Montceau-les-Mines troubles

The Montceau-les-Mines troubles are a series of social movements and events that took place in Montceau-les-Mines, France and, more broadly, in a large part of Saône-et-Loire, roughly between 1878 and 1885. The period was marked by a strong penetration of anarchism within the population - particularly among the miners - of the region, and saw the appearance of the syndicalist movement in Saône-et-Loire, associated with anarchism at the time. It was characterised by great political violence between the French State and the anarchists of the region, some of whom joined the Black Band.

In 1878, the Saône-et-Loire coal basin had been under the financial and political control of the Chagot family for over fifty years. This family owned the Blanzy Coal Mine Company and employed thousands of miners - women, men, and children - in very harsh working and living conditions. Aided by the local clergy, who kept watch over recalcitrant or republican, socialist, and anarchist workers, Léonce Chagot, mayor of Montceau-les-Mines and company director, was able to ensure his control over the region. In 1878, however, he was defeated in the municipal elections of Montceau-les-Mines, where he had been mayor since the town's foundation - this electoral defeat was accompanied by a sudden strike launched by the miners, which was repressed by the army and stopped as abruptly as it began. Some French authorities at the time believed it was a strike launched by the Anti-authoritarian International - the main anarchist organisation of the period; others thought it was an autonomous and local movement with no real connection to this organisation.

After the repression of the 1878 strike by the army, the miners began to gather in one or more secret anarchist societies, possibly linked to the nascent trade unions being founded, which started to radicalise their actions. These secret societies, known by the collective name of the Black Band, began to target symbols of the Catholic Church and threaten the clergy, demanding the dismissal of the priest of Bois-du-Verne, who spied on and had workers fired if he disliked them personally and politically.

During the summer of 1882, a police report indicated that a delegate from Montceau-les-Mines was allegedly in Geneva with members of the Jura Federation branch of the Anti-authoritarian International such as Élisée Reclus or Varlam Cherkezishvili—during their discussion, he supposedly maintained that the global anarchist revolution would be launched by France the following day, starting in Montceau-les-Mines and complained about the fact that he lacked support from that branch of the Anti-authoritarian International.

Two days later, a group looted an armory and transferred the recovered weapons and explosives to hundreds of miners—who converged on the Bois-du-Verne chapel and set it on fire. They tried to march on the surrounding villages but stopped en route. The army intervened the next day, and the authorities arrested a large number of miners—about thirty of whom were brought to trial in October 1882, even as the Black Band continued its attacks and began to target people in addition to symbols. French authorities were concerned about the trial continuing in Chalon—especially since the start of the 1882-1883 Lyon attacks further frightened them, and they requested its adjournment and relocation. Meanwhile, a vast repressive movement began, targeting anarchists in France, particularly in Lyon with the Trial of the 66, where Lyon anarchists were suspected of having supported the Montceau-les-Mines troubles.

Between 1883 and 1884, the Black Band continued its attacks in the region, with increasing violence—targeting its victims using two different methods, according to the historian Emmanuel Germain. If the target was a suspected police informant, he would have been spared after a spectacular attack, likely to intimidate potential informers without killing him. Conversely, the organization's 'bourgeois' targets, such as the engineer Michalowski, who collaborated in police investigations, were allegedly targeted much more decisively with a clear intent to kill them. Despite this view, no deaths were reported throughout the entire period. In 1884, the arrest of a dozen potential members led to the slowing down and subsequent disappearance of the attacks.

This period as a whole are part of the broader history of anarchism, the workers' movement, propaganda by the deed, the Saône-et-Loire coal basin, and many questions remain about these troubles, particularly whether the miners became anarchists autonomously or if, conversely, they were connected to anarchist organisations such as the Anti-authoritarian International.