Red Hibiscus Society
Red Hibiscus Society Société de l'hibiscus rouge | |
|---|---|
 Red Hibiscus lapel pin | |
| Leader | Louis Barnave |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Dissolved | 12 November 1933 (banned by decree by the Grand Alliance) |
| Headquarters | Jameston, Saint-Brendan, Viceroyalty of the New Aurean |
| Newspaper | Le Cri du Peuple |
| Youth wing | Jeunesse Fraternelle |
| Armed wing | Special Reserve Police |
| Membership (1927) | Around 10,000 |
| Ideology | National Functionalism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Religion | Solarian Catholic |
| Region |  Viceroyalty of the New Aurean |
| Slogan | "For God and Empire" (Gaullican: Pour dieu et royaume) |
The Red Hibiscus Society (Gaullican: Société de l'hibiscus rouge), officially known as the Jameston Fraternal Society (Gaullican: Société fraternelle de Jameston), was a National Functionalist political organization and paramilitary force that existed on the Viceroyalty of the New Aurean, during the 1920s and 1930s. The Society was mainly based in Saint Brendan, modern day Carucere, but it also operated a major branch in Sainte-Chloé. The club was founded by members of a Carucerean Catholic trade union to advocate for the establishment of a functionalist society. The Society's popular name originates from the flower garden in front of the society's meeting place in Jameston, Carucere.
The Society was founded in Jameston sometime in 1910 by members of a Catholic trade union as a social club. Under the leadership of Louis Barnave, it transformed into a pro-Functionalist political movement during the 1910s. After the Popular Party rose to power in Gaullica in 1919, it emerged as a major political force that advocated for the complete reorganization of colonial society along functionalist lines. At its height in the late-1920s, it effectively functioned as a state within a state in Saint Brendan and a powerful political faction in Sainte-Chloé. The organization's membership was overwhelmingly white and creole middle class. It opposed the existing colonial administration, which remained staunchly conservative, and dissent socialists, liberals, and Carucerean progressives. The Society was the driving force behind the Holistique National movement and oversaw its implementation in Sainte Brendan. In Sainte Brendan the Society often silenced critics, broke up demonstrations and murdered opponents. Following the outbreak of the Great War, the Society's armed wing was reformed into the Special Reserve Police and tasked with keeping order and suppressing opponents to the war.
The Society was banned after the colony was occupied by Grand Alliance forces in 1933, after which many of its prominent members were arrested. After the colony's incorporation into the Arucian Federation, many of its members were at blacklisted from the civil service and political offices until 1940 after officials realized that it meant excluding much of Carucerean society. Many of its members would later join the conservative National Party of Carucere and form part of the opposition to the Democratic Party. Jean Preval served as a member of the Special Reserve Police in the later years of the Great War, although he denied killing anyone or participating in the Society's political activities.