Out of all this inflammation of liberal feelings there emerged on 5 September the "Manifesto of the 121". Sub-titled a "Declaration on the Right of Insubordination in the Algerian War", it incited French conscripts there to desert. The 121 signatories were all celebrities, including Sartre, de Beauvoir, Françoise Sagan and Simone Signoret. Most were of the Left and many identified as committed "fellow-travellers" (but, it was worth noting, no Communist Party members); nevertheless, the presence among them of such heroes of the Resistance as "Vercors" ensured that the document was taken seriously in wider circles. "In the course of a few weeks," says Vidal-Naquet, "the political climate changed fundamentally," and at the end of October there were demonstrations in support of the "121" bringing several hundred thousand out on to the streets throughout France. The launching of the "Manifesto" also coincided with another event that afforded the anti-war lobby with the maximum publicity: the "Jeanson Network" trial.

XREF: Connects to civil disobedience theory and how elite endorsement legitimizes protest movements.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1273