Bloody Sunday (1926)
Encyclopedia
Bloody Sunday is a name given to political clashes that occurred in Colmar
, Alsace
, France
on August 22, 1926. On that day the French Communist Party
and the Colmar section of the Popular Republican Union
(a Catholic
organization) had organized a joint protest meeting at the Salle des Catherinettes. The theme of the meeting was to denounce measures by the French state against the signatories of the Alsatian autonomist Heimatbund manifesto.
However, a large group of French nationalists had assembled at the meeting point of the rally. They included the royalist
Camelots du Roi and Action française
. The French nationalists sought to blockade the Alsatian autonomists from holding their meeting. As Dr. Eugène Ricklin
, a clerical autonomist and one of the main speakers of the event, and Joseph Rossé, reached the Colmar train station, they were attacked by the French nationalists. At the site of the meeting, violent clashes erupted again. Police, partly mounted, slowly intervened. Around 60 people were injured. Amongst the injured was Ricklin. However, the autonomist rally was conducted despite the violence.
The Bloody Sunday rally was significant in breaking up the taboo of cooperation between communists and Catholic autonomists. It also marked the starting point of a split between a section of Alsatian communists and the French Communist Party. Bloody Sunday furthered cooperation between Alsatian communists with right-wing sectors sharing common autonomist goals, which would eventually lead to the expulsion of a sector of Alsatian communists from the French Communist Party in 1929. The expellees founded the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine
.
Colmar
Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....
, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
on August 22, 1926. On that day the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
and the Colmar section of the Popular Republican Union
Popular Republican Union
The Popular Republican Union was a Christian democratic party in Alsace, France during the Third Republic. Founded in 1919, the UPR became the dominant party in Alsace during the Interwar era. In Lorraine, the Lorrain Republican Union was considered the UPR's sister party...
(a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
organization) had organized a joint protest meeting at the Salle des Catherinettes. The theme of the meeting was to denounce measures by the French state against the signatories of the Alsatian autonomist Heimatbund manifesto.
However, a large group of French nationalists had assembled at the meeting point of the rally. They included the royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
Camelots du Roi and Action française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
. The French nationalists sought to blockade the Alsatian autonomists from holding their meeting. As Dr. Eugène Ricklin
Eugène Ricklin
- Biography :Eugène Ricklin was born in Dannemarie from a sundgauvian hotelier father and an Alsatian mother, Catherine Kayser. After his secondary education in a school in Belfort, he frequented the colleges of Altkirch and Colmar...
, a clerical autonomist and one of the main speakers of the event, and Joseph Rossé, reached the Colmar train station, they were attacked by the French nationalists. At the site of the meeting, violent clashes erupted again. Police, partly mounted, slowly intervened. Around 60 people were injured. Amongst the injured was Ricklin. However, the autonomist rally was conducted despite the violence.
The Bloody Sunday rally was significant in breaking up the taboo of cooperation between communists and Catholic autonomists. It also marked the starting point of a split between a section of Alsatian communists and the French Communist Party. Bloody Sunday furthered cooperation between Alsatian communists with right-wing sectors sharing common autonomist goals, which would eventually lead to the expulsion of a sector of Alsatian communists from the French Communist Party in 1929. The expellees founded the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine
Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party
The Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party , initially the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine , was a political party in Alsace-Lorraine. The party was led by Jean-Pierre Mourer and Charles Hueber. The party was founded in late October 1929...
.