Far right leagues

The Far-right leagues (Ligues d'extrême droite) were several French far-right movements opposed to parliamentarism, which mainly dedicated themselves to military parades, street brawls, demonstrations and riots. The term ligue was often used in the 1930s to distinguish these political movements from parliamentary parties. After having appeared first at the end of the 19th century, during the Dreyfus affair, they were common in France in the 1920s-1930s, and famously participated in the 6 February 1934 riots which overthrew the second Cartel des gauches (a center-left coalition government). For a long time, the French left wing had been convinced that these riots had been an attempted coup d'état against the Republic. Although contemporary historians have shown that, despite the riots and the effective overthrow of the governing left wing, there had been no organized plan to overthrow Édouard Daladier's Radical-Socialist government, this belief led to the creation of the anti-fascist movement in France, and later to the dissolving of these leagues in 1936 by the Popular Front government headed by Léon Blum.