- Solidarité Française
Solidarité Française ("French Solidarity") was a French
far right league founded in1933 by perfume manufacturerFrançois Coty and commanded byMajor Jean Renaud , they dressed in blue shirts, black berets, and jackboots, and shouted the slogan "France for the French". WhileMarcel Bucard 's "Francisme " imitatedItalian fascism , "Solidarité française" imitated theNazi party .Coty, former owner of "
Le Figaro ", the sponsor of a newspaper which styled itself "L'Ami du peuple " afterJean-Paul Marat 's (being nonetheless anti-republican), called himself the "FrenchDuce ". He had financed the syndicalist proto-fascistGeorges Valois and his "Faisceau " in the 1920s, theCroix-de-Feu in the early 1930s, finally deciding to form his own faction.The movement claimed a strength of 180,000 in 1932, with 80,000 in
Paris ; the Parisian police thought the number in Paris closer to 15,000. The small membership did not however isolate Coty's group: the Solidarité Française found itself integrated in the loose coalition offar right movements such asAction Française andPierre Taittinger 'sJeunesse Patriotes . In this context, Coty's financing found its importance, as "L'Ami du peuple" had a fairly large circulation.The group gained notoriety during the far right rally and attempted coup d'état on 6 February 1934, in front of the Parliament seat in the
Palais Bourbon . It was dissolved by a law adopted by the Popular Front government ofLéon Blum in June 1936. Many members of "Solidarité Française" subsequently joinedJacques Doriot 's fascistParti Populaire Francais (PPF).See also
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6 February 1934 crisis
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