Black Band (anarchism)
| Black Band | |
|---|---|
Photograph of four Black Band members freed in 1884 after serving their sentence | |
| Leaders | Various anarchist and anarchist inspired miners |
| Dates of operation | 1878-1885 |
| Motives | Revenge against the firing of miners by employers and their surveillance by Catholic authorities and representatives Anarchist social revolution |
| Active regions | Saône-et-Loire |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Notable attacks | Dozens bombings, riots, destructions, arsons, etc |
| Status | Defunct |
| Size | Hundreds (?) / 10-20% of the miner population of Montceau-les-Mines (?) |
The Black Band or the Black Bands ('La Bande noire') is the name given to various anarchist and anarchist-inspired miners' workers' organizations and groups present in the Montceau-les-Mines-Le Creusot region and more generally the whole Saône-et-Loire mining basin during the Montceau-les-Mines troubles, of which they were main actors.
These groups operated autonomously and used political violence in the form of bomb attacks, arson, riots, armed assaults, shootings, and other insurrectionary methods against both symbolic and personal targets, aiming at individuals or symbols linked to the region's employers and the Catholic Church, which was seen as deeply connected to the interests of the employers and the State.
Most of the attacks took place between August 1882 and 1885, although actions dating back to 1878 might be linked to these groups, following the dismissal of Republican miners by an employer who had just lost an election and the ensuing repression—which led a number of miners to radicalize and join them. The origin of the name is poorly known; it might have been an allusion to their nocturnal meetings. The political violence especially escalated after 1882. Infiltrated, the Black Bands disappeared in 1885 following, notably, the trap set by the police on 7 November 1884, which led to the arrest of dozens of militants and the trial of thirty-two defendants on 26 May 1885.
After the Thiers statue bombing in 1881, a failed attempt to destroy its target, the Black Bands were among the first groups in France and in history to make use of the strategy of propaganda of the deed, carrying out dozens of actions of that nature.