The month leading up to the attack on the Parliament was super tense in France. In January 1934 alone, there were something like a dozen protests and riots by far-right and fascist groups in Paris. The agitation around these scandals caused enough unrest that the centre-left government decided to make a change. By late January 1934, they were in the process of swapping out their existing centre-left prime minister for a new one. When it became known that the new prime minister would make his inaugural address on February 6, the Quadafa and all the other right-wing and fascist groups put out the word, everybody gather that day. There was no Twitter, but through flyers and word of mouth,
A violent right-wing mob interrupts lawmakers formalizing the transfer of power to a new leader. But this isn’t Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, but rather Paris on February 6, 1934. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson explore that earlier event, the way it reverberates to this day and how it could help us understand what January 6 will mean for the U.S.
Featuring guests:
Jonathan Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism
Alice Kaplan, Sterling Professor of French at Yale University, author of The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach
Find out more at msnbc.com/dejanews