Action Française: Difference between revisions

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| quote = ... fascist Italy ... developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples were ''Estado Novo'' in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the Austrian ''Standestaat'' (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe,

| position = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]] to [[Far-right politics|Far-right]]<ref>Girardet Raoul (1957). "[http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rfsp_0035-2950_1957_num_7_4_392438 L'héritage de l'Action française]". Revue française de science politique. pp. 765-792.</ref><ref>Nonna Mayer (2002). ''La Restauration nationale. Un mouvement royaliste sous la 5e République''. [[Éditions Syllepse]]. Mauvais temps. {{ISBN|978-2-913165-87-8}}. Quote: "Born from the fallout of the 1870 war and the Dreyfus Affair, Action Française disappeared in 1944, compromised by its links with the Vichy regime. It was reborn in 1945 through a clandestine publication. Slowly, the supporters of the monarchy and of Marshal Pétain rebuilt their networks. On the eve of the Algerian war, the royalist organization was reconstituted under the name of Restauration nationale. It sided with the supporters of French Algeria and the Secret Army Organization found in it one of its best supporters. This reappearance of the royalist current on the political scene, and its permanence during the last 50 years, will mark the post-war history of the extreme right in France." ["Née des retombées de la guerre de 1870 et de l'Affaire Dreyfus, l'Action française disparaît en 1944, compromise par ses liens avec le régime de Vichy. Elle renaît dès 1945 à travers une publication clandestine. Lentement, les partisans de la monarchie et du maréchal Pétain reconstruisent leurs réseaux. À la veille de la guerre d'Algérie, l'organisation royaliste est reconstituée sous le nom de Restauration nationale. Elle se range aux côtés des partisans de l'Algérie française et l'[[Organisation de l'armée secrète]] trouve en elle un de ses meilleurs soutiens. Cette réapparition du courant royaliste sur la scène politique, et sa permanence durant ces 50 dernières années, va marquer l'histoire d'après-guerre de l'extrême droite en France."].</ref>

| website = {{URL|https://www.actionfrancaise.net/|actionfrancaise.net}}

The ideology of ''Action française'' was dominated by [[Maurrassisme|the precepts]] of [[Charles Maurras]], following his adherence and his conversion of the movement's founders to [[royalist|royalism]]. The movement supported a restoration of the [[House of Orléans|House of Bourbon-Orléans]] and, after the [[1905 French law on the separation of Church and State|1905 law on the separation of Church and State]], the restoration of [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] as the state religion, all as rallying points in distinction to the [[Third Republic of France]] which was considered corrupt and atheistic by many of its opponents.

In 1899, [[Maurice Pujo]] and [[Henri Vaugeois]] left the nationalist mouvementmovement ''[[Ligue de la Patrie française]]'' and established a new movement, called ''Action française'', and a new journal, ''Revue de l'Action française''. This was their [[nationalist]] reaction against the intervention of left-wing intellectuals on the behalf of [[Alfred Dreyfus]].<ref name="Rémond 2006 8">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Rémond |first=René |editor=Lawrence D. Kritzman |encyclopedia=The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought |title=Action française |year=2006 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-10790-7 |page=8 |author-link=René Rémond}}</ref>

In its early years, ''Action française'' tried to influence public opinion and to spread its ideas. For example, it created related organisations, such as student groups.<ref name="Judaken 2005 1" /> The political organisation of the movement, the Ligue d'Action Française, was launched in the spring of 1905, as was the Action Française Federation of Students, directed by [[Lucien Moreau]].<ref>{{citation|title=Les débuts de l'Action française (1899–1914) ou l'élaboration d'un nationalisme antisémite|language=fr|last=Joly |first=Laurent |journal=Revue Historique |volume=308|issue=3 (639) |date=July 2006|page=701|publisher=Presses Universitaires de France|jstor=40957800}}</ref> ''L'Institut d'Action française'' was created in 1906 as an alternative institute for higher education.<ref name="Judaken 2005 1">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Judaken |first=Jonathan |editor=Richard S. Levy |encyclopedia=Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution |title=Action française |year=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=[[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]], California, United States of America |isbn=978-1-85109-439-4 |page=1}}</ref> In 1908 the movement's periodical was turned to a daily newspaper, called simply ''Action française''.<ref name="Rémond 2006 8" /> [[Camelots du Roi]], the movement's youth wing, was created in the same year to sell the newspaper in the streets. Its members also served as a paramilitary wing, providing security for meetings and engaging in street violence with political opponents. The newspaper's literary quality and polemical vigor attracted readers and made Maurras and the movement significant figures in French politics. By 1914, ''Action française'' was the best structured and the most vital nationalist movement in France.<ref name="Judaken 2005 1" />

Several of Maurras's writings were placed on the ''[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]'' at the same time, on 9 January 1927, with ''Action française'' being the first newspaper ever placed on the Catholic Church's list of banned books.<ref>{{cite news|title=Holy See Bans French Paper|newspaper=[[Salt Lake Tribune]]|date=January 10, January 1927|page=1}}</ref> This was a devastating blow to the movement. On 8 March 1927, AF members were prohibited from receiving the [[sacraments]]. Many of its members left (two Catholics who were forced to look for a different path in politics and life were writers [[François Mauriac]] and [[Georges Bernanos]]); and it entered a period of decline.

===OrganizationOrganisation===

''Action française'' is active on the Internet and is followed by 1131,000 accounts on Twitter and 2427,000 people on Facebook. The movement uses [[YouTube]] videos and memes to spread its ideas.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2018/02/21/youtubeurs-memes-et-tweets-cinglants-la-feroce-bataille-des-royalistes-sur-internet_5260231_4408996.html|title=Youtubeurs, " mèmes " et Tweet cinglants… la féroce bataille des royalistes sur Internet|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|date=21 February 2018}}</ref>

In the books ''[[Neither Right nor Left]]''<ref>{{cite book|last=Sternhell|first=Zeev|title=Neither Right Nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France|year=1996|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]], New Jersey|isbn=0-691-00629-6|edition=First Princeton Paperback printing|author-link=Zeev Sternhell}}</ref> and ''The Birth of Fascist Ideology'',<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sternhell|first1=Zeev|author-link1=Zeev Sternhell|last2=Sznajder|first2=Mario|last3=Ashéri|first3=Maia|title=The birth of fascist ideology: from cultural rebellion to political revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/birthoffascistid00ster|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|edition=Third printing, and first paperback printing|year= 1995|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn=0-691-03289-0}}</ref> [[Zeev Sternhell]] claimed that ''Action française'' influenced [[national syndicalism]] and, consequently, [[fascism]].

Although it supported the [[Orléanist]] branch, according to historian [[René Rémond]]'s categorization of French [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] familiesgroups, itAF would be closer to the [[legitimist]] branch, characterized by a complete rejection of all changes to France since the 1789 [[French Revolution]]. According to Rémond, supporters of the Orléanist branch tended to favour [[economic liberalism]].

*[[Eugen Weber|Weber, Eugen]] (1962). ''Action Française; Royalism And Reaction In Twentieth-Century France.'', Stanford, California, Stanford University Press, 1962.

[[Category:Organizations that oppose LGBT rights in Europe]]