Action Directe

Action directe
Dates of operation1979–1987
MotivesProletarian revolution
Active regionsFrance
Ideology
Political positionLeft-wing
Notable attacksAssassinations of René Audran and Georges Besse
1979 Attack on the HQ of Conseil national du patronat français
1986 Paris police station attack
StatusDefunct
Size180–200 "militants and [close] sympathizers" during its existence[2]
Means of revenueRobbery

Action Directe (French pronunciation: [aksjɔ̃ diʁɛkt]; AD; lit.'direct action') was a French far-left militant group that originated from the anti-Franco struggle and the autonomous movement, and was responsible for violent attacks in France between 1979 and 1987. Members of the group considered themselves libertarian communists who had formed an "urban guerrilla organization". The French government banned the group. During its existence, AD's members murdered 12 people, and wounded a further 26. It associated at various times with the Red Brigades (Italy), Red Army Faction (West Germany), Prima Linea (Italy), Armed Nuclei for Popular Autonomy (France), Communist Combatant Cells, Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions, Irish National Liberation Army,[3] and others.

  1. ^ (fr)Serge Cosseron, Dictionnaire de l'extrême gauche, Larousse, collection À présent, 2007 (ISBN 978-2-03-582620-6) p. 61
  2. ^ Selon la police en 1989 in (en) Michael Dartnell, Action directe: ultra-left terrorism in France, 1979-1987, Paris, 1995, 224 p. (ISBN 0714645664, lire en ligne archive), p. 173
  3. ^ Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994, p.146-7, p.214-15