Lot n° 110
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2000 - 3000
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: 1 600EUR
JAURÈS Jean [Castres, 1859 - Paris, 1914], French politician - Lot 110
JAURÈS Jean [Castres, 1859 - Paris, 1914], French politician, founder of the first French Socialist Party (1902-1905).
Important autograph manuscript signed "Jean Jaurès," published on July 26, 1914, 5 days before his assassination (July 31). [1914]; 17 pages in-4.
Very important historical and political premonitory text on the Franco-Russian Alliance
Very important historical and political premonitory text on the Franco-Russian Alliance and on the European politics after the Agadir crisis, written on the eve of the outbreak of the Great War. This text was written before the Franco-German agreement of November 4, 1911, in which Germany ceded Morocco to France and France gave part of the French Congo to Germany. Jaurès analyzed Russian policy during this affair and opposed the defenders of the Franco-Russian alliance and especially one of them, André Mévil, a journalist at the Echo de Paris who wrote a book on this subject. "It remains demonstrated that at the very moment when he [Mévil] denounces the pangermanists he copies them and that he provides food for chauvinist polemics [...] for very long years, Russia had no other goal than to exploit financially and politically the French alliance without committing itself against Germany [...]. It is certain that from 1890 to 1911 Russia did everything to spare Germany and avoid a conflict in which it would have had to take sides with us. It first moved the center of its action to the Far East [...] Mr. Delcassé engaged France in a Moroccan policy which led straight to difficulties with Germany at the very moment when Russia was drifting towards a war with Japan. It is often said that Tangier was a continuation of Moukden (a battle in the Russo-Japanese war lost by the Russians in 1905) and that the defeat of the Russians alone allowed William II to make his resounding and dangerous move. Jaurès was astonished that Russia, after having incited France to deal with Germany in Morocco and after having come closer to Germany (meeting of the Tsar and the Emperor of Germany in Potsdam after the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria), now incited France to be firm with Germany (it is known that Jaurès wished a rapprochement with Germany to avoid war). "What is to be said? And what is the purpose of this Russian diplomacy which, after having advised prudence, appeasement, conciliation and peace as long as the conflict had its origin in French interests [...], is exciting us to bellicose attitudes now that Russian interests, interests of influence and prestige in the Balkans, industrial interests, are in the forefront? Is it the war that the Russians want? Are they only waiting for a signal from France to unleash the most formidable war with Germany [...]. Would it be pleasant for them if we took the initiative of hostilities in order to make it easier for the Romanians to break violently with the Hohenzollerns? [...] Is it to give French politics a more offensive appearance that they have held and still hold on to impose the three-year law on us? (Jaurès was opposed to this law, which called for the incorporation of young people for three years). The future is full of perils. The ground is covered with obscure traps. Let the people of France learn, understand and watch". Five days later, Jaurès was assassinated. This article was published in the Revue de l'Enseignement Primaire et Primaire Supérieur of July 26, 1914, reproduced in part in the newspaper L'OEuvre ("Un article à relire", June 3, 1917) and then in various newspapers (Le Progrès de la Somme, June 4, 1917) and reprinted in the Oeuvres de Jean Jaurès (Riéder, 1939, volume 9: Au bord de l'abîme 1912-1914, p. 378). The premonitory words of Jaurès have often been reproduced: by Joseph Caillaux in a tribute to Jaurès published in L'Ere nouvelle (July 29, 1922), or by Georges Picard in Le Travail, August 8, 1931 (reproduced in the Bulletin de la Société d'études jaurésiennes n°101, April-June 1986, p. 4)
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