Thefar-right leagues (French:ligues d'extrême droite) were severalFrench far-right movements opposed toparliamentarism, which mainly dedicated themselves tomilitary parades,street brawls,demonstrations andriots. The termligue was often used in the 1930s to distinguish thesepolitical movements from parliamentary parties. After having appeared first at theend of the 19th century, during theDreyfus affair, they became common inthe 1920s and 1930s, and famously participated in the6 February 1934 crisis and riots which overthrew the secondCartel des gauches, i.e. the center-left coalition government led byÉdouard Daladier.[1]
For a long time, the French left wing had been convinced that these riots had been an attemptedcoup d'état against theFrench Republic. Although contemporary historians have shown that, despite the riots and the ensuing collapse of the governing left wing, there had been no organized plans to overthrow Daladier'sRadical-Socialist government, this widespread belief led to the creation of theanti-fascist movement in France, and later to the dissolving of these leagues in 1936 by the leftistPopular Front government headed byLéon Blum.
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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 handMussolini'ssquadristis or, on the other hand,Hitler'sNazi party's organization — one should bear in mind, when analyzing "French fascism",international relations: in the 1930s,conservativepresident of the CouncilPierre Laval initiated relations with Mussolini's Italy and theUSSR against Germany, seen as the "hereditary enemy" of France (seeFrench–German enmity). After Laval's meeting with Mussolini in Rome on 4 January 1935, this policy led to the signature of theStresa front in 1935.[2] Thus, the French far-right was split betweenItalian fascism,Nazism andnationalism, which forbade them from allying themselves with Hitler and pushed towards an alliance with Mussolini. Individual trajectories duringVichy France, when some far-right members ultimately chose theResistance against the German occupant, illustrate these ideological conflicts.
Leagues created in the 1920s fromveterans' associations are usually distinguished from those created in the 1930s, such asMarcel Bucard'sFrancisme, which were more explicitly influenced by Fascism or Nazism — one of these reasons being the commonanti-militarism,pacifism andopposition to colonial expansion present in several veterans' associations of the 1920s. Leagues however quickly broke with this left-wing anti-militarism and anti-colonialism. BothCartels des Gauches (Left Wing Coalition, the first from 1924 to 1926 and the second from 1932 to the6 February 1934 riots) saw the appearance of many leagues intent on overthrowing them through street demonstrations. Thus,Pierre Taittinger'sJeunesses Patriotes (JP) were founded during the first Cartel, headed byÉdouard Herriot, in 1924, as well asGeorges Valois'sFaisceau (1925) andcolonel de la Rocque'sCroix-de-Feu, founded a year after Herriot's fall. On the other hand,François Coty'sSolidarité française and Marcel Bucard'sFrancisme were both founded in 1933, during Édouard Daladier's left-wing government. Daladier was replaced after the 6 February 1934 riots by conservativeGaston Doumergue, who included in his cabinet many right wing personalities close to the far-right leagues, such asPhilippe Pétain and Pierre Laval.
Most of the debate on the existence of a "French fascism" in between the two wars period has focused on theseparamilitary leagues, although mostFrench historians agree in stating that as Fascism is by definition a "mass movement", these leagues do not qualify as such. This, of course, has been debated, since some of them, such ascolonel de la Rocque'sCroix-de-Feu were very popular and had a quite large membership. De la Rocque, however, who later went on to found theParti Social Français (PSF, the first French mass party of the right-wing, which would be later imitated byGaullism[3]), has often been said not to be fascist, an assertion which based itself in particular on his respect for constitutional legality during 6 February 1934 riots. Others observers argue that both Fascism and Nazism formally respected legality, and that this factor, in itself, does not sufficiently set de la Rocque's movement aside from other types of fascism.
Far-right leagues in France were characterized by theirnationalist,militarist,anti-Semitic,anti-parliamentarist andanti-Communist opinions. In addition – and in particular in the 1930s – they were often modelled afterBenito Mussolini's paramilitaryBlackshirts and favored military parades, uniforms, and displays of their physical might.
The most famous far-right leagues included:
This context of street agitation ledPierre Laval's government to outlawparamilitary organizations on 6 December 1935,[8] and then to pass the 10 January 1936 law onmilitias and combat groups. This law limited theright of association (resulting from the 1901 law on associations) if these groups organized armed demonstrations in the streets, if they presented a paramilitary or militia aspect or if they attempted to overthrow the Republic or threatened the integrity of the national territory.[9] The 10 January 1936 law was however only partially implemented, and only the monarchistAction Française was dissolved as a result of the law, on 13 February 1936.[10]
ThePopular Front thus included the dissolution of the leagues in its 12 January 1936 electoral program. This proposition was implemented after theMay 1936 election which brought Léon Blum to power.Marceau Pivert publicly called for the dissolution of the leagues on 27 May 1936 in the newspaperLe Populaire.[11]
On 19 June 1936,interior ministerRoger Salengro hadPresidentAlbert Lebrun sign a decree outlawing the major leagues, which were soon dissolved (these includedCroix-de-Feu,Solidarité Française,Jeune Patrie andFrancistes).[8][12] Three days later, La Rocque bypassed the dissolution of hisCroix-de-Feu association by creating theParti Social Français (PSF).[10] Salengro's initiative led the far-right newspaperGringoire (which at the time had a circulation of 500,000 issues per week) to initiate adefamation campaign against him, which finally drove him to commit suicide on 18 November 1936.[12]