Topic summary
Revolt of Saint-Joseph
The Revolt of Saint-Joseph, or the 1894 massacre of anarchist bagnards, was a mutiny and massacre of anarchistbagnards that took place from 21 to 23 October 1894 on Saint-Joseph Island, one of the Salvation Islands. It was partly orchestrated by the French colonial and concentrationary authorities, who supported a plot aimed at inciting the anarchists to revolt and escape, which would have given them a pretext to assassinate them. However, the anarchists withdrew from the plot as soon as they realized it was a trap.
Frustrated by the failure of the conspiracy, two guards decided to murder the first two anarchists they encountered. This assassination triggered a revolt involving about fifteen convicts, mostly anarchists, who gathered and attacked the two guards with improvised weapons. The French troops, already prepared to intervene, quickly regained control of the penal colony and summarily executed a number of anarchists. Charles Simon and Léon Léauthier were among the twelve convicts killed, while the two guards and two of their accomplices were killed.
The French state subsequently engaged in a cover-up of the event, claiming that the revolt had been initiated without reason by the anarchists, that their executions were justified, and that the number of insurgents was not around fifteen but closer to 800. Historiographically, this massacre marks the end of the Ère des attentats (1892-1894).