"Launching a newspaper is always a wonderful experience!" - Séverine
---- Marguerite Durand is known as the founder of the newspaper LaFronde, the first daily entirely written and produced by women. However,
her work mobilized other talents and convictions: actress, journalist,
trade unionist, suffragist... Sent by the newspaper Le Figaro to cover
and discredit the International Feminist Congress held in Paris in 1896,
she was moved by the justice of its demands and, in turn, became
involved in the fight for women's rights. Lucie Barette takes us on the
journey of this militant woman in a lively style and with content
enriched by fascinating archival research. Her book, Marguerite Durand,
Fighting Through the Press, is published by Les Pérégrines.
Her upbringing by rather strict Protestant nuns did not prevent her,
following her family's lead, from becoming involved in the theater by
joining the Comédie Française. She became involved with the left
alongside former Communards, briefly joined the radical socialist
Communist League with anarchist leanings, and followed the trial of
Auguste Vaillant, the bomb thrower in the Chamber of Deputies in 1893.
She married, and the pages devoted to the complexity of her marriage
reflect some of her commitment. She joined the Boulangist-leaning
newspaper La Presse, but along with Séverine, she broke away and joined
Le Figaro. Times were hard for women. They were considered minors under
the civil code; the century was misogynistic but also feminist, with
figures such as Flora Tristan, Olympe Audouard, Hubertine Auclert, and
Louise Michel, some with a radical sensibility, others more reformist,
but all driven by the same ideal. A Weapon of Combat: La Fronde
She realized the need to provide women with a "weapon of combat," and
this became La Fronde, a publication that would last 30 years as a daily
and monthly. Women addressed issues that interested them, as well as
more general ones. Women had to escape fashion and various frivolities.
She would not be disappointed with the writings of Paule Minck, the
Communard, Séverine, the spiritual daughter of Jules Vallès, Hubertine
Auclert. The editorial angle? "In La Fronde, we will fight for the woman
writer who wants to place her copy, for the worker who wants equal pay,
for the woman who wants the opportunity to be a wife and mother." The
reception in the general press was rather cold, even contemptuous, but
the newspaper was launched. Séverine exclaimed: "It's always wonderful,
launching a newspaper! We put so much faith, love, and hope into it!"
Opposition didn't come only from the bourgeois press. Indeed, Marguerite
Durand wanted the newspaper to be made by women, much to the dismay of
the typographers and their union. There were also areas of power to be
conquered: a woman in the press gallery at the Chamber of Deputies?
Another woman at the Paris Stock Exchange analyzing prices and
speculation? How could that be possible?
She also became involved in Dreyfus's defense and multiplied her
projects. A hard worker, she demanded journalism that was not just for
the salons. The newspaper became essential. Her vision is still fully
relevant today. However, financial difficulties went hand in hand with
falling sales, and the publication became a monthly publication, before
the adventure ended on March 1, 1905.
Nevertheless, the fight continued. Demonstrations on the occasion of the
centenary of the Civil Code, the creation of an Office for Women's
Labor, and participation in feminist congresses. She even ran in the
legislative elections in 1910 to have women recognized as citizens.
Journalism with a Stand
War broke out in August 1914, and the newspaper was relaunched, but it
only lasted a month. Always a free woman, as Lucie Barette strives to
demonstrate, she became involved in a women's automobile club, a women
journalists' club, and a new relaunch of La Fronde in 1927. Séverine's
death in April 1929 was a blow. They were so close that Marguerite had
come to live in Pierrefonds, Oise, where Séverine had retired.
Passionate about books and newspapers, she founded a library in the town
hall of the 5th arrondissement, where she died on March 16, 1936,
surrounded by her books. The library bearing her name still exists,
regularly enriched with works devoted to the history of women, feminism,
and gender, and now located in the 13th arrondissement at the corner of
Rue Nationale and Rue de Tolbiac.
* Lucie Barette
Marguerite Durand,
Lutter par la presse
Ed. Les Pérégrines, 2025
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8419
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