Jean-Pierre Stirbois
Jean-Pierre Stirbois | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 January 1945 Jouars-Pontchartrain, Paris |
| Died | 5 November 1988 (aged 43) France, Yvelines |
| Nationality | French |
| Political party | National Front |
| Spouse | Marie-France Stirbois |
| Occupation | Politician |
Jean-Pierre Stirbois (30 January 1945, Paris – 5 November 1988 Jouars-Pontchartrain) was a French far-right politician. Along with his wife Marie-France Stirbois, he was the main architect of the first electoral breakthrough of the National Front, elected deputy mayor of the city of Dreux in 1983.
Biography
Early life and activism: 1945–1976
Jean-Pierre Stirbois was born in 1945 from a working class family. He studied in the University Panthéon-Assas.[1][2]
At 19 in 1964, he decided to get involved in politics, influenced by the Algerian War (1954-62).[3] Stirbois became a member of Occident and the head of the youth wing in the national council of the "Tixier-Vignancour committees" during the 1965 presidential campaign.[1] One of the creators of Jeune Alliance, he co-founded in 1965 Jeune Révolution, which became in 1975 the Solidarist Union ("Union solidariste").[1] Close to Aginter Press, he was condemned to a suspended one year jail sentence after arms and equipment for the production of explosives were discovered in his basement.[2]
Member of the FN: 1977–1988
In 1977, he joined Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front, founded five years earlier, and became its general secretary in 1981.[1] Part of the solidarist wing of the FN and a pro-Zionist, Stirbois opposed the neo-fascist factions in the FN, dismissing them as "cheap Nazis" ("nazillons") and eventually managed to oust them from the party leadership.[4] He supported at the same time an aggressive anti-immigrant political position,[5][2] coining the expression "on les renverra" ("we will make them leave") in an interview.[6]
As a FN candidate in the 1983 municipal election in Dreux (Eure-et-Loir), he managed to obtain nearly 17% of the votes in the first round, promising to "invert the migratory flows". During the second round, the local mainstream right-wing parties Rally for the Republic (RPR) and Union for French Democracy (UDF) agreed to form an alliance with the FN. Together they won the second round with 55% of the vote and Stirbois became deputy mayor of the city.[7][8] First electoral breakthrough of the FN, the event is commonly called the "thunderclap of Dreux" and is deemed a cornerstone of the rise of the FN.[9][2]
Stirbois was elected MEP in the 1984 European election as a FN candidate. In 1986, the use of proportional representation allowed him to enter the National Assembly as a deputy for the Hauts-de-Seine. The rise of Stirbois led him to become a rival of Bruno Mégret and Carl Lang in the party.[2]
Labeling himself a "national-populist",[2] the FN developed under his influence a strategy to attract left-wing voters: "those who traditionally vote left because they have always believed the left defends workers will gradually realize the movement which best defends workers is the Front National." Between 1984 and 1986, the share of FN electors from the working class rose from 8 to 19%.[2]
Death
Following the defeat of Le Pen in the 1988 presidential election, he tried to convince the FN to call for a vote for Socialist candidate François Mitterrand. Stirbois then participated in the "no" campaign for the referendum in New Caledonia.[2] After having threatened France of a new OAS in a meeting in Dreux, claiming to be ready to "give his skin to achieve his ideas" ("mettre sa peau au bout de ses idées"), he died in a car crash on 5 November 1988. 4,000 persons attended his funeral, including Yvan Blot, Henry de Lesquen, Jean-Gilles Malliarakis, Pierre Pujo, Pierre Sidos, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, who delivered the eulogy.[1]
Works
- Dossier immigration (with Jean-François Jalkh), National-Hebdo, 1985.
- Tonnerre de Dreux, l'avenir nous appartient, National-Hebdo, 1988.
Notes
- ^ a b c d e "Pour le FN, Jean-Pierre Stirbois reste un "homme exemplaire"". Derrière le Front (in French). 2017-11-05. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lebourg, Joseph Beauregard et Nicolas (2011-07-15). "Les numéros deux du FN (2/4) : Jean-Pierre Stirbois, l'apparatchik" (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ Interview with Jean-Pierre Stirbois, L'Écho républicain de la Beauce et du Perche, 10 June 1981 : "Je milite à droite depuis l'âge de 19 ans. Ce sont les événements douloureux d'Algérie qui m'ont amené à entrer en politique."
- ^ Shields, James (2007). The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen. Routledge. pp. 181, 184. ISBN 9780415097550.
- ^ Marcus, Jonathan (1995). The National Front and French Politics. New York: New York University Press. pp.36
- ^ "Musée de l'immigration : «L'extrême-droite a franchi un palier»". FIGARO. 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ Shields, James (2007). The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen. Routledge. p. 195. ISBN 9780415097550.
- ^ DeClair, Edward G. (1999). Politics on the Fringe: The People, Policies, and Organization of the French National Front. Duke University Press. p. 60. ISBN 9780822321392.
- ^ Kitschelt, Herbert; McGann, Anthony J. (1997). The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis. University of Michigan Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780472084418.
