Revolt of the Languedoc winegrowers facts for kids
Meeting of winemakers addressed by Ernest Ferroul, Mayor of Narbonne, and Marcelin Albert
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| Native name | Révolte des vignerons du Languedoc |
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| Date | 11 March – 22 September 1907 |
| Location | Midi of France |
| Also known as | Révolte des gueux du Midi |
| Type | Peasant revolt |
| Cause | Falling wine prices |
| Motive | Eliminate unfair competition |
| Organised by | Marcelin Albert |
| Outcome | Demands met by revised laws |
| Deaths | 7 deaths (19–20 June 1907) |
The Revolt of the Languedoc winegrowers was a mass movement in 1907 in Languedoc and the Pyrénées-Orientales of France that was repressed by the government of Georges Clemenceau. It was caused by a serious crisis in winemaking at the start of the 20th century. The movement was also called the "paupers revolt" of the Midi. It was marked by the fraternization of the 17th line infantry regiment with the demonstrators in Béziers.
Contents
The events of 1907
There was a crisis in 1907. The winemakers of Languedoc felt themselves increasingly threatened by wines imported from Algeria through the port of Sète and by chaptalization (adding sugar before fermentation to increase alcohol content).
The crisis had been building for three years. Winemakers could not sell their product, people were unemployed and there was general distress.
The state favored importing Algerian wines, which were mixed with poor quality wines of metropolitan France. This practice created a glut of wine that caused the slump in the Languedoc-Roussillon viticulture.
Strong local production together with the production of fake wines and blends with Algerian wines saturated the consumer market. Wine imports, far from diminishing, increased in 1907, aggravating the imbalance between supply and demand.
This caused the fall of prices and the economic crisis. As early as January 1907 a warning was given by a report published by the Revue de la Societe des Viticulteurs de France: "The sweetening of grape harvests was authorized by law only in view of chaptalization, that is to say that is to say, as a means of improving the quality of the wine, and not as a method of increasing its quantity by means of dilution.
It is therefore legitimate to establish a proportional tax on the natural product thus enhanced. The wine associations and oenology committee have long recommended that all regulation of sugaring the grape harvest should include a tax on the sugar used in the harvest".
The small wine growers were ruined and agricultural workers were unemployed. There was a domino effect on the whole population, since the ruin of the winemakers entails that of shopkeepers and other trades. There was misery throughout the region, and the 1906 harvest did not sell.
In February 1907 a tax strike began in Baixas. Joseph Tarrius, winemaker and pharmacist, circulated a petition to be signed by his fellow citizens entitled: "The municipality of Baixas, unable to pay the tax, is under mass expropriation. It is a tax we can pay and pay again: The tax on blood."
Argeliers Committee
On 11 March 1907 the signal for the revolt was given by a group of Minervois vine growers in the village of Argeliers. They were led by Marcelin Albert and Elie Bernard, who founded the Comité de defense viticole (Committee of Viticulture Defense), known as the Comité d'Argeliers (Argeliers Committee). They organized a march to Narbonne of 87 vine growers for an interview with a parliamentary commission. After their testimony the committee made a tour of the city, for the first time singing La Vigneronne, which from that day became the anthem of the revolt of the paupers. The Committee was composed of President Marcelin Albert, Vice-President Édouard Bourges and Secretaries Cathala, Richard and Bernard.
Elie Bernard was later named Secretary General of the General Confederation of Midi Winegrowers(fr). The Argeliers committee, which included all the producers, prepared the response to the crisis. On 14 March 1907 Albert Sarraut, a native of Bordeaux, senator of Aude and under-secretary of state for the Interior, was ridiculed by Clemenceau for trying to plead the case of his electorate. Clemenceau, President of the Council and Minister of the Interior, told Sarraut, "I know the South, it will all end with a banquet".
In this region, where the Socialists had a strong presence, no well-known elected representative joined the Committee at the beginning. This allowed Marcellin Albert to present only corporatist claims. The one and only fight he considered worthwhile was for natural wines. He refused to engage in the debate on the divergent interests of the workers and the owners, did not question the presence of royalists who openly wanted to claim the movement, and did not appreciate that on the pretext that the Occitan language is the mother tongue of the Midi wine growers, the regionalists want to make the fight into a separatist movement.
On 24 March the first meeting organized by the Committee of Argeliers was held in front of 300 people in Sallèles-d'Aude. Marcelin Albert stood out for his gifts as an orator and his charisma. For the winegrowers present he became the apostle, the king of the paupers, the redeemer. It was agreed to hold a meeting every Sunday in a different city.
Major demonstrations
The movement gained momentum. Rallies were organized every Sunday. The events mobilized tens of thousands of people, and grew until 9 June 1907. On 2 June 1907 an unprecedented mobilization took place at Nîmes. The 250,000 to 300 000 protesters arrived in the prefecture of Gard by special trains with reduced rates. On the square, out of solidarity a famous confectioner had posted on his facade "Grapes for wine, sugar for candy!".
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Perpignan. 19 May. Gathering of protesters at the Platanes
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19 May. Traders alongside wine growers in Perpignan
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Nîmes. 2 June. Arrival of the Lignan delegation in front of the La Fontaine gardens
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Nîmes. 2 June. Protesters passing between the Arena and the Palace of Justice
The Montpellier demonstration
On 9 June 1907 a gigantic gathering in Montpellier marked the climax of the vineyard challenge in the Midi. The Place de la Comédie was invaded by a crowd estimated to number from 600,000 to 800,000 people. In 1907 lower Languedoc had about a million inhabitants, so one of every two Languedocans was demonstrating. The mass mobilization transcended political or ideological views, since sympathizers of the socialist left and the royalist right stood side by side. This was the largest demonstration of the French Third Republic. In his speech Ernest Ferroul, mayor of Narbonne, called for the resignation of all his colleagues from Languedoc-Roussillon. He openly advocated civic disobedience. Marcelin Albert delivered such a speech that the journalist for Le Figaro wrote, "It was mad, sublime, terrifying".
The winegrowers' revolt received the endorsement of all political movements. From royalists to radicals, all actively supported the movement. All of Languedoc is allied against Georges Clemenceau, president of the Council. The Catholic Church even opened the doors of its cathedral and its churches. A statement from Bishop Anatole de Cabrieres said that women, children and striking winemakers would be welcomed to spend the night there. The same day, on the other side of the Mediterranean, about 50 000 people lined the streets of Algiers to support their colleagues in metropolitan France. A rumor began that the army was ready to intervene. Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarié, a legal student and future president of the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) and the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) whose family was in Vendargues, set fire to the door of the courthouse of Montpellier to prevent the troops who had been confined inside from shooting at the demonstrators.
The deadline for the ultimatum to the government came on 10 June 1907. While Clemenceau counted on a weak and short revolt, the parliamentary commission submitted its report to the Parliament which began to examine Caillaux's bill. Faced with deliberate delays in the legislature, Ernest Ferroul decided to announce publicly in Narbonne his resignation as mayor. In front of 10,000 people he said from the balcony of the City Hall, "Citizens, citizens I hold my power from you, I return it! The municipal strike begins". This position taken in the absence of a government solution was approved by 442 municipalities of Languedoc Roussillon who resigned in the week. Black flags adorned the facades of town halls and civic disobedience was declared, the weapon of the elected officials. Meanwhile clashes between protesters and law enforcers were becoming commonplace.
On 11 June Jean Jaurès, who defended the vine growers cause in the Chamber of Deputies, filed a counter-bill with Jules Guesde. The two socialist deputies proposed nationalization of the wine estates. The next day, Clemenceau addressed a half-threatening, half-ironic missive to all the mayors of the wine-growing towns of Languedoc and Roussillon. This earned him a scathing reply from Ernest Ferroul: "Monsieur Clemenceau, since the beginning of our demonstrations, has considered us as big children, good boys, but unaware of our actions. He is one of those who think that in the Midi everything ends with songs or farandoles. He is very wrong, he does not know us." The head of government then asked Albert Sarraut to bring Ferroul to the negotiating table. The former mayor told him: "When we have three million men behind us, we do not negotiate".
Suppression of the revolt
So far the Sunday demonstrations had been calm and disciplined, and the protesters wanted to remain peaceful. However, Clemenceau judged that the law must show strength and appealed to the army to restore order. From 17 June 1907 the Midi was occupied by 22 regiments of infantry and 12 regiments of cavalry, with 25,000 infantry and 8,000 horsemen. The gendarmerie was ordered to imprison the leaders of the demonstrations. Sarraut refused to endorse this policy and resigned from the government. On 19 June Ernest Ferroul was arrested at dawn at his home in Narbonne by troops of the 139th Infantry Regiment and imprisoned in Montpellier. Three other members of the viticultural defense committee gave themselves up to the gendarmes at Argeliers. News of the planned arrest of all members of the Committee of Argeliers caused an explosion.
The crowd hindered the progress of the gendarmes by lying on the ground. Narbonne was in a state of siege. A spontaneous demonstration began that called for liberation of the members of the Committee and for revenge. There were incidents throughout the day, the sub-prefecture was stormed and barricades blocked the streets. In the evening, in the general confusion, the cavalry fired on the crowd. There were two deaths, including a 14-year-old. Marcelin Albert, who had not been arrested, was hidden in the belfry of Argeliers. A new underground defense committee was formed immediately, with Louis Blanc as leader. In the departments of Gard, Hérault, Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales municipal councils resigned collectively – up to 600 councilors – and some called for a tax strike. The situation became more and more tense, with the furious winegrowers attacking official buildings.
The next day, 20 June, tension rose further and the Midi ignited. In Perpignan the prefecture was looted and burned. The prefect David Dautresme had to take refuge on the roof. In Montpellier the crowd clashed with the armed forces. In Narbonne the police inspector Grossot, one of those responsible for the arrest of Ferroul, was taken to task and hurt by the crowd. To clear it, the troops were ordered to fire on the demonstrators. Five were killed including a girl aged 20, Julie (called Cecile) Bourrel, who had come to Narbonne by chance on the market day. Nearly 33 were injured. In the Café Paincourt, which was strafed, the worker Louis Ramon died in agony.
On 22 June 1907 in Narbonne 10,000 people attend the funeral of Cecile. This burial was the last great demonstration of the Midi winegrowers. In the meantime, Parliament having renewed its confidence in the government, L'Humanité of Jaurès carried the headline, "The House acquits the mass killers of the Midi".
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Barricades in Narbonne in front of the Town Hall
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Dragoons patrol the streets of Narbonne on 20 June 1907
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Funeral of Cecile Bourrel
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Funeral of the victims of the 20 June shootings
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Tumulus in memory of a victim of 20 June 1907
Centenary of the revolt
The centennial of the winemakers' revolt of 1907 was included in the list of national celebrations in the year 2007. During the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the revolt of the paupers many exhibitions and cultural events took place in the department of Aude, including Argeliers, birthplace of the movement of 1907, Sallèles-d'Aude and Coursan as well as in Gard and Pyrénées Orientales, and in Herault, Capestang and Béziers. At the Museum of Cruzy, in the department of Herault, four banners are exhibited that were used during the events of 1907. They are classified as Historical Monuments.
See also
In Spanish: Rebelión de los viticultores de Languedoc para niños
