The Fédération Nationale Catholique (FNC) (English: National Catholic Federation ) was a French movement that was active in the 1920s and 1930s, with the purpose of defending the Catholic Church against secular trends in the governments of the time. The Federation was founded in 1924 in response to the election of a left-wing government with a secularist policy. After rapidly gaining members and staging large demonstrations, it soon achieved its goal of maintaining the status quo separation between church and state. The movement gradually lost momentum in the years that followed, although it remained in existence during the Vichy regime.
32-642: The anti-religious Cartel des Gauches (Left-wing coalition) won the 1924 French national elections and formed a government led by Édouard Herriot . Under pressure to launch an anti-clerical program, Herriot closed the Vatican embassy and passed legislation enforcing secular education in Alsace-Lorraine. In response General Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau organized the Fédération Nationale Catholique to defend
64-525: A deputy for Bordeaux and a compelling orator, and Philippe Henriot , a right-wing ant-communist and anti-republican. Henriot supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War and supported the 1940 armistice with Germany during World War II . He believed that France and Germany should unite in fighting Communism, the enemy of Christianity. Henriot became the Vichy minister of information and propaganda. He
96-588: A harsh punishment for the evils of the French Revolution. France has renounced her past; she did not want to fight." However, the FNC membership generally welcomed the accession of Marshal Pétain with his pro-Catholic policies. The FNC continued under the Vichy regime, but gradually lost influence. Noël-Marie-Joseph-Édouard de Curières de Castelnau was born in Languedoc in 1851, joined the army and fought in
128-407: A meeting of Federation members and two were killed. The victims were given an impressive funeral, which served to demonstrate the power of the movement and discourage further attempts at intimidation. The Cartel des Gauches was forced to reverse course in 1925, returning to the status quo in which France had an embassy in the Vatican, and Alsace-Lorraine had confessional schools, but where otherwise
160-562: A network of committees in the entire country, and started publishing a daily newspaper ( Le Quotidien ) and a weekly, Le Progrès Civique . Due to the division of the right-wing, the Cartel won the elections on 11 May 1924, after the French government 's failure to collect German reparations even after occupying the Ruhr . The left-wing obtained 48.3% of the votes, and the right-wing 51.7%, but
192-522: A prolific author, although his work was not exceptional. His book La Guerre des femmes (1923) had won an award from the Academy. This book, which recorded the lives of women fighters such as Louise de Bettignies , was the basis for the 1937 film Sisters in Arms by Léon Poirier . The role of Louise was played by Jeanne Sully . His Jeanne de France (1950) also won an award from the Academy. Redier
224-764: The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. At the outbreak of World War I he was deputy chief of staff to the commander of the army. He held various senior commands. After the war he resigned from the army and in 1919 was elected as a Deputy representing the Catholic right. He lost his seat in 1924 and soon after founded the FNC. Castelnau was a royalist who combined extreme patriotism with extreme Catholicism. General Castelnau provided funding to other right-wing groups including Antoine Rédier 's fascist Légion and Pierre Taittinger 's Jeunesses Patriotes . He died on 19 March 1944. Other leaders included Abbé Bergey ,
256-546: The Jeunesses Patriotes on 1 July 1925, bringing a more extreme element into Taittinger's vaguely right-wing organization. Redier became vice-president of the merged organization, and began to radicalize the organization. When Georges Valois launched his rival Faisceau organization, Redier was in favor of a merger. Large numbers of Ligue members did desert to the Faisceau . By 15 December Redier had left
288-542: The Jeunesses patriotes , and urged all Légion members to follow his lead. He intended to transfer to the Faisceau , but held back, perhaps because of an ongoing struggle between Fasceau and the Action Française . In March 1926 Redier again called for his remaining followers to join Faisceau , before retiring from politics after Faisceau promised to support his career as a writer. Redier continued to be
320-465: The Légion , or Ligue , in 1924. Although the goals were obscure,Redier expected that the veterans would take power, and a leader ( chef ) would emerge. The ligue had 10,000 members, with sections in the main provincial centers. From 15,000 to 20,000 copies of the movement's newspaper, Le Rassemblement . were printed each week. The Légion was in favor of a corporatist system of government and attacked
352-453: The 1928 elections, but advised Catholics to vote only for candidates who supported its published program. The FNC lost authority due to Pope Pius XI 's desire to keep Catholic Action completely free from politics and controlled by the church. The FNC was also at odds with the church over foreign policy, in favor of Benito Mussolini in Italy and hostile to Germany, while the Vatican supported
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#1732793155264384-600: The AF and remained a supporter of Charles Maurras . After World War II , both men served prison sentences for collaboration with the Germans. The leaders of the movement were not all right wing in their views. The abbé Desgranges, an FNC leader, sympathized with the Christian Democrats. At a meeting he responded to a communist heckler by saying that the Catholic church did not support any political party, but that he
416-489: The Cartel gained the majority of seats thanks to a favorable voting system, with 327 against 254 (the right-wing and the first communist deputies ). The new majority was led by Édouard Herriot, and broke up in 1926, with the SFIO passing into the opposition. Despite this majority in parliament, the Cartel didn't enjoy the backing of a majority of the electorate, even when including communist voters, whose party had elected to oppose
448-602: The Federation and advertised its meetings in his columns in La Croix . The right-wing Action Française gave the FNC much support in its defense of religious liberty. In the Federation's official bulletin, le Point de direction , Castelnau hammered home the importance of unity of all Catholics. The first national congress was held in February 1925, by which time there were more than two million members. On 10 March 1925
480-598: The League of Nations. To avoid confusion, the FNC was directed to rename its newspaper from Action Catholique de France to La France Catholique . As the 1930s progressed the church also began to throw its support behind the elected governments of the Third Republic, and advised the FNC to do the same rather than to promote a separate agenda. Writing to his son on 17 June 1940, the day after Marshal Pétain had taken power, Castelnau said "I am devastated. God has given us
512-523: The Radical-Socialists presented themselves with the left. In 1932 the second Cartel won a majority of seats, but its parties had not agreed upon forming a coalition for government. The socialists asked for specific conditions in exchange for their participation in the government (known as "Huygens conditions"). Several governments fell in quick succession, each led by figures of the republican centre-left This parliamentary majority, distinct from
544-758: The Republic), and far-right nationalists , the Bloc National had played on the red scare following the 1917 October Revolution to win the elections. The left-wing coalition included four different groups: the independent radicals (a group slightly to the right of the Radical-Socialists); the Radical-Socialists , the Socialist Republicans (slightly to the Radical-Socialists' left) and the SFIO. The Cartel organized
576-413: The SFIO, was created in 1923 as a counterweight to the conservative alliance (Bloc National) , which had won the 1919 elections with 70% of the seats (the " Blue Horizon Chamber "). Formed by the conservative Radicals , the conservative-liberal Alliance Démocratique , the conservative-Catholic Fédération Républicaine , Action Liberale (issued from the right-wing members who had "rallied" themselves to
608-498: The cardinals and archbishops of France published a declaration attacking "the so-called laws of secularism". The church leaders told their congregations to "declare war upon laicism and its principles" until the anti-Catholic laws were repealed. The Federation held rallies and staged demonstrations, some with up to 100,000 participants. The movement gained its first martyrs on 9 February 1925 in Marseille, when armed gangs attacked
640-554: The church against the laicists . The movement had little concern with the form of government, which could be a monarchy or a republic, but considered that all the evils of modern society resulted from the absence of God. Politics were viewed from a Catholic perspective. The Federation was supported by the church hierarchy in France. Jean Guiraud , head of the Associations Catholiques de Chefs de Famille , supported
672-399: The church and state were rigidly separated. This compromise held until Marshal Philippe Pétain took power in 1940. By 1926 the Federation had 3 million members. After 1926 the struggle against laicism was replaced by more relaxed negotiations with the authorities. Although theoretically apolitical, the FNC was suspected of being right-wing in its sympathies. The church became concerned about
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#1732793155264704-688: The electoral majority, was weak. This parliamentary instability, coupled with the Stavisky Affair , provided a pretext for the 6 February 1934 riots organized by far right leagues . The following day, the Radical-Socialist president of the Council Édouard Daladier was forced to resign due to pressure by the rioters. It was the first time during the Third Republic (1871–1940) that a government fell because of demonstrations, and
736-635: The extremists in the Action Française (AF) movement, and on 8 March 1927 issued a decree excluding habitual readers of the Action Française paper and adherents to the movement from the sacraments and from meetings of Catholic groups such as the FNC, the Catholic Youth and the Catholic Scouts. This was unwelcome to the significant number of supporters of both the FNC and the Action Française . The FNC did not field candidates in
768-497: The failure to retrieve the reparations created a monetary crisis, which led to the creation of a new government by the centre-right Raymond Poincaré . As soon as Poincaré formed his new government, composed of the National Bloc parties plus the Radical-Socialists, the monetary crisis ended. The right-wing then won the 1928 legislative elections , with 329 right-wing deputies against 258 for the left. As in previous elections,
800-490: The government, with the Cartel needing to rely on the shaky support of center-left deputies for its continued survival. In parliament, a draft law on amnesty submitted in June 1924 was adopted at the cost of six months of a harsh parliamentary battle, whereas legislation aimed at expanding secularism generated virulent opposition and demonstrations soon captured by catholic and right-dominated associations. Capital flight and
832-474: The leader of a veterans group, and was the editor of the Revue française . He was nationalist, anti-communist and socially conservative. He believed in the virtues of a family unit headed by a patriarch, and generally believed in the virtues of anti-Republican virility. He supported the proposals of Fernand Boverat for family suffrage, which would enhance the status of the father in the family. Redier founded
864-555: The left and democracy. Its program said it stood "above the interests of a single group" and would "gather all those ... who put the salvation of France above all else." General Édouard de Curières de Castelnau , President of the Fédération Nationale Catholique provided funding to Rédier's Légion and to the Jeunesses Patriotes founded by Pierre Taittinger . The Légion merged into
896-666: The left-wing became convinced that its fall was assisted by a fascist conspiracy to overthrow the Republic. This prompted the creation of left-wing anti-fascist coalitions including the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes and other similar groups. This broad left-wing coalition eventually led to the formation of the Popular Front , which won the elections in 1936, bringing to power Léon Blum . Antoine R%C3%A9dier Antoine Redier (7 July 1873 – 27 July 1954)
928-538: Was a French writer who was leader of the far-right Légion organization in the 1920s. Antoine Redier was born on 7 July 1873 in Meudon , the eldest of eight children of Jean Redier and his wife Anna Thubert. He was grandson of the watchmaker Jean Antoine Joseph Redier. He wrote many books, including Méditations dans la tranchée (1916), which won an awards from the Académie française . After World War I ,Redier became
960-481: Was assassinated by Resistance fighters in Paris on 28 June 1944, and was given a state funeral led by the archbishop of Paris. The FNC militant Xavier Vallat was compelled to accept the papal ban on Action Française membership, but only reluctantly, since he thought that the Action Française and FNC were fighting the same enemy, and had many friends in the Action Française . Vallat preserved his personal contacts in
992-499: Was led by Radical-Socialist Édouard Herriot , but the second was weakened by parliamentary instability and was without one clear leader. Following the 6 February 1934 crisis , President of the Council Édouard Daladier had to resign, and a new Union Nationale coalition, led by the right-wing Radical Gaston Doumergue , took power. The Cartel des gauches , formed primarily between the Radical-Socialist Party and
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1024-739: Was personally opposed to Fascism. Citations Sources Further reading Cartel des Gauches The Cartel of the Left ( French : Cartel des gauches , IPA: [kaʁtɛl de ɡoʃ] ) was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party , the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), and other smaller left-republican parties that formed on two occasions in 1924 to 1926 and in 1932 to 1933. The Cartel des gauches twice won general elections, in 1924 and in 1932. The first Cartel
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