Maurrassisme
Encyclopedia
Maurrassisme is a political doctrine originated by Charles Maurras
(1868–1952), most closely associated with the Action française
movement. Maurassisme advocates absolute integral nationalism
, monarchism
, corporatism
, alliance with revolutionary syndicalism
, and opposition to democracy
, liberalism
, and capitalism
.
and its greatness. It began from a slogan "Politics first", from a postulate, patriotism
, which the French Revolution
had erased in preference to nationalism
, and a state: for Maurras, the French society of the late 19th century was undermined by decadence and corruption. According to him, these ills arose from the Revolution and caused their paroxysm in the Dreyfus affair
. Maurras' philosophical
influences ranged from Plato
and Aristotle
to Joseph de Maistre
, passing through Dante
, Thomas Aquinas
and Auguste Comte
. His historical influences ranged from Sainte-Beuve to Fustel de Coulanges passing through Taine and Ernest Renan
.
At fault, for Maurras, was the revolutionary and romanic spirit, borne by the liberal forces which he called the four confederated states (États confédérés), defined by him in 1949 in Pour un jeune Français: the Jews, the protestants, the freemasons
and foreigners whom Maurras called "metics" (métèques). These represented the "anti-France"; they could not in any way be admitted as part of the French nation.
More precisely with regard to politics, Maurrasisme rested on the following policies to ensure national cohesion:
The confidence in institutions forged by time led Maurras to distinguish the "Real Country" (pays réel), rooted in the realities of life - locality, work, trades, the parish and the family - from the "Legal Country" (pays légal) which he cast as artificially imposed on the "Real". These thoughts revisited organicist
themes of Catholic political tradition.
Maurras' institutional instinct also owed much to his initial federalism
and his affiliation to the Félibrige
movement of Mistral
. He saw in monarchy the key to the vault of decentralisation
. He considered that the people's direct attachment to the sovereign's authority and the moral cement of the Catholic Church were unifying forces which would be enough to ensure national unity in a largely centralized political system. The republic, by contrast, could only achieve these aims by being constrained by the iron belt of Napoleonic centralized administration. His vision was authority on high, with freedom beneath.
It may be noted that it was through pragmatism and obsession with civil war that, in 1914 as in 1940, Maurras remained faithful to his prinicple of nationalist compromise, or the union nationale
in time of crisis, and supported both Georges Clemenceau
and Philippe Pétain
in this.
s) in 1896 through a political argument: kings had created France, and it had been defeating since 1789. As a partisan of duc d'Orléans and his descendants (the Duke of Guise, then the Count of Paris), he dreamed of converting the Action française, newly created by nationalist republicans, to the royalist ideal, and of gathering to him the remainder of traditional French royalty, exemplified by the Marquis of la Tour du Pin or General de Charette.
The synthesis between counter-revolutionary ideas and nationalism (but also positivism), triggered by the moral shock of the war of 1870, which had turned some traditionalist forces towards the national idea and largely operated by the Dreyfus affair
from 1898 onwards, was to find its apotheosis in Maurrassisme. While there remained some non-Maurrassiste political nationalist movements, such as the many Jacobin
expressions of nationalism and the universalist nationalism along the lines of Péguy, counter-revolutionary politics was completely converted to Maurrassisme by 1911 after the consolidation of traditional royalist groups.
Maurrassisisme was to give a second wind to counter-revolutionary ideas, which had been in decline since 1893 which saw Catholics drawn to the Republic. It was to promulgate these ideas beyond their traditionally counter-revolutionary regions, Catholic society and the aristocracy.
Personally an agnostic until the final years of his life (at which time he converted to Catholicism), Maurras appreciated the social and historical role of the Catholic religion in French society, particularly its role as a federating force. His utilitarian vision of the Catholic Church as an institution serving the interest of national cohesion fostered a convergence between devout Catholics and those more distanced from the Church.
, from T.S. Eliot to Georges Dumézil
, from Jacques Maritain
to Jacques Laurent
, from Thierry Maulnier
to Gustave Thibon, up to de Gaulle
".
Maurrassisme was a particular source of inspiration for the Révolution nationale
of the Vichy regime of 1940-1941, the regime de Antonio Salazar in Portugal
and of Francisco Franco
in Spain
.
The links of Maurrassisme with the regimes of Pétain, Franco and Salazar, the important role of antisemitism among Maurrassist activitsts, and the positions of certain Maurrassists at the time of the Second World War led to the discrediting of this current of thought, whose supporters had dwindled to a tiny minority in 1945. In France, its posterity can mainly be traced to the groups of officers opposed to the decolonization of Indochina and Algeria.
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
(1868–1952), most closely associated with the Action française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
movement. Maurassisme advocates absolute integral nationalism
Integral Nationalism
Integral nationalism is one of five types of nationalism defined by Carlton Hayes in his 1928 book The Historical Evolution of Modern Nationalism....
, monarchism
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
, corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
, alliance with revolutionary syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
, and opposition to democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, and capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
.
A state of decadence
Maurrassisme had as its ambition to be a counter-revolutionary doctrine, affirming the cohesion of FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and its greatness. It began from a slogan "Politics first", from a postulate, patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, which the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
had erased in preference to nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, and a state: for Maurras, the French society of the late 19th century was undermined by decadence and corruption. According to him, these ills arose from the Revolution and caused their paroxysm in the Dreyfus affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
. Maurras' philosophical
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
influences ranged from Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
to Joseph de Maistre
Joseph de Maistre
Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre was a French-speaking Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat. He defended hierarchical societies and a monarchical State in the period immediately following the French Revolution...
, passing through Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
, Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
and Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
. His historical influences ranged from Sainte-Beuve to Fustel de Coulanges passing through Taine and Ernest Renan
Ernest Renan
Ernest Renan was a French expert of Middle East ancient languages and civilizations, philosopher and writer, devoted to his native province of Brittany...
.
At fault, for Maurras, was the revolutionary and romanic spirit, borne by the liberal forces which he called the four confederated states (États confédérés), defined by him in 1949 in Pour un jeune Français: the Jews, the protestants, the freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
and foreigners whom Maurras called "metics" (métèques). These represented the "anti-France"; they could not in any way be admitted as part of the French nation.
Maurras' solution: order, reason and classicism
Maurrassisme seems to have been born from a desire for order in the young Charles Maurras, attributed by some to his deafness.- In philosophy, this desire for order incurred an unconditional attachment to reasonReasonReason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
. - In art, the defense of classicismClassicismClassicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
against the "deviant" directions of romanticismRomanticismRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. - In politics, he implied aiming for a regime based on authority. But for Maurras, a regionalist ProvençaleProvenceProvence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
poetPoetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, authority had to accord with the respect for regional liberties - a stipulation which, according to him, could only be found in monarchyMonarchyA monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
. Maurras thus became a royalistRoyalistA royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
on principle in 1896.
More precisely with regard to politics, Maurrasisme rested on the following policies to ensure national cohesion:
- The exclusion from the nation of the four "confederated states", and the exaltation of the national interest ("only France"),
- Putting in place institutions charged with simultaneously guaranteeing the regional freedoms of the "real Nation" and maintaining national unity (for Maurras this institution was the Monarchy).
- In morality, the magisterium of the Catholic Church as a unifying cement, and a creator and model of order.
A political model based on the "Real Country" (pays réel)
In the line of positivism, Maurras considered that societal organisation and institution ought to be the fruit of the selection imposed by the centuries, "organising empiricism" being considered more effective than idealized theories, because of its being adapted to each national situataion. Monarchy played a part in these institutions, which were necessary notably to restrain Frankish-French rivalries.The confidence in institutions forged by time led Maurras to distinguish the "Real Country" (pays réel), rooted in the realities of life - locality, work, trades, the parish and the family - from the "Legal Country" (pays légal) which he cast as artificially imposed on the "Real". These thoughts revisited organicist
Organicism
Organicism is a philosophical orientation that asserts that reality is best understood as an organic whole. By definition it is close to holism. Plato, Hobbes or Constantin Brunner are examples of such philosophical thought....
themes of Catholic political tradition.
Maurras' institutional instinct also owed much to his initial federalism
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
and his affiliation to the Félibrige
Félibrige
The Félibrige is a literary and cultural association founded by Frédéric Mistral and other Provençal writers to defend and promote Occitan language and literature...
movement of Mistral
Frédéric Mistral
Frédéric Mistral was a French writer and lexicographer of the Occitan language. Mistral won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904 and was a founding member of Félibrige and a member of l'Académie de Marseille...
. He saw in monarchy the key to the vault of decentralisation
Décentralisation
Décentralisation is a french word for both a policy concept in French politics from 1968-1990, and a term employed to describe the results of observations of the evolution of spatial economic and institutional organization of France....
. He considered that the people's direct attachment to the sovereign's authority and the moral cement of the Catholic Church were unifying forces which would be enough to ensure national unity in a largely centralized political system. The republic, by contrast, could only achieve these aims by being constrained by the iron belt of Napoleonic centralized administration. His vision was authority on high, with freedom beneath.
It may be noted that it was through pragmatism and obsession with civil war that, in 1914 as in 1940, Maurras remained faithful to his prinicple of nationalist compromise, or the union nationale
Union Nationale
Union Nationale may refer to several political parties:*Union nationale , Canada*Union Nationale Rwandaise*National Union , Union nationale in French*Chadian National Union, Union Nationale Tchadienne, known as UNT...
in time of crisis, and supported both Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
and Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
in this.
A new political synthesis
In terms of political institutions Maurras had been a legitimist in his youth, then a federalist republican, but rediscovered royalism (although as a supporter of the OrléanistOrléanist
The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
s) in 1896 through a political argument: kings had created France, and it had been defeating since 1789. As a partisan of duc d'Orléans and his descendants (the Duke of Guise, then the Count of Paris), he dreamed of converting the Action française, newly created by nationalist republicans, to the royalist ideal, and of gathering to him the remainder of traditional French royalty, exemplified by the Marquis of la Tour du Pin or General de Charette.
The synthesis between counter-revolutionary ideas and nationalism (but also positivism), triggered by the moral shock of the war of 1870, which had turned some traditionalist forces towards the national idea and largely operated by the Dreyfus affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
from 1898 onwards, was to find its apotheosis in Maurrassisme. While there remained some non-Maurrassiste political nationalist movements, such as the many Jacobin
Jacobin
Jacobin may refer to:* Jacobin , a member of the Jacobin club, or political radical, generally* The Jacobin Club, a political club during the French Revolution* Jacobin , an American leftist political magazine....
expressions of nationalism and the universalist nationalism along the lines of Péguy, counter-revolutionary politics was completely converted to Maurrassisme by 1911 after the consolidation of traditional royalist groups.
Maurrassisisme was to give a second wind to counter-revolutionary ideas, which had been in decline since 1893 which saw Catholics drawn to the Republic. It was to promulgate these ideas beyond their traditionally counter-revolutionary regions, Catholic society and the aristocracy.
Personally an agnostic until the final years of his life (at which time he converted to Catholicism), Maurras appreciated the social and historical role of the Catholic religion in French society, particularly its role as a federating force. His utilitarian vision of the Catholic Church as an institution serving the interest of national cohesion fostered a convergence between devout Catholics and those more distanced from the Church.
A major influence on the first half of the 20th century
The Maurrassist synthesis would develop into a school of thought in France, and indeed extend beyond French borders. Within France, Maurrassisme became a major influence in intellectual and student circles (in law and medical departments, etc.) in the 1910s and 1920s, reaching a peak in 1926 before the pope's condemnation. By way of example, the Maurrassist current had its attraction to the most diverse personalities, "from Bernanos to Jacques LacanJacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
, from T.S. Eliot to Georges Dumézil
Georges Dumézil
Georges Dumézil was a French comparative philologist best known for his analysis of sovereignty and power in Proto-Indo-European religion and society...
, from Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
to Jacques Laurent
Jacques Laurent
Jacques Laurent or Jacques Laurent-Cély was a French writer and journalist.He belonged to the literary group of the Hussards, and is known as a prolific historical novelist, essay writer, and screenwriter under the nom de plume of Cecil Saint-Laurent...
, from Thierry Maulnier
Thierry Maulnier
Thierry Maulnier was a French journalist, essayist, dramatist, and literary critic.-Before 1940:...
to Gustave Thibon, up to de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
".
Maurrassisme was a particular source of inspiration for the Révolution nationale
Révolution nationale
The Révolution nationale was the official ideological name under which the Vichy regime established by Marshal Philippe Pétain in July 1940 presented its program...
of the Vichy regime of 1940-1941, the regime de Antonio Salazar in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and of Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
The links of Maurrassisme with the regimes of Pétain, Franco and Salazar, the important role of antisemitism among Maurrassist activitsts, and the positions of certain Maurrassists at the time of the Second World War led to the discrediting of this current of thought, whose supporters had dwindled to a tiny minority in 1945. In France, its posterity can mainly be traced to the groups of officers opposed to the decolonization of Indochina and Algeria.
External links
- L'Empirisme organisateur (site of the Restoration nationale movement)