1934 February 6 crisis

1934 February 6 crisis
Title	1934 February 6 crisis
Date	6 February 1934
Place	Paris, France
Result	Resignation of Gaston Doumergue's cabinet; formation of new government under Édouard Daladier; increased polarization of French politics

1934 February 6 crisis The 1934 February 6 crisis was a political confrontation in Paris that followed the collapse of the Stavisky Affair and produced riots that led to the resignation of the cabinet of Gaston Doumergue, the appointment of Édouard Daladier, and intensified polarization between the French Radical Party, French Section of the Workers' International, and right-wing leagues such as the Action Française. The demonstrations and street battles brought together protests linked to veterans of the Battle of the Somme, factions associated with the National Bloc (France), elements sympathetic to the Fascist International, opponents from the Popular Front (France), and conservative elements connected to the Second Republic (France). The crisis influenced the trajectory of the Third French Republic, affected relations with the League of Nations, and reshaped alliances involving figures like Marcel Cachin, Léon Blum, and Raymond Poincaré.

Background and Political Context

In the months before February 1934, the exposure of financial corruption in the Stavisky Affair implicated officials linked to the Radical Party (France), ministers from cabinets associated with André Tardieu, and financiers tied to the Paris Bourse, prompting parliamentary inquiries in the Chamber of Deputies (France), debates in the Senate (France), and political maneuvering by leaders of the Conservative Party (France). Economic dislocation from the Great Depression had already strengthened movements such as the Jeunesses Patriotes, the Croix-de-Feu, and the Action Française, while leftist organizations including the French Communist Party, the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), and the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière mounted protests and general-strike preparations modeled in part on demonstrations during the Paris Commune. International context featured comparisons to the March on Rome, the consolidation of Benito Mussolini's regime, reactions in the United Kingdom, responses from the United States, and concern in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.

The February 6, 1934 Demonstrations

On 6 February, multiple right-wing leagues—such as the Action Française, the Croix-de-Feu, the Jeunesses Patriotes, and the Les Volontaires Nationaux—organized marches toward the Place de la Concorde, the Palais Bourbon, and the Champs-Élysées to demand the fall of the cabinet of Gaston Doumergue and the prosecution of figures implicated in the Stavisky Affair. Police units from the Préfecture de Police de Paris and units affiliated with the Garde républicaine confronted demonstrators using tactics later analyzed in works about crowd control after events like the Bloody Sunday (1905) and the Amritsar Massacre. Journalists from outlets such as Le Matin, L'Humanité, Le Figaro, and Excelsior covered clashes that drew militants associated with the Action Française leader Charles Maurras, veterans headed by Colonel François de La Rocque, and syndicalists from the CGT.

Key Actors and Organizations

Prominent political figures involved in the crisis included the outgoing prime minister Gaston Doumergue, his successor Édouard Daladier, the parliamentary leader Raymond Poincaré, the socialist leader Léon Blum, the communist leader Marcel Cachin, and right-wing intellectuals such as Charles Maurras and Georges Valois. Organizations active in the demonstrations ranged from the royalist Action Française and the veteran group Croix-de-Feu to the nationalist Jeunesses Patriotes, the labor union Confédération générale du travail (CGT), the socialist party French Section of the Workers' International, and the communist French Communist Party. State institutions directly implicated included the Préfecture de Police de Paris, the Garde Républicaine, the Ministry of the Interior (France), and parliamentary bodies like the Chamber of Deputies (France).

Government Response and Violence

The police response involved baton charges and the use of firearms by some units, resulting in dozens of casualties among demonstrators and police, an outcome compared in contemporary reports to street fighting in the Spanish Civil War several years later. The cabinet of Gaston Doumergue resigned amid public outcry and parliamentary crisis sessions in the Palais Bourbon, while the presidency of Albert Lebrun oversaw the formation of a new government under Édouard Daladier. Debates in the Senate (France) and the Chamber of Deputies (France) focused on responsibility, with parliamentary inquiries echoing earlier inquiries such as those after the Dreyfus Affair in their intensity and political consequences.

Immediate Political Consequences

Following the resignations, Édouard Daladier briefly led a cabinet that sought to restore order, while right-wing leagues proclaimed a moral victory and intensified recruitment for groups like the Croix-de-Feu and the Jeunesses Patriotes. Left-wing coalitions, including factions around Léon Blum and the French Section of the Workers' International, moved toward greater cooperation with the French Communist Party and the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), culminating in a realignment that prefigured the formation of the Popular Front (France). International observers from the League of Nations member states and foreign press organs in London, Berlin, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. debated whether the crisis signaled a shift toward authoritarian models exemplified by Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

Long-term Impact and Legacy

The February events accelerated polarization that contributed to the creation of the Popular Front (France) and influenced policy debates during subsequent administrations of Édouard Daladier and Pierre Laval, affecting responses to Nazi Germany and the politics of rearmament before the Second World War. Historians such as Mack Smith and Stanley Payne have compared the crisis to continental trends in the 1930s, linking it to phenomena studied in the context of the Interwar period, the rise of fascism, and the evolution of parliamentary democracy in Europe. Commemorations, museum exhibits in institutions like the Musée de l'Armée and scholarly works in journals such as Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales have debated whether the events constituted an attempted coup or a mass protest, making 6 February a touchstone in studies of French republican resilience and political extremism.

Category:1934 in France