Trial of the thirty
Encyclopedia
The Trial of the Thirty was a trial
in 1894 in Paris, France, aimed at legitimizing the lois scélérates
passed in 1893-1894 against the anarchist movement
and restricting press freedom
by proving the existence of an effective association between anarchists.
Lasting from 6 August-31 October in 1894, it put on trial 30 French and foreign alleged anarchists
, on charge of "criminal association" (association de malfaiteurs). Held in virtue of the lois scélérates
censoring the press
and outlawing apology of propaganda by the deed, the trial mixed anarchist theorists with common law criminals.
Amongst the defendants were Charles Chatel, Ivan Aguéli
, Sébastien Faure
, Félix Fénéon
, Jean Grave
, Louis Armand Matha, Maximilien Luce
, Émile Pouget
, Paul Reclus, Alexander Cohen, Constant Martin
, Louis Duprat.
of December 1893 and July 1894, enacted after Auguste Vaillant
's bombing. On 21 February 1894, Le Père Peinard, published by Émile Pouget
, ceased being edited, and was followed on 10 March 1894 by Jean Grave
's Le Révolté
. From 1 January 1894 to 30 June 1894, 426 people, among which 29 could not be detained, were judged on charges of having constituted a "criminal association". According to the historian Jean Maitron
, most activists had been either arrested or had fled the country, and all propaganda had practically ceased.
of the Seine. Among the most famous were included Jean Grave
, Sébastien Faure
, Charles Chatel, editor at La Revue anarchiste, Félix Fénéon
, Matha
. Five inculpees had gone underground: Paul Reclus, Constant Martin
Émile Pouget
, Louis Duprat, Alexandre Cohen. Alongside these anarchist theorists, common law inculpees were included in the trials ; this amalgam was favorized by the illegalism
supported by some anarchists who claimed a right to live in margins of the law. Those included Ortiz, Chericotti, and others. In total, 19 theoricians and propagandists and 11 thieves claiming themselves from anarchism.
The chief prosecutor, Bulot, prohibited the press from reproducing the interrogatories of Jean Grave and Sébastien Faure, leading Henri Rochefort to write, in L'Intransigeant
, that the criminal association concerned not the defendants, but the magistrates and the ministers. The defendants easily discharged themselves of the inculpation of "criminal association", since at that time the French anarchist movement
rejected the sole idea of association and act exclusively as individuals. Despite this, the president of the court, Dayras, dismissed all objections from the defense, leading Sébastien Faure to say:
In the same sense, Fénéon, was accused of having been the intimate friend of the German anarchist
Kampfmeyer. Le Figaro
's correspondent thus transcribed his interrogatory:
Fénéon received support from the poet Stéphane Mallarmé
, who qualified him as a "fine spirit" and one of the "more subtile critique" (un esprit très fin et un des critiques les plus subtils et les plus aigus que nous avons). Debates continued during one week. The general prosecutor Bulot intended to prove that there had been an effective agreement between theoricians and illegalists, but failed to do so for lack of evidence. He abandoned the accusations for some of them, and claimed attenuating circumnstances for others, but requested harsh sentences for those he depicted as the leaders: Grave, Faure, Matha and some others. Finally, the jury
acquitted all, except the common law prisoners, Ortiz, Chericotti, Bertani, respectively condemned to 15 and 8 years of forced labour and to six months of prison.
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
in 1894 in Paris, France, aimed at legitimizing the lois scélérates
Lois scélérates
The lois scélérates — a pejorative name — are a set of French laws restricting the 1881 freedom of the press laws passed under the Third Republic , after several bombings and assassination attempts carried out by anarchist proponents of "propaganda of the deed".The first law was passed on December...
passed in 1893-1894 against the anarchist movement
Anarchism in France
Thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. French anarchism reached its height in the late 19th century...
and restricting press freedom
Censorship in France
France has a long history of governmental censorship, particularly in the 16th to 18th centuries, but today freedom of press is guaranteed by the French Constitution and instances of governmental censorship are relatively limited and isolated....
by proving the existence of an effective association between anarchists.
Lasting from 6 August-31 October in 1894, it put on trial 30 French and foreign alleged anarchists
Anarchism in France
Thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. French anarchism reached its height in the late 19th century...
, on charge of "criminal association" (association de malfaiteurs). Held in virtue of the lois scélérates
Lois scélérates
The lois scélérates — a pejorative name — are a set of French laws restricting the 1881 freedom of the press laws passed under the Third Republic , after several bombings and assassination attempts carried out by anarchist proponents of "propaganda of the deed".The first law was passed on December...
censoring the press
Censorship in France
France has a long history of governmental censorship, particularly in the 16th to 18th centuries, but today freedom of press is guaranteed by the French Constitution and instances of governmental censorship are relatively limited and isolated....
and outlawing apology of propaganda by the deed, the trial mixed anarchist theorists with common law criminals.
Amongst the defendants were Charles Chatel, Ivan Aguéli
Ivan Aguéli
Ivan Aguéli also named Sheikh 'Abd al-Hādī 'Aqīlī upon his acceptance of Islam, was a Swedish wandering Sufi, painter and author. As a devotee of Ibn Arabi, his metaphysics applied to the study of Islamic esoterism and its similarities with other esoteric traditions of the world...
, Sébastien Faure
Sébastien Faure
Sébastien Faure was a French anarchist . He was a main proponent of the anarchist organizational form known as synthesis anarchism.- Biography :Before becoming a free-thinker, he was a seminarist...
, Félix Fénéon
Félix Fénéon
Félix Fénéon was a Parisian anarchist and art critic during the late 19th century...
, Jean Grave
Jean Grave
Jean Grave was an important activist in the French anarchist movement. He was involved with Élisée Reclus' Révolté...
, Louis Armand Matha, Maximilien Luce
Maximilien Luce
Maximilien Luce was a French Neo-impressionist artist. A printmaker, painter, and anarchist, Luce is best known for his pointillist canvases. He grew up in the working class Montparnasse, and became a painter of landscapes and urban scenes which frequently emphasize the activities of people at work...
, Émile Pouget
Émile Pouget
Émile Pouget was a French anarcho-communist, who adopted tactics close to those of anarcho-syndicalism...
, Paul Reclus, Alexander Cohen, Constant Martin
Constant Martin
Constant Martin was a French engineer and inventor who perfected and successfully commercialised radio sets and most famously the Clavioline, a precursor to the synthesizer...
, Louis Duprat.
Context
During the first months of 1894, the police organized searches, raids and detentions against the anarchist movement. The government aimed at annihilating the anarchist movement, and used for this the lois scélératesLois scélérates
The lois scélérates — a pejorative name — are a set of French laws restricting the 1881 freedom of the press laws passed under the Third Republic , after several bombings and assassination attempts carried out by anarchist proponents of "propaganda of the deed".The first law was passed on December...
of December 1893 and July 1894, enacted after Auguste Vaillant
Auguste Vaillant
Auguste Vaillant was a French anarchist, most famous for his bomb attack on the French Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1893. The government's reaction to this attack was the passing of the infamous repressive Lois scélérates.He threw the home-made device from the public gallery and was...
's bombing. On 21 February 1894, Le Père Peinard, published by Émile Pouget
Émile Pouget
Émile Pouget was a French anarcho-communist, who adopted tactics close to those of anarcho-syndicalism...
, ceased being edited, and was followed on 10 March 1894 by Jean Grave
Jean Grave
Jean Grave was an important activist in the French anarchist movement. He was involved with Élisée Reclus' Révolté...
's Le Révolté
Le Révolté
Le Révolté was an anarcho-communist journal started by Peter Kropotkin, along with François Dumartheray and Georg Herzig, in February 1879. The journal was partially funded by Elisée Reclus, Kropotkin's mentor. At the time of the journal's founding, Reclus and Kropotkin were living in the village...
. From 1 January 1894 to 30 June 1894, 426 people, among which 29 could not be detained, were judged on charges of having constituted a "criminal association". According to the historian Jean Maitron
Jean Maitron
Jean Maitron was a French historian specialist of the labour movement. A pioneer of such historical studies in France, he introduced it to University and gave it its archives base, by creating in 1949 the Centre d'histoire du syndicalisme in the Sorbonne, which received important archives from...
, most activists had been either arrested or had fled the country, and all propaganda had practically ceased.
The trial
On 6 August 1894, thirty defendants were judged by the Cour d'assisesCour d'assises
A French cour d'assises or Assize Court is a criminal trial court with original and appellate limited jurisdiction to hear cases involving defendants accused of major felonies or indictable offences, or crimes in French, and one of the few to be decided by jury trialUnder French law, a crime is any...
of the Seine. Among the most famous were included Jean Grave
Jean Grave
Jean Grave was an important activist in the French anarchist movement. He was involved with Élisée Reclus' Révolté...
, Sébastien Faure
Sébastien Faure
Sébastien Faure was a French anarchist . He was a main proponent of the anarchist organizational form known as synthesis anarchism.- Biography :Before becoming a free-thinker, he was a seminarist...
, Charles Chatel, editor at La Revue anarchiste, Félix Fénéon
Félix Fénéon
Félix Fénéon was a Parisian anarchist and art critic during the late 19th century...
, Matha
Matha
A matha ) is a term for monastic and similar religious establishments of Hinduism and Jainism. A matha is usually more formal, hierarchical, and rule-based than an ashram.-Advaita Mathas:...
. Five inculpees had gone underground: Paul Reclus, Constant Martin
Constant Martin
Constant Martin was a French engineer and inventor who perfected and successfully commercialised radio sets and most famously the Clavioline, a precursor to the synthesizer...
Émile Pouget
Émile Pouget
Émile Pouget was a French anarcho-communist, who adopted tactics close to those of anarcho-syndicalism...
, Louis Duprat, Alexandre Cohen. Alongside these anarchist theorists, common law inculpees were included in the trials ; this amalgam was favorized by the illegalism
Illegalism
Illegalism is an anarchist philosophy that developed primarily in France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland during the early 1900s as an outgrowth of individualist anarchism...
supported by some anarchists who claimed a right to live in margins of the law. Those included Ortiz, Chericotti, and others. In total, 19 theoricians and propagandists and 11 thieves claiming themselves from anarchism.
The chief prosecutor, Bulot, prohibited the press from reproducing the interrogatories of Jean Grave and Sébastien Faure, leading Henri Rochefort to write, in L'Intransigeant
L'Intransigeant
L'Intransigeant was a French newspaper, founded in July 1880 by Henri Rochefort. Initially representing the left-wing opposition, it developed towards the right during the Boulangism affair and became a major right-wing newspaper by 1920s. The newspaper was vehemently anti-Dreyfusard, reflecting...
, that the criminal association concerned not the defendants, but the magistrates and the ministers. The defendants easily discharged themselves of the inculpation of "criminal association", since at that time the French anarchist movement
Anarchism in France
Thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. French anarchism reached its height in the late 19th century...
rejected the sole idea of association and act exclusively as individuals. Despite this, the president of the court, Dayras, dismissed all objections from the defense, leading Sébastien Faure to say:
"Each time we prove the error of one of your allegations, you declare it unimportant. You may very well sum up all zeros, but you can't obtain an unity
In the same sense, Fénéon, was accused of having been the intimate friend of the German anarchist
Anarchism in Germany
German individualist philosopher Max Stirner became an important early influence in anarchism. Afterwards Johann Most became an important anarchist propagandist in both Germany and in the United States...
Kampfmeyer. Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
's correspondent thus transcribed his interrogatory:
He cross-examines F.F. himself: "Are you an anarchist, M. Fénéon?"
"I am a Burgundian born in Turin."
"Your police file extends to one hundred and seventy pages. It is documented that you were intimate with the German terrorist Kampfmeyer."
"The intimacy cannot have been great as I do not speak German and he does not speak French." (Laughter in courtroom.)
"It has been established that you surrounded yourself with Cohen and Ortoz."
"One can hardly be surrounded by two persons; you need at least three." (More laughter.)
"You were seen conferring with them behind a lamppost!"
"A lamppost is round. Can Your Honour tell me where behind a lamppost is?" (Loud, prolonged laughter. Judge calls for order.).
Fénéon received support from the poet Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
, who qualified him as a "fine spirit" and one of the "more subtile critique" (un esprit très fin et un des critiques les plus subtils et les plus aigus que nous avons). Debates continued during one week. The general prosecutor Bulot intended to prove that there had been an effective agreement between theoricians and illegalists, but failed to do so for lack of evidence. He abandoned the accusations for some of them, and claimed attenuating circumnstances for others, but requested harsh sentences for those he depicted as the leaders: Grave, Faure, Matha and some others. Finally, the jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
acquitted all, except the common law prisoners, Ortiz, Chericotti, Bertani, respectively condemned to 15 and 8 years of forced labour and to six months of prison.
Further reading
- Jean MaitronJean MaitronJean Maitron was a French historian specialist of the labour movement. A pioneer of such historical studies in France, he introduced it to University and gave it its archives base, by creating in 1949 the Centre d'histoire du syndicalisme in the Sorbonne, which received important archives from...
, Le mouvement anarchiste en France, Tel Gallimard (first ed. François Maspero, 1975), tome I, chapter VI, "Le Procès des Trente. Fin d'une époque", pp. 251–261
See also
- Anarchism in FranceAnarchism in FranceThinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. French anarchism reached its height in the late 19th century...
- Lois scélératesLois scélératesThe lois scélérates — a pejorative name — are a set of French laws restricting the 1881 freedom of the press laws passed under the Third Republic , after several bombings and assassination attempts carried out by anarchist proponents of "propaganda of the deed".The first law was passed on December...
(national security legislation) - Trial of Antonio NegriAntonio NegriAntonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...
in Italy concerning his writings and alleged influence on bombings committed during the years of lead