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Édouard Adolphe Drumont (3 May 1844 – 5 February 1917) was a French journalist, author and politician, most often remembered for hisantisemitic ideology and animus. He initiated theAntisemitic League of France in 1889, and was the founder and editor of the political newspaperLa Libre Parole (founded in 1892). After spending years of research, he synthesised three major types of antisemitism. The first type was traditional Catholic attitudes toward the alien "Christ killers" augmented by vehement antipathy toward theFrench Revolution. The second type washostility toward capitalism. The third type was so-calledscientific racism, based on the argument that races have fixed characteristics, and asserting that Jews havenegative characteristics.[1] His work played a key role in catalyzing theDreyfus Affair.
Drumont's biographer, Grégoire Kauffmann, places Drumont within thecounter-revolutionary tradition ofLouis Veuillot,Antoine Blanc de Saint-Bonnet, and anti-modern Catholicism.[2] Socialist leaderJean Jaurès stated that "all the ideas and arguments of Drumont were taken from certain clerical opponents of the French Revolution.[3]
Drumont was born in Paris in 1844 to a family ofporcelain painters fromLille. His father died when he was seventeen, and he had to care for himself and earn his own livelihood from then onwards.[4] He attended high school at Lycée Charlemagne.
He first worked in government service and at one point became a police spy forNapoleon III.[5] Later he became a contributor to the press and was the author of a number of works, of whichMon vieux Paris (1879) was honored by theAcadémie française. He also worked forLouis Veuillot'sL'Univers.[6]
Drumont's 1886 book,La France juive (Jewish France), attacked the role ofJews in France and argued for their exclusion from society. In 1892, Drumont initiated the newspaper theLa Libre Parole which became known for intense anti-semitism.Gaston Méry was soon made editor in chief due to his skill in exploiting scandalous affairs and his daring invective.
In 1893 he was convicted of defaming DeputyAuguste Burdeau by the Seine Court of Assizes, and sentenced to three months inSainte-Pélagie Prison (3 November 1892 – 3 February 1893). In prison, he was put in the same area asPierre Martinet, a founder ofindividualist anarchism, and Lucien Pemjean, an anti-semite and futureNazi collaborator.[8] Upon his release, Drumont invited the anarchists, including Martinet, to a dinner at his home to celebrate his liberation, but they sangthe Internationale and other anarchist songs, which displeased him—the two groups nearly came to blows.[9] In 1898, Martinet posted a public notice criticizing Drumont’s conduct during their time in prison; he declared, for instance:[10]
As for me, I can say that there, I saved him from madness. His cell was above mine. Every night, he would knock on my ceiling with the handle of his broom, shouting to me:
— You, whose windows face the street, do you not see Jews coming to burn the jail?
— Rest assured, I replied, I see only the sentinel who watches over us.
The newspaper took "France for the French" as its motto.[11]
The newspaper was skeptical of the anti-CatholicTaxil hoax before Taxil admitted it in 1897. It was the first paper to publish news ofAlfred Dreyfus's arrest, in an article titled "High Treason: The Jewish Traitor Alfred Dreyfus Arrested" in 1894.
Initially, Drumont was a supporter ofPope Leo XIII and his policy ofralliement in hisencyclical of 1892,Au milieu des sollicitudes which called for French Catholics to embrace the Republic. He soon denounced this course and bitterly insulted the Pope, the Church, and any Catholic who supported it. In one editorial Drumont hoped for a "modern iron-fistedNogaret for the modernBoniface VIII". InLa Libre Parole, Drumont's old friend CountAdrien Albert Marie de Mun andPapal Nuncio CardinalDomenico Ferrata were denounced like common criminals.[12]
Drumont had many devotees.[13] He exploited thePanama Company scandal[14] and reached the maximum of his notoriety during theDreyfus Affair, in which he was the most strident accuser ofAlfred Dreyfus.[4]
For his anti-Panama articles, Drumont was condemned to three months' imprisonment. In 1893, he was an unsuccessful candidate forDeputy fromAmiens; the next year he retired toBrussels. The Dreyfus affair helped him to regain popularity.
For theFrench legislative election of May 1898, the Anti-Jewish League ofMax Régis endorsed Drumont as a candidate for Deputy from the first division ofAlgiers.[15] Drumont was elected triumphantly with 11,557 votes against 2,328 and 1,741 for his opponents.[16]Of sixFrench Algerian Deputies elected, four were Anti-Jewish League.[17]Drumont represented Algiers in the Chamber of Deputies from 1898 to 1902. He was sued for accusing a Deputy of having accepted a bribe from the wealthy Jewish bankerÉdouard Alphonse de Rothschild to pass a piece of legislation the banker wanted.[citation needed]
He wasdefeated for re-election in April–May 1902.[4]
