WORLD WORLDWIDE BELGIUM BRUSSELS FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, UCL AL #346 - History, February 1934: From the reactionary coup attempt to the anti-fascist surge (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

On February 6, 1934, in the midst of an economic and political crisis,
the far-right leagues, taking advantage of social discontent and
widespread anti-parliamentarianism, organized a demonstration on the day
when the National Assembly was to vote its confidence in the new
government led by Édouard Daladier. In January, the Stavisky affair, a
political-financial scandal in which several parliamentarians were
involved, was the occasion for a resurgence of xenophobia and
anti-Semitism under the guise of anti-parliamentarianism. The dismissal
on February 3 of prefect Chiappe, close to the extreme right, was the
spark the leagues were waiting for to take action.

"The Day the Republic Tottered[1]": what happened on the evening of
February 6, 1934? How can we characterize these events: fascist
attempted coup d'état, reactionary coup against left-wing power or
confused expression of social exasperation? February 6, 1934, was a bit
of all that at once. It was also the beginning of a resurgence of the
left forces which, divided since 1921, would converge on the union and
political level to lead to the victory of the Popular Front in 1936 and
the long strikes which followed, which imposed on the employers of
historical setbacks.

In February 1934, France experienced a triple crisis. First, an economic
crisis: the effects of the 1929 crisis are strongly felt; prices
increase as does the number of unemployed. The "middle class" is not
spared and social anger is widespread. A political crisis then. If a new
left-wing cartel won victory in the legislative elections of 1932, the
SFIO (Socialist Party - French Section of the Workers' International)
refused the alliance with the radicals and the center right who governed
alone. Governments come and go, always unstable. The right-wing forces,
particularly extra-parliamentary, do not accept this "left" assembly.

Finally, a crisis of the Republican model. The population is slow, more
than fifteen years after the end of the war, to return to the standard
of living to which it aspires. Emerging "considerably weakened from the
First World War", the parliamentary regime with which the Republic is
associated was "indicted"[2]. The power of Parliament is called into
question and some put forward the idea of a constitutional reform which
would establish a strong power, which would see a man govern in direct
contact with the "People"[3]. Political-financial scandals are an
opportunity for the far-right press to pour out its reactionary and
xenophobic discourse under the backdrop of anti-parliamentarism. This
speech was widely relayed by the far-right leagues and the very
influential veterans' associations.

At the origins of February 6
Situated outside the party political game, the leagues and associations
of veterans constitute very right-wing political forces[4]which in some
cases bring together several hundred thousand members. Among the
associations, the very nationalist National Union of Combatants (UNC)
has 900,000 members[5], while the ultranationalist Croix de Feu of
Colonel de La Rocque brings together several tens of thousands of members.

For their part, the leagues are divided between different currents of
the extreme right. There we find the royalists, ultranationalists and
anti-Semites of Action Française (and their armed wing, the Camelots du
Roi), nationalists such as the Jeunesses patriotes and leagues of
strictly fascist inspiration: the Peasant Defense Committees, Francisism
and French solidarity[6]. If the leagues are indeed of fascist
inspiration, they are neither the largest in number nor the origin of
the events of February 6.

Cavaliers of the mobile guard against far-right demonstrators, Place de
la Concorde, February 6, 1934.
ANONYMOUS - PUBLIC DOMAIN
At the origin of the demonstration, several elements, two of which
particularly ignited the powder: the Stavisky affair and the dismissal
of prefect Chiappe. The Stavisky affair, which broke out in January
1934, was a political-judicial affair based on fraud in which several
parliamentarians were involved. The main person concerned, Alexander
Stavinsky, was born in Russia into a Jewish family: he is a prime target
for the reactionary press against a background of anti-parliamentarism
and anti-Semitism[7].

The political scandal that followed led to the fall of the second
government of radical Camille Chautemps. Another radical, Édouard
Daladier, was called upon to form a new government. Three days after
taking office, the President of the Council dismissed the police prefect
Jean Chiappe, close to the monarchists of Action Française. This
dismissal is seen by the far right as a provocation to which it intends
to respond.

The far right on the lookout
Fearing unrest, the government dispatched reinforcements of police,
Republican Guards and mobile gendarmerie platoons to Paris. Tree grates
and paving stones were removed while early in the morning posters were
posted on the walls of the capital calling on the "People of Paris" to
demonstrate. For its part, L'Action française headlines "Against all
thieves, against the abject regime ALL, TONIGHT, IN FRONT OF THE
ROOM"[8]. The atmosphere is electric. During the afternoon, the troops
are deployed in strategic locations, particularly around the National
Assembly. They are ordered to hold the Pont de la Concorde: the
demonstrators must not cross the Seine and access the Chamber of Deputies.

If processions from different organizations are scheduled to leave
almost everywhere at the end of the afternoon, a crowd gathers in
scattered order on the Place de la Concorde. Very quickly, the first
clashes broke out with the "police forces". At 6 p.m., after dark, other
clashes took place near Les Halles: vehicles burned, stores looted.
Rumor has it that it is communists, who intend not to leave the streets
and anger to the extreme right, who are active. Meanwhile, on the Place
de la Concorde, the clashes continue. A bus is set on fire. To disperse
the crowd, shots are fired. A Republican guard is hit by a projectile
during a charge: a first death, it will not be the last. The situation
is spiraling out of control.

Converging on the Palais Bourbon, the leagues set off. On Boulevard
Saint-Germain, these are the Camelots du Roi de l'Action française. From
the Opera, members of Solidarité française whose slogan is "France for
the French". As for the Young Patriots, they leave from City Hall.
Gathered with his troops on the Trocadéro esplanade, Colonel de La
Roque, seeing the situation degenerate, ordered his troops to disperse.
Its objective is to prevent Daladier from obtaining the nomination of
parliamentarians, while remaining legal. The objective of Action
Française, as recalled by the president of the French Action League,
Admiral Antoine Schwerer, is clear: "Our goal is to drive the Republic
to the ground", by all means. means, "All." Even legal!»[9].

On the Place de la Concorde, the situation is insurrectional. Despite
the police attacks, the demonstrators were subjected to projectiles.
Shots are fired by demonstrators, the police respond, several
demonstrators are hit, nationalist activists fall. Around 9 p.m., the
UNC procession, with more than 20,000 people, heads towards the
Madeleine (i.e. opposite the Chamber of Deputies). Along the way, it
splits in two: one part heads towards the Élysée. The area is
prohibited: the charge is violent, the injuries are numerous.

At 11 p.m., barricades were set up on Place de la Concorde. New charge
by the police: gunfire erupts, eight dead. The next day, the army was
deployed in the capital, demonstrations were banned. Daladier presents
his resignation to President Albert Lebrun. Gaston Doumergue is called
upon to form a government of national unity, between the radicals and
the right. This one, hardly more stable than many of its predecessors,
will only last nine months. It will see the entry into the government of
Philippe Pétain as Minister of War and, in October, of Pierre Laval in
Foreign Affairs...

Insurgency situation during the night of February 6 to 7, 1934.
ANONYMOUS - PUBLIC DOMAIN
A political turning point?
What were the reactions on the left on the 6th and the following days?
This day of February 6 sounds like a warning for the left, political and
trade union forces: "The cumulative shock of the events of 1933 and
February 6, 1934 revives, within the left Republican camp, the distant
memories of the Republic in danger. A united anti-fascist front
emerges"[10]. Even more than the scale of the demonstrations, Daladier's
resignation is an unpleasant surprise for the progressive camp[11].

The PCF, which takes stock of the failure of the Arac mobilization on
the evening of the 6th - which only managed to bring together 3,000
people - no longer intends to leave the streets to the leagues. He calls
"socialist and communist workers"[12]to a demonstration on February 8
with a double slogan: "Down with the bloody dictatorship of capital!"
Long live the workers' and peasants' government! ". Here again, the
repression was bloody with four deaths, all members of the PCF. Despite
the mutual deviations of the governing bodies, socialist activists have
joined the communist procession and, on both sides, they are calling for
a "united front at the base".

The reaction of the progressive camp was initially scattered but quickly
the slogans converged towards a call to demonstrate on Monday January
12. It is a call for a general strike by the CGT (close to the SFIO)
from February 8 in Le Populaire, relayed the next day in L'Humanité. The
CGTU (close to the PCF) also calls for the success of this
demonstration[13]. The slogan repeats the words spoken on the evening of
February 6 in the hemicycle by Léon Blum: "The fascist reaction will not
pass"[14]. In Paris, two processions, one socialist and the other
communist, were initially planned. But they merged, the communist
activists spontaneously joining the socialist procession with cries of
"Unity!" Unit!»[15].

Union at the base
All over France, processions, most of them united, bring together
several hundred thousand demonstrators. In this regard, the historian
Antoine Prost emphasizes that "it then appears that the communists have,
locally, achieved unity of action with the socialists against the
"fascist" threat even before the Comintern and the national authorities
of the party have decided so"[16]. He sees it as "the birth certificate
of the Popular Front". In total, nearly a million people demonstrated
that day.

A dynamic is underway: it sees the acceleration of the process of
reunification of the two confederations, the CGT and the CGTU. In June
1934, the CGTU put forward "proposals for unity of action to the CGT
confederation"[17]. Reunification took place less than two years later,
at the Toulouse Congress in March 1936. On the political level,
socialists and communists began a rapprochement, even if mistrust was
still present. Numerous anti-fascist unitary initiatives took shape and
came to fruition on July 27, 1934: PCF and SFIO signed a "pact of unity
of action", known as "pact of unity of anti-fascist action", which
opened the way to the Popular Front.

David (UCL Savoies)

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