Maurice Pujo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1872-01-26)26 January 1872 Lorrez-le-Bocage-Préaux, Seine-et-Marne, France |
| Died | 6 September 1955(1955-09-06) (aged 83) |
| Education | Université de Paris |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, politician |
| Organization | Action française Ligue de la patrie française Union pour la vérité |
| Known for | Co-founder ofAction FrançaiseLaunched the journal La Revue jeune, later renamed L’Art et la Vie |
| Notable work | Le règne de la grâce (essay)La Guerre et l’Homme |
| Movement | Action Française |
| Children | 1 |
Maurice Pujo (French:[mɔʁispyʒo,moʁ-]; 26 January 1872 – 6 September 1955) was a French journalist and co-founder of the nationalist and monarchistAction Française movement. He became the leader of theCamelots du Roi, the youth organization of the Action Française which took part in many right-wing demonstrations in the years beforeWorld War II (1939–45). After World War II he was imprisoned forcollaborationist activity.
Maurice Pujo was born on 26 January 1872.[1] His family was Catholic and royalist.[2] Pujo studied at thelycée inOrléans at the same time asCharles Péguy. When he was eighteen he won a prize for an essay onSpinoza's moral philosophy.[3] He expected to make a career as a literary critic.[2] He launched the journalLa Revue jeune, later renamedL’Art et la Vie, which lasted for a few years.[1] He was fluent in German, very interested in German culture and an ardent follower ofRichard Wagner.[4] In 1894 he published his first book,Le règne de la grâce, an essay inspired by the philosophy of the German philosopherNovalis that was praised by the Socialist leaderJean Jaurès.[1] He visited Germany as a student in the 1890s. The experience turned him against German influence and made him a French nationalist.[5]
In April 1898, at the height of theDreyfus affair, the circle of leftist intellectuals to which Pujo belonged became supporters ofAlfred Dreyfus. Maurice Pujo andHenri Vaugeois left this group.[1] Late in 1898 Vaugeois, Pujo and a few other nationalists who met at theCafé de Flore founded theComité d'action française (Committee of French Action).[2] Three of this group,Louis Dausset,Gabriel Syveton and Vaugeois, opposed to theLeague for the Rights of Man and Dreyfus, launched a petition that attackedÉmile Zola and what many saw as an internationalist, pacifist left-wing conspiracy.[6][7] In November 1898 their petition gained signatures in the Parisian schools, and was soon circulated throughout political, intellectual and artistic circles in Paris.[6]
On 19 December 1898 Pujo published an article that first used the termL’Action française (French Action) in the daily paperL’Éclair in which he declared that the dispute over Dreyfus was damaging France's vital interests, and called for maintenance of the traditions of the homeland.[2] He said the purpose of theAction française should be "to remake France, republican and free, into a State as organized at home, as powerful abroad, as it was under theAncien Régime."[3] The decision to create the nationalist anti-DreyfusardLigue de la patrie française (League of the French Homeland) was made on 31 December 1898.[6] TheComité d'action française was soon merged into the League, which was led byJules Lemaître.[2]
The circle around Vaugeois soon became disillusioned with the League, which lacked any clear doctrine. Vaugeois disagreed with Lemaître's plan to participate in the next legislative elections. TheComité d'action française was recreated in April 1899, and the foundational conference of theAction Française movement was held on 20 June 1899 in Paris. In his keynote speech at this meeting Vaugeois declared that the movement stood for "anti-Semitic, anti-Masonic, anti-parliamentary and anti-democratic" nationalism.[8]Charles Maurras soon joined the Action Française.[9] Maurras thought the Bourbon monarchy should be restored, using violence if needed.[10] Pujo came to agree with Maurras.[1] He wrote later, "Under the mortal blows of Charles Maurras, the republicanism of each of us succumbed one by one in this year, 1900, which was the year of thehegira for the Action Francaise."[11]
On 16 November 1908Lucien Moreau and Maurice Pujo created theCamelots du Roi youth movement.[12]Maxime Real del Sarte was a co-founder. In the autumn of 1908 Pujo led theCamelots in a series of nationalist demonstrations ostensibly against a Sorbonne student named Thalamas who had insultedJoan of Arc.[1] He remained director of theCamelots from 1908 to 1939.[2] DuringWorld War I (1914–18) Pujo was called up and served on the front.[1] In 1920 Pujo said the Sorbonne was still dangerously infatuated with German culture, and was infiltrated by "foreigners, spies, Jews and Bolsheviks." He called for dismissal of faculty members who he thought were pro-German such asVictor Basch,Charles Seignobos andAulard.[13] He continued to lead demonstrations by the Camelots du Roi into the 1930s, notably the demonstrations about theStavisky Affair of January and February 1934.[1]
DuringWorld War II (1939–45) when the Germans occupied France Pujo stayed with Maurras inLyon.[1] AfterLéon Daudet died in 1942 Pujo was made co-director of the dailyAction Française.[2] He was imprisoned by the Gestapo for three weeks in June 1944. In January 1945 Pujo and Maurras were tried for collaboration and Pujo was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in October 1947. He then became political director ofAspects de la France until his death on 6 September 1955.[1] Pujo has been called "a kind of exalted flunky and right-hand man for Maurras."[2]
Pujo's son,Pierre Pujo ledAction Française until his death on 10 November 2007.
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