Synarchism

Not to be confused withSynthesis anarchism.

Synarchismgenerally means "joint rule" or "harmonious rule". Beyond this general definition, bothsynarchismandsynarchyhave been used to denote rule by a secreteliteinVichy France,Italy,China,andHong Kong,while being used to describe a pro-Catholic theocracy movement inMexico.

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Origins

The earliest recorded use of the termsynarchyis attributed toThomas Stackhouse(1677–1752), an English clergyman who used the word in hisNew History of the Holy Bible from the Beginning of the World to the Establishment of Christianity(published in two folio volumes in 1737). The attribution can be found in theWebster's Dictionary(the American Dictionary of the English Language, published byNoah Websterin 1828). Webster's definition forsynarchyis limited entirely to "joint rule orsovereignty".The word is derived from the Greek stemssynmeaning "with" or "together" andarchymeaning "rule".

The most substantial early use of the wordsynarchycomes from the writings ofAlexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre(1842–1909), who used the term in his bookLa France vraieto describe what he believed was the idealform of government.In reaction to the emergence ofanarchistideologies and movements, Saint-Yves elaborated a political formula which he believed would lead to a harmonious society. He defended social differentiation and hierarchy with collaboration between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups: synarchy, as opposed toanarchy.Specifically, Saint-Yves envisioned aFederal Europe(as well as all the states it has integrated) with acorporatistgovernment composed of threecouncils,one foracademia,one for thejudiciary,and one forcommerce.

Rule by a secret elite

The wordsynarchyis used, especially among French and Spanish speakers, to describe ashadow governmentordeep state,a form of government where political power effectively rests with a secretelite,in contrast to anoligarchywhere the elite is or could be known by the public.

In Vichy France

According to formerOSSofficerWilliam Langer,some French industrial and banking interests, even before the war, had turned toNazi Germanyand had looked to Hitler as the savior of Europe from Communism.

This theory allegedly originated with the discovery of a document calledPacte Synarchiquefollowing the death (May 19, 1941) ofJean Coutrot,former member ofGroupe X-Crise,on May 15, 1941. According to this document, aMouvement Synarchique d'Empirehad been founded in 1922 with the aim of abolishingparliamentarianismand replacing it with synarchy. This led to the belief thatLa Cagoule,a far-right organisation, was the armed branch of French synarchism, and that some important members of theVichy Regimewere synarchists. The Vichy government ordered an investigation, leading to theRapport Chavinbut no evidence for the existence of theMouvement Synarchiste d'Empirewas found. Most of the presumed synarchists were either associated with theBanque Wormsor with Groupe X-Crise; they were close to AdmiralFrançois Darlan(Vichy prime minister 1941–1942), and this has led to the beliefthat synarchists had engineered the military defeat of France for the profit of Banque Worms.

This belief system has been dismissed as a "work of a paranoid imagination which wove together the histories of three disparate groups of activists, creating a conspiracy among them where none existed".Most historiansaffirm that thePacte Synarchiquewas ahoaxcreated by some French collaborators with Nazi Germany to weaken Darlan and his Vichy technocrats.Only the far-left historian Annie Lacroix-Riz defends the idea that the synarchy existed.

Lyndon LaRouche

Lyndon LaRouche,leader of theLaRouche movement,described a wide-ranging historical phenomenon, starting withAlexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydreand theMartinist Orderfollowed by important individuals, organizations, movements and regimes that are alleged to have been synarchist, including thegovernment of Nazi Germany.He claimed that during theGreat Depressionan international coalition of financial institutions, raw materials cartels, andintelligenceoperatives installedfascistregimes throughoutEurope(and tried to do so inMexico) to maintain world order and prevent the repudiation ofinternational debts.LaRouche identified the formerU.S. vice presidentand formerPNACmemberDick Cheneyas a modern "synarchist", and claimed that "synarchists" have "a scheme for replacing regular military forces of nations, byprivate armiesin the footsteps of a privately financed internationalWaffen-SSlike scheme, a force deployed by leading financier institutions, such as the multi-billions funding by theU.S. Treasury,of Cheney'sHalliburtongang. "

Other uses

Qing China

Harvardhistorian andsinologistJohn K. Fairbankused the wordsynarchyin his 1953 bookTrade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854,and in later writings, to describe the mechanisms of government under theQing dynastyinChina.Fairbank's synarchy is a form of joint rule by co-opting existing Manchu and Han Chinese elites and bringing the foreign powers into the system and legitimizing them through a schedule of rituals and tributes that gave them a stake in the Qing dynasty rule. He believed that the Qing, who were considered outside rulers because of their Manchu origins, developed this strategy out of necessity because they did not have a strong political base in China.

Hong Kong

The term is also used by some political scientists to describe theBritish colonial government in Hong Kong(1842–1997).Ambrose King,in his 1975 paperAdministrative Absorption of Politics in Hong Kong,described colonial Hong Kong's administration as "elite consensual government". In it, he claimed, any coalition of elites or forces capable of challenging the legitimacy of Hong Kong's administrative structure would be co-opted by the existing apparatus through the appointment of leading political activists, business figures and other elites to oversight committees, by granting themBritish honours,and by bringing them into elite institutions like Hong Kong's horse racing clubs. He called thissynarchy,by extension of Fairbank's use of the word.

Mexican synarchism

Main article:National Synarchist Union

Synarchyis also the name of the ideology of a political movement inMexicodating from the 1930s. In Mexico, it was historically a movement of theRoman Catholicextreme right,in some ways akin tofascism,violently opposed to thepopulistandsecularistpolicies of therevolutionary(PNR, PRM, and PRI) governments that ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000.

TheNational Synarchist Union(Unión Nacional Sinarquista,UNS) was founded in May 1937 by a group of Catholic political activists led by José Antonio Urquiza, who was murdered in April 1938, andSalvador Abascal.In 1946, a faction of the movement loyal to deposed leaderManuel Torres Buenoregrouped as thePopular Force Party(Partido Fuerza Popular). Synarchism revived as a political movement in the 1970s through theMexican Democratic Party(PDM),whose candidate, Ignacio González Gollaz, polled 1.8 percent of the vote at the 1982 presidential election. In 1988Gumersindo Magañapolled a similar proportion, but the party then suffered a split, and, in 1992, lost its registration as apolitical party.It was dissolved in 1996.

There are now two organisations, both calling themselves the Unión Nacional Sinarquista, one aligning toFrancoist policies,the other following theNational SyndicalismofPrimo De Rivera.Carlos Abascal,son ofSalvador Abascal,was Mexico's Secretary of the Interior duringVicente Fox's presidency. Manysinarquistasare now militant in theNational Action Party,PAN, of former presidents Vicente Fox (2000–2006) andFelipe Calderón(2006–2012).

Further reading

• Richard F. Kuisel (Spring 1970)."The Legend of the Vichy Synarchy."French Historical Studies,vol. 6, no. 3. pp. 365–398.doi:10.2307/286065.
• (in French)Olivier Dard (2012).La synarchie ou le mythe du complot permanent.Paris: Perrin.ISBN978-2262010997.