had been destroyed or damaged, nationalized or requisitioned, but the majority carried on, sometimes working harder and more efficiently than before the war. Industries were reorganized on a basis that ranged from consensual (electricity) to conflictual (machine tools), therefore producing uneven results. Despite strong American pressure through the Marshall Plan (officially, the European Recovery Plan), there was little change in the organization and content of the training for French industrial managers. This was mainly due to the reticence of the existing institutions and the struggle among different economic and political interest groups for control over efforts to improve the further training of practitioners.


title: Economic history of France

text: The Monnet Plan provided a coherent framework for economic policy, and it was strongly supported by the Marshall Plan. It was inspired by moderate, Keynesian free-trade ideas rather than state control. Although relaunched in an original way, the French economy was about as productive as comparable West European countries.


title: Economic history of France

text: The United States helped revive the French economy with the Marshall Plan whereby it gave France $2.3 billion with no repayment. France agreed to reduce trade barriers and modernize its management system. The total of all American grants and credits to France, 1946–53, came to $4.9 billion, and low-interest loans added another $2 billion. The Marshall Plan set up intensive tours of American industry. France sent 500 missions with 4700 businessmen and experts to tour American factories, farms, stores and offices. They were especially impressed with the prosperity of American workers, and how they could purchase an inexpensive new automobile for nine months work, compared to 30 months in France. Some French businesses resisted Americanization, but others seized upon it to attract American investments and build a larger market. The industries that were most Americanized included chemicals, oil, electronics, and instrumentation. They were the most innovative, and most profitable sectors.


title: Economic history of France

text: Between 1947 and 1973, France went through a booming period (5% per year in average) dubbed by Jean Fourastié "Trente Glorieuses", title of a book published in 1979. Between 1946 and the end of the 1960s, the population grew by a record 30%. By 1967, one in three adults was under the age of 20. Population growth was due not only to a higher birth rate, but to a declining mortality rate fueled by improvements in medical care, housing, and nutrition. The infant mortality rate fell from 52.0 in 1950 to 18.2 in 1970. The economic growth was mainly due to productivity gains and to an increase in the number of working hours. Indeed, the working population was growing very slowly, the "baby boom" being offset by the extension of the time dedicated to studies. Investment as a percentage of GNP rose from around 20% per annum in the 1950s to a peak of 24.7% in 1974, the highest in Europe. Because of currency controls and "the limited mobility of international capital", lenders invested at home and not abroad. Investment fueled continual improvements in production methods, making products like automobiles more affordable for average people.


title: Economic history of France

text: Through "indicative planning" the French government used its power to direct investment towards targeted industries, regions, and specific products. The state was concerned with stimulating continuous modernization and restructuring, which it encouraged through communication improvements, tax policy, export credits, and ensuring access to cheap loans for firms. Projects and industries considered to be of "strategic national importance" could also count on support from the French state. These included the nuclear power program, the armaments industry, infrastructure, and the aerospace industry.


title: Economic history of France

text: During the 1950s agricultural productivity soared. France went from being an importer of food to meet the needs of its population, to self-sufficiency and surplus output. The third Modernization Plan of 1957-1961 put an emphasis on investing in the staple agricultural products of Northern France and the Paris region: meat, milk, cheese, wheat, and sugar. The desire to find export markets for this surplus was an important factor in the French decision to join the European Economic Community in 1957. France won concessions like price supports, income supports for farmers, and a commitment from its fellow member nations to buy up French agricultural surpluses. In exchange, the country eliminated tariffs and opened its market to German non-agricultural exports. Tariffs between EEC nations were eliminated in practice by 1968, and the economy and French consumers benefited from imports of Italian domestic appliances like refrigerators and washing machines, or machine tools from West Germany. EEC membership resulted in structural change, high levels of growth, soaring levels of trade between France and her EEC partners, and high levels of investment. Businessmen and farmers experienced some difficulty in adapting to the greater competition and homogeneity of the common market. The "stimulus to change" from membership was most effective in industries with a comparative advantage: agriculture, food processing, aircraft and automobile manufacturing. The importance of third-world markets in the French colonial Empire waned as the economy restructured to meet the demands of a more dynamic European market for high quality goods. In the late 1950s, the "franc area" was the destination for over 25% of French exports, twenty years later it was only 5%.


title: Economic history of France

text: Productivity gains came from the catching up with the United States. In 1950, the average income in France was 55% of an American and reached 80% in 1973. Between 1960 and 1975, income per capita almost doubled. Among the major nations, only Japan and Spain had faster growth in this era than France. The national government's industrial policy was used to bolster French industries.


title: Economic history of France

text: Insisting that the period was not that of an economic miracle, but a mere catching up following an economic lag, French historian Jacques Marseille noted that if the economy had constantly grown at the same rate as that of the « Belle Époque », the wealth would have been the same at the beginning of the 1970s as that actually reached after the Trente glorieuses.


title: Economic history of France

text: With government support, active farmers bought out their neighbors, enlarge their properties, and use the latest in mechanization, new seeds, fertilizers, and new techniques. The result was a revolution in agricultural output, as well as a sharply reduced number of active farmers from 7.4 million in 1946 to only 2 million in 1975. It also resulted in millions of empty old farm houses. They were promptly purchased and upgraded by Frenchmen who wanted a rural retreat away from the frenzy of their primary work in the cities. For many it was in nostalgia for family memories of rural living that drew the city dwellers back to the countryside. By 1978, France was the world leader in per capita ownership of second homes and "L’Express" reported an "irresistible infatuation of the French for the least Norman thatched house, Cévenol sheep barn or the most modest Provençal farmhouse."


title: Economic history of France

text: By the late 1960s, France's economic growth, while strong, was beginning to lose steam. A global currency crisis meant a devaluation of the Franc against the West German Mark and the U.S. Dollar in 1968, which was one of the leading factors for the social upheaval of that year.


title: Economic history of France

text: The "Trente glorieuses" era ended with the worldwide 1973 oil crisis, which increased costs in energy and thus on production. Economic instability marked the Giscard d'Estaing government (1974-1981). Giscard turned to Prime Minister Raymond Barre in 1976, who advocated numerous complex, strict policies ("Barre Plans"). The first Barre plan emerged on 22 September 1976, with a priority to stop inflation. It included a 3-month price freeze; a reduction in the value added tax; wage controls; salary controls; a reduction of the growth in the money supply; and increases in the income tax, automobile taxes, luxury taxes and bank rates. There were measures to restore the trade balance, and support the growth of the economy and employment. Oil imports, whose price had shot up, were limited. There was special aid to exports, and an action fund was set up to aid industries. There was increased financial aid to farmers, who were suffering from a drought, and for social security. The package was not very popular, but was pursued with vigor.


title: Economic history of France

text: Economic troubles continued into the early years of the presidency of François Mitterrand. A recession in the early 1980s, which led to the abandonment of "dirigisme" in favour of a more pragmatic approach to economic intervention. Growth resumed later in the decade, only to be slowed down by the economic depression of the early 1990s, which affected the Socialist Party. Liberalisation under Jacques Chirac in the late 1990s strengthened the economy. However, after 2005 the world economy stagnated and the 2008 global crisis and its effects in both the Eurozone and France itself dogged the conservative government of Nicolas Sarkozy, who lost reelection in 2012 against Socialist Francois Hollande.


title: Economic history of France

text: France's recent economic history has been less turbulent than in many other countries. The average income in France, after having been steady for a long time, increased elevenfold between 1700 and 1975, which constitutes a 0.9% growth rate per year, a rate which has been outdone almost every year since 1975: By the early Eighties, for instance, wages in France were on or slightly above the EEC average.


title: Economic history of France

text: France, like a number of countries, was affected by the 2008 financial crisis. However, during the worst part of the crisis, between 2008 and 2010, France fared better than other industrialized countries. For example, the Euro zone's overall GDP decreased by 4 percent, while France's GDP only decreased by 2.2 percent. This resilience is linked to France's social protection system, which, through the transfers it organizes (47 percent of gross disposable household income in 2007) equips France with strong economic stabilizers. However, these stabilizers weigh inversely on recovery. Starting in 2012, many countries experienced economic recoveries, where the analysis of the indicators of economic activity in France do not show a clear recovery, or rather do not show an increased growth during this time.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The Nilgiri Mountains form part of the Western Ghats in northwestern Tamil Nadu, Southern Karnataka, and eastern Kerala in India. They are located at the trijunction of three states and connect the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats. At least 24 of the Nilgiri Mountains' peaks are above , the highest peak being Doddabetta, at .


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The word Nilgiri, comes from Sanskrit word "neela" (blue) + "giri" (mountain), has been in use since at least 1117 CE. In Tamil literature it is mentioned as "Iraniyamuttam" It is thought that the bluish flowers of kurinji shrubs gave rise to the name.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: Three national parks border portions of the Nilgiri mountains. Mudumalai National Park lies in the northern part of the range where Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu meet, covering an area of 321 km². Mukurthi National Park lies in the southwest part of the range, in Kerala, covering an area of 78.5 km², which includes intact shola-grassland mosaic, habitat for the Nilgiri tahr. Silent Valley National Park lies just to the south and contiguous with those two parks, covering an area of 89.52 km².


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The Nilgiri Hills are part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (itself part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.), and form a part of the protected bio-reserves in India.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The high steppes of the Nilgiri Hills have been inhabited since prehistoric times, demonstrated by a large number of artifacts unearthed by excavators. A particularly important collection from the region can be seen in the British Museum, including those assembled by colonial officers James Wilkinson Breeks, Major M. J. Walhouse and Sir Walter Elliot.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The first recorded use of the word "Nila" applied to this region can be traced back to 1117 CE. In the report of a general of Vishnuvardhana, King of Hoysalas, who in reference to his enemies, claimed to have "frightened the Todas, driven the Kongas underground, slaughtered the Poluvas, put to death the Maleyalas, terrified Chieftain Kala Nirpala and then proceeded to offer the peak of Nila Mountain.(presumably Doddabetta or Rangaswami peak of Peranganad in East Nilgiris) to Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth. Neelagiri was ruled by Baduga King Kala Raja before 1117 CE."


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: A hero stone ("Veeragallu") with a Kannada inscription at Vazhaithottam (Bale thota) in the Nilgiri District, dated to 10th century CE, has been discovered. A Kannada inscription of Hoysala king Ballala III (or his subordinate Madhava Dannayaka's son) from the 14th century CE has been discovered at the Siva (or Vishnu) temple at Nilagiri Sadarana Kote (present-day Dannayakana Kote), near the junction of Moyar and Bhavani rivers, but the temple has since been submerged by the Bhavani Sagar dam.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: In 1814, as part of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, a sub-assistant named Keys and an apprentice named McMahon ascended the hills by the Danaynkeucottah (Dannayakana Kote) Pass, penetrated into the remotest parts, made plans, and sent in reports of their discoveries. As a result of these accounts, Messrs. Whish and Kindersley, two young Madras civilians, ventured up in pursuit of some criminals taking refuge in the mountains, and proceeded to observe the interior. They soon saw and felt enough favorable climate and terrain to excite their own curiosity, and that of others.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: After the early 1820s, the hills were developed rapidly under the British Raj, because most of the land was already privately owned by British citizens. It was a popular summer and weekend getaway for the British during the colonial days. In 1827, Ooty became the official sanatorium and the summer capital of the Madras Presidency. Many winding hill roads were built. In 1899, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway was completed by influential and enterprising British citizens, with venture capital from the Madras government.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: In the 19th century, when the British Straits Settlement shipped Chinese convicts to be jailed in India, the Chinese men settled in the Nilgiri mountains near Naduvattam after their release and married Tamil Paraiyan women, having mixed Chinese-Tamil children with them. They were documented by Edgar Thurston.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The highest point in the Nilgiris and the southern extent of the range is Doddabetta Peak (), 4 km east southeast of Udhagamandalam, .


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: Snowdon (height: () is the northern extent of the range. Club Hill () and Elk Hill () are significant elevations in this range. Snowdon, Club Hill and Elk Hill with Doddabetta, form the impressive Udhagamandalam Valley.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: Kulakombai () is east of the Devashola. The Bhavani Valley and the Lambton's peak range of Coimbatore district stretch from here.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: Muttunadu Betta (height: ) is about 5 km, north northwest of Udhagamandalam. Tamrabetta (Coppery Hill) (height: ) is about 8 km southeast of Udhagamandalam. Vellangiri (Silvery Hill) () is 16 km west-northwest of Udhagamandalam.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The highest waterfall, Kolakambai Fall, north of Kolakambai hill, has an unbroken fall of . Nearby is the Halashana falls. The second highest is Catherine Falls, near Kotagiri, with a fall, named after the wife of M.D. Cockburn, believed to have introduced coffee plantations to the Nilgiri Hills. The Upper and Lower Pykara falls have falls of , and , respectively. The Kalhatti Falls is off the Segur Peak. The Karteri Fall, near Aruvankadu had the first power station which supplied the original Cordite Factory with electricity. Law's Fall, near Coonoor, is interesting due to its association with the engineer Major G. C. Law who supervised building of the Coonoor Ghat road.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: Over 2,800 species of flowering plants, 160 species of fern and fern allies, countless types of flowerless plants, mosses, fungi, algae, and land lichens are found in the "sholas" of the Nilgiris. No other hill station has as many species. It is also home to mammals like the Bengal tiger, Indian elephant, Indian leopard, chital deer, gaur, sambar deer, dhole, golden jackal, Indian boar, Nilgiri tahr, Indian spotted chevrotain, black buck, Asian palm civet, sloth bear, four-horned antelope, Nilgiri marten, Indian crested porcupine, Malabar giant squirrel, honey badger, Indian grey mongoose, Indian pangolin, Indian fox, smooth coated otter, and painted bat. The Indian python, king cobra, common krait, Indian cobra, Malabar pit viper, Nilgiri keelback, Oriental garden lizard, "Eryx whitakeri" and mugger crocodile are reptiles found here. Primates include the lion tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur, gray langur and bonnet macaque. The birds found here are Indian peacock, Nilgiri laughing thrush, Nilgiri flycatcher, grey junglefowl, Malabar pied hornbill, Malabar parakeet, great hornbill, Nilgiri wood pigeon, Indian vulture, black-hooded oriole, grey-headed bulbul and Malabar grey hornbill. Amphibians on the list are the purple frog, Silent valley brush frog, Malabar gliding frog, Beddomixalus and many more. It is the only place in South India to have the white tiger.


title: Nilgiri Mountains

text: The dominant type of habitat is tropical rainforest. Montane forests and tropical moist forests are also found here. Much of the forest habitats have been much disturbed or destroyed by extensive tea plantations, easy motor-vehicle access, extensive commercial planting and harvesting of non-native eucalyptus and wattle ("Acacia dealbata", "Acacia mearnsii") plantations, and cattle grazing. The area also features one large and several smaller hydro-electric impoundments. Scotch broom has become an ecologically damaging invasive species.


title: Natali Morris

text: Natali Terese Morris (née Del Conte; born August 28, 1978) is an American online media personality and co-founder of Morris Invest, a real estate investment company. She was formerly a technology news journalist with CNET and CBS.


title: Natali Morris

text: Morris is a former editor for CNET.com and is a former co-host of the technology news podcast "Buzz Out Loud", one of CNET.com's flagship podcasts, in addition to "Loaded", a daily technology news show on CNET TV. Previously, "Loaded" was reformatted in Spanish and shown on the Spanish language Univision television network.


title: Natali Morris

text: Prior to joining CNET, she wrote, produced, and hosted a show "TeXtra" on Podshow. She has written for such publications as "Wired, "Variety", "MarketWatch", "TechCrunch", "The San Francisco Examiner", "PC Magazine", "ELLEgirl", "The Oakland Tribune", "Hispanic Magazine", and "The Santa Cruz Sentinel".


title: Natali Morris

text: On October 21, 2010 on CNET's "The 404" podcast she announced she married Fox News Channel host Clayton Morris in an October 2010 lunchtime ceremony at New York City Hall, and would take the last name Morris both professionally and personally as of mid-November 2010. In 2010 she gave birth to the couple's first child. In 2012 she gave birth to the couple's second child. The family moved from New Jersey to Portugal in 2019. Morris and her husband had initially relocated to Pennsylvania before leaving the country all together. According to Morris, they moved to the country on temporary visas to allow their children to attend schools overseas.


title: Natali Morris

text: Morris graduated from Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, California in 1996 and went on to receive her BA in Mass Communication with an emphasis in Journalism from California State University, East Bay in 2000.


title: Natali Morris

text: Her first journalism job out of college was as a staff writer for the "Features" section of the "Oakland Tribune". She stayed there a year before leaving for graduate school in 2001. After graduate school, Morris took a year sabbatical and taught yoga at Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada. When she returned to the Bay Area, she did a short stint in public relations for SHIFT Communications where she represented enterprise technology companies. Morris left SHIFT Communications in order to return to journalism in 2005. She began freelancing for "MarketWatch", "Variety", "The Oakland Tribune", "Hispanic Magazine", and others. In late 2005, she was hired as a business reporter for the "San Francisco Examiner".


title: Natali Morris

text: In 2006, Morris joined the news desk at "PC Magazine". In October 2006, she was recruited by "TechCrunch" and left to work there for a short stint.


title: Natali Morris

text: While working for "PC Magazine", Morris began making appearances on "Cranky Geeks", which launched her video career quite unexpectedly. Adam Curry noticed her on an episode of "Cranky Geeks" and contacted her with the idea of doing her own show for the Podshow network. She left "TechCrunch" in December 2006 and joined Podshow full-time. Morris, Curry, and the production staff at Podshow developed a show called TeXtra in January 2007, and the show launched on February 13, 2007.


title: Natali Morris

text: Morris left Podshow for CNET TV in 2008, and the TeXtra podcast was shut down. Her new show, "Loaded" started in February 2008 with coverage from CES 2008.


title: Natali Morris

text: In addition to her duties at CNET, Morris freelances for "Wired", "PC Magazine", "AppScout", "Aware Magazine", and "ELLEgirl". She makes regular appearances on The "CBS Early Show", and "Red Eye" (prior to her CBS exclusivity agreement). In January 2009, Morris became co-host of the Buzz Out Loud podcast, taking the place of Molly Wood who left to focus on other CNET projects.


title: Natali Morris

text: In 2010, Morris and three friends started the motherhood weblog, MommyBeta The blog was nominated in "The Bump"'s 2010 Mommy Blog Awards for Best Baby Journal Blog.


title: Natali Morris

text: On November 23, 2010, Morris began to host wrestling promotion Chikara new video segment, "The Throwdown Lowdown". Morris left CNET on Friday, April 29, 2011. On February 1, 2012, Morris announced Disney Cruise Lines would be releasing videos featuring her as the host.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Patsy Kelly (born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly; January 12, 1910 – September 24, 1981) was an American actress. She is known for her role as the brash, wisecracking sidekick to Thelma Todd in a series of short comedy films produced by Hal Roach in the 1930s. Kelly's career continued after Todd's death in 1935 in similar roles.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: After her film career declined in the mid-1940s, Kelly returned to New York, where she worked in radio and summer stock. She also became a lifelong friend and personal assistant of Tallulah Bankhead. Kelly returned to the screen after 17 years with guest spots on television and in film roles.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In 1971, Kelly returned to the stage in the revival of "No, No, Nanette", for which she won a Tony Award. She continued appearing in film and television roles until she suffered a stroke in January 1980 that limited her ability to speak.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly was born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrant parents John and Delia Kelly. Her father John was a police officer who left Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland around 1900 to escape persecution. He died in 1942. Her mother Delia died in 1930. She was the youngest of five children, only two of whom were born in America. She acquired the nickname "Patsy" by being the butt of her family's gentle teasing and becoming the "fall guy" for many of their shenanigans. "I was always spinning and tripping about the house, usually over chairs." She was originally inspired to become a firefighter decades before the field would open to the first FDNY woman in 1982, but her mother enrolled her in a dancing school to keep her off the streets of Manhattan. In 1922 she began her entertainment career in vaudeville as a dancer at the age of 12. Learning how to tap dance at Jack Blue's School of Rhythm and Tap, she befriended future talent and fellow hoofer Ruby Keeler. She had had more than her share of scrapes when she was young. She fell from a fire escape when she was seven, was struck by an automobile when she was eight, and was involved in no less than five accidents in one week at the age of nine. It was at this point her parents decided to send her to dancing school, where she broke her ankle at the end of her first week. She first attended St. Paul's Cathedral School, then Professional Children's School with Keeler.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In 1923, at age 13, she advanced from pupil to instructor, raking in $18 a week but coming home at nearly two or three in the morning. "So," Kelly once recalled, reminiscing about the years leading up to that, "Father Quinn, who knew about me and my tap, advised my mother to send me to dancing school. He thought perhaps that would get me interested in something besides baseball. It did. I liked the dancing and in time I began to teach in the school where I had just been studying."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: She performed in Frank Fay's act, first in a song-and-dance routine and later as Fay's comic foil. Her brother John W. (Willie) originally tried out for the job, but ultimately, it was Kelly who ended up landing the position at The Palace Theatre with Fay, while Willie went to work at the Waldorf Astoria, after being Fay's chauffeur for a spell. "My brother didn’t care. He thought it was sissy stuff, anyhow." In one routine, Kelly told Fay and the audience that she had been at the beauty parlor. Fay remarked, "And they didn't wait on you?" She remained with Fay for several seasons until Fay eventually dismissed her, either for refusing a proposal of marriage and for not calling him by his surname, or refusing to travel to England.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly made her Broadway debut in 1927, performing in "Harry Delmar's Revels" with Bert Lahr and Winnie Lightner at the Shubert Theatre. In other Broadway activity, she performed in "Three Cheers" (1928) with Will Rogers and Dorothy Stone, "Earl Carroll's Sketch Book" (1929) with William Demarest and Faith Bacon, "Earl Carroll's Vanities" (1930) with Jack Benny and Jimmy Savo, "The Wonder Bar" (1931) with Al Jolson, and in the Howard Dietz-Arthur Schwartz musical revue "Flying Colors" (1932) with Clifton Webb, Imogene Coca, Buddy Ebsen, and Charles Butterworth. In her later years, she appeared in "No, No, Nanette" (1971) with Ruby Keeler and Jack Gilford, and "Irene" (1973) with Debbie Reynolds.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly made her screen debut in a Vitaphone short subject filmed there in Brooklyn, "The Grand Dame" (1931), where she plays a rich gangster's rich moll. In 1933, reputedly after seeing her in "Flying Colors", producer Hal Roach hired Kelly to team up with Thelma Todd in a series of short-subject comedies, and to replace her then-current co-star ZaSu Pitts after a contract dispute, beginning with "Beauty and the Bus" (1933). Pitts demanded a salary hike of $8000 per script, so Roach terminated her services. Before making the move to Hollywood, she intimated that "I'll be a flop in movies. Besides, I don't like 'em, and I never did believe there was a place called Hollywood. Somebody made it up!" She once confided to "Motion Picture" that, "I tried it for a few days and thought it was the silliest fool business in the world. I had to get up about five in the morning and get a lantern to light my way to the studio. I'd get there and there'd be no audience, no applause. It was like talking to myself. Someone was always hollering, 'Quiet!' or 'Hush!' My voice was always too loud or not loud enough. You had to knock yourself out with a powder puff in this business. Make up every minute. I was always hanging out a window, off the edge of a cliff, or from the side of a car going ninety miles an hour. Or I was being knocked on the bean with a pot or a pan. First day I was yelling, 'Say, where are those doubles I've heard about?' After a few days of it, I packed my duds and took a train back east." She was quite reluctant to make the transition to films at first, but Todd encouraged her to remain in Hollywood, and she did. Todd even drove to Pasadena to stop Kelly from returning on the train bound for New York. She also helped Kelly with her finances and tax trouble during the first few stages of her move out west. Already in debt, Todd suggested to her not to file for bankruptcy; that it would damage her credit rating. “Those were the happiest days I had in pictures,” Patsy said in 1937, “I have made more money since, but the fun Thelma and I had making those silly two-reel comedies is something that comes only once in a lifetime. Thelma was better than any tonic and taught me a lot about comedy.”


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Shortly after filming wrapped on "Beauty and the Bus", in August 1933, Kelly was injured as a passenger in a car driven by Gene Malin, the prominent drag performer. Malin apparently confused the gears and reversed off a pier into the water, after performing at the Ship Cafe, a club in Venice, Los Angeles. Malin was killed; Kelly and fellow passenger Jimmy Forlenza suffered serious injuries. She was told by the doctors that she had only ten years left to live based on the amount of sandy water that got into her lungs, but actually survived for decades after the accident. Kelly once said that "I overheard a jury of grave-faced doctors nodding their heads over my supposedly unconscious body. They were giving me a maximum of ten years to live. Maybe they're right. When I heard that scientific verdict, I was plenty scared. But I pulled myself together and said, ‘Kelly, there’s only one way to beat this rap: don’t worry — and have fun out of the remaining years.’"


title: Patsy Kelly

text: The Todd-Kelly shorts cemented Kelly's image: a brash, freewheeling, fun-loving, wisecracking woman who frequently punctured the pomposity of other characters. Most were directed by Gus Meins, such as "Air Fright" (1933), "Maid in Hollywood" (1934), and "Babes in the Goods" (1934). Later entries in the series, such as "Slightly Static" (1935), showcased Kelly's dancing skills. Referring to the time she spent at the Hal Roach Studios, Kelly exclaimed: "I laughed from the time I arrived at the studio until I left at night. I was almost ashamed to take a paycheck." Kelly made 21 shorts with Todd before Todd died in 1935 of carbon monoxide poisoning after filming "An All-American Toothache" (1936) with Mickey Daniels and Duke York. Years later, regarding Todd's death, Kelly revealed, "She had a fight with her lover at a party that night. I wasn’t there but friends of mine were and they told me about it. There were a lot of suspicious things surrounding her death that never got explained. She most certainly wasn't drunk. Thelma used to nurse one drink for a whole evening and she never touched drugs of any kind. She was a strong New England woman with a powerful sense of humor and a wonderful zest for life. I always figured God wanted another angel. She was too young and too beautiful..."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Todd was eventually replaced by the bubbly Pert Kelton for one short, "Pan Handlers" (1936), but Kelton was quickly replaced by Lyda Roberti, a Polish-born comedienne with a thick foreign accent. Together, they starred in the cute Hal Roach comedy "Nobody's Baby" (1937) just before Roberti's untimely death. According to Kelly, Roberti died of heart failure in 1938 while bending over to tie a shoelace. It was incidents like these that further perpetuated Kelly's reputation as a jinx in Hollywood. And though some considered her bad luck, her performances were never hampered by this. "You see, something, darned if I know what it is, has happened to me since I came to this crazy town. Everyone I loved, turned to, needed, has gone, just like Thelma. It was Jean Malin, that swell New York actor and impersonator, first. I'd been a friend of Jean and his wife for years in New York. Then I went down to the Ship Café that night of Jean's disappearance. I glanced up at the flashing sign over the door that said, ‘Jean Malin’s last night,’ and as clearly as I'm hearing you, a voice said, ‘Be careful, it is his last night.’ He backed the car into the ocean off the end of the pier just one hour later. We were all submerged in the water. Adrenalin worked with me. It didn't with Jean."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Her feature-length debut was playing the role of Jill Barker in MGM’s "Going Hollywood" (1933) and shared screen time with the likes of Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Fifi D’Orsay, and Ned Sparks. The part was a little more than a mere walk-on, and she didn't have a chance to show off her musical talents in it, although the picture does contain several delightful musical moments supplied by entertainers like Crosby and The Radio Rogues.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly's various film roles in the 1930s ranged from the deadpan, screwball comedic to the impressively and powerfully dramatic. There was very little she couldn't handle on screen. On the comedic side of things, she showed up in such light-hearted Americana as "Pick a Star" (1937) with Rosina Lawrence, Jack Haley and Laurel and Hardy, in the knee-slapping boxing comedy "Kelly the Second" (1936) with Guinn Williams and Charley Chase, and in the biting political satire "Thanks A Million" (1935) with Dick Powell, Ann Dvorak, and famed radio personality Fred Allen. As far as drama, she showed off her more serious side in films such as the politically flavored Jean Harlow vehicle "The Girl From Missouri" (1934) with Franchot Tone and Lionel Barrymore, and in "Private Number" (1936) starring Loretta Young and Basil Rathbone.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In 1935, before Todd's death, and after Stan Laurel had a falling out with Hal Roach over a contract disagreement, there was talk of Kelly joining Oliver Hardy to play his wife and Spanky McFarland’s mother in a series called "The Hardy Family", but the project was jettisoned when Laurel returned to the fold. A pilot, entitled "Their Night Out" was announced, with James W. Horne slated to direct, but it never got past the talking stage. She was in the running to play Laurel's wife in "Sons of the Desert" (1933), but her part was eventually filled in by Dorothy Christy.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: During the 1930s, Kelly also appeared in musicals like "Going Hollywood" (1933), the college football extravaganza "Pigskin Parade" (1936) with Stuart Erwin and Judy Garland (in her first film role), playing second banana in "Sing, Baby, Sing" (1936) with Gregory Ratoff, Adolphe Menjou, and Ted Healy, and in Paramount Pictures' "Every Night at Eight" (1935), playing one of a trio of hopeful singers (the other two played by Alice Faye and Frances Langford) who are discovered by an ambitious, blue-collar bandleader by the name of Tops Cardona sympathetically played by George Raft who christens them "The Swanee Sisters". In the film, Kelly gets to showcase her singing talents by crooning out Jimmy McHugh-Dorothy Fields melodies such as the light and breezy "I Feel a Song Coming On" and "Speaking Confidentially". The movie introduced the world to the song "I'm in the Mood for Love", which is sung by Langford. The tap-dancing she learned when she was young was put to good use in films like 20th Century Fox's "Thanks a Million" and Warner Bros.' "Go Into Your Dance" (1935) starring Ruby Keeler and Al Jolson in their only screen pairing together. According to columnist Ruth White: "Wherever you find a laughing group on a sound stage, you will find Patsy in the center of it. She's everybody's friend, as kindly to the prop boys as she is with the most famous stars... This jolly picture thief... makes picture work such play that not until the film is previewed do her co-stars realize she has stolen the show."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In 1936, she told an interviewer: "Of course I was fortunate in having enjoyed a long and fairly successful stage career before going to Hollywood, but just the same, I had to start all over again as there is as much difference between stage and screen acting technique as there is between day and night... The average small-town girl who comes to Movieland without previous stage or screen experience will find the road ahead rough and heartbreaking at times."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In 1937, she was sent to a sanitarium to go on a diet and she lost fifty pounds. Though the new, slimmer Kelly didn't last too long, she was quite proud of her accomplishment. "Look! I can almost hide behind Gary Cooper sideways!"


title: Patsy Kelly

text: By the end of the decade, she appeared as shopgirl Peggy O' Brien in Hal Roach's "There Goes My Heart" (1938) starring Fredric March and Virginia Bruce playing Alan Mowbray's love interest, and as Kitty in "The Gorilla" (1939) featuring a creepy Bela Lugosi and the always delightfully zany and offbeat Ritz Brothers, a performance she once cited as the favorite performance of her own. In the early 1940s, her proficient acting and comedic talents got her to rub elbows and share the screen with big-named stars such as John Barrymore (in his final film role), Gary Cooper, Merle Oberon, Walter Brennan, John Wayne, Bert Lahr, Lupe Velez, Eddie Albert, Victor McLaglen, and even Phil Silvers and Ann Miller in their big-screen debut, "Hit Parade of 1941". She also co-starred with her predecessor ZaSu Pitts in Roach's train comedy "Broadway Limited" (1941) around this period. Familiar faces that appear frequently in her films include Si Jenks, Douglas Fowley, Charlie Hall, Marion Davies, Don Barclay, and Arthur Housman.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In her films, one could find her often playing a sassy maid or an assistant, as she did in features like "Page Miss Glory", "The Gorilla", "Topper Returns", and "Merrily We Live". Subsequently, these comic supporting roles were a harbinger of things to come for Kelly. She jested that she was often cast as a maid, "...because I had a maid's costume that fit. They didn’t have to get me a new outfit. They lent it from one studio to another."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: After appearing in a film or two for RKO, she then began starring in low-budget fare such as "My Son, The Hero" (1943) with Roscoe Karns and Maxie Rosenbloom, and "Danger! Women at Work" (1943), pictures released by Producers Releasing Corporation.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly's film career had stalled after being blackballed by the studios for outing herself as a lesbian. After leaving Hollywood, Kelly returned to New York City where she worked in radio with personalities such as Barry Wood on NBC's "The Palmolive Party" (which was broadcast on Saturday nights at 10 p.m.), toured the U.S. and Canada to entertain the troops during WWII, and did summer stock theatre in shows like "My Sister Eileen" and "On the Town". She also worked as a personal assistant to Tallulah Bankhead and appeared with her on stage in "Dear Charles" (1955). She later moved into Bankhead's mansion "Windows" in Bedford Village, New York acting as her domestic, or "guest resident".


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly returned to the screen in the 1950s with television and sporadic film roles. On television she appeared in guest roles on "26 Men", "Kraft Television Theatre", "The Man from U.N.C.L.E", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "The Wild Wild West", and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", as well as many unsold pilots. During the 1960s, she made memorable appearances as Mac the Nurse in "The Naked Kiss" (1964) and as Laura-Louise McBirney in the psychological horror film "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), directed by Roman Polanski, alongside veteran actors Sidney Blackmer, Ruth Gordon, Ralph Bellamy, and Maurice Evans.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: She returned to Broadway in 1971 in the revival of "No, No, Nanette" with fellow hoofers Ruby Keeler and Helen Gallagher. Kelly scored a huge success as the wisecracking, tap-dancing maid, and won Broadway's 1971 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in the show. She matched that success the following year when she starred in "Irene" with Debbie Reynolds, and was again nominated for a Tony.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In 1976, she appeared as the housekeeper Mrs. Schmauss in the Walt Disney film "Freaky Friday" starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. Her last role in a feature film was in another comedy for Disney, "The North Avenue Irregulars" (1979), also co-starring Harris, along with Cloris Leachman, Edward Herrmann and Karen Valentine. Kelly's final onscreen appearance was a guest spot in a two-part episode of "The Love Boat" in 1979.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly loved food and eventually learned how to cook well. She said, "I will go out of my way anytime to get a shrimp cocktail." As far as desserts, she enjoyed apple and lemon pie, gelatins, ice cream, and peach shortcake, which she had a special recipe for. "I am mad about bread. "I especially like hot biscuits and out on the Coast we have a southern cook who can make more kinds of hot breads than I ever knew existed. And in the morning, I like coffee cake and crumb cake, especially if they are homemade." She was known to have an affinity for sauces. She was also fond of mashed potatoes. "Mash them; and if I were a man, I'd marry you any time." On Sundays, she would entertain guests and serve chicken, turkey or roast beef. She was also wild about sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows. "They taste like a million dollars," proclaimed Kelly. "Steak I like in any way," she added, "and I like string beans, either creamed or just with butter, mashed turnips, orange squash, and creamed spinach. And if you want to make me divinely happy, give me spareribs and cabbage."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: A rabid film fan herself, she spent many a fun-filled evening going to the movies, sometimes seeing seven or eight a week. "What do you do on the two other nights?" she was asked. "Well... there's really nothing for me to do. I just sit around wishing there were more pictures to see. But, when you see eight or ten pictures a week, the supply really runs out." When not toddling off to go see a picture show, she spent her off time playing cards with friends or penny roulette on Redondo Beach.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: When asked if she went to go see any stage shows, she answered, "Well, when I go East and see some shows," she said, "the crowds and the overtures make me feel sort of tingly. But I wouldn't trade it for Hollywood. Actually, I’m probably the most rabid movie fan in town. I see a picture almost every night. This is a crazy place. If you go places and drink, people talk. If you don't drink and don't go places, they still talk. I don't care what they say because I don't do night clubs and big parties. People drop in here and we play badminton. I like to play at night. Sometimes we play a little poker. Ted Healy is my best customer, he and Jack Haley and a few others. I don't do much else. Once I took up golf, but I lost five balls on the first two holes, so I said to hell with that. When I'm trying to reduce I ride two bicycles and get beaten up by a masseuse. I'm generally trying to reduce because the thing I enjoy most is eating. The way I usually look before starting work on a picture, my stomach would get on the screen three seconds before I arrived. I still hoof around the house a little. But Eleanor Powell doesn't have to worry... All this time you've never had to ask for anything... a job or a new contract or more money or better parts. It seems too good to last. Things just happen."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: Kelly was openly gay. She publicly disclosed being a "dyke" during the 1930s, when she revealed to "Motion Picture" magazine she had been living with actress Wilma Cox for several years and had no intention of getting married. She later confirmed that she had an affair with Tallulah Bankhead when she worked as Bankhead's personal assistant.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: It was once reported that she was once temporarily engaged to a serviceman named Otto Malde in 1942, but the marriage never materialized. "It doesn't matter to me whether you are a private, sergeant, or lieutenant," she told the press, "but I guess we'll just have to wait."


title: Patsy Kelly

text: In January 1980, Kelly suffered a stroke while in San Francisco that caused her to lose the ability to speak. She was admitted to Englewood Nursing Home in Englewood, New Jersey, on the advice of her old friend Ruby Keeler, where she underwent therapy.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: On September 24, 1981, Kelly died of cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Her funeral was held on September 28 at St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan. She is interred alongside her parents, John and Delia Kelly, in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: For her contribution to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6669 Hollywood Boulevard, right near Musso & Frank Grill.


title: Patsy Kelly

text: "I'm Gonna Hang My Hat On The Tree That Grows in Brooklyn" (Shapiro/Pescal/Cherig) played by Al Goodman and His Orchestra.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Matrilineality in Judaism or matrilineal descent in Judaism is the tracing of Jewish descent through the maternal line.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Historical evidence marshalled by Professor Shaye J. D. Cohen indicates that a change from a patrilineal to a matrilineal-based principle for the offspring of mixed unions of Jew and gentile took place in the 1st century (c. 10-70 CE) times to Modern times.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Different theories try to explain the shift to matrilineality in Judaism. Some Hasidic Jewish groups propose that matrilineality and matriarchy within Judaism are related to the metaphysical concept of the Jewish soul. Conservative Jewish Theologian Rabbi Louis Jacobs suggests that the marriage practices of the Jewish community were re-stated as a law of matrilineal descent in the early Tannaitic Period (c. 10-70 CE).


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The practice of matrilineal descent differs by denomination. Each denomination has protocols for conversion for those who are not Jewish by birth.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Orthodox Judaism practices matrilineal descent and considers it self-evident. Orthodox Judaism holds that anyone with a Jewish mother also has irrevocable Jewish status; that even were such a Jew to convert to another religion, that person would still be considered Jewish by Jewish Law.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The Conservative Movement also practices matrilineal descent. In 1986, the Conservative Movement's Rabbinical Assembly reiterated the commitment of the Conservative Movement to the practice of matrilineal descent. Furthermore, the movement stated that any rabbi who accepts the principle of patrilineal descent will be subject to expulsion from the Rabbinical Assembly. Still, the Conservative Movement affirmed that "sincere Jews by choice" should be warmly welcomed into the community and that "sensitivity should be shown to Jews who have intermarried and their families." The Conservative movement actively reaches out to intermarried families by offering them opportunities for Jewish growth and enrichment.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism conducted a survey of 1,617 members of 27 Conservative congregations in the U.S. and Canada in 1995. 69% of respondents to the Ratner Center survey agreed that they would regard personally as a Jew anyone who was raised Jewish—even if their mother was Gentile and their father was Jewish (Wertheimer, 59). In this same survey, 29% of respondents indicated that they attended Jewish religious services twice a month or more and 13% that they engage in the study of a Jewish text once a month or more (Wertheimer, 55–57).


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis of Reform Judaism passed a resolution waiving the need for formal conversion for anyone with at least one Jewish parent, provided that either (a) one is raised as a Jew, by Reform standards, or (b) one engages in an appropriate act of public identification, formalizing a practice that had been common in Reform synagogues for at least a generation. This 1983 resolution departed from the Reform Movement's previous position requiring formal conversion to Judaism for children without a Jewish mother.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The 1983 resolution of the American Reform movement has had a mixed reception in Reform Jewish communities outside of the United States. Most notably, the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism has rejected patrilineal descent and requires formal conversion for anyone without a Jewish mother. As well, a joint Orthodox, Traditional, Conservative and Reform Bet Din formed in Denver, Colorado to promote uniform standards for conversion to Judaism was dissolved in 1983, due to that Reform resolution. However, in 2015 the majority of Britain's Assembly of Reform Rabbis voted in favor of a position paper proposing "that individuals who live a Jewish life, and who are patrilineally Jewish, can be welcomed into the Jewish community and confirmed as Jewish through an individual process." Britain's Assembly of Reform Rabbis stated that rabbis "would be able to take local decisions – ratified by the Beit Din – confirming Jewish status."


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Other movements within the World Union for Progressive Judaism also adopted essentially the same position. These include: Liberal Judaism in England; Progressive Judaism in Australia; one congregation in Austria; some congregations in Eastern Europe. Note that Reform Judaism in Canada and England adopts a different position, similar to that of Conservative Judaism (though there may be an accelerated conversion process for the children of Jewish fathers).


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Karaite Judaism does not accept Jewish Oral Law as definitive, believing that all divine commandments were recorded with their plain meaning in the written Torah. As such, they interpret the Hebrew Bible to indicate that Jewishness can only follow patrilineal descent.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The majority view in Karaite Judaism is that Jewish identity can only be transmitted by patrilineal descent. They argue that only patrilineal descent can transmit Jewish identity on the grounds that all descent in the Torah went according to the male line. Only someone who is patrilineally Jewish (someone whose father's father was Jewish) is regarded as a Jew by the "Mo'eṣet HaḤakhamim", or the Karaite Council of Sages based in Israel.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Both Rabbinic and Karaite Jews lived in 12th century Egypt, and a number of marriage contracts between Karaite and Rabbinic individuals have been discovered in the Cairo Genizah. The Egyptian Karaites followed patrilineal descent, but forbade marriage with non-Jews and also did not allow converts into their community. In effect then, 12th century Egyptian Karaites required that "both" parents be Jewish, but they referred to this requirement as patrilineal descent. Thus, marriages between Karaites and the Rabbinic community did not violate the Rabbinate requirement of matrilineality. However, these marriages came to a halt when Maimonides (who led the Rabbinate Jewish community in Egypt in the late 12th century) prohibited them for a separate reason: while he considered Karaites Jewish, he also considered them to potentially fall within the category of "mamzerut", as their divorces were not conducted according to Rabbinate standards.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Reconstructionist Judaism was the first movement to adopt the idea of bilineal descent in 1968. According to Reconstructionist Judaism, children of one Jewish parent, regardless of gender, are considered Jewish if raised as Jews.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The State of Israel adheres to the Jewish law of matrilineal descent for matters which could affect Israeli family law.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The stories of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Genesis are generally compatible with matrilineal descent, if one makes the assumption that Abraham's extended family was "Jewish":


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The stories are generally incompatible with patrilineal descent, in that Abraham and Isaac had many descendants who were not considered Jewish. However, all of Jacob's descendants were considered Jewish.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: In God refers to Hagar's son as "the son of the maidservant" rather than "your [Avraham's] son"; later rabbinic sources deduce from this that a Jewish man's child is considered "his" child only if the mother is Jewish.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The Matriarchs of Israel are "the mothers of" the Tribes of Israel; for those who adhere to Jewish Law, Israelite Nationhood or belonging to the Jewish People via descent exclusively follows the mother's line.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: The Torah has been interpreted to suggest that a brother and sister from the same mother are more closely related than a brother and sister from just the same father (Genesis 20:12 Rashi).


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Moses married Zipporah, a Midianite woman. They had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, both born before the Exodus. The sons of Moses are absent from the genealogies of Levi, which do include the sons of Moses' brother Aaron (whose wife was Israelite).


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: In the accounts of the Prophets and Writings (which covers a time period of nearly a millennium) there are two cases of non-Israelite women who voluntarily (not resulting from conflict) married Israelites where their children were considered Israelite. According to the Talmud, both of these women, Ruth and Naamah, formally converted. Both the Moabite and Ammonite nations were descended from Lot, the nephew of Abraham.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: In the Book of Ruth, Naomi and her husband Elimelech were a Judean couple. Their family moved to Moab during a famine, but Elimelech died there. Naomi's two sons married Moabite women, named Ruth and Orpah. Naomi's two sons then died. Naomi and Ruth then journeyed back to Judah. Then in selling her late husband's land in Judah and the estates of her sons, Naomi set up the stipulation that her financial redeemer also marry her former daughter-in-law. The first potential redeemer declined, lest this marriage "ruin [his] inheritance". Boaz, the next of kin, became Naomi's redeemer, married Ruth and became the father of Obed, who was the ancestor of David. Ruth was the mother of Obed, but Naomi cared for the child, and their neighbors would say "A son has been born to Naomi".


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Solomon "loved many foreign women". Among them was Naamah the Ammonite. Solomon and Naamah's son Rehoboam was a Judean king of the Davidic line.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: Tamar, daughter of King David attempted to persuade her half-brother Amnon not to rape her, by suggesting that he could legitimately marry her instead. This suggestion is difficult to understand, as prohibits marriage to half-siblings by either father or mother. Rashi (1040-1105 CE) attempted to resolve this problem by noting that Tamar's mother was a non-Israelite - Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur. If Jewish descent is matrilineal, and Maacah was not converted to Israelite religion at the time Tamar was conceived, then Tamar would be born non-Israelite, legally unrelated to Amnon (despite being his half-brother) and thus permitted to marry him.


title: Matrilineality in Judaism

text: describes how many Israelite men had intermarried with non-Jewish women, and tells the story of their renunciation of intermarriage and separation from the non-Jewish wives and from their children. The necessity of separating from the children as well as the wives suggests that the children were not considered Jewish despite having Jewish fathers. In rabbinic sources, this verse is understood to be proof of matrilinearity.