Action Directe (; AD; ) was a French

far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

militant organization that originated from the anti- Franco struggle and the

autonomous movement Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist a ...

, and was responsible for deadly attacks in France between 1979 and 1987. The French government banned the group. During its existence, AD's members murdered 12 people, and wounded a further 26. It associated at various times with the

Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( , often abbreviated BR) were an Italian far-left Marxist–Leninist militant group. It was responsible for numerous violent incidents during Italy's Years of Lead, including the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978, ...

(Italy),

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (, ; RAF ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang ( ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998, considered a terrorist organisat ...

(West Germany), Prima Linea (Italy), Armed Nuclei for Popular Autonomy (France),

Communist Combatant Cells Cellules Communistes Combattantes (CCC; Communist Combatant Cells, also known as Fighting Communist Cells) was a Belgian communist urban guerrilla organization. The cells were active for less than two years in the mid-1980s; primarily engaged ...

, Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions,

Irish National Liberation Army The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ) is an Irish republicanism, Irish republican Socialism, socialist paramilitary group formed on 8 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seeks to remove ...

, and others.

Elisabeth Van Dyck Command

The Elisabeth Van Dyck Command was a branch of AD that assassinated French Army General René Audran, on 25 January 1985. He was the Director of International Affairs (DAI) at the General Directorate for Armament (DGA). The team was named to commemorate

(RAF) member

Elisabeth Van Dyck Members of the Red Army Faction (RAF) can be split up into three generations. The first (founding) generation existed from 1970 onwards. The second generation emerged from 1975 and included people from other groups such as the Socialist Patien ...

. The command was created as a combined extension of both the AD and RAF. The AD appeared to take care of the organizational side of the command, and so naming it after a memorialized member of the RAF makes sense if they were seeking to at least publicly have a unified front. Both the RAF and the AD were actively pursuing their shared goal of

political autonomy Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and ...

within their home countries, with the RAF based in Germany and the AD in France. These groups' goal of political autonomy did not stop with their own countries however, and they often fought against their own countries' governments in the pursuit of what they claimed was 'political autonomy', or political freedom, for the world's working class. The command had only one claimed attack, the assassination of French Army General René Audran on 25 January 1985. At the time of his death, Audran was a senior-level official in the French Ministry of Defense, specifically the Corps of Armament. The Elisabeth van Dyck Command took credit for the assassination via letter. In the letter the members explained that they had killed Audran because he was the head of French's foreign arms sales and they believed that his "military and economic function is at the heart of the strategic imperialist project". The project being referred to is what the AD and RAF believed to be NATO and its supporting European countries' goal of homogenizing the world into a capitalist culture, and that as they progressed along this goal it would widen the gap in power and wealth between the upper class and working class.

Arrests

In December 1981, AD member Lahouari Benchellal, known as Farid, was arrested for forging

traveler's cheque A traveller's cheque is a medium of exchange that can be used in place of the currency of a country. Each cheque is denominated in a preprinted fixed, round, amount of one of a number of major world currencies; it has two panels for a signat ...

s, which were an important income source for the organization, in

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

. He hanged himself while in the custody of the

Finnish Security Intelligence Service The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (, ; , ), formerly the Finnish Security Police and Finnish Security Intelligence Service, is the Security agency, security and intelligence agency of Finland in charge of national security, such as Co ...

in January 1982. AD did not believe Benchellal killed himself, and they named a direct action group after him. There is an ongoing campaign by some sections of the French far-left calling for the

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

of the still imprisoned AD members, who consider themselves

political prisoners A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

. In December 2007, Jean-Marc Rouillan was allowed a state of "semi-liberty", able to leave prison for extended periods. In September 2008, a Parisian court called for the revocation of his status after he declared in an interview with ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'' that "I remain convinced that armed struggle is necessary at certain moments of the revolutionary process".

Legacy

A sport climb in

Frankenjura Franconian Switzerland (, ) is an upland in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany and a popular tourist retreat. Located between the River Pegnitz in the east and the south, the River Regnitz in the west and the River Main in the north, its relie ...

, Germany is named Action Directe after the group.

References

Bibliography

* * * ''Protestation devant les libertaires du présent et du futur sur les capitulations de 1980'', Jean-Claude Lutanie, (originally published in 1981 under the pseudonym Un Incontrole, no publisher, re-published in 2011 b
Editions Lutanie
*

External links

*Sites campaigning for the release of the ''Action directe'' convicts:
www.action-directe.net
(in French)
Campaign for the release of ''Action directe'' prisoners
(in French) * * https://socialhistoryportal.org/sites/default/files/raf/0319850125_0.pdf * https://books.google.com/books?id=yLH0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA232 * https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3119083/Terrorist-group-Action-Directe-founder-does-not-regret-murders.html
"Action Directe"
July 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019. (The commando's one attack is listed under Action Directe in GTD.) {{Authority control Anti-imperialist organizations Autonomism Communist organizations in France Communist militant groups Defunct communist militant groups Far-left politics in France Left-wing militant groups in France Terrorism in France 1979 establishments in France Left-wing terrorism

Elisabeth Van Dyck Command

Arrests

Legacy

See also

References

Bibliography

External links