|
Showing 1 - 5 of
5 matches in All Departments
During the interwar years France experienced severe political
polarization. At the time many observers, particularly on the left,
feared that the French right had embraced fascism, generating a
fierce debate that has engaged scholars for decades, but has also
obscured critical changes in French society and culture during the
1920s and 1930s. This collection of essays shifts the focus away
from long-standing controversies in order to examine various
elements of the French right, from writers to politicians, social
workers to street fighters, in their broader social, cultural, and
political contexts. It offers a wide-ranging reassessment of the
structures, mentalities, and significance of various conservative
and extremist organizations, deepening our understanding of French
and European history in a troubled yet fascinating era.
During the interwar years France experienced severe political
polarization. At the time many observers, particularly on the left,
feared that the French right had embraced fascism, generating a
fierce debate that has engaged scholars for decades, but has also
obscured critical changes in French society and culture during the
1920s and 1930s. This collection of essays shifts the focus away
from long-standing controversies in order to examine various
elements of the French right, from writers to politicians, social
workers to street fighters, in their broader social, cultural, and
political contexts. It offers a wide-ranging reassessment of the
structures, mentalities, and significance of various conservative
and extremist organizations, deepening our understanding of French
and European history in a troubled yet fascinating era.
Historians of the French extreme right frequently denote the
existence of a strong xenophobic and nationalist tradition dating
from the 1880s, a perpetual anti-republicanism which pervaded
twentieth-century political discourse. Much attention is habitually
paid to the interwar era, deemed the zenith of this success, when
the leagues attracted hundreds of thousands of members and enjoyed
significant political acclaim. Most works on the subject speak of
'the French right' or 'French fascism', presenting compendia of
figures and organizations, from the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s
through the notorious Vichy regime, the authoritarian construct
which emerged following the defeat to Nazi Germany in June 1940.
However, historians rarely discuss the programmatic elements of
extreme right-wing doctrine, which demanded the eradication of
parliamentary democracy and the transformation of the nation and
state according to group principles. Instead, most detail the
organization and membership of various organizations, and often
recount their quotidian activities as political actors within (and
in opposition to) the Third Republic. This book offers a new
interpretation of the extreme right in interwar French politics,
focusing upon the largest and most influential such groups in 1920s
and 1930s, the Faisceau and the Croix de Feu. It explores their
designs for extensive political, economic, and social renewal, a
project that commanded significant attention from the leadership
and rank-and-file of both organizations, providing the overarching
goal behind their aspiration to power. The book examines five
components of these efforts: A renewal of politics and government,
the establishment of a new economic order, a revaluation of gender
and familial relations, the role of youth in the new
socio-political construct, and the politics of exclusion inherent
in every facet of Faisceau and CDF doctrine. In so doing it
contributes to a historical understanding of the programmatic
elements of the interwar extreme-right, while simultaneously
situating its most prominent exponents within their broader
historical context.
Historians of the French extreme right frequently denote the
existence of a strong xenophobic and nationalist tradition dating
from the 1880s, a perpetual anti-republicanism which pervaded
twentieth-century political discourse. Much attention is habitually
paid to the interwar era, deemed the zenith of this success, when
the leagues attracted hundreds of thousands of members and enjoyed
significant political acclaim. Most works on the subject speak of
'the French right' or 'French fascism', presenting compendia of
figures and organizations, from the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s
through the notorious Vichy regime, the authoritarian construct
which emerged following the defeat to Nazi Germany in June 1940.
However, historians rarely discuss the programmatic elements of
extreme right-wing doctrine, which demanded the eradication of
parliamentary democracy and the transformation of the nation and
state according to group principles. Instead, most detail the
organization and membership of various organizations, and often
recount their quotidian activities as political actors within (and
in opposition to) the Third Republic. This book offers a new
interpretation of the extreme right in interwar French politics,
focusing upon the largest and most influential such groups in 1920s
and 1930s, the Faisceau and the Croix de Feu. It explores their
designs for extensive political, economic, and social renewal, a
project that commanded significant attention from the leadership
and rank-and-file of both organizations, providing the overarching
goal behind their aspiration to power. The book examines five
components of these efforts: A renewal of politics and government,
the establishment of a new economic order, a revaluation of gender
and familial relations, the role of youth in the new
socio-political construct, and the politics of exclusion inherent
in every facet of Faisceau and CDF doctrine. In so doing it
contributes to a historical understanding of the programmatic
elements of the interwar extreme-right, while simultaneously
situating its most prominent exponents within their broader
historical context.
|
|