French branch of the Armenian Relief Committee
[3] The HOG is an international organization with a communist orientation that seeks to obtain material aid[3] and, more generally, to forge links between the Armenian diaspora and Armenia.
[6] The responsibility of establishing this organization was assigned to Kourken Tahmazian (1890-1936; and potentially also Haïg Kaldjian [fr]),[7] an Armenian communist who had previously been a member of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party.
[8] The members of this Armenian subsection of the PCF, which grew from 450 in 1927[4][14] to less than a hundred[15] after the anti-communist repression of the Poincaré government [fr], were also often closely associated with the HOG.
[4] As observed by Astrig Atamian, "the majority of the members of the Armenian subsection joined the PCF through their involvement with the HOG and their dedication to Soviet Armenia.
[19] Additionally, the founder, Kourken Tahmazian, assumed an editorial role, overseeing the publication of successive editions that served as the official organ of the HOG in France.
[21] Upon his arrival, Eghia Tchoubar, an agent dispatched from Yerevan, initiated the publication of Verelk, which served as the organ of the Central Executive Committee of the Armenian Workers' Cells of the PCF, based in the offices of L'Humanité.
[20] At the beginning of 1931, Kourken Tahmazian undertook a four-month trip to Armenia, during which he obtained the financial resources to launch a new periodical, Mer Oughine, intended to replace Erevan.
[8] The writers were gradually recruited locally in France, among orphans of the genocide who had turned to communism through their experience in factories and unemployment, which had a particularly adverse effect on foreigners in the aftermath of the 1929 crisis.
[22] As is the case with a significant proportion of the Armenian left in France, the HOG commemorates 29 November each year, marking the Sovietization of Armenia following its invasion by the Red Army.
In contrast, the remainder of the community, primarily organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, commemorates the independence of the First Republic of Armenia on 28 May.
[25] The French authorities were concerned about the growth of this communist movement, which, in February 1927, boasted of having gathered 1,500 people for a meeting in Marseille in support of unemployed Armenians.
In the city of Marseille, for instance, the French branch of the HOG was rivaled by another association led by Haïk Serengulian, a militant of the PSU, which had 600 members.
[9] A number of early Armenian communists relocated to Soviet Armenia in the 1920s with the assistance of the HOG, driven by a conviction in the ideology, but also compelled by economic necessity or the threat of police repression.
[36] Additionally, Missak Manouchian was chosen to assume the newly established role of Second Secretary[35] and appointed as the editor of the newspaper Zangou [fr].
[1] This was particularly the case on 9 May 1936, when 1,734 Armenians[39] (or perhaps 1,800 families according to Le Petit Provençal, or 3,000 people),[40] most of whom were communists and members of the HOG, were repatriated.
[17] The repatriation of numerous Armenian communists, often the most ardent supporters, resulted in a significant reduction in the French branch of the HOG.
[26] The Great Stalinist Purges, which reached their zenith in the Moscow Trials, contributed to the HOG's waning appeal and rapid decline in France.
Subsequently, Missak Manouchian undertook a tour of Armenian communities in France intending to promote the newly established organization.
This figure was distributed across several localities, including 45 members in the department of Vienne, 18 in Pont-de-Chéruy, 94 in Décines, 52 in Grenoble, 20 in Villard-Bonnot, and 42 in Valence.
