Croix de Feu
The Croix de Feu (Cross of Fire) Movement, has been referred to as "the relatively respectable ancien combatant and only vaguely Fascist movement in France."[1]. Its leader was Colonel François de La Rocque. It originally consisted largely of ex-servicemen and was corporatist and family orientated. It proposed a drastic revision of France's republican constitution. De la Rocque was in favour of Petain's later idea that the départements be replaced by the ancien-régime provinces. Pierre Laval was in genuine sympathy with the Croix de Feu whom he declared to be the "finest element of France".[2]
The Croix-de-feu took part in the massive Paris rallies of 6 February 1934, with over 100,000 people in the Place de la Concorde alone. La Rocque himself refused to engage in the rally, although parts of the Croix-de-Feu disagreed with him and had circled the Palais Bourbon and remained grouped several hundred metres away from the other rioting leagues. The riots led to the toppling of the second Cartel des gauches (Left-Wing Coalition) Daladier government. Colonel de la Rocque announced that "the first objective had been attained".[3]. During the riots the police had opened fire on the crowds resulting in many deaths and injured.[4]
During the first few months of the new Doumergue government the Croix de Feu were rapidly becoming a vital force in France and their meetings in 1934 even praised as having a "fine human quality". La Rocque was praised and cheered at these meetings, at one saying:
- Before there is a new order of things, an end must be put to disorder, and the idea of authority must be restored. The men of the United Front who call us rioters, reason like Asiatics. We stand above little party combinations and electoral intrigues. We are patriots among patriots, nous sommes de sociaux parmi les sociaux.[5]
La Rocque referred to the new Doumergue government as "a poultice on a gangrenous leg" and during 1934 the Croix de Feu became the rallying point for the Conservative youth of France, and they laid the foundations for those 'lightening mobilizations' which became the regular practice of the Croix de Feu in 1935, and alarmed The Left so much. The Croix was at this time claiming adhérents of about two million.[6] When the short-lived Doumergue government fell on November 8th some young Croix de Feu men afterwards claimed that it was the greatest opportunity they had ever had to march on the Chamber and to seize power, an opportunity that La Rocque had missed.[7]
Proscribed
Mistakenly, the Croix de Feu decided not to run candidates in the 1936 Elections. A serious error.[8] Colonel de la Rocque made a final eve-of-the-Poll statement to try and swing voters, with some saying it was the most openly 'Fascist' statement he had made for a long time. The Communists made tremendous headway in the urban constituencies, and, above all, in Paris and its suburbs, where the "Fascist menace" was highlighted by The Left. After the election the Croix de Feu were in low spirits and feeling was running high against Colonel de la Rocque who had failed so completely in his election 'arbitration' strategy.
On June 18th a Decree of the Far-Left government of Leon Blum dissolved the Croix de Feu and some other Leagues.[9]
Sources
- ↑ Werth, Alexander, France 1940-1955, London, 1957, p.122.
- ↑ Werth, Alexander, The Twilight of France 1933-1940, Harper & Brothers (USA) 1942, 1966 New York reprint, pps:342 & 356-7.
- ↑ Werth, 1942/1966, p.16.
- ↑ Werth, 1942/1966, p.18.
- ↑ Werth, 1942/1966, p.24-5.
- ↑ Werth, 1942/1966, pps:26 &341.
- ↑ Werth, 1942/1966, p.31.
- ↑ Werth, Alexander, France and Munich, Hamish Hamilton, 1939/Howard Fertig, New York, 1969, p.265n.
- ↑ Werth, 1942/1966, pps: 71, 84 & 110.
