This book traces the rise of the French National Front and presents an analysis of the organisation's origins, structure and doctrine which concludes that the Le Pen phenomenon represents a modern and sophisticated form of fascism. The authors offer a critical assessment of how political parties and anti-racist organisations have responded to the National Front's exploitation of the immigration issue and examine the political arguments accompanying the reception of foreign workers and their families by French society during the twentieth century.

This wide-ranging and provocative book is at the same time a cry of warning for the threat to democracy posed by the French National Front, an analysis of the factors which have made possible its rise and repeated success, and a ruthless critique of the failures of anti-racism. The authors deploy meticulous scholarship in examining the NF's ideology, structure, antecedents and present activities before concluding that is it much better seen as a species of modernized fascism than as simply another temporary emanation of a vague "national populism." The lack of serious opposition to the NF is attributed to the failure of mainstream anti-racists to link up with and defend the minorities which it targets, a reflection of the complacency bred by the enduring myth that France is and has been since 1789 the natural home of the Rights of Man.

This book traces the rise of the French National Front and presents an analysis of the organisation's origins, structure and doctrine which concludes that the Le Pen phenomenon represents a modern and sophisticated form of fascism. The authors offer a critical assessment of how political parties and anti-racist organisations have responded to the National Front's exploitation of the immigration issue and examine the political arguments accompanying the reception of foreign workers and their families by French society during the twentieth century.

This wide-ranging and provocative book is at the same time a cry of warning for the threat to democracy posed by the French National Front, an analysis of the factors which have made possible its rise and repeated success, and a ruthless critique of the failures of anti-racism. The authors deploy meticulous scholarship in examining the NF's ideology, structure, antecedents and present activities before concluding that is it much better seen as a species of modernized fascism than as simply another temporary emanation of a vague "national populism." The lack of serious opposition to the NF is attributed to the failure of mainstream anti-racists to link up with and defend the minorities which it targets, a reflection of the complacency bred by the enduring myth that France is and has been since 1789 the natural home of the Rights of Man.