Taking Possession of Marianne: The Place de la République as Political Battleground

Abstract

Situated at the frontier of the 3rd, 10th and 11th arrondissements, the Place de la République is renowned as the location for the Morice brothers' statue to the Republic and as a site for left-wing demonstrations. The Morices' Marianne was slow to win the hearts of many left-wing politicians and workers. Upon occasion, the Place de la République became a battleground between demonstrators and police, but Marianne was not the subject of their contestation. The Place became a battleground simply because of its proximity to the Bourse du Travail. It was the threat of the right-wing leagues and the crisis of February, 1934 that prompted the left to take possession of the statue of the Republic. Socialists and Communists did not forget the legitimizing and mobilizing power inherent in the symbols of patriotic republicanism and evoked them again, most notably in leading the resistance to de Gaulle's return to power and his termination of the Fourth Republic in 1958. This was a high point in the struggle for possession of the symbols of republican legitimacy. Subsequently, despite some surprising revivals, the significance of the Place as a site for symbolic contestation has diminished, reflecting the general acceptance of the Fifth Republic.