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Jeune Nation

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Jeune Nation
LeaderPierre Sidos
PresidentFrançois Sidos
FoundedOctober 22, 1949;74 years ago(1949-10-22)
DissolvedMay 15, 1958(1958-05-15)
Succeeded byParti Nationaliste (1958–1959)
NewspaperJeune Nation(1958–1960)
Membership3,000–4,000 (at its height)
IdeologyFrench nationalism
Neo-fascism
Political positionFar-right

Jeune Nation(French:[ʒœnnɑsjɔ̃];English:Young Nation) was a Frenchnationalist,neo-Pétainistandneo-fascistfar-rightmovement founded in 1949 byPierre Sidosand his brothers. Inspired byFascist ItalyandVichy France,the group attracted support from many young nationalists during theAlgerian war(1954–62), especially in theFrench colonial army.Promoting street violence and extra-parliamentarian insurrection against theFourth Republic,members hoped the turmoils of thewars of decolonizationwould lead to acoup d'étatfollowed by the establishment of a nationalist regime. Jeune Nation was the most significant French neo-fascist movement during the 1950s;[1]it gathered at its height 3,000 to 4,000 members.[2]

Suspected of a bomb attack in theNational Assembly,Jeune Nation was dissolved by official decree during theMay 1958 crisis.The organization nonetheless survived through the 1960s under the shape of several other nationalist organizations, primarily theFederation of Nationalist Students(1960–1967), theOrganisation Armée Secrète(1961–1962),Europe-Action(1963–1966),Occident(1964–1968) andL'Œuvre Française(1968–2013), all established by former Jeune Nation members.

History[edit]

Background: 1943–1948[edit]

Jeune Nation's founder,Pierre Sidos,joined the fascistParti Francistein 1943 at 16 years old, the minimum required age. His father, François Sidos, was executed in 1946 for his involvement in theVichyparamilitaryMilice.Pierre avoided a harsher sentence since a minor at the time of the events and was convicted to five years in jail. The time he spent serving his sentence comforted the political convictions he had built before and during the war, and Pierre Sidos began to imagine "Jeune Nation" during prison time.[3]

Discredited by earlier European far-right experiences, French nationalist parties scored poorly in elections from the fall of fascism in 1945 until the rise of theFront Nationalin the 1980s.[4]Neo-fascists groups nonetheless saw in the immediate post-war new reasons to swing into action, mainly the fight againstcommunist expansionand the defense of theFrench empire's survival against the growingdecolonizationmovement.[5]

Creation and emergence: 1949–1953[edit]

Released earlier from prison on 4 August 1948, Sidos quickly contacted his brothers François et Jacques to help him work on his project. In 1949, the final structure of the organization had been designed but the Sidos brothers lacked money, and far-right sponsors were not abundant in the immediate post-war. Pierre then requested assistance from Jeanne Pajot, a richbonapartistand a friend ofPierre Taittinger,former leader of theJeunesses Patriotes.She accepted to fund the movement, called at that time "La Jeune Nation", which held its first presentation on 22 October 1949 in Pajot's apartment.[3]In 1952, they published a monthly magazine,Peuple de France et d'Outre-mer( "People of France and Overseas France" ). The movement also tried to establish links with other nationalist right-wingers abroad, with Sidos traveling to London to visit fellow groups.[6]

They were soon joined by other nationalists like Albert Heuclin, Jean Marot, Jacques Wagner andJean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour.[5][7]On 23 March 1950, the group was officially declared to thePrefecture of Police,[8]but it remained publicly unknown for several years. In 1954, two events changed the destiny of Jeune Nation: the end of theFirst Indochina Waron July 20, and the beginning of theAlgerian War of Independenceon November 1.[7]

Street violence: 1954–1957[edit]

The movement experienced a sudden fame and membership rose after the return of military personnel from south-East Asia. On 11 November 1954, ten days after the beginning of theAlgerian War,Pierre Sidos announced the official birth of the movement "Jeune Nation" under its final name. Tixier-Vignancour, opposed to violent actions, soon left the group to create his own organization, theRassemblement National Français.[7]Jeune Nation held its first congress on 11 November 1955, when they adopted theCeltic crossas their emblem. Dismissing mass parties, Sidos aimed at creating a small and faithful army, with a revolutionary general staff ready to seize power and rule as amilitary juntawhen their moment has come.[3]

Labeling themselves the "successors ofthose of 1934"and targeting young people in their recruitment,[7]Jeune Nation was joined in 1956 byDominique Venner,then 21, whose later opposition to Sidos marked a generational and ideological shift between the young "euro-nationalists"and the" nostalgicneo-PetainistsofPierre Sidos."[9][10]If they were largely inspired by the ideologies offascist ItalyandVichy France,[11]Jeune Nation began at that time to break with thecollaborationistcircles that had been protecting them since Sidos' prison time. AsGaullistsand former resisters were joining their ranks in the context of the Algerian war, Sidos banned any evocation of the period 1933–1945 among its militants, with only a few events like the commemorations ofRobert Brasillach's death or the events of6 February 1934allowed to take place.[3]

The group was known for their violent street attacks, especially on communist sympathizers. On 9–10 October 1954, a commando led by Sidoscarjackeda van transporting issues of the communist newspaperL’Humanité Dimanche,then destroyed them and assaulted the driver who died a few months later as a result of his injuries.[12]Hoping to calm down the situation, Sidos sent a letter to the newspaperLe Mondea few days later to "formally disapprove of the individual violence committed in recent times".[13]In March 1958,Jean-Marie Le Pentestified at the trial of four Jeune Nation militants accused of being involved in the murder.[14]During demonstrations organized held on 8 November 1956 to denounce the Soviet military intervention in theHungarian Uprising,Jeune Nation stormed and partly set to fire the headquarters of theCommunist Partyin Paris.[12]In the midst of protests atplace de l'Étoilein April 1954, they mauled Prime MinisterJoseph Lanieland Minister of DefenseRené Pleven,[2]and on 25 November 1957 Jeune Nation organized a violent protest in front of the American embassy to denounce arms exports towards Algeria.[15]

Dissolution and recreation attempts: 1958–1960[edit]

Jeune Nation was dissolved on 15 May 1958 by an official decree ofJules Moch,thenMinister of the Interior,two days after theputsch of Algiersand the beginning of theMay 1958 crisis.The group was involved in the troubles of May 13 in Algeria, and had been suspected of a bomb attack that occurred on February 6 in a lavatory at theNational Assembly.[9][1]

The association was regardless declared again under a new name to thePolice Prefectureon 7 October 1958, and publicly relaunched as "Parti Nationaliste" byPierre SidosandDominique Vennerduring a congress attended by around 600 people on 6–8 February 1959.[16]The new organization was designed by Venner as a coordination structure for all French far-right movements via aComité d’Entente(Entente Committee).[17]It was dissolved only four days later on 12 February 1959 following violent protests against Prime MinisterMichel Debréin Algeria.[2]Both Venner and Sidos were eventually arrested, respectively in April 1961 and July 1962,[2]after the issue of an arrest warrant on 24 January 1960 for "recreating a disbanded league" and "compromising State security". They were convicted on 19 June 1963 to a suspended 3-year jail sentence and a 2,000Frfine.[18]

The bi-monthly magazineJeune Nation,launched on 5 July 1958 to serve as an ideological organ for the rebirth of the group,[2]was not affected by the new dissolution of February 1959. The periodical, which violently attackedCharles de Gaulleas far as publicly calling for his assassination, had turned into a monthly magazine in January after financial and readership difficulties.[11]Articles were written byJacques Ploncard d'Assac,Henry Coston,Pierre-Antoine Cousteau,and Tixier-Vignancour, among others.[2][19]

Joined by the youngFrançois d'Orcival,Pierre Poichet and Georges Schmeltz (known as "Pierre Marcenet" ) in September 1959, the last issue of the magazineJeune Nationwas seized four months later by the police on 28 January 1960.[18]The three students then decided to found on 12 April 1960 theFederation of Nationalist Students(FEN). Initially favourable to the project, Sidos eventually opposed theeuro-nationaliststance introduced by Venner and adopted by the FEN. He broke with the latter in 1964 to createOccident.[9]

Ideology[edit]

Jeune Nation defendedanti-parliamentarianism,corporatism,theFrench armyand thecolonial empire,racism,antisemitism,and advocated violent actions to overthrow the regime. They also dismissedpolitical parties,communism,liberal democracyand what they saw as its embodiment, namely theUnited States.[7]

Agenda[edit]

Their political agenda was the establishment of an "authoritarian and popular, national and social State,"[7][1]similar to theRévolution nationaleofVichy France:a new army to "educate the youth", the expropriation of housings formerly possessed by "expelledmétèques[wogs] deemed undesirable ", anItalian fascist-likecorporatist unionism,the "elimination of stateless capitalism and effortless incomes" and the founding of a state led by a "selected and politically educated" elite.[11]Jeune Nation was however lessvichystthan other contemporary nostalgic movements whose mainraison d'êtrewas the defence of the memory ofPhilippe Pétain.[6]

The movement tried to launch a revolutionary fight outside of the parliamentary system in order to overthrow theFourth Republic,[1]which was according to them "the only hope for nationalism".[6][20]Jean Malardier, adherent of Jeune Nation and formerLVFmember, described the group as "aspiring and devoting the whole of itself to the national insurrection".[7]The ideas of "democracy" and "decadence" were interwoven in the group's analysis of society, their doctrine stating that "fighting against [France's] decadence [meant] fighting against the [democratic] regime".[6]Jeune Nation also referred to the achievement of a "second revolution", the first one beingthat of 1940and evidently notthat of 1789.[2]They also envisaged the construction of Europe "from Narvik to Cape Town" and "from Brest to Bucharest", "founded on the common civilization and destiny of the white race".[1]

Structure[edit]

Pierre Sidoswas the chief ideologue and leader of Jeune Nation. His brother François served as the president,[1]and Jean Malardier as the treasurer.[21]The leadership team was called theconductoire.[13][22]

Symbols[edit]

The group used theCeltic Crossas their symbol, which may come from an initiation to CelticesotericismSidos received in prison in 1946–1948 from Marcel Bibé, a formerBezen Perrotmember. During his internment, Sidos began to write aboutdruidismand the Celtic Cross, which he described as the allegory of the "walking sun and universal life" in his prison notes.[3]Sidos has stated that he was looking for a simple emblem to reproduce, unlike the eagle or the wild boar used by fascist groups at that time. Since its 1949 revival by Jeune Nation, the symbol has become popular among far-right movements in France and beyond in Europe.[23]

Notable members[edit]

Legacy[edit]

Continuity[edit]

Jeune Nation formed the most significant part of civil members in the pro-colonial paramilitary groupOrganisation Armée Secrète(OAS), founded in 1961. If they tried to import the OAS structures into Europe (via OAS-Métro), they never managed to spread the armed insurrection outside of Algeria.[16]

Pierre SidoscreatedOccidentin 1964,[9]but broke with the group in 1965–1966. He then foundedL'Œuvre Françaisein 1968, and remained its leader until 2012.[25]

Following the ban of its organLe Soleilin 1990, L'Œuvre Française founded in early 1994 in new magazine namedJeune Nation.L'Œuvre dissolved by official decree on 24 July 2013 along with its youth movement, "Jeunesses Nationalistes", the website was re-activated by nationalist militantsYvan Benedettiand Alexandre Gabriac, with the copyright "1958–2013 Jeune Nation".[26]

Post-fascist split[edit]

TheFederation of Nationalist Students(FEN) was created in 1960 by former Jeune Nation students after the publication of a "Manifesto of the Class of '60" where they committed themselves to "action of profound consequence", as opposed to "sterile activism", thus breaking with the street insurrection previously advocated by Jeune Nation.[27]

Dominique Vennerlaunched his nationalist magazineEurope-Actionin 1963 and aimed at removing "old ideas" from nationalism and fascism, such asanti-parliamentarianism,anti-intellectualismor a patriotism reduced to the boundaries of the nation-state—promoting instead apan-European nationalism.Venner also abandoned the myth of thecoup de force( "power grab" ) and asserted that a political revolution would not be able to happen before a cultural one, which could be reached only via the public promotion of nationalist ideas until they achieve majority approval.[10][28][29]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^Joined on 30 September 1958, four months after the dissolution decree (according to a membership application given by Pierre Sidos to the magazine Charles in 2013).

Citations[edit]

  1. ^abcdefShields 2007,p. 94.
  2. ^abcdefgD'Appollonia 1998,pp. 289–291.
  3. ^abcdefCharpier, Frédéric (2005).Génération Occident(in French). Le Seuil.ISBN978-2020614139.[better source needed]
  4. ^Fysh, Peter; Wolfreys, Jim (2003).The Politics of Racism in France.Springer. pp. 105–106.ISBN978-0230288331.InLe Fascisme est-il actuel?,François Gaucher argued that if the fascist flame was to burn again, 'It cannot burn in the same way, because the atmosphere has been profoundly modified' (Gaucher 1961, p.19).
  5. ^abBernard, Mathias (2007).Guerre des droites (La): De l'affaire Dreyfus à nos jours(in French). Odile Jacob.111.ISBN9782738119827.
  6. ^abcdMammone 2015,pp. 100–102.
  7. ^abcdefgGautier 2017,pp. 40–41.
  8. ^Taguieff, Pierre André(1994).Sur la Nouvelle Droite: jalons d'une analyse critique(in French). Descartes et Cie. p. 113.ISBN9782910301026.
  9. ^abcdTaguieff, Tarnero & Badinter 1983,pp. 30–33.
  10. ^abCrépon, Sylvain (2015).Les faux-semblants du Front national: Sociologie d'un parti politique(in French). Presses de Sciences Po.PT53.ISBN9782724618129.
  11. ^abcGautier 2017,pp. 46–47.
  12. ^abGautier 2017,pp. 42–43.
  13. ^abStaff (23 October 1954)."Une Lettre du" Mouvement Jeune Nation "".Le Monde(in French).
  14. ^Shields 2007,p. 111.
  15. ^Duprat, François(1972).Les mouvements d'extrême-droite en France depuis 1944(in French). Albatros. p. 81.
  16. ^abGautier 2017,pp. 48–49.
  17. ^abCamus & Lebourg 2017,p. 30.
  18. ^abDard 2000,p. 140.
  19. ^abcShields 2007,p. 97.
  20. ^Pierre Sidos:"Ce ne sont ni les électeurs ni les élus qui sauveront la France: il faut une révolution" (Jeune Nation,November 1958 (10), p. 3)
  21. ^Gautier 2017.
  22. ^Barrillon, Raymond (14 April 1958)."I. - Le mouvement Jeune Nation et le Rassemblement National".Le Monde(in French).
  23. ^abDoucet, David (2013)."Entretien: Pierre Sidos".Revue Charles(in French).Retrieved2019-08-10.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^Algazy 1984,p. 160.
  25. ^Gautier 2017,p. 156.
  26. ^Faye, Olivier; Mestre, Abel; Monnot, Caroline (7 August 2013)."Yvan Benedetti et Alexandre Gabriac réactivent" Jeune nation "".Le Monde(in French).
  27. ^Shields 2007,pp. 95–96, 119.
  28. ^Taguieff, Pierre-André(1993). "Origines et métamorphoses de la Nouvelle Droite".Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire(40): 4–6.doi:10.2307/3770354.ISSN0294-1759.JSTOR3770354.
  29. ^Milza, Pierre(1987).Fascisme français: passé et présent(in French). Flammarion. pp. 132, 339.ISBN978-2-08-081236-0.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Algazy, Joseph (1984).La tentation néo-fasciste en France: de 1944 à 1965(in French). Fayard.ISBN978-2213014265.
  • Camus, Jean-Yves;Lebourg, Nicolas(2017).Far-Right Politics in Europe.Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674971530.
  • D'Appollonia, Ariane Chebel (1998).L'extrême-droite en France: De Maurras à Le Pen(in French). Editions Complexe.ISBN978-2870277645.
  • Dard, Olivier (2000). "L'Anticommuniste des Héritiers de Jeune Nation".Communisme.Aspects de l'anticommunisme (in French). 62/63. L'Âge d'Homme.ISBN9782825114858.
  • Gautier, Jean-Paul (2017).Les extrêmes droites en France: De 1945 à nos jours(in French). Syllepse.ISBN978-2849505700.
  • Mammone, Andrea (2015).Transnational Neofascism in France and Italy.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1107030916.
  • Shields, James G. (2007).The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen.Routledge.ISBN978-0415372008.
  • Taguieff, Pierre-André;Tarnero, Jacques; Badinter, Robert (1983).Vous avez dit fascismes?(in French). Arthaud-Montalba.ISBN9782402119221.

External links[edit]

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