Gabriel Jeantet
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Gabriel Jeantet (3 April 1906 – 1 December 1978) was a French
far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
activist, journalist and polemicist. Active before, during and after the Second World War, Jeantet's links to
François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
became a source of controversy during the latter's
Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...
. His brother Claude Jeantet was also a far right activist.


La Cagoule

Jeantet's early political involvement was with the ultra-conservative
Action Française Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 f ...
and he served as a student leader for this group. He joined
La Cagoule La Cagoule (''The Cowl'', press nickname coined by the ''Action Française'' nationalist Maurice Pujo), originally called the ''Organisation secrète d'action révolutionnaire nationale'' (Osarn or OSAR; Secret Organisation for revolutionary nat ...
when the movement was established, citing his fear of an imminent communist revolution as the main reason for his decision to join. As the group's main theoretic writer during its existence, Jeantet sought to steer the group towards a
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
economic position, arguing in 1942 in favour of a "national and socialist revolution" similar to that associated with
Strasserism Strasserism (german: Strasserismus or ''Straßerismus'') is a strand of Nazism calling for a more radical, mass-action and worker-based form of the ideology, espousing economic antisemitism above other antisemitic forms, to achieve a national r ...
. This was despite the fact that Jeantet was fully aware of La Cagoule being funded by wealthy industrialists such as Jacques Lemaigre-Dubreuil and Louis Renault, all of whom despised the concept of socialism. Ultimately Jeantet and La Cagoule leader
Eugène Deloncle Eugène Deloncle (20 June 1890 – 17 January 1944) was a French politician and Fascist leader, who founded of the “Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action" (CSAR), known as "The Hood" ( la Cagoule), and became a prominent Nazi collaborator ...
came to endorse a form of
national syndicalism National syndicalism is a far-right adaptation of syndicalism to suit the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is generall ...
in which
corporatist Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
trade unions involving workers and management would be central to a planned economy. As well as his extensive writing on behalf of La Cagoule Jeantet also played a leading in gun-running for the organisation, smuggling weapons into France from like-minded groups Fascist Italy and
Nationalist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
, as well as Belgium and Switzerland.


During the war

Following the
Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
and the establishment of the
Vichy Regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
Jeantet, who became a supporter of collaboration with the Nazis, was brought into
Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World ...
's government as ''inspecteur général à la propagande''. However, when his initial enthusiasm for collaboration waned, due in large part to the high degree of control exercised by the occupying
Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
, Jeantet followed the lead of Deloncle in resigning from the Vichy government in 1942. He would later make contact with the
French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
, such was his disillusionment with
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
.


Relationship to Mitterrand

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
, who had been a minor functionary under Vichy, maintained a lifelong friendship with Jeantet even during his presidency. Mitterrand had even written for Jeantet's journal ''France: Revue de l'Etat Nouveau'' during the war, a fact that would later be used against Mitterrand by his political opponents. The journal was particularly noted for its strong
anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
articles, although Mitterrand's own piece was decidedly innocuous in terms of content. Jeantet was also one of two nominees, the other being Simon Arbellot, who put forward Mitterrand's name for the ''Ordre de la francisque'' medal in 1943.


Post-war activity

In 1948 Jeantet was arrested along with a number of other surviving members of La Cagoule and stood trial on charges relating to a plot by the organisation to set a series of bombs off in Paris in 1937. It was during this trial that Jeantet revealed the extent to which leading figures in French industry, many of whom continued to dominate post-war France, had been involved in providing the movement with financial support. During the late 1960s Jeantet was involved in the formation of the far-right umbrella group '' Ordre Nouveau''. At the movement's foundation in 1969 he was appointed to the group's national council along with Henry Charbonneau, with the two veterans serving as "mentors" to the new group. By the 1970s Jeantet had become associated with a group of former ''Ordre Nouveau'' activists known as the ''Faire Front'' and he was a founder member in 1974 when this group transformed itself into the
Party of New Forces Parti des forces nouvelles (PFN) or Party of New Forces was a French far-right political party formed in November 1974 from the ''Comité faire front'', a group of anti-Jean-Marie Le Pen dissidents who had split from the National Front (FN). De ...
.
Shields A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...
, p. 178


References


Cited sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeantet, Gabriel 1906 births 1978 deaths People affiliated with Action Française Party of New Forces politicians French fascists French collaborators with Nazi Germany Order of the Francisque recipients French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French male writers