The Jeunesses Patriotes (Patriotic

Patriotism

Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...

 Youths, JP) were a Fascist

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

-inspired street brawlers group of 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...

, recruited mostly from university students and financed by industrialists founded in 1924 by Pierre Taittinger

Pierre Taittinger

Pierre-Charles Taittinger was founder of the famous Taittinger champagne house and chairman of the municipal council of Paris in 1943–1944 during the German occupation of France, in which position he played a role during the Liberation of Paris.-Personal life:Born in Paris, Pierre...

. Taittinger took inspiration for the group's creation in the Boulangist

Georges Boulanger

Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger was a French general and reactionary politician. At the apogee of his popularity in January 1889 many republicans including Georges Clemenceau feared the threat of a coup d'état by Boulanger and the establishment of a dictatorship.- Early life and career :Born...

 Ligue des Patriotes

Ligue des Patriotes

The Ligue des Patriotes was a French far right league, founded in 1882 by the nationalist poet Paul Déroulède, historian Henri Martin, and Felix Faure. The Ligue began as a non-partisan nationalist league calling for 'revanche' against Germany, and literally means "League of Patriots"...

and Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

's Blackshirts

Blackshirts

The Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...

.

According to the police, the Jeunesses Patriotes had 90,000 members in the country and 6,000 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1932. Its street fighters were led by a retired general named Desofy, and were organized around Groupes Mobiles, paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 mobile squad

Squad

In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...

s of fifty men, outfitted in blue raincoats and beret

Beret

A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, designated a "cap", usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, or wool felt, or acrylic fiber....

s. The group stated its willingness to combat the "Red Peril" and the Cartel des Gauches

Cartel des Gauches

The Cartel des gauches was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party and the socialist French Section of the Workers' International after World War I , which lasted until the end of the Popular Front . The Cartel des gauches twice won general elections, in 1924 and...

(Left-wing Coalition), and chose to back Raymond Poincaré

Raymond Poincaré

Raymond Poincaré was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability...

 who came to power after the Cartel des gauches.

The organization retreated in 1926, but made a comeback in 1933, the year Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 came to power in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and took part in the February 6, 1934 riots

6 February 1934 crisis

The 6 February 1934 crisis refers to an anti-parliamentarist street demonstration in Paris organized by far-right leagues that culminated in a riot on the Place de la Concorde, near the seat of the French National Assembly...

, which were widely interpreted as an attempted coup against the Republic by the far right. In 1936, the Popular Front government

Popular Front (France)

The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...

outlawed the Jeunesses Patriotes and other nationalist groups.