Action Française

Action Française, (French, “French Action”), an influential anti-republican group, founded in 1899 and later led by Charles Maurras, which campaigned for the restoration of the monarchy to unite France's divided society and published an eponymous newspaper from 1908 to 1944. Action Française was supported by many Catholics, businessmen, and professionals, and the disruptive behaviour of its members made it the most prominent right-wing group in France before World War I. Popular support for the group was highest at the end of the war, when it benefited from a resurgence of nationalist feeling. Membership, however, fell after it was condemned by Pope Pius XI in 1926; and after World War II Action Française was discredited when Maurras was found guilty of collaboration with Vichy France.