Friends of the ABC

The Friends of the ABC (French: Les Amis de l'ABC) is a fictional association of revolutionary French republican students featured in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. In French, the name of the society is a pun, in which abaissés ('the abased, humiliated, degraded') is pronounced [abese], very similar to A-B-C ([ɑ be se]). Their members represent a wide variety of political viewpoints, ranging from communist agitation to advocacy for democracy to supporting the Levellers and more, but on 5 June 1832 they all join the popular insurrection known as the June Rebellion and organize the construction of a massive barricade. They are based on the real political group Friends of the People [fr] (French: Société des Amis du Peuple).^[1] Hugo brings them into the narrative when Marius Pontmercy, one of the novel's principal characters, attaches himself to the group without becoming one of them. With their fight led by Enjolras, all of the members of the group die during the rebellion.

Characters Jean Valjean and Gavroche both also fight with the student rebellion, with Valjean barely making it out alive and Gavroche dying. The central story is also told in the 1980 musical version of Les Misérables, though many of the members lack characterization in the musical.