Jules Bonnot

French car thief and murderer

• Born: October 14, 1876
• Birthplace: Pont-de-Roide, France
• Died: April 28, 1912
• Place of death: Paris, France

Cause of notoriety: Bonnot was the most experienced member of the anarchist Bonnot gang, which committed violent crimes in France and Belgium.

Active: 1911-1912

Locale: Paris, France, and Belgium

Early Life

When Jules Bonnot (jool bon-oh) was five, his mother died, and he was put in the custody of his grandmother and father. During his teen years he committed various crimes, including assaulting a police officer, and was imprisoned twice. At age twenty-one, he was conscripted into the French army, where he served as an auto mechanic for three years and became an expert rifleman.

In 1901 he married Sophie-Louise Burdet and traveled to get work as a mechanic in Switzerland and in France. He then worked in factories and eventually joined the syndicalist movement, which advocated workers’ ruling the workplace. At the time there was widespread unemployment. In 1907 Bonnot’s wife left him, and by 1911 Bonnot could not find any work at all.

Anarchist Career

After joining an anarchist illegalist group in 1911, Bonnot contributed his knowledge of automobiles and his experience as a thief, while the anarchists provided an ideological justification for their continued crimes. The illegalists believed in crime as a lifestyle and that illegal acts required no moral justification. The notion of theft as a liberating act of class warfare was promoted in L’Anarchie, a weekly magazine published in Paris amid that city’s great social and class conflict.

The gang members made national headlines when they robbed the Society General bank in December, 1911. They used a stolen automobile to flee the crime scene, and the incident was the first documented case of thieves using a getaway car. Although the group’s founder was Raymond Callemin and its leader was Octave Garnier, the newspapers dubbed them the “Bonnot gang” after Bonnot, brandishing an automatic weapon, made a dramatic appearance at the office of the Petit Parisien newspaper. Other gang members included the writer Kibaltchiche, who later became Victor Serge, advocate of Russian Communism. Eventually, there were twenty members, mostly French and unemployed.

The gang committed an escalating series of crimes, including the murder and robbery of a wealthy man and his maid on January 2, 1912. French police started investigating anarchist organizations and made one arrest, while the gang moved into Belgium, shooting a policeman there, and continuing their robberies. They targeted expensive vehicles, enhancing their image as revolutionaries stealing from the rich.

In late March they shot three cashiers and an automobile driver during another high-profile bank robbery, flaunting their use of high-powered vehicles to escape the ill-equipped police. The government responded by increasing funding for law enforcement and by posting a reward for information. During the following weeks, some of the gang members were arrested, but Bonnot managed to avoid capture. He had become the most wanted criminal in France. He killed another policeman after almost being captured on April 24. Four days later, Bonnot was finally cornered in a house near Paris by a group of hundreds, including soldiers, firemen, and private citizens as well as police. Dynamite was used to destroy his cover, and after more gunfire, Bonnot was severely wounded. He died after being moved by the police, who wanted to discourage mob hysteria.

Impact

During his criminal career, Jules Bonnot was considered public enemy number one. His “motor bandits” gang was the most notorious French anarchist and illegalist group. In Europe, they were the first to use a getaway car in a bank robbery, and they used new technology such as repeating rifles. Their daring exploits made headline news. However, their legacy of violence also became the justification for a massive expansion of law enforcement powers and a fierce crackdown on all anarchist organizations. As a result, in August, 1913, French anarchist Communists distanced themselves from illegalist behavior and formed the Anarchist Communist Federation (FCA), which declared individualist anarchism and illegalism as capitalistic.

However, to the French proletariat, Bonnot and his gang remained folk heroes, comparable to Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. Souvenirs with portraits of gang members were sold. In popular culture, they became legendary, “tragic bandits” who inspired books, poetry, a movie, and musical recordings.

In 1969, the film Bonnot’s Gang (La Bande à Bonnot) was released. Directed by Philippe Fourastié, the movie featured Bruno Cremer as Bonnot. Pino Cacucci’s 2006 crime thriller, Without a Glimmer of Remorse: The Remarkable Story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Chauffeur, is a fictional narrative about Bonnot.

In 2004, Milanese songwriter Giangilberto Monti released La Belle Époque della Banda Bonnot, a CD based on songs by Boris Vian and Monti’s radio play about Bonnot. The play won Swiss National Radio’s Prix Suisse in 2004. French pop star Joe Dassin recorded songs about the Bonnot gang on numerous albums released from 1986 to 2006.

Bibliography

Mell, Ezra Brett. The Truth About the Bonnot Gang. London: Coptic Press, 1968. A concise but detailed account of Jules Bonnot and anarchism, the Bonnot gang cult, and the economic and political implications of the gang’s activities. Illustrated.

Parry, Richard. The Bonnot Gang: The Story of the French Illegalists. London: Rebel Press, 1987. The most complete and comprehensive study of the Bonnot gang—their lives, crimes, philosophy, and legacy. Index and bibliography.

Serge, Victor. Memoirs of a Revolutionary. Translated by Peter Sedgwick. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2002. A close supporter of the Bonnot gang, the early anarchist Serge provides an intimate portrait of the group. Originally an outspoken advocate of illegalism, in these memoirs he criticizes the nihilistic direction of illegalism. Index and bibliography.

Skirda, Alexandre. Facing the Enemy: A History of Anarchist Organization from Proudhon to May, 1968. Oakland, Calif.: AK Press, 2002. Based on decades of scholarly research, this acclaimed work includes an analysis of the criminal and individualistic activities of the Bonnot gang. Illustrated; includes bibliography.

Varias, Alexander. Paris and the Anarchists: Aesthetes and Subversives During the Fin-de-siècle. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. This comprehensive analysis of anarchism in Paris in the late nineteenth century describes the class divisions, anarchist concerns, and terrorism that influenced the illegalists and the Bonnot gang. Illustrated, including maps.