Émile Janvion (10 April 1866 – 21 July 1927) was a French teacher, an
anarcho-syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...
'' (CGT) and a leader of the anti-militarist movement. He came to hold
national syndicalist
National syndicalism is a socially far-right adaptation of syndicalism within the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
F ...
views, which will later into a form of
fascism
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
. He was
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...
. He also had an agenda that included nationalization of the land and of the means of production.
, Saône-et-Loire.
He was given the nickname "''Pisse-vinaigre''" (vinegar piss). In 1893 he founded the first syndicate of employees of the prefecture.
Janvion was one of the founders of the ''
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Henri Beylie, Paraf-Javal, Albert Libertad and Georges Yvetot.
The ''Ligue antimilitariste'' was to become the French section of the ''
Association internationale antimilitariste
The International Antimilitarist Association (, ''AIA'') was a pacifist association founded in Amsterdam in 1904 that was dedicated to fighting militarism. Although technically open to all political views, it was dominated by anarchists. The member ...
'' (AIA).
In preparation for the anti-militarist congress in Amsterdam in 1904 Janvion launched ''L'Ennemi du peuple'' (The Enemy of the People).
The bi-monthly four-page journal first appeared in August 1903, with contributions from Miguel Almereyda,
Élie Faure
Jacques Élie Faure (; 4 April 1873 in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, France – 29 October 1937 in Paris) was a French medical doctor, art historian and essayist.
He is the author of the ''History of Art,'' considered a historiographical pillar in the d ...
, Urbain Gohier, Charles Malato and Jehan Rictus. Georges Darien, who had suggested the title to Janvion, contributed from the second issue.
Divergences of opinion soon appeared in the ''Ennemis pages.
Skirmishes developed into outright war between the contributors, and eventually Janvion decided to close the journal down.
The last issue appeared in November 1904.
In October 1906 Janvion was the delegate of the Union of Paris Municipal Employees to the 15th national congress of the CGT in Amiens.
In 1907 government troops fired on winemakers in
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately .
History
...
who were protesting imports of cheap Algerian wine, killing several.
Janvion was among the anti-militarist revolutionary syndicalists who were indicted for signing a poster protesting the massacres, blaming a "government of murderers".
He was dismissed from his job as a municipal official in the prefecture of the Seine for having signed the poster, but after an amnesty regained his position with all rights.
On 1 May 1908 Janvier spoke at the ''Bourse du travail'', and denounced the oppressive tactics of Georges Clemenceau whom he accused of fomenting the disiturbances of 1 May 1906 so that he could claim to be the only man capable of preventing revolution.
In October 1908 he again represented his union at the 16th national congress in Marseille.
Anti-Semite
In the spring and summer of 1908 Janvion attacked Freemasons and the republic in a violent campaign among the syndicalists.
Janvion denounced Freemasonry, which he called a "Mardi Gras brotherhood" serving "the masters of the hour."
He spoke out against the growing subordination of the unions to what he called the Radical-masonic-Jewish establishment.
From 1909 his journal ''Terre libre'' provided a platform for anti-Semites and anti-republican syndicalists.
In April 1911 Janvion and Émile Pataud sponsored a mass meeting in Paris that they called "a great anti-Jewish and anti-Masonic demonstration.
Janvion was expelled from the CGT in 1913 for his anti-Semitism.
Anti-republican
In 1908
Georges Valois
Georges Valois (; born Alfred-Georges Gressent; 7 October 1878 – February 1945) was a French journalist and national syndicalist politician. He was a member of the French Resistance and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Lif ...
Marianne
Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty.
Marianne is displayed i ...
(symbol of the republic) from the front of the ''Bourse de Travail'' in Paris. They were prosecuted for this act.
It was said that Georges Valois was providing money for the ''Terre Libre'' from '' Action Française''.
Valois probably used Marius Riquier, who worked for both the ''Action Française'' and the ''Terre Libre'', to make contact with the syndicalist movement through Janvion.
Left-wing members of the ''Action Français'' who followed Charles Maurras collaborated in ''Terre Libre'' with revolutionary syndicalists.
The journal appeared until May 1914, and constantly insisted that exploitation of workers could only be achieved by nationalizing the land.
Janvion's ''Terre libre'' group evolved towards fascism.
To Janvion, as to fellow-socialists Georges Sorel and Édouard Berth, democracy was the supreme evil in all circumstances.
Anti-feminist
During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and Nelly Roussel, and wrote, "the history of defeatism, when it is known, will demonstrate superabundantly that feminism will there merit, I dare say, the place of honor."
Émile Janvion died on 21 July 1927 in Paris and was buried the next day in the cemetery of Bagneux, Ile de France.