Ernest Granger (20 April 1844 – 21 May 1914) was a French politician, a veteran of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

of 1871, a Blanquist socialist and subsequently a Boulangist nationalist.

Early life: Blanquism under the Second Empire

Ernest Henri Granger was born in Mortagne, into a lower-middle-class family of peasant stock. He was educated at the ''Lycée'' in Versailles and studied law before breaking off his studies to devote himself to political activism. In 1866 he was imprisoned for the first time for

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

. Around this time he became involved in the clandestine revolutionary societies organised by the followers of the incarcerated veteran insurrectionist Louis-Auguste Blanqui. Together with Gustave Tridon, Émile Eudes and others, Granger plotted the overthrow of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

. On August 14, 1870, the Blanquists struck, attempting to seize a military arsenal and spark a general uprising; Granger was one of the organisers. The ''coup'' was premature, but not long after,

Napoléon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

, discredited by his conduct of the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

(1870–71), was overthrown. Granger, who had avoided arrest after the August uprising, participated in the last demonstration against Napoléon III on September 1 and in the invasion of the Legislative Assembly on September 4, 1870.

The Paris Commune

In 1870–1871, Granger was a co-editor and contributor of the Blanquist journal ''La Patrie en Danger''. He also commanded the 159th battalion of the National Guard and attempted to rally the French to resist the German army at all costs. On October 31, Granger and his battalion participated in an armed occupation of the

Hôtel de Ville, Paris The (, ''City hall (administration), City Hall'') is the city hall of Paris, France, standing on the in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, 4th arrondissement. The south wing was originally constructed by Francis I of France, Francis I beginning ...

. Along with other National Guard commanders who had participated in the insurrection, Granger was relieved of command, but his soldiers re-elected him, and although he was not recognised by the Versailles government, he resumed command of the 159th battalion. Granger participated in the

as one of the representatives of the Blanquist faction. He was given the task of finding and liberating Blanqui (whose location was kept secret by the government), but before he could complete the mission, the Paris Commune was suppressed.

Exile and return: Blanquist politics between socialism and nationalism

Granger escaped England, remaining in exile in London until an amnesty enabled him to return to France. In the late 1870s and 1880s he was one of the principal editors of the Blanquist journal ''Ni Dieu ni Maître'' (''Neither God nor Master''). (He also contributed to ''L'Homme Libre'' and, after the death of Émile Eudes in 1888, replaced him as editor-in-chief of ''Le Cri du Peuple''.) The Blanquists launched a campaign for the release of their aged and infirm leader, and in 1879, they managed to have Blanqui elected to the National Assembly as deputy for Bordeaux. Because Blanqui was still in prison, the election was annulled, but in 1880 he was released. After his release, Blanqui came to live with Granger and died at his home in 1881. Shortly after Blanqui's death, Granger, together with Édouard Vaillant and others, founded the Central Revolutionary Committee, the nucleus of the Blanquist party. However, the Blanquist ideology at this time was an unstable combination of radical Jacobin republicanism, egalitarian

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

anti-clericalism Anti-clericalism is opposition to clergy, religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secul ...

, ardent national

chauvinism Chauvinism ( ) is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. The ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' describes it ...

and a strong current of

xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

and

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. While this was not an uncommon mixture in French radical politics in the late nineteenth century, the course of events made it increasingly evident that elements of this ideological mixture were in conflict with each other. One faction of the Blanquist movement accented the socialist heritage of Blanqui and moved closer to Jules Guesde's Marxist party, rejecting antisemitism and, at least in theory, endorsing the internationalist principles of socialism. This was the course of Édouard Vaillant. Another faction moved increasingly in the direction of virulent nationalism and antisemitism. This was the course Granger took. Although his was the smaller faction, Granger, who had been personally close to Blanqui, considered himself the true standard bearer of Blanquism, and Vaillant a late interloper.

Boulangism and the split in Blanquism

The conflict between Vaillantists and Grangerites brewed for some time in the Central Revolutionary Committee. It was intensified by the rise of General

Georges Boulanger Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger (29 April 1837 – 30 September 1891), nicknamed Général Revanche ("General Revenge"), was a French general and politician. An enormously popular public figure during the second decade of the Third Repub ...

, who, in 1886, embarked on an increasingly powerful campaign for a revision of the constitution. Republicans generally and Blanquists in particular were divided over Boulanger. Many saw him as a latter-day

Louis Bonaparte Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French c ...

, whose populist rhetoric barely concealed his caesarian ambitions. They feared that Boulanger was preparing a ''coup d'état'' and intended to replace the Republic with his personal dictatorship, and they were alarmed by his financial and political ties to Orléanist monarchists. Other republicans believed the General's protestations of fidelity to the Republic and were attracted by his rhetoric of social reform, his revanchist desire to avenge the defeat of 1871 and retrieve Alsace-Lorraine, his reforms of the army and his anti-clerical gestures. While Vaillant was hostile to Boulanger, Granger was more and more openly sympathetic to the General's campaign. For a while, the Blanquists papered over their differences by adopting a policy of official neutrality: the quarrel between Boulangists and

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

republicans was a quarrel within the bourgeoisie, in which the proletariat need not take sides. But as Boulanger's campaign gathered momentum, this position became increasingly untenable. The issue came to a head in 1888, when the Blanquists split over the candidacy of Henri Rochefort. Rochefort was a veteran republican with socialist sympathies and personal ties to many Blanquists and ex-Communards, but in the 1880s he had become a supporter of Boulanger and was running as a Boulangist candidate. Granger supported him; Vaillant supported his republican opponent Susini. The breach became irreparable; Granger and his supporters left the Central Revolutionary Committee and formed the Socialist-Revolutionary Central Committee, while Vaillant's followers renamed themselves the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Soviet Russia. The party members were known as Esers (). The SRs were ag ...

. Vaillant's party moved further into the socialist mainstream, merging with the Guesdists in 1901 and with the other major socialist factions in 1905 to form the unified socialist

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...

(SFIO)

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

. Granger and his group moved further into the slipstream of nationalism and eventually became defunct.

Nationalism and antisemitism

In the late 1880s, Granger contributed to the journal ''L'Intransigeant''. In 1889 Granger's committee entered into an electoral alliance with the Boulangists. They divided the electoral districts between them, and Granger was elected to the National Assembly for the 19th arrondissement of Paris (

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

). He served one term; in 1893 he did not stand for re-election. In the late 1890s, the Dreyfus affair further divided Granger from the mainstream of French republican socialism. The majority of French socialists followed

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; ), was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibi ...

in supporting

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French Army officer best known for his central role in the Dreyfus affair. In 1894, Dreyfus fell victim to a judicial conspiracy that eventually sparked a major political crisis in the Fre ...

, the Jewish officer falsely accused of spying for Germany, or at least maintained a policy of neutrality between the "bourgeois" Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards (as Vaillant and Guesde did). However, some veteran republicans sided with those who condemned Dreyfus as a traitor. Granger was one of these. The anti-Dreyfusard campaign became increasingly openly antisemitic. Granger proclaimed himself, 'like Blanqui and Tridon, ... philosophically an antisemite' and professed his sympathy for Édouard Drumont, himself a former socialist who had migrated to the extreme nationalist right of the spectrum and was the chief apostle of antisemitism in France.Blanqui's antisemitism was confined to occasional asides about 'shylocks' and did not amount to a developed ideological programme; it was typical of the sort of prejudice that was quite general at the time. Tridon, however, had written a book, ''Le Molochime juif: Études critiques et philosophiques'' (1884), which was published 13 years after his death and became one of the classics of French antisemitism. Drumont himself claimed to have been influenced by Tridon. Mainstream socialists saw in the anti-Dreyfus campaign an assault on the Republic and noted the anti-Dreyfusards' ties to royalist politicians; the Dreyfus Affair helped cement the socialists' official opposition to antisemitism and racism. By contrast, the Dreyfus Affair propelled Granger and a handful of others like him fully out of the mainstream of French socialism and republicanism and into currents which paved the way for

French fascism The far-right () tradition in France finds its origins in the Third Republic with Boulangism and the Dreyfus affair. In the 1880s, General Georges Boulanger, called "General Revenge" (), championed demands for military revenge against Imperial ...

in the twentieth century. Granger did not live to witness the event which led to an eruption of nationalism in France and across Europe, torpedoing the official internationalism and anti-militarism of the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

and dividing the mainstream socialist movement: the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in August 1914.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granger, Ernest 1844 births 1914 deaths People from Orne Blanquists Central Revolutionary Committee politicians Boulangists Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of Parliament for Seine Communards Antidreyfusards