Action Française

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Right-wing political movement founded in 1899, at the height of the Dreyfus Affair, by Vaugeois and Pujo. Maurras swiftly took control, making it royalist and (though he was an agnostic) supportive of the Church as a force for order and stability. In 1908 the daily L'Action française was founded, under the enthusiastic editorship of Léon Daudet. The movement was strongly nationalistic, and implacably opposed to the Third Republic and to ‘the enemy within’ (Jews, freemasons, Protestants, ‘métèques’). In Church matters, it strongly opposed all forms of modernism. During World War I, attacks on the Republic were suspended in the national interest, and Action Française rode on a wave of popular approval. In the inter-war period, however, the movement gradually declined as an active force (Papal condemnation in 1926 and repudiation by the royalist pretender in 1937 did not help; nor did the rise of more energetic extra-parliamentary movements on the Fascist model). It retained influence in traditionalist circles, however, and there was a strong Action Française tinge to the Vichy government of 1940-4 [see Occupation And Resistance]. Many French authors, critics, and historians were supporters, at one time or other, of Action Française, the most prominent being Bernanos and Maritain. [See Nationalism.]

[Richard Griffiths]

Radical French right-wing antisemitic movement. The Action Francaise was founded by Charles Maurras during the Dreyfus Affair in 1894, to oppose the liberal intellectuals who supported the Jewish army captain accused of treason; it was dissolved at the end of World War II.

Action Francaise was a nationalistic movement that regarded France as a superior motherland that deserved the utmost allegiance. Members advocated the removal of the republic and return to monarchy. They also believed that France had four enemies constantly trying to destroy her: Jews, foreigners, Protestants, and Freemasons. The nation had to expel those enemies, and other destructive elements such as democracy. For nearly 50 years, Maurras's movement was a frontrunner of French Antisemitism.

During World War II, Maurras considered himself the idea man behind the Vichy government's "national revolution." He gladly received the anti-Jewish laws (Statut Des Juifs) passed in October 1940, which attempted to do exactly what Action Francaise had been calling for since 1894: exclude the Jews from French life.

When the war ended Maurras was sentenced to life in jail for collaboration. Despite its relatively small size, Action Francaise had enjoyed an inordinately large amount of intellectual influence both in France and other European countries. (For more on Vichy, see also France.)