Breton nationalism

History

Beginnings in the early 1910s

D'Ar Bobl to the Breton nationalist party

Several authors, cultural groups, or regionalist political groups use the expression of "Breton nation" as from 19th century but without this one falls under nationalist dimension. It is only at the beginning of the 20th century that a nationalist current in Brittany began to be constituted. Imitating the French nationalism of the time, they focused their speech on the defense of Breton language and valorization of the history of Brittany; however, the Breton Nationalist movement distinguished itself by seeking to legitimize its actions by comparing themselves with those of other European minorities, "Celts" in particular, like those of Wales and especially of Ireland.

By the end of the 1900s, the journal Ar Bobl of Frañsez Jaffrennou began to spread ideas close to this ideology, but 1911 is a key date for this current. The inauguration of a work by Jean Boucher in a niche of the City Hall of Rennes, which showed the Duchess Anne of Brittany kneeling before the King of France Charles VIII, caused an opposition movement in the regionalist movements. An activist, Camille Le Mercier d'Erm, disrupted the inauguration, and used her trial as a platform. This is the first public expression of Breton nationalism. Following this event, a group of students Rennes founded the Breton Nationalist Party, which began with several members of the Regionalist Federation of Brittany, with the aim of breaking with the regionalist ideas of this group. Among its first members were Loeiz Napoleon ar Rouz, Aogust Bôcher, Pol Suliac, Joseph du Chauchix, Joseph Le Bras, Job Loyant, but their numbers hardly go beyond the 13 members of the editorial board of Breiz Dishual.

First strategic positioning

The group is at odds with Breton regionalism, which it accused of ratifying a foreign influence, that of France, in Brittany. Seeking to apply the principle of subsidiarity, that is claiming a decentralization with a redistribution of powers, would be equivalent, according to the nationalists, to legitimizing a French domination. They oppose as much to monarchists (in particular by maintaining controversy with the members of the French Action), than to the Republicans by targeting "black hussars of the republic", accused of pursuing a policy of linguistic repression. In 1912, Breiz Dishual, the newspaper of the BNP, thus formulates for the first time this opposition towards the royalists and the republicans with the expression na ru na gwenn, Breizhad hepken , ("neither red nor white, Breton only"), Picked up in the following decades by different trends. The nationalists thus refused to support certain circles such as the landed aristocracy or the urban bourgeoisie, considered to be compromised. It is also within this first group that the first Federalist ideas appear from April 1914 in Breiz Dishual.

This current is also positioned face to face with events and international actors, especially in the Pan-Celtic current. Breiz Dishual, indicates from its first issue of July 1912 to want to take an example of the Irish nationalists methods. This comparison between the Breton and Irish situations of the time is not peculiar to the Breton nationalist movement, and is also found among outside observers, such as Simon Südfeld for the liberal German newspaper Vossische Zeitung in 1913. The Breton Nationalist Party as its newspaper Breiz Dishual, however, have only limited echoes in the Breton movement of the time, and his nationalism can only find a weak resonance. One of its founders, Loeiz-Napoleon Ar Rouz, will play a role later to make the link between Breton nationalist currents and Irish. It is also inspired by other European examples such as Hungary, Catalonia, Norway, Balkan States, and inscribes its reflection on a European scale.

Dynamism of the 1920s

Breton regional group at the Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz

After the World War I, the nationalist current continued its existence, becoming one of the most dynamic components of the Breton movement in the 1920s. The Breton Regionalist Group is the first party created (September 1918) taking up this ideology, mixing elders of the Breton Nationalist Party as Kamil Ar Merser 'Erm, and newcomers like Olier Mordrel, Frañsez Debauvais, Yann Bricler, and Morvan Marchal; it is endowed as soon as January 1919 of a newspaper, Breiz Atao, to spread their ideas. The adjective "regionalist" is preferred to that of "nationalist", firstly because the French State of the time tolerates little separatist ideas, and secondly because it makes it possible to forge links with the Breton bourgeoisie of the Regionalist Federation of Brittany.

The ideology of the group was initially and partially in a "Maurrasian movement", but then quickly moved in towards nationalism. The Breton Regionalist Group took the name of Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz in May 1920, whose status indicates that it aims at a "return to independent national life". Its newspaper Breiz Atao also evolved by taking as subtitle "monthly magazine of Breton nationalism" in January 1921, then that of "the Breton nation" in July of the same year.

Attempt, from Breton regionalism, to Alsatian autonomy, to Irish nationalism

The nationalists aimed at first not to support the Breton population but their economic output. They intended to become the intellectual leaders, the new elite of the region. Frañsez Debauvais cited René Johannet to this effect in the Breiz Atao of April 1921. They continued to compete with the regionalism of the Regionalist Federation of Brittany, and the relations between the two groups were strained. Antagonism increased in 1920 when the BRF declared the creation of a large western region encompassing Poitou, Anjou, Maine, Cotentin and Brittany, provoking a unanimous rejection from other regionalist groups and nationalists. From then on, the nationalists' discourse became profoundly anti-regionalist, accusing them of falling into "biniousery" and "bretonnerie".

The nationalists also sought to escape the French political binaries of the time, left and right, and take up the slogan "na ru na gwenn, Breiziz hepken" previously used by the first nationalists. This positioning was reinforced by the fact that no French political party paid attention to the demands expressed by the regionalist groups. They also sought to emancipate themselves from the Catholic Church and the clerical milieus. Instead, they claimed a Celtic heritage and that the Catholic religion alienating them from their identity as Bretons. The Alsatian affair in 1926, during which the Cartel des Gauches tried to return to the Concordat in Alsace-Moselle, caused autonomist agitation in this region, and the Breton nationalists were inspired by this example to form a political party.

Opinion polling

According to an opinion poll conducted in 2013, 18% of Bretons support Breton independence. The poll also found that 37% would describe themselves as Breton first, while 48% would describe themselves as French first.