The ceremony was almost flawless.
But this Thursday, the day after the pantheonization of Missak and Mélinée Manouchian, several historians and elected officials noted President Emmanuel Macron's strange praise of communism throughout his speech.
Wishing to pay tribute to the resistance fighter and poet member of the communist organization of the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans du Mouvement ouvrier international (FTP - MOI), the Head of State has several times mentioned his
“communist ideal”
as an exemplary value
.
Emmanuel Macron began by defining this ideal of the International as the conviction that in France,
“Republic and Revolution”
are one and the same cause.
“After 1789, after 1793, (Manouchian) dreamed of universal emancipation for the wretched of the earth,”
the president declared.
After this comparison to the spirit of the French revolution, the head of state added again, regarding the resistance fighter and his shot companions:
“Because they are communists, they know nothing other than human fraternity. , children of the French Revolution, watchers of the Universal Revolution
.
Also read: Stéphane Courtois: “The death of Missak Manouchian arouses admiration but his heroization was constructed by the PCF”
These laudatory remarks provoked reactions from several intellectual and political figures.
“Macron dared to read an ode to communism, a totalitarian ideology with 100 million deaths!”
, was indignant about X Hervé de Lépinau, RN deputy for Vaucluse.
“They know nothing other than human brotherhood…”.
The brotherhood of Stalin's communism with its 15 to 20 million deaths
,” quipped non-attached MEP Jérôme Rivière.
The LR mayor of Lavaur Bernard Carayon used the same satirical tone:
“Bravo.
Obviously, E. Macron has read neither Aron, nor Souvarine, nor Solzhenitsyn
.
The historian Christophe de Voogd, for his part, pointed to a
“rewriting of history”
and a real
“ode to communism”
.
For her part, Senator LR Valérie Boyer simply recalled, by repeating the verbatim statements of the President of the Republic, the bill tabled in the Senate in April 2023 to establish a
“national day of tribute to the victims of communism”
.