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The Front National in France pp 7–26Cite as

The History of the Front National

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Abstract

This chapter describes the historical development of the FN, from its modest first steps in politics to becoming a main French party and one of the most successful radical right-wing parties in Europe.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For instance, he acted as defence attorney for extreme-right figures such as General Raoul Salan and Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry (DeClair 1999: 25).

  2. 2.

    General Charles de Gaulle (1980–1970) assumed the presidency in 1959, at which time he supported French Algeria. He later changed his mind as the military situation deteriorated, creating a rift within rightist political circles. Though the French far-right had been favourable to de Gaulle, his decision to grant Algerian independence irrevocably separated the far-right camp from the Gaullist mainstream (cf. DeClair 1999: 21–23).

  3. 3.

    GRECE was a far-right intellectual group whose writings and publications espoused nationalist and racialist principals founded in anti-universalism and a “differentialist” paradigm (which called for the preservation of cultural and ethnic particularities).

  4. 4.

    Roger Holeindre is a former combatant in the Indochina war and the OAS, and former youth director of the Comité Tixier-Vignancour. He would later become vice-secretary general of the FN’s first executive bureau (Dézé 2012: 33).

  5. 5.

    Alain Robert was the former director of Occident and founder of the GUD. He later became secretary general of the Front National’s first executive bureau (cf. Dézé 2012: 33; DeClair 1999: 30).

  6. 6.

    MSI was a neo-fascist political party created by supporters of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1946.

  7. 7.

    Giving the party a more respectable image by rejecting violent actions, MSI’s Secretary General, Giorgio Almirante, attracted wider support from members of established parties (monarchic parties, Christian Democrats, and Liberals). The party received an unprecedented 8.7 % of the vote in the 1972 parliamentary elections.

  8. 8.

    ON members were partisans of the Revolution Nationale, a nationalist movement that called for the demise of the Fifth Republic and the subsequent establishment of an authoritarian regime (Art 2011: 123).

  9. 9.

    Jean-Marie Le Pen is often credited with creating the Front National. In reality, the party was created by several individuals: François Brigneau, François Duprat, Alain Robert, and Jean-Marie Le Pen (Declair 1999: 57).

  10. 10.

    The revolutionary nationalists remained stanchly antiparliamentarian, whereas supporters of Le Pen generally accepted the republican democratic system (Art 2011: 123). The FN became divided between “pragmatists”, who conceded the need for a strategic change in view of ON’s politics, and “radicals”, who feared the dissolution of the FN’s nationalist thrust (cf. Dézé 2012: 45–49).

  11. 11.

    As a former member of Jeune Nation and Ordre Nouveau, Duprat was a very influential figure in the French far-right. He also convinced many extreme-right factions to join the FN, including the Fédération d’Action Nationale et Européenne (FANE) and the Groupes Nationalistes Revolutionaires (GNR). In the mid-1970s, the FN managed to attract approximately 300 GNR and 500 FANE members, bringing its total membership to just under 1000 (Dézé 2012: 60).

  12. 12.

    The solidarist movement advocated a third way, supporting neither the Soviet Union nor the United States of America (Marcus 1995: 65).

  13. 13.

    Duprat’s national revolutionist movement was characterized by a very aggressive anti-communist stand. Among others, it advocated that force was the only way to deal with communists (see Birenbaum 1992).

  14. 14.

    In France, a candidate’s placement on the presidential ballot is contingent upon the solicitation of 500 signatures from mayors, senators, National Assembly deputies, or other official representatives. In the 1981 presidential elections, Le Pen was unable to secure the sponsorship signatures and thus could not run (cf. DeClair 1999: 44).

  15. 15.

    Jean-Pierre Stirbois was a former Union solidariste member and activist for OAS-Metropole. He was among the most active members of the Tixier-Vignancour movement (Dézé 2012: 69). In 1977, he was appointed to the FN’s political bureau, and he quickly became secretary general of the Comité Le Pen and, after 1978, second-in-command of the FN (Dézé 2012: 70).

  16. 16.

    By the 1980s, the immigrant population in Dreux had reached approximately 30 % (Kitschelt 1995: 100).

  17. 17.

    Other well-known intellectuals and politicians involved included Yvon Briant, Jean-Yves Le Gallou, Pascal Arrighi, and François Bachelot (DeClair 1999: 64).

  18. 18.

    Bruno Mégret left the RPR (1978–1981) and joined the LePenist movement in 1985. He became highly influential among these new members. In particular, he is known for creating the FN’s radical anti-immigration programme (1991), which outlined “50 concrete measures”, including cancellation of naturalizations granted after 1974 and repealing the “anti-racist laws” that protect minority rights (Betz and Immerfall 1998: 16).

  19. 19.

    The FN temporarily made an alliance with the Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans (CNIP) party for the 1986 legislative elections.

  20. 20.

    The FN used the term “gang of four” to describe what the party viewed as a corrupt oligarchy at the centre of French politics: the RPR (Rassemblement pour la République), the UDF (Union pour la Démocratie Français), the PS (Parti Socialiste), and the PCF (Parti Communiste Français) (cf. Davies 1999: 4).

  21. 21.

    For instance, hard-line Gaullists adopted tough anti-immigration rhetoric in the lead-up to the 1988 presidential elections in order to keep Gaullist voters from deserting to the FN (Merkl and Weinberg 1993: 41). However, in making the decision in 1988 to distance itself from the FN, the RPR government played into Le Pen’s hands (in Merkl and Weinberg 1993: 41). The anti-immigration policies pursued by the post-1993 conservative government and the RPR interior minister, Charles Pasqua, also attested to the FN’s influence in France’s mainstream politics (Kitschelt 1995: 119).

  22. 22.

    To explain the play of words, four (in French) means oven.

  23. 23.

    For example, Simone Veil, a cabinet minister for Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and president of the European parliament, stated in December 1989 that the FN had arrived at its final chapter and was on the verge of collapse (Perrineau 1998: 39).

  24. 24.

    For instance, by presenting a differentialist discourse under the slogan Les Français d’abord (The French first), Mégret skirted the anti-racist legislation and advanced a “disguised” xenophobia under an a priori principle of non-exclusion (Dézé 2012: 91).

  25. 25.

    Other terms for popular capitalism are “political entrepreneurialism” and “capitalist-authoritarianism” (cf. Minkenberg and Perrineau 2007; Kitschelt 1995: 91).

  26. 26.

    For instance, a 1990 survey showed that 71 % of FN activists who were delegates to the party’s 1984 national convention would have abstained in the second round of any elections if the choice was between a candidate from the moderate right and a socialist (Ysmal 1991: 189–191).

  27. 27.

    Debate was particularly heated over the ratification of the Maastricht treaty. The narrow margin by which the initiative was ratified by the Socialist/RPR government was a repudiation of Mitterrand and underscored the discontent of French citizens with EU policy-making. Le Pen seized the opportunity to be a leading voice against these policies for EU integration (cf. DeClair 1999: 96). These mainly economic policies provided him with a discursive platform for cultural differentialism.

  28. 28.

    The FN took political power in Marignane, Toulon, and Orange (Perrineau 1997: 82).

  29. 29.

    In addition to anti-immigration and security measures, Le Pen’s campaign planks included the promise to create a Sixth Republic to replace the scandal-plagued institutions of the Fifth Republic (DeClair 1999: 97–100).

  30. 30.

    In a by-election in February, Catherine Mégret won 52.5 % of the vote to become mayor of Vitrolles (Williams 2006: 88).

  31. 31.

    Marie-Christine Arnautu is presently the FN secretary-general for l’Île-de-France and member of the Political Bureau and Central Committee (Crépon 2012: 67).

  32. 32.

    Louis Aliot joined the Front National in 1990. He acted as regional secretary (1998–1999) and has been regional councillor for Languedoc-Rousillon since 1998. Aliot is now FN vice-president, as well as member of the Executive Bureau, Political Bureau, and Central Committee (cf. Crépon 2012: 56–60).

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  1. School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Daniel Stockemer

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Stockemer, D. (2017). The History of the Front National . In: The Front National in France. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49640-5_2

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