Repression of January and February 1894
| Repression of January and February 1894 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Ère des attentats | |||
Depiction of the 1 January 1894 raids in L'Univers illustré (6 January 1894), showing police operations at anarchist locations including Le Père Peinard offices and Reclus brothers' portraits | |||
| Date | January 1, 1894 | ||
| Location | |||
| Goals | interrumpting anarchist attacks, destroying the anarchist movement in France | ||
| Methods | police raids, planting of evidence, summary arrests, state surveilance | ||
| Resulted in | Arrested and raided hundreds of anarchists with limited results and radicalized some that were still at large, effectively pushing to a resume of anarchist attacks | ||
| Parties | |||
| Lead figures | |||
| Casualties | |||
| Arrested | 50-60 the first day, 284 over the whole period | ||
| Damage | 552 homes raided the first day alone | ||
The repression of January and February 1894 was an episode of the Ère des attentats (1892–1894), during which France engaged in significant state repression against anarchists. The passage of the lois scélérates ('villainous laws') in December 1893, following the National Assembly bombing, granted French political and police authorities extensive powers to combat anarchists. Using these laws, they launched a large-scale crackdown, employing both legal and extra-legal means to achieve their goals. Thousands of raids and arrests were carried out across France, including its colonies, anarchist newspapers were banned, and a nationwide 'manhunt for anarchists' was declared. The execution of Auguste Vaillant on 5 February 1894—after president Sadi Carnot refused to grant him his pardon—was a defining moment of this repression. It was the most severe repression in France since the Paris Commune (1871).
Rather than stopping the attacks, this episode radicalized anarchists who evaded arrest—often the most dangerous ones—and drove them to seek revenge through further attacks. Figures like Émile Henry, Désiré Pauwels, and Célestin Nat responded with attacks of varying scope and intensity. On 24 June 1894, Sante Caserio assassinated Sadi Carnot in Lyon. This vicious circle of repression and retaliatory attacks began to draw criticism from some republicans, such as Georges Clemenceau, who brought attention to the issue.
While the repression had limited success for the authorities, the measures influenced other European states, such as Italy and Spain, which adopted similar policies, deporting or arresting thousands of anarchists.