Page:Jean Jaurès socialist and humanitarian 1917.djvu/153

 Jaurès more than on anyone else the curses rained down. That he was "the friend of Germany," that he "always found Germany in the right," were commonplaces. Although, for instance, Hervé had been defeated at Nancy by 304 votes to 41, and although Jaurès had over and over again made his divergence from Hervé abundantly clear, it was labour lost as far as his enemies were concerned. For, as he said at the Tivoli-Vaux-Hall, the argument ran "Hervé is a monster and as for me, I am the lieutenant of Hervé. The Radical-Socialists … are still in a sort of dependence on me.… Therefore to vote for these social reforms … would be to play the game of the Socialist-Radicals, who are playing Jaurès' game … and Jaurès is playing Hervé's game and Hervé is playing the game of the German Emperor."

From the 14th to the l8th of July, 1914, a Socialist Congress took place in France which was the cause of a fresh outburst of reviling. In the clerical Action Français Jaurès was called "a public enemy," "a traitor," his actions were "infamous," "treacherous," and as everyone knows, "M. Jaurès c'est L'Allemagne." The editor, Monsieur Charles Maurras, knew well what passions he was rousing.

It was not long before the madman came forward who translated into action the desire of these enemies of justice.