Trial of the Thirty
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The Trial of the Thirty (French: Procès des trente) was a trial in 1894 in Paris, France, aimed at legitimizing the lois scélérates passed in 1893–94 against the anarchist movement and restricting press freedom by proving the existence of an effective association between anarchists.[1]
Lasting from 6 August-31 October in 1894, it put on trial 30
Among the defendants were
Context
During the first months of 1894, the
The trial
On 6 August 1894, thirty defendants were judged by the
The chief prosecutor, Bulot, prohibited the press from reproducing the interrogatories of Jean Grave and Sébastien Faure, leading
"Each time we prove the error of one of your allegations, you declare it unimportant. You may very well sum up all zeros, but you can't obtain a unity."[3]
In the same sense, Fénéon, was accused of having been the intimate friend of the German anarchist Kampfmeyer. Le Figaro's correspondent thus transcribed his interrogation:
He cross-examines F.F. himself: "Are you an anarchist, M. Fénéon?"
"I am a Burgundian born in Turin."
"Your police file extends to one hundred and seventy pages. It is documented that you were intimate with the German terrorist Kampfmeyer."
"The intimacy cannot have been great as I do not speak German and he does not speak French." (Laughter in courtroom.)
"It has been established that you surrounded yourself with Cohen and Ortoz."
"One can hardly be surrounded by two persons; you need at least three." (More laughter.)
"You were seen conferring with them behind a lamppost!"
"A lamppost is round. Can Your Honour tell me where behind a lamppost is?" (Loud, prolonged laughter. Judge calls for order.).[4]
Fénéon received support from the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, who qualified him as a "fine spirit" and one of the "more subtile critique" (un esprit très fin et un des critiques les plus subtils et les plus aigus que nous avons).[1] Debates continued during one week. The general prosecutor Bulot intended to prove that there had been an effective agreement between theoreticians and illegalists, but failed to do so for lack of evidence.[1] He abandoned the accusations for some of them, and claimed attenuating circumstances for others, but requested harsh sentences for those he depicted as the leaders: Grave, Faure, Matha and some others.[1] Finally, the jury acquitted all, except the common law prisoners, Ortiz, Chericotti, Bertani, respectively condemned to 15 and 8 years of forced labour and to six months in prison.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jean Maitron, Le mouvement anarchiste en France, Tel Gallimard (first ed. François Maspero, 1975), tome I, chapter VI, "Le Procès des Trente. Fin d'une époque", pp.251-261
- ^ Jean Maitron, op.cit., note 1 p.252
- ^ French: "Vous dites ça tout le temps. Chaque fois qu'on prouve l'erreur d'une allégation de votre part, vous la déclarez sans importance. Vous aurez beau additionnez tous les zéros, au total ça ne fera pas l'unité." Quoted in Jean Maitron, ibid., p.255
- ^ See Tom McCarthy, F.F. with Cyclamen Archived 2008-04-28 at the Wayback Machine, Prague Literary Review, for English transcript, and Jean Maitron, op.cit., p.254
Further reading
- Jean Maitron, Le mouvement anarchiste en France, Tel Gallimard (first ed. François Maspero, 1975), tome I, chapter VI, "Le Procès des Trente. Fin d'une époque", pp. 251–261 (in French)
See also
- Anarchism in France
- Lois scélérates (national security legislation)
- Trial of years of lead