Editing Action Directe

{{Short description|Militant leftist group in France (1979–1987)}}
{{for multi|the rock climb|Action Directe (climb)|other uses|Direct action (disambiguation)}}
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=fr|date=January 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Action Directe
| logo             = Action Directe.svg
| caption          = 
| dates            = 1979–1987
| leader           = 
| motives          = [[Proletarian revolution]]
| area             = [[France]]
| ideology         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Anti-Francoism]]
* [[Marxism-Leninism]]<ref>(fr)Serge Cosseron, Dictionnaire de l'extrême gauche, Larousse, collection À présent, 2007 ({{ISBN|978-2-03-582620-6}}) p. 61</ref>
}}
| position = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| crimes           = 
| attacks          = Assassinations of [[René Audran]] and [[Georges Besse]]<br>1979 Attack on the HQ of [[Conseil national du patronat français]]<br>[[1986 Paris police station attack]]
| status           = Defunct
| size             = 180–200 "militants and [close] sympathizers" during its existence<ref>Selon la police en 1989 in (en) Michael Dartnell, Action directe: ultra-left terrorism in France, 1979-1987, Paris, 1995, 224 p. ({{ISBN|0714645664}}, lire en ligne archive), p. 173</ref>
| financing        = Robbery
}}

'''Action Directe''' ({{IPA|fr|aksjɔ̃ diʁɛkt}}; '''AD'''; {{lit|[[direct action]]}}) was a French [[far-left]] militant organization that originated from the anti-[[Francisco Franco|Franco]] struggle and the [[autonomous movement]], and was responsible for deadly attacks in France between 1979 and 1987. The French government banned the group. During its existence, AD's members murdered 12 people, and wounded a further 26. It associated at various times with the [[Red Brigades]] (Italy), [[Red Army Faction]] (West Germany), [[Prima Linea]] (Italy), [[Armed Nuclei for Popular Autonomy]] (France), [[Communist Combatant Cells]], [[Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions]], [[Irish National Liberation Army]],<ref>Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994, p.146-7, p.214-15</ref> and others.

== Elisabeth Van Dyck Command ==

The '''Elisabeth Van Dyck Command''' was a branch of AD that assassinated French Army General [[René Audran]], on 25 January 1985. He was the Director of International Affairs (DAI) at the [[General Directorate for Armament]] (DGA). The team was named to commemorate [[Red Army Faction]] (RAF) member [[Elisabeth Van Dyck]].{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

The command was created as a combined extension of both the AD and RAF. The AD appeared to take care of the organizational side of the command, and so naming it after a memorialized member of the RAF makes sense if they were seeking to at least publicly have a unified front. Both the RAF and the AD were actively pursuing their shared goal of [[political autonomy]] within their home countries, with the RAF based in Germany and the AD in France.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Direct-Action|title=Direct Action {{!}} French extremist group|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-05-11|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224212642/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Direct-Action|url-status=live}}</ref> These groups' goal of political autonomy did not stop with their own countries however, and they often fought against their own countries' governments in the pursuit of what they claimed was 'political autonomy', or political freedom, for the world's working class.<ref name=":0" />

The command had only one claimed attack, the assassination of French Army General René Audran on 25 January 1985.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_55BZmIJ9xd8C|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_55BZmIJ9xd8C/page/n54 44]|title=Terrorist Group Profiles|date=1990|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=9781568068640|language=en}}</ref> At the time of his death, Audran was a senior-level official in the French Ministry of Defense, specifically the Corps of Armament. The Elisabeth van Dyck Command took credit for the assassination via letter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://socialhistoryportal.org/sites/default/files/raf/0319850125_0.pdf|title=Kommando Elisabeth van Dyck|date=Feb 1985|website=Social History Portal|access-date=11 April 2019|archive-date=11 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511040958/https://socialhistoryportal.org/sites/default/files/raf/0319850125_0.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In the letter the members explained that they had killed Audran because he was the head of French's foreign arms sales and they believed that his "military and economic function is at the heart of the strategic imperialist project".<ref name=":0" /> The project being referred to is what the AD and RAF believed to be NATO and its supporting European countries' goal of homogenizing the world into a capitalist culture, and that as they progressed along this goal it would widen the gap in power and wealth between the upper class and working class.<ref name=":0" />

==Arrests==

In December 1981, AD member Lahouari Benchellal, known as Farid, was arrested for forging [[traveler's cheque]]s, which were an important income source for the organization, in [[Helsinki, Finland]]. He hanged himself while in the custody of the [[Finnish Security Intelligence Service]] in January 1982.<ref name="Farid">{{cite web |accessdate=2025-03-28 |website=Le Monde |title=La mort de " Farid ", l'autonome |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1982/01/14/la-mort-de-farid-l-autonome_2898256_1819218.html}}</ref> AD did not believe Benchellal killed himself, and they named a direct action group after him.<ref name="Farid"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Simola |first=Matti |title= Ratakatu 12 – Suojelupoliisi 1949–2009 |location=Helsinki |publisher=WSOY |pages=123–127 |isbn=9789510352434 |date= 2009 }}/</ref>

There is an ongoing campaign by some sections of the French far-left calling for the [[parole]] of the still imprisoned AD members, who consider themselves [[political prisoners]]. In December 2007, Jean-Marc Rouillan was allowed a state of "semi-liberty", able to leave prison for extended periods. In September 2008, a Parisian court called for the revocation of his status after he declared in an interview with ''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]'' that "I remain convinced that armed struggle is necessary at certain moments of the revolutionary process".<ref>{{Cite news|date=2008-10-01|title=Le parquet demande la révocation de la semi-liberté de Rouillan|work=[[Libération]]|url=http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101119728-rouillan-la-lutte-armee-est-necessaire|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309145332/http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101119728-rouillan-la-lutte-armee-est-necessaire|archive-date=2012-03-09|quote="Il faut clarifier les choses: le processus de lutte armée tel qu’il est né dans l’après-68, dans ce formidable élan d’émancipation, n’existe plus (...) Mais, en tant que communiste, je reste convaincu que la lutte armée est nécessaire à un moment du processus révolutionnaire." "Il faut clarifier les choses: le processus de lutte armée tel qu’il est né dans l’après-68, dans ce formidable élan d’émancipation, n’existe plus (...) Mais, en tant que communiste, je reste convaincu que la lutte armée est nécessaire à un moment du processus révolutionnaire."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3119083/Terrorist-group-Action-Directe-founder-does-not-regret-murders.html|title=Terrorist group Action Directe founder 'does not regret murders'|last=Samuel|first=Henry|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=2008-10-01|access-date=2018-02-08|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235|archive-date=2018-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208123851/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3119083/Terrorist-group-Action-Directe-founder-does-not-regret-murders.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
A sport climb in [[Frankenjura]], Germany is named [[Action Directe (climb)|Action Directe]] after the group.

==See also==
* [[Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions]]
* [[Revolutionary Front for Proletarian Action]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last1=Dartnell|first1=Michael|title=Action Directe: Ultra-Left Terrorism in France 1979-1987|date=1995|publisher=Frank Cass and Co LTD|location=Newberry House, London |isbn=0-7146-4566-4 |pages=1–4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1C4k9xS1ucC&pg=PA1 |access-date=20 August 2018}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/128000/eur210012001en.pdf |title=France: Government must apply international standards to ''Action directe'' four |date=31 January 2001|publisher=Amnesty International}}
* ''Protestation devant les libertaires du présent et du futur sur les capitulations de 1980'', [[Jean-Claude Lutanie]], (originally published in 1981 under the pseudonym Un Incontrole, no publisher, re-published in 2011 by [http://www.editionslutanie.fr/ Editions Lutanie])
* {{cite news|last1=Segaller|first1=Stephen|title=Action Directe, Ideologues of Violence|work=The Times (London) |year=1986 |via=lexisnexis.com }}

==External links==
*Sites campaigning for the release of the ''Action directe'' convicts:
**[http://www.action-directe.net www.action-directe.net] (in French)
**[http://nlpf.samizdat.net Campaign for the release of ''Action directe'' prisoners] (in French)
* {{Cite web|last=elhajoui|date=2014-02-08|title=Protestation Devant les Libertaires du Present et du Futur sur les Capitulations de 1980|url=https://situationnisteblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/protestation-devant-les-libertaires-du-present-et-du-futur-sur-les-capitulations-de-1980/|access-date=2021-12-18|website=Situationniste Blog|language=en|archive-date=2018-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820173113/https://situationnisteblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/protestation-devant-les-libertaires-du-present-et-du-futur-sur-les-capitulations-de-1980/|url-status=live}}
* https://socialhistoryportal.org/sites/default/files/raf/0319850125_0.pdf
* https://books.google.com/books?id=yLH0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA232
* https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3119083/Terrorist-group-Action-Directe-founder-does-not-regret-murders.html
* [https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=198501250003 "Action Directe"] July 2018.  Retrieved 10 May 2019. (The commando's one attack is listed under Action Directe in GTD.)

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Anti-imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:Autonomism]]
[[Category:Communist organizations in France]]
[[Category:Communist militant groups]]
[[Category:Defunct communist militant groups]]
[[Category:Far-left politics in France]]
[[Category:Left-wing militant groups in France]]
[[Category:Terrorism in France]]
[[Category:1979 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Left-wing terrorism]]