Léo Matarasso

in Ecrits de la prison, de Jacques Duclos, Editions sociales, Paris, 1952

On May 28, 1952, shortly after 10 o’clock in the evening, Jacques Duclos, deputy for the Seine and secretary of the French Communist Party, was arrested while driving back to his home in Montreuil.
However, Article 22 of the Constitution stipulates that no parliamentarian may be prosecuted during his or her term of office. The Penal Code, for its part, punishes with civic degradation any police officer or magistrate who is guilty of the crime of arresting an elected representative of the people in defiance of his immunity.
The pretext invoked to justify this arrest was that Jacques Duclos had been caught in flagrante delicto. Flagrantly violating a Laval decree on public demonstrations, said the police on the evening of the arrest; flagrantly undermining or plotting against the internal security of the state, said the next day the public prosecutor and the investigating judge.
A month later, the Indictment Division of the Paris Court of Appeals declared that the alleged flagrant offence had not been established, that Jacques Duclos had been illegally arrested, charged and imprisoned, and that the proceedings against him were radically invalid. It ordered his immediate release.
It thus took a month for a judicial body to establish what Jacques Duclos and his defenders had been proclaiming from the very first day, a month of an all-out battle conducted in a masterly manner by our great friend and at the end of which not only the illegality of the prosecution was established, but also, and most strikingly, the falsity of the entire accusation. Every lie, every provocation of the opponent was immediately exposed. Every attempt or possibility of falsification or falsification was pointed out in advance.
The main stages of this battle will become apparent on reading the documents contained in this book, which are the writings of Jacques Duclos in prison. They illustrate the course of a defence which is the very model of the offensive defence. But perhaps it is not useless to add the testimony of those who, like his lawyers, esMarcel Willard, Joë Nordmann, Paul Vienney, Jérôme Ferrucci, Michel Bruguier, Charles Lederman, and myself, had the privilege of seeing him almost daily during this period, receiving from him an unforgettable lesson in vigour and revolutionary firmness.
One can imagine our emotion when we saw Jacques Duclos brought in handcuffs to the Petit Parquet to be charged. This man, to whom the people of France have shown such great affection, the companion of Maurice Thorez, the man whom the Hitlerisms sought for four years as one of the highest leaders of the French Resistance, the man whose closest friends, arrested by the Gestapo, were able to conceal the place from which he was directing their action, despite the most atrocious torture, this prestigious man was there, before us, his hands chained, between two gendarmes
But it was enough to see his calm and smiling face, to talk with him for a few minutes and to hear him give us a clear picture of the situation for us to overcome our emotion.
Then there were our visits to the Santé prison. Jacques Duclos had immediately demanded the political regime and, after a brief stay in Fresnes, had obtained it at the same time as André Stil. He then continued to demand it for the other defendants, for his driver and his companion as well as for all the patriots arrested during the demonstration of 28 May. The systematic refusal of this request can be explained by the government’s concern to prevent other prisoners from watching over the safety of Jacques Duclos, against whom some evil deed was being planned, and by the fear that the exhilarating contact with the great prisoner might be a renewed source of courage and offensive spirit for his fellow prisoners.
Despite his seriously weakened health, Jacques Duclos’ days in prison were above all (except during the last few days when his condition worsened) days of work and study. He wrote and read incessantly, interrupting only to confer with his lawyers. From the stripping of the press to the history of the Dreyfus affair, from the works of Diderot to the classics of Marxism, his reading was most varied.
His sordid cell, filled with suspicious gas fumes, was illuminated by a few pictures fixed to the wall: a portrait of Lenin, a medallion representing the silhouette of Stalin, a photograph of Maurice Thorez with a brilliant smile, drawings of children asking for his release, a beautiful autograph poem by Paul Eluard… And when Jacques spoke, his legendary verve and his lively and kind spirit touched us even more in the midst of the hostile silence of the prison.
But our deepest impression of this period will remain that of the first interrogation by Judge Jacquinot. The magistrate had, for the occasion, taken himself to the prison of La Santé itself. This unusual decision was explained by the fear of demonstrations of popular affection at the Palais. In a room in the political quarter, two tables were set up facing each other, one for the judge, the other for Jacques Duclos. His lawyers were seated behind him. He began by reading a vigorous protest which will be found in this collection and insisted that it be attached to the file.
After that, the questioning began. Not, as one might think, the examination of Jacques Duclos by the examining magistrate, but that of the magistrate by Jacques Duclos.
“What do you blame me for? Do you want to tell me? Do you know yourself? Are you unable to tell me what I am accused of?”
One can imagine the embarrassment of the judge. After several evasive answers, he was forced to read a phrase from the Criminal Code without being able to indicate any specific facts. As this text referred to a “plot” against the security of the State, Jacques Duclos exclaimed: “Do you believe in this plot, Judge? I’m sure you don’t believe it yourself! Look me in the eye and dare to say that you believe it! You can see that you can’t look me in the eye!
He continued: “What evidence have you got against me, what evidence of this improbable charge of conspiracy?” And then the judge had to agree: “For the moment I have nothing,” which was the very admission of the non-existence of the famous flagrante delicto which served as a pretext for the arrest. Anyone who, unaware of the case, would have listened to the conversation through the doorway might have thought that Jacques Duclos’s voice was that of the judge and the judge’s voice that of the defendant defending himself.
You know very well that I have lodged a complaint of forfeiture against you,” continued Jacques Duclos, “and that if things go well for me, they will go badly for you.
The second interview with the judge was to take place a few days later. It was intended to examine the contents of the briefcase of the Party Secretary. This time he was taken to the Palaia, but at 8 a.m., when it was deserted. Two other judges were present at the interrogation and five policemen surrounded Jacques Duclos. Once again, he read an energetic protest, which will be found in this collection, calling for the immediate cancellation of the proceedings and his immediate release.
It was on the refusal of this last request that the matter was referred to the Indictment Division. In the meantime, Jacques Duclos’ health had worsened. The government, under the pretext of having him treated, tried twice to remove him from the Santé. It is well known how adamantly Jacques Duclos opposed any transfer. His lawyers were unable to witness his protests because, contrary to all custom, they were arbitrarily denied access to the prison at that time.
Finally, on Tuesday, July 1, shortly after 8 o’clock in the evening, the Indictment Chamber, cancelling the proceedings, ordered the immediate release. An hour later, the heavy doors of the Santé prison opened. Jacques Duclos was free! The news of this extraordinary victory spread immediately throughout France and the world. It was welcomed everywhere as a great victory of the peoples in their struggle for Peace and Freedom.
Before leaving the political quarter of the prison, Jacques Duclos had embraced his companion for a month, the courageous writer and winner of the Stalin Prize, André Stil, promising that everything would be done to get him and all the other imprisoned patriots out of prison.
It was on behalf of all of us that Jacques Duclos made this solemn commitment. We will not fail it!