Far right leagues

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Far right leagues (Ligues d'extrême droite) gathered several French far right movements opposed to parliamentarism, which mainly dedicate themselves to military parades, street brawls, demonstrations and riots. The term ligue was often used in the 1930s to distinguish these political movements opposed to parliamentary parties. After having appeared first at the end of the 19th century, during the Dreyfus Affair, they were common in France in the 1920s-1930s, and famously participated in the 6 February 1934 riots which overthrew the second Cartel des gauches (a center-left coalition government). For a long time, the French left wing has been convinced that these riots had been an attempted coup d'état against the Republic. Although contemporary historians have shown that, despite the riots and the effective overthrow of the governing left wing, there had been no organized plan to overthrow Edouard Daladier's Radical-Socialist government, this political myth lead to the creation of the anti-fascist movement in France, and later to the dissolving of these leagues in 1936 by the Popular Front government headed by Léon Blum.

1 A "French fascism"?
2 Famous leagues and common denominators
3 References
4 See also

[edit] A "French fascism"?

The debate on a "French Fascism" is closely related to the existence of these anti-parliamentary leagues, of which many adopted at least the exterior signs and rituals of fascism (Roman salute, etc.) and explicitly imitated on one hand Mussolini's squadristis or, on the other hand, Hitler's Nazi party's organization — one should bear in mind, when analyzing "French fascism", international relations: in the 1930s, conservative president of the Council Pierre Laval initiated relations with Mussolini's Italy and the USSR against Germany, seen as the "hereditary enemy" of France. After Laval's meeting with Mussolini in Rome on 4 January 1935, this policy lead to the signature of the Stresa front in 1935 ^[1]. Thus, the French far right was split between Italian fascism, Nazism and nationalism, which forbade them from allying themselves with Hitler and pushed towards an alliance with Mussolini. Individual trajectories during Vichy France, when some far right members ultimately chose the Resistance against the German occupant, illustrate these ideological conflicts.

Leagues created in the 1920s from veterans' associations are usually distinguished from those created in the 1930s, such as Marcel Bucard's Francisme, which were more explicitly influenced by Fascism or Nazism — one of this reason being the common anti-militarism, pacifism and opposition to colonial expansion present in several veterans' associations. Leagues however quickly broke with this left wing anti-militarism and anti-colonialism. Both Cartel des gauches (Left Wing Coalition, the first one was from 1924 to 1926 and the second one from 1932 to the 6 February 1934 riots) saw the appearance of many leagues intent on overthrowing them through street demonstrations. Thus, Pierre Taittinger's Jeunesses Patriotes were founded during the first Cartel, headed by Edouard Herriot, in 1924, as well as Georges Valois's Faisceau (1925) and colonel de la Rocque's Croix-de-Feu, founded a year after Herriot's fall. On the other hand, François Coty's Solidarité française and Marcel Bucard's Francisme were both founded in 1933, during Edouard Daladier's left-wing government. Daladier was replaced after the 6 February 1934 riots by conservative Gaston Doumergue, whom included in his cabinet many right wing personalities close to the far right leagues, such as Philippe Pétain and Pierre Laval.

Most of the debate on the existence of a "French fascism" in between the two wars period has focused on these paramilitary leagues, although most French historians agree in stating that as Fascism is by definition a "mass movement", these leagues don't qualify as such. This, of course, has been debated, since some of them, such as colonel de la Rocque's Croix-de-Feu were very popular and quite big. De la Rocque, however, who later went on to found the Parti Social Français (a predecessor of Gaullism ^[2]), has often been said not to be fascist, an assertion which based itself in particular on his respect for constitutional legality during the 6 February 1934 riots. Others observers may argue that both Fascism and Nazism formally respected legality, and that this factor, in itself, doesn't sufficiently set de la Rocque's movement aside from other types of fascism. Whatever the case, all far right leagues were dissolved on 18 January 1936 by Socialist leader Léon Blum, whom had recently been elected as president of the Council and lead the Popular Front government.

[edit] Famous leagues and common denominators

Far right leagues were characterized by their nationalist, militarist, anti-Semitic, anti-parliamentarist and anti-Communist opinions. Beside, in particular in the 1930s, they often took model on Mussolini's Blackshirts and favored military parades, uniforms and display of their physical might.

The most famous far right leagues included:

Paul Déroulède's Ligue des patriotes (founded in 1882, revived in 1896 during the Dreyfus Affair and finally dissolved soon afterwards)
Camelots du Roy, founded in 1908. Youth organization of the royalist Action française, which was involved in the 6 February 1934 riots.
Jeunesses Patriotes, founded in 1924 by Pierre Taittinger. Claiming the legacy of Déroulède's Ligue des patriotes, it also took part in the February 1934 riots. Presenting itself as a movement in favor of more executive power and with official aims of "defending institutions from the left wing", the Jeunesses Patriotes adopted many ritual signs of fascism (Roman salute, etc.) but conserved, on the whole, a reactionary program distinct from fascism.
Défense paysanne.
Front paysan, founded by Henri Dorgères.
Frontisme, founded by Gaston Bergery.
Le Faisceau, founded in 1925 by Georges Valois. Heavily inspired by Mussolini's fascism, the Faisceau claimed to make the synthesis between socialism and nationalism, which is at the basis of the Nazi ideology. It was at its summum in 1926, with 25,000 "Blue Shirts" (on the model of the Blackshirts), before dissolving on internal dissensions ^[3].
Croix-de-Feu. Veteran association, founded in 1927. Headed by Colonel de la Rocque, it made a calm rally in the 6th of february 1934 and didn't take part in the riots. It became more and more moderate, transforming into a democratic centre-right party, the Parti Social Français (1936-1940). During WWII, La Rocque used his party as an intelligence resistance network (Réseau Klan), linked with the british Intelligence service. It paved the way to gaullism and not to fascism.

Solidarité française, founded in 1933 by wealthy perfumer François Coty, which imitated the Nazi party's organization.
Francisme, founded by Marcel Bucard in September 1933. Partly funded by Mussolini, it dissolved in 1936 with the Popular Front's prohibition, only to reappear in 1941 under the Vichy regime. Its members were some of the most enthusiastic collaborators with the Nazis.

[edit] References

^ See for example "Laval meets Mussolini in Rome" on 4 January 1935
^ See René Rémond's Les Droites en France, 1982, Aubier
^ Zeev Sternhell, « Anatomie d'un mouvement fasciste en France. Le Faisceau de Georges Valois », Revue française de science politique, vol. 26, n°1, février 1976, p. 25-26. (French)