Lanneret om anarkisterna under andra världskriget

Sidorna 33-36 från Pierre Lannerets Internationalists in France during the Second world war.

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In 1937, the biggest organisation is l'Union Anarchiste with its weekly Le Libertaire (founded in 1895). Much smaller is the FAF (Féderation Anarchiste de Langue Francaise); its publication Terre Libre is very critical of what it considers the betrayal of anarchist principles by the leadership of the CNT-FAI in Spain. Some anarcho-syndicalists have chosen isolation within a minuscule trade-union federation, the CGT-SR (Conféderation Générale du Travail-Syndicaliste-Révolutionnaire), affiliated with the IAW. Other anarchists are active in the pacifist movement and other single-issue groups (birth control, "free love" etc.). Given the fluidity of the anarchist groups and their multiple affiliations, it is impossible to differentiate between steady militants and mere readers-of-the-press. All tendencies compounded, the anarchists have a sizeable and dispersed audience throughout France.

The anarchist movement speaks with many voices, and on the war question there are divergences between "integral pacifists" (peace at any cost) and the revolutionary pacifists, but they share a refusal to participate or to take sides in the coming war. In 1939, the movement tries to define its attitude. War is imminent and the revolutionary forces are too weak to prevent it, to stop it, to transform it into a civil war against the ruling classes. A well-known militant, Fremont, thinks that they should try to survive and remain in contact, even if coherent propaganda is impossible. Thus, they will be able to resume their activities later. Another well-known militant, Prudhommeaux, states in substance that the general set-back since 1936 provides no possibility of anarchists fighting efficiently for their own cause... "as to dying for the capitalists, ... too many of our people have died in Spain and elsewhere." No concrete steps are taken to secure the continuation of the movement.(11)

When war breaks out, Le Libertaire is not outlawed but ceases publication, unwilling to play along with heavy censorship. The militans follow their own inclinations: some leave France, others obey the mobilisations orders, and a few refuse the draft and will spend years in military jails. France "at war for democracy" develops a vast repressive system which Vichy and the Nazis will inherit and refine: some anarchists rejoin Stalinists and foreign antifascists in concentration camps. After the French-German armistice, France is divided into two zones, and communications are difficult until the total occupation of the Nazis in November, 1942.

In 1941-42, discussions take place among a few militants in Paris, and in mid-1943, under the cover of a picnic, some 30-35 anarchists participate in a meeting to attempt a regrouping, which proceeds very slowly. Not until 1944 are an internal bulletin Le Lien, and some leaflets printed.

During 1942-43, an indefatigable militant, Saulières (Arru), initiates an anarchiset regrouping in southern France, where many Spanish anarchists also reside. Contacts are established with Voline and his friends in Marseilles and with other individuals in the area between Toulouse and Marseilles. A mini-congress is held in Toulouse (1942) with a dozen participants. Arru publishes an issue of a review, La Raison, a brochure and several leaflets. Let us not forget an earthy poster (150 copies) entitled "Mort aux vaches"(12) which invites the population to "kick the ass" of all belligerents, be they wearers of the swastika, the red star, the Order of the Garter, the Lorraine Cross or the Francisque.(13)

After the departure of the Nazis, there is another mini-congress held in Agen in October. 1944, prelude to the first congress of the reconstituted anarchist federation in October, 1945. Le Libertaire resumes publication in December, 1944.

The texts emanating from Arru and his phantasmal "Federation Internationale Syndicaliste Revolutionnaire," although much different in style and content from those issued by the internationalist groups, situate him nontheless in total opposition to all belligerents and invite the working class to rely solely upon its own action. But one can look in vain for analyses of the situation, for perspectives, for precise definition of the attitude of the movement in the available anarchist texts from this late period of the war. Contradictions abound: a leaflet proclaims "Down with the war" while the first Le Libertaire explains that "the fight against Hitlerism has not ended and must be continued." A militant of a clandestine group perhaps explains the difficulties encountered by the anarchists in reaching an agreement on concrete problems: "The anarchists always felt more at ease in the vagueness of a remote future society than in lingering on the realities and trivialities of the present."(14)

It seems difficult to assess objectively the role of the anarchists. The first Le Libertaire is self-congratulatory: "The paper and the movement never compromised themselves... we have published Le Lien ... our militants have often led an heroic action against Nazism, but as a movement, we could not make a pact with the official Resistance." Much later, when apparently all particulars on Arru's action are known, the tone of Le Libertaire becomes lyric when it states that to those who claim that the movement was not ready or suited for clandestine action, Arru brings an unchallengable refutation.(15) On the other hand, Craipeau, for five years one of the animators of the Trotskyist underground, comments severely on the self-justification of the anarchists in the first Le Libertaire: "Thus, because reactionaries and fascists wanted to strangle the 'voice of reason', the anarchists considered it normal to remain silent and limited themselves to an internal bulletin... Their movement refuses any compromise with the bourgeois Resistence, but when its militants as individuals want to fight fascism, they do so individually in the ranks of this Resistance. It is revolutionary movement for quiet times."(16)

Between the triumphant claims of Le Libertaire and the total condemnation of Craipeau (who most certainly did not know of Arru's deeds), there is need for a sober assessment. Testimonies and information concerning hundreds of anarchists during the war are available.(17)

In short, some anarchists, willingly or not, remained quiet and waited for better times while keeping their hands clean; others behaved like isolated militants of other currents -- without integrating within the Resistance, they did Resistance work and sometimes admirable work of solidarity. Not so numerous, it seems, are those who did integrate within the official Resistance, but without securing any personal benefit.

Clearly many anarchists were ready and able to confront the risks of illegal action, but very few were involved in activity which could be considered anarchistic. The worthy activities of Arru and his few friends does not obscure the collapse of the movement. It is its heterogeneity, its lack of cohesion and organisation (deplored ad neauseam by many anarchists), its absence of perspectives which prevented it from acting during the war.