Ligue de la patrie française
1899 caricature by Charles Lucien Léandre depicting Barrès, Coppée and Lemaître as the three heads of the League
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| Formation | December 1898 |
|---|---|
| Extinction | 1909 |
| Type | Political organization |
| Legal status | Defunct |
| Purpose | Patriotism, anti-Dreyfus |
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Region
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France |
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Membership (1902)
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40,000 |
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Official language
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French |
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President
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Jules Lemaître |
The Ligue de la patrie française (League of the French motherland) was a French nationalist and anti-Dreyfus organization. It was officially founded in 1899, and brought together leading right-wing artists, scientists and intellectuals. The league fielded candidates in the 1902 national elections, but was relatively unsuccessful. After this it gradually became dormant. The bulletin ceased publication in 1909.
The League originated with three young academics, Louis Dausset, Gabriel Syveton and Henri Vaugeois, who wanted to show that Dreyfusism was not accepted by all at the University. They were opposed to the League for the Rights of Man, and wanted to show that not all intellectuals supported the Left, and the cause of the homeland was as valid as the cause of Dreyfus and the lay Republic. After an initial meeting on 25 October 1898 in Paris a section was quickly opened in Lille. They launched a petition that attacked Zola and what many saw as an internationalist, pacifist left-wing conspiracy. In November 1898 their petition gained signatures in the Parisian schools, and was soon circulated throughout political, intellectual and artistic circles in Paris.
Charles Maurras gained the interest of the writer Maurice Barrès, and the movement gained the support of three eminent personalities: the geographer Marcel Dubois, the poet François Coppée and the critic and literature professor Jules Lemaître. Barres would provide the inspiration while Lemaitre looked after the organization.Charles Daniélou had been present at the last meeting between Émile Zola and François Coppée during the Dreyfus affair. Zola had decided to publish his J'accuse…!, in which he proclaimed that Dreyfus was innocent, despite pleas by Coppée. Daniélou sided with Coppée and helped found the League in December 1898. The final decision to create the League was made on 31 December 1898.
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