6 February 1934 crisis
Encyclopedia
The 6 February 1934 crisis refers to an anti-parliamentarist street demonstration
in Paris organized by far-right leagues that culminated in a riot on the Place de la Concorde
, near the seat of the French National Assembly
. It was one of the major political crises during the Third Republic
(1871–1940), and it entered the popular consciousness, especially that of the socialist
s, as an attempt to organize a fascist
coup d'état
.
As a result of the actions of that day, several anti-fascist
organisations were created, such as the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes
, in an attempt to thwart the rise of fascism in France. After World War II (1939–1945), several historians, among them Serge Bernstein, argued that, while some leagues had been indisputably pushing for a coup d'état, François de La Rocque
, the leader of the important Croix-de-Feu
league, had, in fact, turned in a progressive direction, toward a respect for constitutional order. However, if the lack of coordination among the fascist leagues undermined the idea of a fascist conspiracy, the fascist actions on 6 February were a very real attempt to overthrow the Cartel des gauches
("Leftist Coalition") government that had been elected in the 1932 elections.
Édouard Daladier
, the leader of the Radical-Socialists
(which was a moderately left-wing party), who was president of the national Council, had replaced Camille Chautemps
's (radical-socialist) government on 27 January 1934 because of accusations of corruption (the Stavisky Affair
, etc.) He himself was forced to resign less than two weeks later, on 7 February. Daladier, who had been a popular figure, was replaced by the conservative, Gaston Doumergue
, as head of the government; this was the first time during the tenure of the Third Republic that a government fell because of pressures from the street.
, which had been triggered by the Wall Street Crash of 1929
("Black Thursday"). The economic and social crisis particularly affected the middle classes, traditional supporters of the Republic (in particular of the Radical-Socialist Party). Parliamentary instability followed, with five governments between May 1932 and January 1934, which fueled the anti-parliamentarist movement.
The latter took advantage also of a succession of political and financial scandals, such as the Marthe Hanau Affair
(she had used her political supporters to attract, with her newspaper La Gazette du Franc
, the savings of the petite bourgeoisie
); the Oustric Affair (the criminal bankruptcy
of banker Albert Oustric provoked the fall of André Tardieu
's government in 1930, because of the involvement of his Minister of Justice in it); and, finally, the immediate cause of the 6 February 1934 demonstrations, the Stavisky Affair
.
This new scandal, which involved Bayonne
's Crédit municipal bank, exploded in December 1933. The embezzler Alexandre Stavisky
, known as le beau Sasha ("the handsome Sasha") was linked to several radical deputies, including a minister of Camille Chautemps
's government. The press later revealed that Stavisky had benefited from a 19-month postponement of his trial because the public prosecutor was Chautemps' brother-in-law. On 8 January 1934, Alexandre Stavisky was found dead. According to the police version, he had committed suicide, a conclusion that provoked general disbelief. According to the right wing, Camille Chautemps had had him assassinated in order to prevent him from revealing any secrets. The press then started a political campaign against alleged governmental corruption, while the far right demonstrated. At the end of the month, after the revelation of yet another scandal, Chautemps resigned. Édouard Daladier
, another member of the radical party, succeeded him on 27 January 1934.
Since 9 January, thirteen demonstrations had already taken place in Paris. While the right wing was trying to use the affair to replace the left-wing majority elected during the 1932 elections, the far right took advantage of its traditional themes: antisemitism, xenophobia
(Stavisky was a naturalized
Ukrainian Jew), hostility toward Freemasonry
(Camille Chautemps was a Masonic dignitary), and antiparliamentarism. As historian Serge Bernstein emphasized, the Stavisky Affair was exceptional neither in its seriousness nor in the personalities put on trial, but in the right wing's will to use the opportunity to make a left-wing government resign. In this aim, it could take advantage of the fact that the radical socialists did not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly
and thus the government was weak.
However, it was the dismissal of the police prefect
Jean Chiappe
that ultimately provoked the massive demonstrations of 6 February. Jean Chiappe, who was openly right-wing, was very soft on far-right activism
, which essentially took place in the streets (demonstrations, riots, attacks against the few left-wing students in the Quartier Latin by the monarchist Camelots du Roy
, the youth organization of the Action Française
, etc.). According to the left wing, Chiappe's firing was due to his involvement in the Stavisky Affair while the right wing denounced the result of negotiations with the radicals: the departure of Chiappe would have been exchanged against support for Daladier's new government.
("Patriot League") had been founded by Paul Déroulède
in 1882), they played an important role following World War I, in particular when the left wing was in power, as it had been since the 1932 legislative elections.
, located in front of the National Assembly
, but on the other side of the Seine
river. The police and guards managed to defend the strategic bridge of the Concorde, despite being the target of all sorts of projectiles. Several rioters were armed, and the police forces fired on the crowd. Disturbances lasted until 2:30 AM. 16 people were killed and 2,000 injured, most of them members of the Action Française.
The far-right leagues had the most important role in the riots. Most of the Union nationale des combattants (UNC) veterans avoided the Place de la Concorde, creating some incidents near the Elysée palace
, the president's residence. A few isolated members of the communist ARAC were also present; one public notice afterward proclaimed: "The Cartel
[Cartel des gauches, the radical-socialist government] had the unarmed veterans who shouted "A bas les voleurs! Vive la France!" ("Down with the robbers, long live France!") killed.
While on the right side of the Seine (north, on the Place de la Concorde), the policemen's charges contained the rioters with difficulty, the Croix-de-feu
had chosen to demonstrate in the south. The Palais Bourbon
, seat of the National Assembly, is much more difficult to defend on this side, but the Croix-de-feu limited themselves to surrounding the building without any major incident before dispersing. Because of this attitude, they earned the pejorative nickname of Froides Queues in the far-right press. Contrary to the other leagues which were intent on overthrowing the Republic, it thus seemed that Colonel de la Rocque finally decided to respect the constitutional legality.
In the National Assembly, the right wing attempted to take advantage of the riots to push the Cartel des gauches government to resign. The left wing, however, rallied around president of the Council Édouard Daladier
. The session was ended after blows were exchanged between left and right-wing deputies.
, although he finally decided against it. However, the next day the judiciary and the police resisted his directives. Moreover, most of his ministers and his party withdrew their support. Thus, Daladier finally chose to resign. This was the first time during the Third Republic that a government had to resign because of pressure from the streets.
The crisis was finally resolved with the formation of a new government under the direction of former president of the Republic (1924–31) Gaston Doumergue
, a conservative whom the leagues seemed to accept. Qualified as a "National Union government", it included the most important figures of the parliamentary right wing, among whom André Tardieu
, Louis Barthou
and Louis Marin
, although several radical socialists and Philippe Pétain
, who was named minister of War, were also part of it. Pétain would later be the leader of the collaborationist Vichy regime during World War II.
leagues which had marched on Rome
in 1922, thus leading to the imposition of the fascist regime
. Although historian Serge Bernstein has showed that Colonel de la Rocque had probably been convinced of the necessity of respecting constitutional legality, this was not true of all members of his Croix-de-feu
movement, which also shared, at least superficially, some characteristics of the fascist leagues, in particular their militarism
and fascination for parades.
On 9 February 1934, a socialist and communist counter-demonstration took place while Daladier was being replaced by conservative Gaston Doumergue. Nine people were killed during incidents with the police forces. On 12 February the CGT trade union
(socialist and reformist at the time) and the CGTU
(communist) decided to call for a one-day general strike
, while the SFIO socialist party
and the communist party
decided to call for a separate demonstration. However, at the initiative of the popular base of these movements, the demonstrations finally united themselves into one. Thus, this day marked a first tentative union between the socialists and the communists. It had at its core the antifascism shared by both Marxist parties; a union had been opposed since the 1920 Tours Congress
split, but this new rapprochement led to the 1936 Popular Front
(consisting of radicals and socialists and supported without participation in the government by the Communist party). This antifascist union was in line with Stalin
's directives to the Comintern
, which had asked the European communist parties to ally with other left-wing parties, including social-democrats and socialists, in order to block the contagion of fascist and anti-communist regimes in Europe.
Furthermore, several antifascist organizations were created in the wake of the riots, such as the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes
(Watchfulness Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals, created in March 1934) which included philosopher Alain
, ethnologist Paul Rivet
and physicist Paul Langevin
. The anarchist movement
also took part in many antifascist actions.
far right. Several of its leaders would lose all trust in parliamentary institutions. Daniel Halévy
, a French historian of Jewish descent, publicly declared that following February 6, 1934 he was now a "man of the extreme right." Although he personally abhored Italian fascism or German national socialism he went on to support the Pétain regime in Vichy. The radicalization of the right wing would accelerate after the election of the Popular Front
in 1936 and the Spanish Civil War
(1936–39).
In the view of the far right, 6 February represented a failed opportunity to overthrow the Republic (la gueuse), which only presented itself again in 1940 following the étrange défaite (Marc Bloch
) or "divine surprise" (Charles Maurras
), that is the 1940 defeat during the Battle of France
against Germany. This deception prompted several far-right members to radicalize themselves, turning toward fascism, national-socialism
or the wartime Vichy regime.
Despite the fears of the left wing, the 6 February crisis was not a fascist conspiracy. The far-right leagues were not united enough and most of them lacked any specific objectives. However, their violent methods, their paramilitary appearances, their cult of leadership, etc., explained why they have often been associated with fascism. Beyond these appearances, however, and their will to see the parliamentary regime replaced by an authoritarian
regime, historians René Rémond
and Serge Bernstein do not consider that they had a real fascist project. Opposing this view, other historians, such as Michel Dobry
or Zeev Sternhell
, considered them as being fully fascist leagues. Brian Jenkins claimed it was pointless to look for a fascist essence in France and preferred to make comparisons which led, according to him, to a clear convergence between Italian fascism and the majority of the French leagues, in particular the Action Française
(in other words, Jenkins considers fascism an Italian historic phenomenon, and though a fascist-like movement existed in France, it should not be called "fascist" as this name should be reserved for Benito Mussolini
's movement).
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
in Paris organized by far-right leagues that culminated in a riot on the Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
, near the seat of the French National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
. It was one of the major political crises during the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
(1871–1940), and it entered the popular consciousness, especially that of the socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
s, as an attempt to organize a fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
.
As a result of the actions of that day, several anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
organisations were created, such as the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes
Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes
The Watchfulness Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals was a French political organization created in March 1934, in the wake of the February 6, 1934 riots organized by far right leagues, which had led to the fall of the second Cartel des gauches government...
, in an attempt to thwart the rise of fascism in France. After World War II (1939–1945), several historians, among them Serge Bernstein, argued that, while some leagues had been indisputably pushing for a coup d'état, François de La Rocque
François de la Rocque
François de La Rocque was leader of the French right-wing league named the Croix de Feu from 1930–1936, before forming the more moderate Parti Social Français , seen as a precursor of Gaullism.- Early life :François de La Rocque was born on 6 October 1885 in Lorient, Brittany, the third son to a...
, the leader of the important Croix-de-Feu
Croix-de-Feu
Croix-de-Feu was a French far right league of the Interwar period, led by Colonel François de la Rocque . After it was dissolved, as were all other far right leagues during the Popular Front period , de la Rocque replaced it with the Parti social français .- Beginnings :The Croix-de-Feu were...
league, had, in fact, turned in a progressive direction, toward a respect for constitutional order. However, if the lack of coordination among the fascist leagues undermined the idea of a fascist conspiracy, the fascist actions on 6 February were a very real attempt to overthrow the Cartel des gauches
Cartel des Gauches
The Cartel des gauches was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party and the socialist French Section of the Workers' International after World War I , which lasted until the end of the Popular Front . The Cartel des gauches twice won general elections, in 1924 and...
("Leftist Coalition") government that had been elected in the 1932 elections.
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
, the leader of the Radical-Socialists
Radical-Socialist Party (France)
The Radical Party , is a liberal and centrist political party in France. The Radicals are currently the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly, with 21 seats...
(which was a moderately left-wing party), who was president of the national Council, had replaced Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic, three times President of the Council .-Career:Described as "intellectually bereft", Chautemps nevertheless entered politics and became Mayor of Tours in 1912, and a Radical deputy in 1919...
's (radical-socialist) government on 27 January 1934 because of accusations of corruption (the Stavisky Affair
Stavisky Affair
The Stavisky Affair was a 1934 financial scandal generated by the actions of embezzler Alexandre Stavisky. It had political ramifications for the French Radical Socialist moderate government of the day...
, etc.) He himself was forced to resign less than two weeks later, on 7 February. Daladier, who had been a popular figure, was replaced by the conservative, Gaston Doumergue
Gaston Doumergue
Pierre-Paul-Henri-Gaston Doumergue was a French politician of the Third Republic.Doumergue came from a Protestant family. Beginning as a Radical, he turned more towards the political right in his old age. He served as Prime Minister from 9 December 1913 to 2 June 1914...
, as head of the government; this was the first time during the tenure of the Third Republic that a government fell because of pressures from the street.
The 1930s crisis and the Stavisky affair
France was affected in 1931, a bit later than other countries, by the 1929 Great DepressionGreat Depression in France
The Great Depression affected France from about 1931 through the remainder of the decade. The depression had drastic effects on the local economy, which can partly explain the 6 February 1934 crisis and even more the formation of the Popular Front, led by SFIO socialist leader Léon Blum, who won...
, which had been triggered by the Wall Street Crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
("Black Thursday"). The economic and social crisis particularly affected the middle classes, traditional supporters of the Republic (in particular of the Radical-Socialist Party). Parliamentary instability followed, with five governments between May 1932 and January 1934, which fueled the anti-parliamentarist movement.
The latter took advantage also of a succession of political and financial scandals, such as the Marthe Hanau Affair
Marthe Hanau
Marthe Hanau was a Frenchwoman who defrauded French financial markets in the 1920s and 1930s.Marthe Hanau was born in Lille to a Jewish family of an industrialist. She married, and later divorced Lazare Bloch. In 1925, she and Bloch founded an economic newspaper, La Gazette du Franc et des...
(she had used her political supporters to attract, with her newspaper La Gazette du Franc
Franc
The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...
, the savings of the petite bourgeoisie
Petite bourgeoisie
Petit-bourgeois or petty bourgeois is a term that originally referred to the members of the lower middle social classes in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
); the Oustric Affair (the criminal bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
of banker Albert Oustric provoked the fall of André Tardieu
André Tardieu
André Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
's government in 1930, because of the involvement of his Minister of Justice in it); and, finally, the immediate cause of the 6 February 1934 demonstrations, the Stavisky Affair
Stavisky Affair
The Stavisky Affair was a 1934 financial scandal generated by the actions of embezzler Alexandre Stavisky. It had political ramifications for the French Radical Socialist moderate government of the day...
.
This new scandal, which involved Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
's Crédit municipal bank, exploded in December 1933. The embezzler Alexandre Stavisky
Alexandre Stavisky
Serge Alexandre Stavisky was a French financier and embezzler whose actions created a political scandal that became known as the Stavisky Affair....
, known as le beau Sasha ("the handsome Sasha") was linked to several radical deputies, including a minister of Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps
Camille Chautemps was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic, three times President of the Council .-Career:Described as "intellectually bereft", Chautemps nevertheless entered politics and became Mayor of Tours in 1912, and a Radical deputy in 1919...
's government. The press later revealed that Stavisky had benefited from a 19-month postponement of his trial because the public prosecutor was Chautemps' brother-in-law. On 8 January 1934, Alexandre Stavisky was found dead. According to the police version, he had committed suicide, a conclusion that provoked general disbelief. According to the right wing, Camille Chautemps had had him assassinated in order to prevent him from revealing any secrets. The press then started a political campaign against alleged governmental corruption, while the far right demonstrated. At the end of the month, after the revelation of yet another scandal, Chautemps resigned. Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
, another member of the radical party, succeeded him on 27 January 1934.
Since 9 January, thirteen demonstrations had already taken place in Paris. While the right wing was trying to use the affair to replace the left-wing majority elected during the 1932 elections, the far right took advantage of its traditional themes: antisemitism, xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
(Stavisky was a naturalized
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
Ukrainian Jew), hostility toward Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
(Camille Chautemps was a Masonic dignitary), and antiparliamentarism. As historian Serge Bernstein emphasized, the Stavisky Affair was exceptional neither in its seriousness nor in the personalities put on trial, but in the right wing's will to use the opportunity to make a left-wing government resign. In this aim, it could take advantage of the fact that the radical socialists did not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
and thus the government was weak.
However, it was the dismissal of the police prefect
Prefecture of Police
The Prefecture of Police , headed by the Prefect of Police , is an agency of the Government of France which provides the police force for the city of Paris and the surrounding three suburban départements of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne...
Jean Chiappe
Jean Chiappe
Jean Baptiste Pascal Eugène Chiappe was a high-ranking French civil servant.Chiappe was director of the Sûreté générale in the 1920s. He was subsequently given the post of Préfet de police in the 1930s, in which role he was very popular...
that ultimately provoked the massive demonstrations of 6 February. Jean Chiappe, who was openly right-wing, was very soft on far-right activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, which essentially took place in the streets (demonstrations, riots, attacks against the few left-wing students in the Quartier Latin by the monarchist Camelots du Roy
Camelots du Roy
The Camelots du Roi were the youth organization of the Royalist Action française French integralist movement. Created on 16 November 1908, it was closely influenced by Charles Maurras' integralism doctrine of nationalism, and was quite popular between the two World Wars...
, the youth organization of the Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, etc.). According to the left wing, Chiappe's firing was due to his involvement in the Stavisky Affair while the right wing denounced the result of negotiations with the radicals: the departure of Chiappe would have been exchanged against support for Daladier's new government.
Forces present
Far-right anti-parliamentary leagues had been the main activists during the January 1934 demonstrations. Although these leagues were not a new phenomenon (the old Ligue des PatriotesLigue des Patriotes
The Ligue des Patriotes was a French far right league, founded in 1882 by the nationalist poet Paul Déroulède, historian Henri Martin, and Felix Faure. The Ligue began as a non-partisan nationalist league calling for 'revanche' against Germany, and literally means "League of Patriots"...
("Patriot League") had been founded by Paul Déroulède
Paul Déroulède
- Early life :Déroulède was born in Paris. He was published first as a poet in the magazine Revue nationale, with the pseudonym "Jean Rebel". In 1869 he produced, at the Théâtre Français, a one-act drama in verse named Juan Strenner.- Military career :...
in 1882), they played an important role following World War I, in particular when the left wing was in power, as it had been since the 1932 legislative elections.
- Action FrançaiseAction FrançaiseThe Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
. Among the most important far-right leagues present on 6 February, the oldest one was the royalist Action Française. Founded in 1905 by Charles MaurrasCharles MaurrasCharles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
, it was composed of 60,000 members eager to overturn la gueuse, as they called the Republic, in order to restore the CapetianHouse of CapetThe House of Capet, or The Direct Capetian Dynasty, , also called The House of France , or simply the Capets, which ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328, was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians. As rulers of France, the dynasty...
monarchy (which had been overthrown during the 1848 Revolution), but that the "legitimist" movement adamantly opposed. It was not until after World War II and the defeat of the Vichy regimeVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
that the legitimist far-right movement, one of the three French far-right traditions analyzed by historian René RémondRené Rémond-Biography:Born in Lons-le-Saunier, Rémond was the Secretary General of Jeunesses étudiantes Catholiques and a member of the International YCS Center of Documentation and Information in Paris, presently the International Secretariat of International Young Catholic Students The author of books on...
, finally became a really marginal grouping. The Action Française had as its youth group the Camelots du RoyCamelots du RoyThe Camelots du Roi were the youth organization of the Royalist Action française French integralist movement. Created on 16 November 1908, it was closely influenced by Charles Maurras' integralism doctrine of nationalism, and was quite popular between the two World Wars...
, militants very active in the Quartier Latin against left-wing students (at that time, the right wing and the far right had a majority in the students' movement).
- The Jeunesses PatriotesJeunesses PatriotesThe Jeunesses Patriotes were a Fascist-inspired street brawlers group of France, recruited mostly from university students and financed by industrialists founded in 1924 by Pierre Taittinger...
("Patriot Youth") had been founded by Pierre TaittingerPierre TaittingerPierre-Charles Taittinger was founder of the famous Taittinger champagne house and chairman of the municipal council of Paris in 1943–1944 during the German occupation of France, in which position he played a role during the Liberation of Paris.-Personal life:Born in Paris, Pierre...
, deputy of Paris, in 1924. With 90,000 members, including 1,500 "elites" members, it claimed the legacy of the Ligue des PatriotesLigue des PatriotesThe Ligue des Patriotes was a French far right league, founded in 1882 by the nationalist poet Paul Déroulède, historian Henri Martin, and Felix Faure. The Ligue began as a non-partisan nationalist league calling for 'revanche' against Germany, and literally means "League of Patriots"...
. The Jeunesses Patriotes had close link with right-wing politicians, and boasted several municipal councillors of the capital in their ranks.
- Solidarité FrançaiseSolidarité FrançaiseSolidarité Française was a French far right league founded in 1933 by perfume manufacturer François Coty and commanded by Major Jean Renaud, they dressed in blue shirts, black berets, and jackboots, and shouted the slogan "France for the French"...
("French Solidarity"), founded in 1933 by wealthy perfume producer François CotyFrançois CotyFrançois Coty was a French perfume manufacturer, newspaper publisher, and founder of the fascist league Solidarité Française...
, had no precise political aims and fewer members.
- Francisme and others. Marcel BucardMarcel BucardMarcel Bucard was a French Fascist politician.Early career=...
's Francisme had adopted all the elements of the fascistFascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
ideology, while the Fédération des contribuables ("Taxpayers federation") shared its political aims with the other leagues.
- The Croix-de-feuCroix-de-FeuCroix-de-Feu was a French far right league of the Interwar period, led by Colonel François de la Rocque . After it was dissolved, as were all other far right leagues during the Popular Front period , de la Rocque replaced it with the Parti social français .- Beginnings :The Croix-de-Feu were...
. The Croix-de-feu had been created in 1926 as a World War I veterans association. The most important league by membership numbers, it had extended its recruitment in 1931 to other categories of the population under Colonel de la RocqueFrançois de la RocqueFrançois de La Rocque was leader of the French right-wing league named the Croix de Feu from 1930–1936, before forming the more moderate Parti Social Français , seen as a precursor of Gaullism.- Early life :François de La Rocque was born on 6 October 1885 in Lorient, Brittany, the third son to a...
's leadership. Like the other leagues, they also had "combat" and "self-defense" groups, called "dispos". Although many on the left wing accused it of having become a fascist movement, especially after the crisis, historians state that François de la Rocque's reluctance to participate in a coup d'état was a key reason for the failure of the riots to overthrow the Republic.
- Veterans' associations. The veterans' associations which had taken part in the January demonstrations also took to the streets on 6 February. The most important, the Union nationale des combattants (UNC), directed by a Parisian municipal counsellor whose ideas were close to the right wing, counted 900,000 members. And showing the complexity of the situation and the general exasperation of the population, the Association républicaine des anciens combattants (ARAC), the unofficial French Communist PartyFrench Communist PartyThe French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
(PCF) veterans' association, also called for its troops to demonstrate on 6 February, though with clearly different aims.
The riots
On the night of 6 February, the leagues, which had gathered in different places in Paris, all converged on Place de la ConcordePlace de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
, located in front of the National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
, but on the other side of the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
river. The police and guards managed to defend the strategic bridge of the Concorde, despite being the target of all sorts of projectiles. Several rioters were armed, and the police forces fired on the crowd. Disturbances lasted until 2:30 AM. 16 people were killed and 2,000 injured, most of them members of the Action Française.
The far-right leagues had the most important role in the riots. Most of the Union nationale des combattants (UNC) veterans avoided the Place de la Concorde, creating some incidents near the Elysée palace
Élysée Palace
The Élysée Palace is the official residence of the President of the French Republic, containing his office, and is where the Council of Ministers meets. It is located near the Champs-Élysées in Paris....
, the president's residence. A few isolated members of the communist ARAC were also present; one public notice afterward proclaimed: "The Cartel
Cartel des Gauches
The Cartel des gauches was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party and the socialist French Section of the Workers' International after World War I , which lasted until the end of the Popular Front . The Cartel des gauches twice won general elections, in 1924 and...
[Cartel des gauches, the radical-socialist government] had the unarmed veterans who shouted "A bas les voleurs! Vive la France!" ("Down with the robbers, long live France!") killed.
While on the right side of the Seine (north, on the Place de la Concorde), the policemen's charges contained the rioters with difficulty, the Croix-de-feu
Croix-de-Feu
Croix-de-Feu was a French far right league of the Interwar period, led by Colonel François de la Rocque . After it was dissolved, as were all other far right leagues during the Popular Front period , de la Rocque replaced it with the Parti social français .- Beginnings :The Croix-de-Feu were...
had chosen to demonstrate in the south. The Palais Bourbon
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon, , a palace located on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde, Paris , is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government.-History:...
, seat of the National Assembly, is much more difficult to defend on this side, but the Croix-de-feu limited themselves to surrounding the building without any major incident before dispersing. Because of this attitude, they earned the pejorative nickname of Froides Queues in the far-right press. Contrary to the other leagues which were intent on overthrowing the Republic, it thus seemed that Colonel de la Rocque finally decided to respect the constitutional legality.
In the National Assembly, the right wing attempted to take advantage of the riots to push the Cartel des gauches government to resign. The left wing, however, rallied around president of the Council Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
. The session was ended after blows were exchanged between left and right-wing deputies.
Daladier's resignation and the formation of a National Union government
During the night, president of the Council Édouard Daladier took the first measures to obtain the re-establishment of public order. He did not exclude the possibility of declaring a state of emergencyState of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
, although he finally decided against it. However, the next day the judiciary and the police resisted his directives. Moreover, most of his ministers and his party withdrew their support. Thus, Daladier finally chose to resign. This was the first time during the Third Republic that a government had to resign because of pressure from the streets.
The crisis was finally resolved with the formation of a new government under the direction of former president of the Republic (1924–31) Gaston Doumergue
Gaston Doumergue
Pierre-Paul-Henri-Gaston Doumergue was a French politician of the Third Republic.Doumergue came from a Protestant family. Beginning as a Radical, he turned more towards the political right in his old age. He served as Prime Minister from 9 December 1913 to 2 June 1914...
, a conservative whom the leagues seemed to accept. Qualified as a "National Union government", it included the most important figures of the parliamentary right wing, among whom André Tardieu
André Tardieu
André Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
, Louis Barthou
Louis Barthou
Jean Louis Barthou was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Early years:He was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office...
and Louis Marin
Louis Marin
Louis Marin was a French philosopher, historian, semiotician and art critic of the 20th century.He was born in La Tronche, He is usually referred to as a French Post-Structuralism thinker. He attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne and graduated with a Licence in Philosophy in 1952...
, although several radical socialists and Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
, who was named minister of War, were also part of it. Pétain would later be the leader of the collaborationist Vichy regime during World War II.
Toward the union of the left wing
Following 6 February, the left wing was convinced that a fascist conspiracy had taken place, and that it had been temporarily blocked. The importance of the antiparliamentarist activity of far-right leagues was undeniable. Some of them, such as the Francisque, had copied all of their characteristics from the Italian FascioFascio
Fascio, plural -sci /'faʃʃo, ʃi/ is an Italian word literally meaning "a bundle" or "a sheaf", and figuratively league, and which was used in the late 19th century to refer to political groups of many different orientations...
leagues which had marched on Rome
March on Rome
The March on Rome was a march by which Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party came to power in the Kingdom of Italy...
in 1922, thus leading to the imposition of the fascist regime
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
. Although historian Serge Bernstein has showed that Colonel de la Rocque had probably been convinced of the necessity of respecting constitutional legality, this was not true of all members of his Croix-de-feu
Croix-de-Feu
Croix-de-Feu was a French far right league of the Interwar period, led by Colonel François de la Rocque . After it was dissolved, as were all other far right leagues during the Popular Front period , de la Rocque replaced it with the Parti social français .- Beginnings :The Croix-de-Feu were...
movement, which also shared, at least superficially, some characteristics of the fascist leagues, in particular their militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
and fascination for parades.
On 9 February 1934, a socialist and communist counter-demonstration took place while Daladier was being replaced by conservative Gaston Doumergue. Nine people were killed during incidents with the police forces. On 12 February the CGT trade union
Confédération générale du travail
The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.It is the largest in terms of votes , and second largest in terms of membership numbers.Its membership decreased to 650,000 members in 1995-96 The General...
(socialist and reformist at the time) and the CGTU
Confédération générale du travail unitaire
Confédération générale du travail unitaire was a trade union confederation in France. CGTU emerged out of split in the Confédération générale du travail, which had been torn by confrontations between socialists and communists. CGTU was founded at a congress in Saint-Étienne in June 1922, and was...
(communist) decided to call for a one-day general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
, while the SFIO socialist party
Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière
The French Section of the Workers' International , founded in 1905, was a French socialist political party, designed as the local section of the Second International...
and the communist party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
decided to call for a separate demonstration. However, at the initiative of the popular base of these movements, the demonstrations finally united themselves into one. Thus, this day marked a first tentative union between the socialists and the communists. It had at its core the antifascism shared by both Marxist parties; a union had been opposed since the 1920 Tours Congress
Tours Congress
The Tours Congress was the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers' International, or SFIO, which took place in Tours on 25—30 December 1920...
split, but this new rapprochement led to the 1936 Popular Front
Popular Front (France)
The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...
(consisting of radicals and socialists and supported without participation in the government by the Communist party). This antifascist union was in line with Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's directives to the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, which had asked the European communist parties to ally with other left-wing parties, including social-democrats and socialists, in order to block the contagion of fascist and anti-communist regimes in Europe.
Furthermore, several antifascist organizations were created in the wake of the riots, such as the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes
Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes
The Watchfulness Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals was a French political organization created in March 1934, in the wake of the February 6, 1934 riots organized by far right leagues, which had led to the fall of the second Cartel des gauches government...
(Watchfulness Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals, created in March 1934) which included philosopher Alain
Alain
Alain may refer to:* Alain , both a surname and common given name* 1969 Alain , a Main-belt Asteroid discovered in 1935* Al Ain International Airport in the United Arab Emirates...
, ethnologist Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet was a French ethnologist, who founded the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. He was also one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an antifascist organization created in the wake of the February 6, 1934 far right riots.Rivet proposed a theory according to...
and physicist Paul Langevin
Paul Langevin
Paul Langevin was a prominent French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an antifascist organization created in the wake of the 6 February 1934 far right riots...
. The anarchist movement
Anarchism in France
Thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. French anarchism reached its height in the late 19th century...
also took part in many antifascist actions.
The right wing's radicalization
Following the crisis, the parliamentary right also began to get closer to the counterrevolutionaryCounterrevolutionary
A counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part...
far right. Several of its leaders would lose all trust in parliamentary institutions. Daniel Halévy
Daniel Halévy
Daniel Halévy was a French historian.The son of Ludovic Halévy, Daniel was born and died in Paris...
, a French historian of Jewish descent, publicly declared that following February 6, 1934 he was now a "man of the extreme right." Although he personally abhored Italian fascism or German national socialism he went on to support the Pétain regime in Vichy. The radicalization of the right wing would accelerate after the election of the Popular Front
Popular Front (France)
The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...
in 1936 and the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
(1936–39).
In the view of the far right, 6 February represented a failed opportunity to overthrow the Republic (la gueuse), which only presented itself again in 1940 following the étrange défaite (Marc Bloch
Marc Bloch
Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch was a French historian who cofounded the highly influential Annales School of French social history. Bloch was a quintessential modernist. An assimilated Alsatian Jew from an academic family in Paris, he was deeply affected in his youth by the Dreyfus Affair...
) or "divine surprise" (Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
), that is the 1940 defeat during the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
against Germany. This deception prompted several far-right members to radicalize themselves, turning toward fascism, national-socialism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
or the wartime Vichy regime.
Despite the fears of the left wing, the 6 February crisis was not a fascist conspiracy. The far-right leagues were not united enough and most of them lacked any specific objectives. However, their violent methods, their paramilitary appearances, their cult of leadership, etc., explained why they have often been associated with fascism. Beyond these appearances, however, and their will to see the parliamentary regime replaced by an authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
regime, historians René Rémond
René Rémond
-Biography:Born in Lons-le-Saunier, Rémond was the Secretary General of Jeunesses étudiantes Catholiques and a member of the International YCS Center of Documentation and Information in Paris, presently the International Secretariat of International Young Catholic Students The author of books on...
and Serge Bernstein do not consider that they had a real fascist project. Opposing this view, other historians, such as Michel Dobry
Michel Dobry
Michel Dobry is a French political scientist. He has taught at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne since September 2001.-Political Theory:* Dobry . Sociologie des crises politiques. Paris: Presses de la FNSP...
or Zeev Sternhell
Zeev Sternhell
Zeev Sternhell is an Israeli historian and one of the world's leading experts on Fascism. Sternhell headed the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and writes for Haaretz newspaper.-Biography:...
, considered them as being fully fascist leagues. Brian Jenkins claimed it was pointless to look for a fascist essence in France and preferred to make comparisons which led, according to him, to a clear convergence between Italian fascism and the majority of the French leagues, in particular the Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
(in other words, Jenkins considers fascism an Italian historic phenomenon, and though a fascist-like movement existed in France, it should not be called "fascist" as this name should be reserved for Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
's movement).
See also
- Battle of Cable StreetBattle of Cable StreetThe Battle of Cable Street took place on Sunday 4 October 1936 in Cable Street in the East End of London. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, overseeing a march by the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, and anti-fascists, including local Jewish, socialist, anarchist,...
- Bonus March
- Cartel des gauchesCartel des GauchesThe Cartel des gauches was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party and the socialist French Section of the Workers' International after World War I , which lasted until the end of the Popular Front . The Cartel des gauches twice won general elections, in 1924 and...
(Left-Wing Coalition) - Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistesComité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistesThe Watchfulness Committee of Antifascist Intellectuals was a French political organization created in March 1934, in the wake of the February 6, 1934 riots organized by far right leagues, which had led to the fall of the second Cartel des gauches government...
- Far right leaguesFar right leaguesThe Far right leagues were several French far right movements opposed to parliamentarism, which mainly dedicated themselves to military parades, street brawls, demonstrations and riots. The term ligue was often used in the 1930s to distinguish these political movements from parliamentary parties...
- France between the wars
- French Third RepublicFrench Third RepublicThe French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
(1871–1940)