Under La Rocque (1930-1936)
Under Lieutenant colonel François de La Rocque, who took over in 1930, the Croix-de-Feu took their independence from François Coty, leaving the Figaro's building for the rue de Milan (Milan Street) in Paris. It organized popular demonstrations in reaction to the Stavisky Affair, hoping to overthrow the Second Left-wing Coalition government. De la Rocque quickly became a hero of the far right, opposed to the influences of Socialism and "hidden Communism", but skeptical about becoming counterrevolutionary.
Under de la Rocque, the movement advocated a military effort against the "German danger," supporting corporatism and an alliance between Capital and Labour. It enlarged its base, creating a number of secondary associations, thus including non-veterans in its ranks. To counter the monarchist Action française and its slogan Politique d'abord! (First Politics!), de la Rocque invented the motto Social d'abord! (First Social!). In his book, Le Service Public (Public Service, published in November 1934), he argued in favour of a reform of parliamentary procedures; cooperation between industries according to their branches of activities; a minimum wage and paid holidays; women's right to vote (also upheld by the monarchist Action française, who considered that women, often devout, would be more favorable to their conservative thesis), etc. The Croix-de-feu and its satellite organizations gradually took on momentum, reaching 500 members in 1928, 60,000 end of 1933, 150,000 in the months following the 6 February 1934 riots and 400,000 end of 1935. In November 1937 the number of 700.000 members was mentioned in a German journal.
The Croix-de-feu did not participate to the 1932 demonstrations organized by the Action française and the far-right leagues Jeunesses Patriotes against the payment of the debt to the United States. It did take part in the massive rally of 6 February 1934 which led to the toppling of the Second Cartel des gauches (Left-Wing Coalition), but de la Rocque refused to engage in rioting (although parts of the Croix-de-Feu disagreed with him). They had circled the seat of the parliament (the Palais Bourbon), and remained grouped, several hundreds meters away from the others rioting leagues. As one of the most important paramilitary associations, and because of its nationalist position, the Croix-de-feu and de la Rocque were considered by the left to be among the most dangerous of the imitators of Mussolini and Hitler. However, as a result of de la Roque's actions during the riots, they subsequently lost prestige among the far-right, before being dissolved by the Popular Front government on 18 June 1936.
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