The French Section of the Workers' International ( French : Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière , SFIO ) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party .
165-885: The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representative to the Second International , merging the Marxist Socialist Party of France led by Jules Guesde and the social-democratic French Socialist Party led by Jean Jaurès , who became the SFIO's leading figure. Electoral support for the party rose from 10 percent in the 1906 election to 17 percent in 1914 , and during World War I it participated in France's national unity government , sacrificing its ideals of internationalist class struggle in favor of national patriotism , as did most other members of
330-480: A theory of imperialism , associating the reformism and social imperialism of the various pro-war parties with the rise of monopoly capital and imperialist superprofits . The Bolsheviks believed that monopoly capitalists had created large national blocs of capital which sought to divide the world among themselves, a process which created superprofits either through tariffs, or as a side-effect of capital export. Superprofits extracted from colonized areas were diverted to
495-539: A belief; it is the irresistible cavalier conviction which distorts the facts and beliefs. To condemn Dreyfus, the writing on the bordereau had to be compared to that of the Captain. There was nobody competent to analyse the writing on the General Staff. Then Major du Paty de Clam entered the scene: an eccentric man who prided himself on being an expert in graphology . On being shown some letters by Dreyfus and
660-476: A cell awaiting transfer. On 17 January 1895, he was transferred to the prison on Île de Ré where he was held for over a month. He had the right to see his wife twice a week in a long room, each of them at one end, with the director of the prison in the middle. At the last minute, at the initiative of General Mercier, a law was passed on 9 February 1895, restoring the Îles du Salut in French Guiana , as
825-538: A crucial role in exposing information and in shaping and expressing public opinion on both sides of the conflict. In 1894, the Third Republic was twenty-four years old. Although the 16 May Crisis in 1877 had crippled the political influence of both the Bourbon and Orléanist royalists , its ministries continued to be short-lived as the country lurched from crisis to crisis: three years immediately preceding
990-420: A decentralised organization. Its national and executive institutions were weakened by the strong autonomy of its members and local levels of the party. Consequently, the function of secretary general, held by Louis Dubreuilh until 1918, was essentially administrative and the real political leader was Jean Jaurès , president of the parliamentary group and director of L'Humanité , the party's newspaper, Unlike
1155-431: A decree of August 1947 indicated the special precautions to be taken "to protect workers spraying paint or varnish". An Order of 10 September 1947 laid down the terms in which warnings must be given "of the dangers of benzene poisoning" while a circular of October 1947 indicated "how such poisoning can be prevented". In addition, a Decree of August 1947 instituted the original measures on health and safety committees. During
1320-559: A degree, the international continued to be plagued by major factional disputes at each congress. By the time of the 1896 congress in London , considered "the most agitated, the most tumultuous, and the most chaotic of all the congresses of the Second International", a more concrete rift had developed between reformist and revolutionary approaches to socialist power, which resulted in many factions along national lines. Among
1485-426: A dozen defense witnesses. Finally, the absence of motive for the crime was a serious thorn in the prosecution case. Dreyfus was indeed a very patriotic officer highly rated by his superiors, very rich and with no tangible reason to betray France. The fact of Dreyfus's Jewishness, which was used extensively by the right-wing press, was not openly presented in court. Alphonse Bertillon , an eccentric criminologist who
1650-463: A foreign power, to the maximum penalty under section 76 of the Criminal Code: permanent exile in a walled fortification ( prison ), the cancellation of his army rank and military degradation, also known as cashiering . Dreyfus was not sentenced to death , as it had been abolished for political crimes since 1848 . For the authorities, the press and the public, doubts had been dispelled by
1815-483: A half International or Two-and-a-half International), heavily influenced by Austromarxism . In 1923, IWUSP and the Second International merged to form the social democratic Labour and Socialist International which continued to exist until 1940. After World War II , a new Socialist International was formed to continue the policies of the Labour and Socialist International, which continues to this day. Another successor
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#17327647354031980-527: A major instance of antisemitism within the international, as although all of the delegates were ostensibly opposed to antisemitism, the resolution indicates that many delegates believed in the antisemitic canard that Jews controlled the banking system , or that financial capital was somehow intrinsically tied to Jews. In addition to antisemitism against Jewish bankers and capitalists, the British socialist newspaper Justice reported that "[t]here appears to be
2145-445: A more reformist approach, arguing that socialists should pursue whichever reforms are "possible" at any given time, while still taking advantage of revolutionary opportunities. A Marxist faction led by Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue , and supported by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , denounced the possibilist faction as opportunists, founding the rival French Workers' Party in 1882. Confusingly, both parties would call themselves
2310-622: A much greater schism between the reformist and revolutionary wings of the international, which would eventually result in the Third International . In July 1920 at Geneva, the last congress of the Second International was held, following its functional collapse during the war. However, some European socialist parties refused to join the reorganised International and decided instead to form the International Working Union of Socialist Parties (IWUSP) (Second and
2475-621: A new socialist manifesto to be approved at a subsequent meeting. According to Yuri Steklov , the conference was exceedingly poorly organized, and thus didn't engender confidence that a new international could be founded. Efforts to found a new international were greatly complicated by a factional divide within the FTSF between the Marxists and Possibilists . From its founding in 1879, a faction inspired (though not always endorsed) by Paul Brousse had moved away from revolutionary socialism towards
2640-407: A place of fortified deportation so that Dreyfus was not sent to Ducos, New Caledonia . Indeed, during the deportation of Adjutant Lucien Châtelain, sentenced for conspiring with the enemy in 1888, the facilities did not provide the required conditions of confinement and detention conditions were considered too soft. On 21 February 1895, Dreyfus embarked on the ship Ville de Saint-Nazaire. The next day
2805-533: A popular front which would include the liberal Radical Party. The Popular Front strategy was adopted in the 1936 French legislative election and the coalition gained a majority, with SFIO obtaining for the first time more votes and seats than the Radical Party . Léon Blum became France's first Socialist prime minister in 1936 while the PCF supported without participation his government. A general strike applauded
2970-632: A proposal by the Dutch delegate Henri van Kol that the international drop its anticolonial position, which was defeated 128 votes to 108. Part of this was due to a concerted effort by non-socialist parties and the media to question the patriotism of anti-colonial parties, for example the SPD and Catholic Centre Party of Germany initially opposed the Herero and Namaqua genocide before giving in to extreme political pressure. The Dutch Social Democratic Workers' Party
3135-579: A similar comment. On 5 January 1895, the ceremony of degradation took place in the Morlan Court of the Military School in Paris. While the drums rolled, Dreyfus was accompanied by four artillery officers, who brought him before an officer of the state who read the judgment. A Republican Guard adjutant tore off his badges, thin strips of gold, his stripes, cuffs and sleeves of his jacket. As he
3300-450: A spy. Some of these forgeries referred to the real affair between the two officers; in one, Alessandro supposedly informed his lover that if "Dreyfus is brought in for questioning", they must both claim that they "never had any dealings with that Jew. ... Clearly, no one can ever know what happened with him." The letters, real and fake, provided a convenient excuse for placing the entire Dreyfus dossier under seal, given that exposure of
3465-694: A strong feeling against the Jews in the Congress." The "Jewish question" was not revisited after the 1891 congress; however, after the establishment of the ISB there appears to have been some attempt to rectify the imbalance against Jewish organizations within the international by granting them additional consultative votes on relevant issues. Such votes were granted to the Jewish Socialist Workers Party and Zionist Socialist Workers Party at
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#17327647354033630-499: A trial lasting only two days. The Army laid additional charges against Dreyfus, based on forged documents. Subsequently, writer Émile Zola 's open letter J'Accuse...! in the newspaper L'Aurore stoked a growing movement of political support for Dreyfus, putting pressure on the government to reopen the case. In 1899, Dreyfus was returned to France for another trial. The intense political and judicial scandal that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus,
3795-406: A very sickly William Morris. Discussion of anarchism would dominate the congress, but the anarchists were not successful in reversing their expulsion. Bolshevik figures like Vladimir Lenin and Nikolai Bukharin gained international notability during the war years for their criticisms of the international's inability to coordinate an anti-war opposition. Lenin and Bukharin based their critique in
3960-607: Is necessary to avoid a casus belli "; while for Judet in Le Petit Journal of 18 December: "the closed court is our impregnable refuge against Germany"; or in La Croix the same day: it must be "the most absolute closed court". The trial opened on 19 December 1894 at one o'clock and a closed court was immediately pronounced. This closed court was not legally consistent since Major Picquart and Prefect Louis Lépine were present at certain proceedings in violation of
4125-608: Is true, the split between the Possibilists and Marxists threatened to create two separate internationals, with subsequent conferences in Brussels and Zürich respectively. However, after the anger aroused during the split congresses had died down, the Marxists ultimately agreed to join the Brussels conference and create a single, unified international. While the factional divide between the Possibilists and Marxists abated to
4290-667: The Cartel des Gauches coalition. They supported the government led by Radical Édouard Herriot (1924–1926 and 1932), but they did not participate. The first Cartel saw the right-wing terrorised and capital flight destabilised the government while the divided Radicals did not all support their Socialist allies. The monetary crisis, also due to the refusal of Germany to pay the World War I reparations , caused parliamentary instability. Édouard Herriot, Paul Painlevé and Aristide Briand succeeded each other as prime minister until 1926, when
4455-691: The Confédération générale du travail unitaire (United General Confederation of Labour; CGTU) which fused again with the CGT in 1936 during the Popular Front government. Léon Jouhaux was the CGT's main leader until 1947 and the new split leading to the creation of the reformist union confederation Workers' Force (CGT-FO). In both 1924 and 1932, the Socialists joined with the Radicals in
4620-597: The Algerian War of Independence became the major issue of the political debate. During the 1956 French legislative election campaign, the party took part in the Republican Front , a centre-left coalition led by Radical Pierre Mendès France , who advocated a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Guy Mollet took the lead of the cabinet, but he led a very repressive policy. After the May 1958 crisis , he supported
4785-763: The Brutus Network in which Gaston Defferre , later mayor of Marseilles for years, participated along with Daniel Mayer . In 1942–1943, Pétain's regime judged the French Third Republic by organising a public trial, the Riom Trial , of personalities accused of having caused the country's defeat in the Battle of France . They included Léon Blum , the Radical Édouard Daladier and the conservatives Paul Reynaud and Georges Mandel , among others. At
4950-669: The Cartel des gauches , when capital flight was an issue, giving rise to the so-called "myth of the 200 families") in the context of the Great Depression and also over the issue of the Spanish Civil War . The demoralised left fell apart and was unable to resist the collapse of the Third Republic after the fall of France in the military defeat of 1940 during World War II. A number of SFIO members were part of
5115-599: The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS), a centre-left coalition led by Mitterrand. It split after the May 68 events and the electoral disaster of June 1968. Defferre was the SFIO candidate in the 1969 French presidential election . He was eliminated in the first round, with only 5% of votes. One month later at the Issy-les-Moulineaux Congress , the SFIO was refounded as
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5280-599: The Federation of the Socialist Workers of France (FTSF). Three years later, Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue (the son-in-law of Karl Marx ) left the federation, which they considered too moderate, and founded the French Workers' Party (POF). The FTSF led by Paul Brousse was defined as possibilist because it advocated gradual reforms whereas the POF promoted Marxism. At the same time, Édouard Vaillant and
5445-604: The French Ministry of Defence . Recent research indicates the existence of numbering which suggests the presence of a dozen documents. Among these letters were some of an erotic homosexual nature (the Davignon letter among others) raising the question of the tainted methods of the Statistics Section and the objective of their choice of documents. The secret file was illegally submitted at the beginning of
5610-842: The Labour and Socialist International , the International Working Union of Socialist Parties , and the Communist International . The foundation of a new international was first discussed at a conference at Chur in October 1881. Delegates included members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Belgian socialists, the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France (FTSF), French and German-speaking Swiss delegations, two Polish delegates, and one delegate each for Russia and Hungary. The conference did not form an international that year, but decided to write
5775-535: The Legitimists in five successive governments from 1893 to 1896. This instability coincided with an equally unstable presidency: President Sadi Carnot was assassinated on 24 June 1894; his moderate successor Jean Casimir-Perier resigned several months later on 15 January 1895 and was replaced by Félix Faure . Following the failure of the radical government of Léon Bourgeois in 1896, the president appointed Jules Méline as prime minister. His government faced
5940-522: The Parti Ouvrier (worker's party), and so were generally known as the Marxist party and Possibilist party. The Possibilist party would convene international socialist conferences several times, in 1883, 1884, and 1886. At the 1886 convention, it was decided that another convention would be held in 1889, but the Social Democratic Party of Germany disagreed with the decision, and the decisions at
6105-674: The Socialist Party of France while Jaurès, Allemane and the possibilists formed the French Socialist Party . During the 1905 Globe Congress, the two groups merged into the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) under pressure from the Second International . The new SFIO party was hemmed between the middle-class liberals of the Radical Party and the revolutionary syndicalists who dominated
6270-703: The Third French Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. The scandal began in December 1894 when Captain Alfred Dreyfus , a 35-year-old Alsatian French artillery officer of Jewish descent , was wrongfully convicted of treason for communicating French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent overseas to the penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana , where he spent
6435-798: The Vichy 80 who refused to vote extraordinary powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain in July 1940, following which the latter proclaimed the Révolution nationale reactionary program and the establishment of the Vichy regime . Although some engaged in collaborationism , an important part also took part in the Resistance and they eventually went on to be part of the National Council of the Resistance . Pierre Fourcaud created with Félix Gouin
6600-479: The trade unions . The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) proclaimed its independence from political parties at this time and the non-distinction between political and industrial aims. In addition, some CGT members refused to join the SFIO because they considered it extremist. They created the Republican-Socialist Party (PRS). In contrast to other European socialist parties, the SFIO was
6765-406: The "Dreyfusards" such as Sarah Bernhardt , Anatole France , Charles Péguy , Henri Poincaré and Georges Clemenceau ; and those who condemned him, the "anti-Dreyfusards" such as Édouard Drumont , the director and publisher of the antisemitic newspaper La Libre Parole . The new trial resulted in another conviction and a 10-year sentence, but Dreyfus was pardoned and released. In 1906, Dreyfus
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6930-610: The "Scoundrel D ...". It was a letter from the German military attaché, Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen , to the Italian military attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro Panizzardi, intercepted by the SR. The letter was supposed to accuse Dreyfus definitively since, according to his accusers, it was signed with the initial of his name. In reality, the Statistics Section knew that the letter could not be attributed to Dreyfus and if it was, it
7095-444: The 1880s Schwartzkoppen had begun an affair with an Italian military attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Count Alessandro Panizzardi . While neither had anything to do with Dreyfus, their intimate and erotic correspondence (e.g. "Don't exhaust yourself with too much buggery."), which was obtained by the authorities, lent an air of truth to other documents that were forged by prosecutors to lend retroactive credibility to Dreyfus's conviction as
7260-562: The 1886 convention were generally seen to have lacked legitimacy. The SPD held its own convention in St. Gallen in 1887, whereupon the FTSF decided to hold their own international conference the following year. When the London International Trades Union Congress declared that a new international meeting would be called in Paris in 1889, both the SPD and Possibilists decided to fold their next congress into
7425-489: The 1907 congress. After World War I, there were three Socialist Conferences in Switzerland. These served as a bridge to the creation of the Labour and Socialist International . Chronological list by ideology. After the Second International (1889–1916): Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair ( French : affaire Dreyfus , pronounced [afɛːʁ dʁɛfys] ) was a political scandal that divided
7590-545: The British Socialist League. Anarchist individuals and factions would ultimately be officially excluded at the 1893 Zurich congress, prompting many social democratic parties to expel their anarchist factions. An attempt to repeal the decision was made at the subsequent London congress of 1896, which was attended by anarchist figures like Errico Malatesta and Christiaan Cornelissen , supported by some Marxist figures including Keir Hardie , Tom Mann , and
7755-591: The Chur congress of 1881, instead opting to hold a separate congress in London which would result in the International Working People's Association or "black" international. As a result, anarchist organizations were not involved in discussions to found the Second International in 1889. Nonetheless, several anarchist individuals would hold positions in the international, and anarchists were actually
7920-619: The Communist International (SFIC). Another smaller group also favoured membership in the Comintern, but not all 21 conditions . The minority led by Léon Blum and the majority of the Socialists' elected members decided in Blum's words to "keep the old house" and remain within the Second International. Marcel Sembat , Léon Blum and Albert Thomas refused to align themselves with Moscow. Paul Faure became secretary general of
8085-654: The Communist ministers were excluded from the cabinet led by Socialist Paul Ramadier . Anti-communism prevented the French left from forming a united front. The Communists had taken control of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union. This was relatively weakened by the 1948 creation of a social-democratic trade union Workers' Force (FO) which was supported by the American Central Intelligence Agency . This split
8250-446: The Dreyfus affair were the near-coup of Georges Boulanger in 1889, the Panama scandals in 1892, and the anarchist threat (reduced by the " villainous laws " of July 1894). The elections of 1893 were focused on the "social question" and resulted in a Republican victory (just under half the seats) against the conservative right, and the reinforcement of the Radicals (about 150 seats) and Socialists (about 50 seats). The opposition of
8415-449: The Dreyfus affair. Lenepveu caricatured "prominent Jews, Dreyfus supporters, and Republican statesman". No. 35 Amnistie populaire depicts the corpse of Dreyfus himself as it dangles from a noose. Large noses, money, and Lenepveu's general tendency to illustrate subjects with bodies of animals likely contributed to the dissemination of antisemitism in French popular culture. The staff of the Military Intelligence Service (SR) worked around
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#17327647354038580-443: The Forties, the SFIO was partly responsible for setting up the welfare state institutions of the Liberation period and helping to bring about France's economic recovery. In May 1946, the Socialist-led government of Félix Gouin passed a law that generalised social security, making it obligatory for the whole population. A number of progressive reforms were also introduced during Paul Ramadier's tenure as prime minister in 1947, including
8745-409: The French right came back to power with Raymond Poincaré . The newly elected Communist deputies also opposed the first Cartel, refusing to support bourgeois governments. The second Cartel acceded to power in 1932, but this time the SFIO only gave their support without the participation of the Radicals which allied themselves with right-wing radicals. After years of internal feuds, the reformist wing of
8910-445: The General Staff still had a card in hand to tip the balance decisively against Dreyfus. Military witnesses at the trial alerted high command about the risk of acquittal. For this eventuality the Statistics Section had prepared a file containing, in principle, four "absolute" proofs of the guilt of Captain Dreyfus accompanied by an explanatory note. The contents of this secret file remained uncertain until 2013, when they were released by
9075-433: The General Staff to prepare public opinion and to put indirect pressure on the judges. On 8 November 1894, General Mercier declared Dreyfus guilty in an interview with Le Figaro . He repeated himself on 29 November 1894 in an article by Arthur Meyer in Le Gaulois , which in fact condemned the indictment against Dreyfus and asked, "How much freedom will the military court have to judge the defendant?" The jousting of
9240-438: The Germans. This was especially critical since several cases of espionage had already been featured in the headlines of newspapers, which were fond of sensationalism . In 1890, the archivist Boutonnet was convicted for selling plans of shells that used melinite . The German military attaché in Paris in 1894 was Count Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen , who developed a policy of infiltration that appears to have been effective. In
9405-402: The Jewish presence in France. Jews in metropolitan France in 1895 numbered about 80,000 (40,000 in Paris alone), who were highly integrated into society; an additional 45,000 Jews lived in Algeria . The launch of La Libre Parole with a circulation estimated at 200,000 copies in 1892, allowed Drumont to expand his audience to a popular readership already enticed by the boulangiste adventure in
9570-413: The July 1914 international crisis, the party was ideologically torn between its membership in the Socialist International and the wave of patriotism within France. The assassination of Jaurès on 31 July 1914 was a setback for the pacifist wing of the party and contributed to the massive increase in support for the wartime government of national unity . Participation in World War I caused divisions within
9735-452: The Left but in the East". At the beginning of the 1950s, the disagreements with its governmental partners about denominational schools and the colonial problem explained a more critical attitude of the SFIO membership. In 1954, the party was deeply divided about the European Defense Community . Against the instructions of the party lead, the half of the parliamentary group voted against the project and contributed to its failure. Progressively,
9900-467: The Marxists (many of whom faced conditions of illegality at home) were concerned about information being discovered by the authorities. However, according to John Burns , William Morris , and some of the Marxist delegates, there were no real concerns around verification until Henry Hyndman proposed the measure, and the dispute was a deliberate ploy to split the congress in two, an allegation strongly rebuked by Annie Besant . Regardless of which account
10065-489: The Meuse conducted by an officer whom the Germans and Italians nicknamed Dubois. This is what led to the origins of the Dreyfus affair. The social context was marked by the rise of nationalism and antisemitism. The growth of antisemitism, virulent since the publication of Jewish France by Édouard Drumont in 1886 (150,000 copies in the first year), went hand in hand with the rise of clericalism . Tensions were high in all strata of society, fueled by an influential press, which
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#173276473540310230-437: The Minister of War, General Auguste Mercier . In fact the SR suspected that there had been leaks since the beginning of 1894 and had been trying to find the perpetrator. The minister had been harshly attacked in the press for his actions, which were deemed incompetent, and appears to have sought an opportunity to enhance his image. He immediately initiated two secret investigations, one administrative and one judicial. To find
10395-423: The PRS, SFIO members did not participate in Left Bloc governments, although they supported a part of its policy, notably the laïcité , based on the 1905 Act of separation between church and state. However, they criticized the ferocious repression of strikes by Radical prime minister Georges Clemenceau after 1906, following the creation of a Minister of Labour, a post held by PRS leader René Viviani . During
10560-456: The Radical Party amongst the left-wing movement and opposed the colonial wars. The SFIO received its lowest vote in the 1960s. It was discredited by the contradictory policies of its leaders during the Fourth Republic . Youth and the intellectual circles preferred the PSU and workers the PCF. The French Fifth Republic's constitution had been tailored by Charles de Gaulle to satisfy his needs and his Gaullism managed to gather enough people from
10725-444: The Radicals and Socialists resulted in a centrist government with policies oriented towards economic protectionism, a certain indifference to social issues, a willingness to break international isolation, the Russian alliance, and development of the colonial empire. These centrist policies resulted in cabinet instability, with some Republican members of the government sometimes aligning with the radicals and some Orléanists aligning with
10890-424: The SFIO, but its most influential figure was Blum, leader of the parliamentary group and director of a new party paper Le Populaire . L'Humanité , the previous party newspaper, was controlled by the founders of the SFIC. However, Frossard later resigned from the SFIC and rejoined the SFIO in January 1923. One year after the Tours Congress, the CGT trade union made the same split. Those who became Communists created
11055-401: The SFIO, in order to block the opposition of the Communists on the one hand, and of the Gaullists on the other. Besides, in spite of Léon Blum 's support, the party leader Daniel Mayer was defeated in aid of Guy Mollet . If the new secretary general was supported by the left wing of the party, he was very hostile to any form of alliance with the PCF. He said that "the Communist Party is not on
11220-413: The SFIO, the USR and the Radical Party to form the coalition that would win the 1936 French legislative election and bring about the Popular Front. In June 1934, Leon Trotsky proposed the French Turn into the SFIO, the origin of the strategy of entrism . The Trotskyist leaders of the Communist League (the French section of the International Left Opposition ) were divided over the issue of entering
11385-434: The SFIO. Raymond Molinier was the most supportive of Trotsky's proposal while Pierre Naville was opposed to it and Pierre Frank remained ambivalent. The League finally voted to dissolve into the SFIO in August 1934, where they formed the Bolshevik-Leninist Group ( Groupe Bolchevik-Leniniste , GBL). At the Mulhouse party congress of June 1935, the Trotskyists led a campaign to prevent the united front from expanding into
11550-416: The SPD and their Marxist supporters decided to hold a separate congress near the Possibilist congress, with the hope of uniting the two at a later date. The separation into two congresses in 1889 effectively forced foreign delegations to divide themselves up between supporters of the Possibilists, and supporters of the SPD. When the first meetings of the new international were held in Paris on 14 July 1889,
11715-451: The Second International's famous actions were its 1889 declaration of 1 May ( May Day ) as International Workers' Day and its 1910 declaration of the International Women's Day , first celebrated on 19 March and then on 8 March after the main day of the women's marches in 1917 during the Russian Revolution . It initiated the international campaign for the eight-hour working day . The International's permanent executive and information body
11880-519: The Second International. In 1920, the SFIO split over views on the 1917 Russian Revolution ; the majority became the French Communist Party , while the minority continued as the SFIO. In the 1930s, mutual concern over fascism drew the communists and socialists together, prompting them to form the Popular Front . The coalition won the 1936 election and formed a government under SFIO leader Léon Blum , which lasted until 1938. After
12045-410: The advanced countries, whereupon a portion was given over to a labor aristocracy as a "bribe", in the form of higher wages. The Bolsheviks saw this privileged, highly-skilled strata of workers organized into craft unions as a threat within the labor movement, which would try to take leadership positions in order to gain higher wages at the expense of other proletarians. Lenin and Bukharin believed that
12210-481: The affair was revealed in an article in La Libre Parole , the antisemitic newspaper owned by Édouard Drumont . This marked the beginning of a very brutal press campaign until the trial. This event put the affair in the field of antisemitism where it remained until its conclusion. On 1 November 1894, Alfred's brother, Mathieu Dreyfus, became aware of the arrest after being called urgently to Paris. He became
12375-732: The allied powers successfully met four times at the Inter-Allied Socialist Conferences of World War I . Anti-war parties first met as representatives from the neutral countries at the Neutral Socialist Conferences during the First World War , then as part of the Zimmerwald movement which successfully convinced the neutral, pacifist and revolutionary parties to split from the international. The Zimmerwald movement would lead to
12540-506: The architect of the arduous fight for the liberation of his brother. Without hesitation, he began looking for a lawyer, and retained the distinguished criminal lawyer Edgar Demange . On 3 November 1894, General Saussier, the Military governor of Paris , reluctantly gave the order for an enquiry. He had the power to stop the process but did not, perhaps because of an exaggerated confidence in military justice. Major Besson d'Ormescheville,
12705-409: The arrest of her husband secret and even said, "One word, one single word and it will be a European war!" Illegally, Dreyfus was placed in solitary confinement in prison, where Du Paty interrogated him day and night in order to obtain a confession, which failed. The captain was morally supported by the first Dreyfusard, Major Forzinetti, commandant of the military prisons of Paris. On 29 October 1894,
12870-458: The beginning of the case, the emphasis was rather on the Alsatian origins of Dreyfus than on his religion. These origins were not, however, exceptional because these officers were favoured by France for their knowledge of the German language and culture. There was also antisemitism in the offices of the General Staff, and it fast became central to the affair by filling in the credibility gaps in
13035-404: The bordereau on 5 October, du Paty concluded immediately who had written the two writings. After a day of additional work he provided a report that, despite some differences, the similarities were sufficient to warrant an investigation. Dreyfus was therefore "the probable author" of the bordereau in the eyes of the General Staff. General Mercier believed he had the guilty party, but he exaggerated
13200-554: The clock to spy on the German Embassy in Paris. They had managed to get a French housekeeper named "Madame Bastian" hired to work in the building and spy on the Germans. In September 1894, she found a torn-up note which she handed over to her employers at the Military Intelligence Service. This note later became known as "the bordereau". This piece of paper, torn into six large pieces, unsigned and undated,
13365-522: The columnists took place within a broader debate about the issue of a closed court. For Ranc and Cassagnac, who represented the majority of the press, the closed court was a low manoeuvre to enable the acquittal of Dreyfus, "because the minister is a coward". The proof was "that he grovels before the Prussians" by agreeing to publish the denials of the German ambassador in Paris. In other newspapers, such as L'Éclair on 13 December 1894: "the closed court
13530-557: The confession" took place before the degradation. In the van that brought him to the military school, Dreyfus is said to have confided his treachery to Captain Lebrun-Renault. It appears that this was merely self-promotion by the captain of the Republican Guard, and that in reality Dreyfus had made no admission. Due to the affair's being related to national security, the prisoner was then held in solitary confinement in
13695-604: The confines of the General Staff, the French Army as a whole was relatively open to individual talent. At the time of the Dreyfus affair there were an estimated 300 Jewish officers in the army (about 3 per cent of the total), of whom ten were generals. The popularity of the duel using sword or small pistol, sometimes causing death, bore witness to the tensions of the period. When a series of press articles in La Libre Parole accused Jewish officers of "betraying their birth",
13860-435: The congress would pass an amended resolution targeting "philo-semitic tyranny", noting that many Jewish bankers were "great oppressors of labour". Regnard stated that he believed many Jews owned the newspapers, while Argyriades stated his belief that Jews owned the banks and many industries. The Times reported that the pair's amendment was greeted with applause and was passed with only minor opposition. This has been noted as
14025-452: The court. Dreyfus was apoplectic with rage and demanded to be confronted with his anonymous accuser, which was rejected by the General Staff. The incident had an undeniable effect on the court, which was composed of seven officers who were both judges and jury. However, the outcome of the trial remained uncertain. The conviction of the judges had been shaken by the firm and logical answers of the accused. The judges took leave to deliberate, but
14190-543: The culprit, using simple though crude reasoning, the circle of the search was arbitrarily restricted to suspects posted to, or former employees of, the General Staff – necessarily a trainee artillery officer. The ideal culprit was identified: Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a graduate of the École polytechnique and an artillery officer, of the Jewish faith and of Alsatian origin, coming from the republican meritocracy. At
14355-596: The days of the First International, which was frequently characterized by clashes between the state socialists (ie. the Lassallists , Marxists and Blanquists ) on one hand, and the anarchists (ie. the mutualists and collectivists ) on the other. Tensions reached their peak after the Hague Congress of 1872 , wherein an attempt was made to expel Mikhail Bakunin and James Guillaume and move
14520-632: The deliberations by the President of the Military Court, Colonel Émilien Maurel, by order of the Minister of War, General Mercier. Later at the Rennes trial of 1899, General Mercier explained (falsely) the nature of the prohibited disclosure of the documents submitted in the courtroom. This file contained, in addition to letters without much interest, some of which were falsified, a piece known as
14685-475: The dominant faction within several of the ostensibly Marxist organizations, such as the Social Democratic League . Despite holding positions as delegates, and ostensibly being welcome during the first two congresses, expressions of anarchist ideas were often shouted down, and in one incident Francesco Saverio Merlino faced violence from the other delegates, but was shielded by delegates from
14850-826: The end, the BDS won both seats allocated to Senegal. In 1956, another SFIO splinter group appeared in Senegal, the Socialist Movement of the Senegalese Union . In 1957, the history of the SFIO in West Africa came to an end. The federations of SFIO in Cameroon, Chad, Moyen-Congo, Sudan, Gabon, Guinea, Niger, Oubangui-Chari and Senegal all met in Conakry from 11 January to 13 January 1957. At that meeting it
15015-426: The extension of social security to government workers the introduction of a national minimum wage and the granting from April 1947 onwards of allowances to all aged persons in need. Various measures were also introduced during the SFIO's time in office to improve health and safety in the workplace. An Order of July 1947 prescribed the installation of showers for the use of staff "employed on dirty or unhealthy work" and
15180-556: The flag and contempt for the parliamentary republic prevailed in the army. The Republic celebrated its army; the army ignored the Republic. Over the previous ten years the army had undergone a significant shift resulting from its twofold aim to democratize and modernize. The graduates of the École Polytechnique now competed effectively with officers from the main career path of Saint-Cyr , which caused strife, bitterness, and jealousy among junior officers expecting promotions. The period
15345-472: The following five years imprisoned in very harsh conditions. In 1896, evidence came to light—primarily through the investigations of Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart , head of counter-espionage—which identified the real culprit as a French Army Major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy . High-ranking military officials suppressed the new evidence, and a military court unanimously acquitted Esterhazy after
15510-519: The founding of the international, Paul Lafargue affirmed that socialists were "brothers with a single common enemy [...] private capital, whether it be Prussian, French, or Chinese." The 1907 conference at Stuttgart resulted in a joint resolution which stated that "struggle against militarism cannot be separated from the Socialist class struggle in general." The extraordinary congress in Basel in 1912
15675-406: The general council to New York City , effectively disbanding the organization. Competing anarchist and state socialist internationals attempted to continue on alone, but both ultimately ended in failure within five years. As a result of the 1872 split, anarchist and social democratic factions were reluctant to work with one another. The anarchist organizations ultimately refused to participate in
15840-589: The heirs of Louis Auguste Blanqui founded the Central Revolutionary Committee (CRC) which represented the French revolutionary tradition. In the 1880s, the FTSF saw their first electoral success, winning control of some municipalities. Jean Allemane and some FTSF members criticised the focus on electoral goals. In 1890, they created the Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party (POSR). Their main objective
16005-478: The indictment led to Émile Zola calling it a "monument of bias". After the news broke on Dreyfus' arrest, many journalists flocked to the story and flooded the story with speculations and accusations. The renowned journalist and antisemitic agitator Edouard Drumont wrote in his publication on November 3, 1894, "What a terrible lesson, this disgraceful treason of the Jew Dreyfus." On 4 December 1894, Dreyfus
16170-569: The institutions (parliamentary system or presidential government). The SFIO re-emerged and participated in the three-parties alliance with the PCF and the Christian-democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP). This coalition led the social policy inspired by National Council of Resistance 's programme, installing the main elements of the French welfare state , nationalising banks and some industrial companies. While serving in government during
16335-404: The international had initially declared its opposition to all warfare between European powers, most of the major European parties ultimately chose to support their respective states in World War I . After splitting into pro- Allied , pro- Central Powers , and antimilitarist factions, the international ceased to function. After the war, the remaining factions of the international went on to found
16500-611: The international in 1889 included some noted antisemites including Henry Hyndman, who led the English attendees at the Possibilist congress, but also a great many Jewish-led organizations and Jewish delegates. Despite these differences, at the 1891 congress in Brussels the delegates managed to pass a unanimous resolution against antisemitism; however, at the insistence of the Blanquist delegates Dr. A. Regnard and M. Argyriades,
16665-613: The international into three factions: the pro-war social democratic parties in the Central Powers, the pro-war parties of the Triple Entente, and the various anti-war parties, including the parties in neutral countries and many pacifist or revolutionary socialist parties. The leadership of the international, especially Secretary General of the ISB Camille Huysmans, attempted to coordinate meetings between
16830-486: The international, the "who started it?" theorists represented by Georgi Plekhanov , and the more nuanced "saccharo-conciliatory chauvinis[ts]" represented by Karl Kautsky . Plekhanov generally agreed with the Entente, believing that German warmongering was a criminal act that needed to be punished by an international coalition. Kautsky suggested that the principle of national self-determination gave each national proletariat
16995-404: The judges. In addition, Major Hubert-Joseph Henry , deputy head of the SR and discoverer of the bordereau , made a theatrical statement in open court. He argued that leaks betraying the General Staff had been suspected to exist since February 1894 and that "a respectable person" accused Captain Dreyfus. He swore on oath that the traitor was Dreyfus, pointing to the crucifix hanging on the wall of
17160-572: The land obtained compensation for the improvements that they made on the land. The sharecroppers also had the right to join a marketing cooperative, while their conflicts with owners were to be resolved at arbitration tribunals to which both sides elected an equal number of representatives. In the early years of the French Fourth Republic, the SFIO played an instrumental role in securing appropriations for 1,000 additional state elementary school teachers and in bringing in bills to extend
17325-472: The law. The closed court allowed the military to avoid disclosing the emptiness of their evidence to the public and to stifle debate. As expected, the emptiness of their case appeared clearly during the hearings. Detailed discussions on the bordereau showed that Captain Dreyfus could not be the author. At the same time the accused himself protested his innocence and defended himself point by point with energy and logic. Moreover, his statements were supported by
17490-502: The leadership of the international, especially in the pro-war parties, were largely labor aristocrats or else were influenced by a labor aristocratic ideology. While the labor aristocracy thesis informed the Bolsheviks' general critique of the international, Lenin also had more specific criticisms of the leaders of the international who had sided with the pro-war parties. Lenin believed that there were really two pro-war ideologies in
17655-532: The left and the right to govern without the other parties' help. Furthermore, the SFIO hesitated between allying with the non-Gaullist centre-right (as advocated by Gaston Defferre ) and reconciliation with the Communists. Mollet refused to choose. The SFIO supported François Mitterrand to the 1965 French presidential election even if he was not a member of the party. The SFIO and the Radicals then created
17820-413: The liaison would have 'dishonoured' Germany and Italy's military and compromised diplomatic relations. As homosexuality was, like Judaism, then often perceived as a sign of national degeneration, recent historians have suggested that combining them to inflate the scandal may have shaped the prosecution strategy. Since early 1894, the Statistics Section had investigated traffic in master plans for Nice and
17985-518: The military were crushed. Nevertheless Du Paty de Clam still arrested the captain, accused him of conspiring with the enemy, and told him that he would be brought before a court-martial. Dreyfus was imprisoned at the Cherche-Midi prison in Paris . Mrs. Dreyfus was informed of the arrest the same day by a police raid to search their apartment. She was terrorized by Du Paty, who ordered her to keep
18150-486: The ministry into proof of espionage. From the beginning a biased and one-sided multiplication of errors led the State to a false position. This was present throughout the affair, where irrationality prevailed over the positivism in vogue in that period: From this first hour the phenomenon occurred that will dominate the whole affair. It is no longer controlled by facts and circumstances carefully examined which will constitute
18315-749: The modern-day Socialist Party . Mollet passed on the leadership to Alain Savary . The SFIO suffered a split in Senegal in 1934 as Lamine Guèye broke away and formed the Senegalese Socialist Party (PSS). As the Senegalese Popular Front committee as formed, the SFIO and the PSS branch cooperated. In 1937, a joint list of both the SFIO and the PSS won the municipal elections in Saint-Louis . Maître Vidal became mayor of
18480-528: The most extreme nationalism. The traumatic defeat of France in 1870 seemed far away, but a vengeful spirit remained. The military required considerable resources to prepare for the next conflict, and it was in this spirit that the Franco-Russian Alliance of 27 August 1892 was signed, although some opponents thought it "against nature". The army had recovered from the defeat, but many of its officers were aristocrats and monarchists. Cult of
18645-555: The national laic school system to kindergarten and nursery school levels. During the spring of 1946, the SFIO reluctantly supported the constitutional plans of the PCF. They were rejected by a referendum . The party supported the second proposal prepared with the PCF and the MRP which was approved in an October 1946 referendum . However, the coalition split in May 1947. Because of the Cold War ,
18810-623: The new one, creating one large international meeting. However, the SPD had only joined the new meeting on the condition that the hosts would not ask for records and names from the delegates, since the SPD could have faced immediate dissolution and ejection from the Reichstag if the German government discovered it had sent delegates abroad. When the Trade Union Congress responded that delegates would only be considered legitimate if they could prove their mandate with appropriate records,
18975-659: The officers challenged the editors. Captain Crémieu-Foa, a Jewish Alsatian graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique, fought unsuccessfully against Drumont and against M. de Lamase, who was the author of the articles. Captain Mayer, another Jewish officer, was killed by the Marquis de Morès , a friend of Drumont, in another duel. Hatred of Jews was now public and violent, driven by a firebrand (Drumont) who demonized
19140-529: The opposition of the left and of some Republicans (including the Progressive Union) and made sure to keep the support of the right. He sought to appease religious, social, and economic tensions and conducted a fairly conservative policy. He succeeded in improving stability, and it was under this stable government that the Dreyfus affair occurred. The Dreyfus affair occurred in the context of German annexation of Alsace and Moselle , an event that fed
19305-438: The outbreak of World War II and German conquest of France in 1940, the SFIO was banned, and many of its members took part in the Resistance . The SFIO was part of France's tripartisme government from 1944 to 1947, but after the war faced a resurgent Communist Party, which achieved a higher share of the vote in every election for the next three decades. From 1956 to 1957, SFIO leader Guy Mollet served as prime minister, but
19470-569: The outbreak of war, all of the major socialist parties in belligerent nations (with the notable exception of the Independent Labour Party ) had issued statements in full support of war. This took many socialist parties in neutral countries by surprise, such as the Romanian Social Democrats , who initially refused to print the SPD's endorsement of war, believing it to be a forgery. The war effectively split
19635-657: The party continued its period of decline and disunity. In 1969, the present Socialist Party of France was formed from a merger of the SFIO and smaller parties. Between 1909 and 1920, the SFIO published the newspaper L'Humanité . In French politics, it affiliated with the Left Cartel (1924–1934), the Popular Front (1936–1938), the Tripartisme (1944–1947), and the Third Force (1947–1958). Internationally,
19800-601: The party led by Marcel Déat and Pierre Renaudel split from the SFIO in November 1933 to form a neosocialist movement and merged with the PRS to form the Socialist Republican Union (USR). The Cartel was again the victim of parliamentary instability while various scandals led to the 6 February 1934 riots organised by far-right leagues. The Radical Édouard Daladier resigned on the next day, handing out
19965-648: The party was first affiliated with the Second International (1905–1916), then the Labour and Socialist International (1923–1940), and finally the Socialist International (1951–1969). The SFIO's symbol was a red and black circle with the Three Arrows . After the failure of the Paris Commune of 1871, French socialism was severely weakened, with its leaders dead or in exile. During the 1879 Marseille Congress , workers' associations created
20130-555: The party which were accentuated after 1917. Furthermore, internal disagreements appeared about the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In 1919, the anti-war socialists were heavily defeated in elections by the National Bloc coalition which played on the middle-classes' fear of Bolshevism (posters with a Bolshevik with a knife between his teeth were used to discredit the socialist movement). The National Bloc won 70% of
20295-451: The party. The Matignon Accords (1936) set up collective bargaining , and removed all obstacles to union organisation . The terms included a blanket 7–12% wage increase and allowed for paid vacation (two weeks) and a 40-hour work week. The eight-hour day had been established following the war of 1914–1918 of attrition and its mobilisation of industrial capacities. Within a year, Blum's government collapsed over economic policy (as during
20460-506: The past. The antisemitism circulated by La Libre Parole , as well as by L'Éclair , Le Petit Journal , La Patrie , L'Intransigeant and La Croix , drew on antisemitic roots in certain Catholic circles. Publications remarking on the Dreyfus affair often reinforced antisemitic sentiments, language and imagery. The Musée des Horreurs [ fr ] was a collection of anti-Dreyfus posters illustrated by Victor Lenepveu during
20625-528: The personality of Dreyfus, others to ensure the truth of the identity of the author of the bordereau. The expert Gobert was not convinced and found many differences. He even wrote that "the nature of the writing on the bordereau excludes disguised handwriting". Disappointed, Mercier then called in Alphonse Bertillon , the inventor of forensic anthropometry but no handwriting expert. He was initially no more positive than Gobert but he did not exclude
20790-405: The possibility of its being the writing of Dreyfus. Later, under pressure from the military, he argued that Dreyfus had autocopied it and developed his theory of "autoforgery". On 13 October 1894, without any tangible evidence and with an empty file, General Mercier summoned Captain Dreyfus for a general inspection in "bourgeois clothing", i.e. in civilian clothes. The purpose of the General Staff
20955-660: The power to conservative Gaston Doumergue . It was the first time during the French Third Republic that a government had to resign because of street pressure. Following 6 February 1934 crisis, which the whole of the socialist movement saw as a fascist conspiracy to overthrow the Republic, a goal pursued by the royalist Action Française and other far-right leagues, anti-fascist organisations were created. The Comintern abandoned its social-fascism directive of social democracy in favor of united front directives. The French Communist Party (PCF) got closer to
21120-415: The preliminary enquiry. In particular, Dreyfus was at that time the only Jewish officer to be recently passed by the General Staff. In fact, the reputation of Dreyfus as a cold and withdrawn or even haughty character, as well as his "curiosity", worked strongly against him. These traits of character, some false, others natural, made the charges plausible by turning the most ordinary acts of everyday life in
21285-453: The recorder for the Military Court, wrote an indictment in which "moral elements" of the charge (which gossiped about the habits of Dreyfus and his alleged attendance at "gambling circles", his knowledge of German, and his "remarkable memory") were developed more extensively than the "material elements", which are rarely seen in the charge: "This is a proof of guilt because Dreyfus made everything disappear". The complete lack of neutrality of
21450-545: The return of Charles de Gaulle and the establishment of the French Fifth Republic . Moreover, the SFIO was divided about the repressive policy of Guy Mollet in Algeria and his support to De Gaulle's return. If the party returned in opposition in 1959, it could not prevent the constitution of another Unified Socialist Party (PSU) in 1960, joined the next year by Pierre Mendès France , who was trying to anchor
21615-416: The right to defend itself, including violence against other proletarians. Lenin believed that both positions represented different attempts to rationalize labor aristocratic ideology. Despite issuing a statement against colonialism at the 1896 London congress, the international was criticized by anti-colonial figures for providing insufficient opposition to colonial expansion. While the pre-war international
21780-451: The same time, Marcel Déat and some neosocialists who had split from the SFIO in 1933, participated to the Vichy regime and supported Pétain's policy of collaboration. Paul Faure , secretary general of the SFIO from 1920 to 1940, approved of this policy too. He was excluded from the party when it was reconstituted in 1944. In total, 14 of the 17 SFIO ministers who had been in government before
21945-738: The seats, forming what became known as the Chambre bleue horizon (Blue Horizon Chamber). During the Tours Congress on 25 December 1920, a majority of SFIO members voted to join the Communist International , also known as the Comintern and the Third International, created by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. Led by Boris Souvarine and Ludovic-Oscar Frossard , they created the French Section of
22110-441: The session. Second International The Second International , also called the Socialist International , was an organisation of socialist and labour parties , formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued the work of the dissolved First International , though excluding the powerful anarcho-syndicalist movement. While
22275-496: The socialist movement to join the republican movement's struggle to defend republican values. In 1899, another debate polarised the socialist groups, pitted Guesde against Jaures over the participation of the socialist Alexandre Millerand in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau 's cabinet, which included the Marquis de Gallifet , who had directed the bloody repression of the Paris Commune. In 1902, Guesde and Vaillant founded
22440-597: The socialists' victory while Marceau Pivert cried "Tout est possible!" ("Everything is possible!"), but Pivert would later split and create the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party (PSOP), with historian Daniel Guérin also being a member of the latter. Trotsky advised the GBL to break with the SFIO, leading to a confused departure by the Trotskyists from the SFIO in early 1936, which drew only about six hundred people from
22605-626: The town. The congress of the PSS held 4–5 June 1938 decided to reunify with the SFIO. Following that decision, the 11–12 June 1938 congress of the new federation of SFIO was held in Thiès . In 1948, Léopold Sédar Senghor broke away from the Senegalese federation of SFIO and formed the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS). During the 1951 French legislative election campaign, violence broke out between BDS and SFIO activists. In
22770-520: The trial and his guilt was certain. Right and left regretted the abolition of the death penalty for such a crime. Antisemitism peaked in the press and occurred in areas so far spared. Socialist leader Jean Jaurès regretted the lightness of the sentence in an address to the Chamber of Deputies and wrote, "A soldier has been sentenced to death and executed for throwing a button in the face of his corporal. So why leave this miserable traitor alive?" Radical Republican Georges Clemenceau in La Justice made
22935-468: The two factions were still discussing the possibility of unity. The two meetings had effectively divided the entire European socialist movement into two camps: the Possibilists, supported by the British Social Democratic Federation , and the Marxists, supported by the SPD, the British Socialist League , and most of the other European delegates. The Possibilists insisted upon recording the names and documentation of delegates so as to verify their mandate, while
23100-429: The two months before the trial, the press went wild. La Libre Parole , L'Autorité , Le Journal , and Le Temps described the supposed life of Dreyfus through lies and bad fiction. This was also an opportunity for extreme headlines from La Libre Parole and La Croix to justify their previous campaigns against the presence of Jews in the army on the theme "You have been told!" This long delay above all enabled
23265-501: The value of the affair, which took on the status of an affair of state during the week preceding the arrest of Dreyfus. The Minister did consult and inform all the authorities of the State, yet despite prudent counsel and courageous objections expressed by Gabriel Hanotaux in the Council of Ministers he decided to pursue it. Du Paty de Clam was appointed Judicial Police Officer to lead an official investigation. Meanwhile, several parallel sources of information were opening up, some on
23430-427: The various parties, including one-on-one meetings between pro-war leaders from opposing sides, but by July 1916 the ISB's attempts had failed. Despite the failure to bring the various parties together into a single congress, each faction would hold its own conferences during the war. The German, Austrian, and Hungarian pro-war parties successfully met at the Vienna Socialist Conference of 1915 . The pro-war parties in
23595-414: The war were expelled for collaboration. After the liberation of France in 1944, the PCF became the largest left-wing party and the project to create a labour -based political party rallying the non-Communist Resistance failed in part due to the disagreements opposing notably the Socialists and the Christian Democrats about laïcité and the conflict with Charles de Gaulle about the new organisation of
23760-407: The war, for peace, and for the settlement of the Austro-Serbian conflict by international arbitration.” The antimilitarist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) leader Jean Jaurès 's assassination a few days before the beginning of the First World War generated an outpouring of antimilitarist sentiment from many members of the socialist international. Nonetheless, immediately after
23925-513: The years of the French Fourth Republic , the SFIO was also active in pressing for changes in areas such as education and agriculture. Through the efforts of the SFIO, a comprehensive Farm Law was passed in 1946 which provided that sharecroppers had the right to renew their options at the expiration of their leaseholds and that the owner could repossess the land only if he or his children worked it. In addition, sharecroppers could acquire ownership at low interest rates while those who were forced to leave
24090-569: Was exonerated . After being reinstated as a major in the French Army, he served during the whole of World War I , ending his service with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He died in 1935. The Dreyfus affair came to symbolise modern injustice in the Francophone world; it remains one of the most notable examples of a miscarriage of justice and of antisemitism . The affair divided France into pro-republican, anticlerical Dreyfusards and pro-Army, mostly Catholic anti-Dreyfusards, embittering French politics and encouraging radicalisation. The press played
24255-418: Was "ethical imperialism". Ho Chi Minh wrote that the Second International's pro-colonial reputation led him to support the Third International instead. From its outset, one of the objectives of the international was to build a consensus on the " Jewish question ", a contemporary term for debates on the civil, legal, national, and political status and treatment of Jews as a minority group. The founders of
24420-471: Was a novelty as an organised activity by governments in the late 19th century. The Statistics Section was created in 1871 but consisted of only a handful of officers and civilians. Its head in 1894 was Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Sandherr , a graduate of Saint-Cyr , an Alsatian from Mulhouse , and a convinced antisemite. Its military mission was clear: to retrieve information about potential enemies of France and to feed them false information. The Statistics Section
24585-428: Was addressed to the German military attaché stationed at the German Embassy, Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen . It stated that confidential French military documents regarding the newly developed "hydraulic brake of 120, and the way this gun has worked" were about to be sent to a foreign power. This catch seemed of sufficient importance for the head of the "Statistical Section", the Mulhousian Jean Sandherr , to inform
24750-405: Was also marked by an arms race that primarily affected artillery. There were improvements in heavy artillery (guns of 120 mm and 155 mm, Models 1890 Baquet , new hydropneumatic brakes), but also, and especially, development of the ultra-secret 75mm gun . The operation of military counterintelligence, alias the "Statistics Section" (SR), should be noted. Spying as a tool for secret war
24915-437: Was decided that the African federations would break with their French parent organisation and form the African Socialist Movement (MSA), an independent pan-African party. The Senegalese section of MSA was the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS) and it was led by Lamine Guèye . The first meeting of the leading committee of MSA met in Dakar from 9 February to 10 February 1957 the same year. Two SFIO delegates attended
25080-466: Was largely devoted to a discussion of rising militarism, which resulted in a manifesto stating that the working classes should "exert every effort in order to prevent the outbreak of war by the means they consider most effective." Finally on July 29, 1914, the ISB held an emergency meeting wherein it “resolved unanimously that it shall be the duty of the workers of all nations concerned not only to continue but to further intensify their demonstrations against
25245-465: Was led by former CGT secretary general Léon Jouhaux , who was granted the Nobel Peace Prize three years later. The teachers' union ( Federation for National Education , FEN) chose to gain autonomy towards the two confederations in order to conserve its unity, but SFIO syndicalists took the control of the FEN which became the main training ground of the SFIO party. A Third Force coalition was constituted by centre-right and centre-left parties, including
25410-407: Was not an expert in handwriting, was presented as a scholar of the first importance. He advanced the theory of "autoforgery" during the trial and accused Dreyfus of imitating his own handwriting, explaining the differences in writing by using extracts of writing from his brother Matthieu and his wife Lucie. This theory, although later regarded as bizarre and astonishing, seems to have had some effect on
25575-416: Was paraded throughout the streets, the crowd chanted "Death to Judas, death to the Jew." Witnesses report the dignity of Dreyfus, who continued to maintain his innocence while raising his arms: "Innocent, Innocent! Vive la France! Long live the Army". The Adjutant broke his sword on his knee and then the condemned Dreyfus marched at a slow pace in front of his former companions. An event known as "the legend of
25740-405: Was particularly insistent on the legitimacy of a "socialist colonialism", and opposed most anti-colonial resolutions on the basis that colonialism under a socialist government could be benevolent and mutually beneficial. The French SFIO likewise supported a policy of "national colonialism", while the right wing of the SPD supported "national imperialism", and the British Labour Party 's stated policy
25905-405: Was referred to the first Military Court with this dossier. The secrecy was lifted and Demange could access the file for the first time. After reading it the lawyer had absolute confidence, as he saw the emptiness of the prosecution's case. The prosecution rested completely on the writing on a single piece of paper, the bordereau, on which experts disagreed, and on vague indirect testimonies. During
26070-496: Was relatively consistent in its opposition to an inter-imperialist conflict between European powers, it was often paternalistic towards colonial areas, and statements often mentioned a need to educate or civilize conquered peoples. By the Stuttgart congress of 1907, parties in the international had substantially shifted away from their earlier consensus on ostensible anticolonialism towards a mix of overtly pro-colonial, anti-colonial and neutral views. These divisions were made apparent in
26235-416: Was supported by the "Secret Affairs" of the Quai d'Orsay at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was headed by a young diplomat, Maurice Paléologue . The arms race created an acute atmosphere of intrigue from 1890 in French counter-espionage . One of the missions of the section was to spy on the German Embassy at Rue de Lille in Paris to thwart any attempt by the French to transmit important information to
26400-437: Was the International Socialist Bureau (ISB) based in Brussels and formed after the International's Paris Congress of 1900. Emile Vandervelde and Camille Huysmans of the Belgian Labour Party were its chair and secretary. Vladimir Lenin was a member from 1905. The pre-war period is notable for the repeated statements against militarism jointly issued by members of the international, which were largely ignored in 1914. At
26565-466: Was the Third International organised in 1919 by revolutionary socialists after the October Revolution and the creation of the Soviet Union. It was officially called the Communist International (Comintern) and lasted until 1943 when it was dissolved by then Soviet leader Joseph Stalin . The Second International had a complex and changeable relationship to anarchist groups and individuals. The conflict between anarchist and Marxist factions dated back to
26730-461: Was to obtain the perfect proof under French law: a confession . That confession was to be obtained by surprise – by dictating a letter based on the bordereau to reveal his guilt. On the morning of 15 October 1894, Captain Dreyfus underwent this ordeal but admitted nothing. Du Paty even tried to suggest suicide by placing a revolver in front of Dreyfus, but he refused to take his life, saying he "wanted to live to establish his innocence". The hopes of
26895-424: Was to win power through the tactic of the general strike . Besides these groups, some politicians declared themselves as independent socialists outside of the political parties. They tended to have moderate opinions. In the 1890s, the Dreyfus affair caused debate in the socialist movement. While Jules Guesde believed socialists should not intervene in this internal conflict of the bourgeoisie, Jean Jaurès urged
27060-474: Was virtually free to write and disseminate any information even if offensive or defamatory. Legal risks were limited if the target was a private person. Antisemitism did not spare the military, which practised hidden discrimination with the "cote d'amour" (a subjective assessment of personal acceptability) system of irrational grading, encountered by Dreyfus in his application to the Bourges School. However, while prejudices of this nature undoubtedly existed within
27225-425: Was with criminal intent. Colonel Maurel confirmed in the second Dreyfus trial that the secret documents were not used to win the support of the judges of the Military Court. He contradicted himself, however, by saying that he read only one document, "which was enough". On 22 December 1894, after several hours of deliberation, the verdict was reached. Seven judges unanimously convicted Alfred Dreyfus of collusion with
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