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The American review of reviews. Février 1922
(article reproduit aussi dans Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's - Avril 1922)
COOPERATIVE HOMES FOR EUROPE'S HOMELESS
BY AGNES DYER WARBASSE
[...] The only self-reliant, effective groups I saw
working in France to meet the needs of the people
were the cooperative societies organized and
administered by the people themselves. Their stores,
restaurants, bakeries, banks and butcher-shops, as
well as their agricultural societies, are
flourishing. This is in distinct contrast to the
decadence and inertia evident everywhere else.
Nothing was left of the little town of Ancerviller,
not far from Nancy, at the time of the armistice,
but some house ends and some solitary chimneys - not
a home. Nevertheless the love of their village lured
nearly 500 peasants back after the bombs and shells
of both armies were silenced. Under the leadership
of the faithful Abbe they formed themselves into a
cooperative society for the rebuilding of their
homes. In a crude way they provided temporary places
to live while they were securing timber, brick and
stone for more solid dwellings. As they worked at
rebuilding, they cultivated their farms and began
retrieving their fortunes. They received no
financial aid except the same slight government
grant to which all the communities of that section
were entitled.
House by house, through their own efforts, the
people have rebuilt their little village, keeping to
the old peasant form of architecture, but improving
the construction and equipment of their homes. They
are justly proud of this, the first village along
the front line. In October, 1921, the peasants
celebrated the complete restoration of Ancerviller-le-Neuf.
They began with a mass in their little new church
and ended with dancing, merrymaking and a banquet
for every man, woman and child in their own
Cooperative Hall.
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