Remembering Maurice Bardèche:
October 1, 1907–July 30, 1998
Greg Johnson
Today is the birthday of Maurice Bardèche (1907–1998), the French Neo-Fascist writer. Bardèche was a prolific and highly versatile author of literary, film, and art criticism, history, journalism, and social and political theory. He published twenty-odd books and countless essays, articles, and reviews.
Born in modest circumstances in provincial Dun-sur-Auron near the geographical center of France, Bardèche rose by sheer dint of genius to the heights of France’s meritocracy. He received a scholarship to the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris where he met Thierry Maulnier and his future brother-in-law Robert Brasillach. In 1928, he entered the École Normale Supérieure, where he met such now famous figures as Jacques Soustelle, Simone Weil, and Georges Pompidou. In 1932 he started teaching at the Sorbonne.
During the 1930s, Bardèche primarily collaborated with Brasillach and Maulnier, writing for their journals. In 1935 Bardèche and Brasillach published their influential Histoire du cinéma (Denoël et Steele, 1935; expanded edition, 1943). During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Bardèche visisted Spain several times and co-authored a Histoire de la guerre d’Espagne (Plon, 1939) with Brasillach. In 1938, Bardèche began to write for the fascist journal Je suis partout.
In the 1940s, Bardèche became known for his work as a literary scholar. In 1940, he completed his thesis on Balzac. He later turned it into a biography, Balzac romancier: la formation de l’art du roman chez Balzac jusqu’à la publication du père Goriot (1820–1835) (Plon, 1943). Bardèche went on to published highly regarded studies of Stendhal (1947), Proust (1971), Flaubert (1974), Céline (1986), and Léon Bloy (1989).
In 1942, after 10 years at the Sorbonne, Bardèche moved to the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, where he taught until 1944. Always more sympathetic to fascism than National Socialism, Bardèche was not an open collaborationist during the German Occupation of France, although he moved in collaborationist circles. His brother-in-law Robert Brasillach was executed after the Liberation for collaboration. Bardèche was himself arrested for collaboration but was quickly released. His academic career was ended with a ban from teaching in the public educational system.
Bardèche was not silenced by persecution but radicalized. In 1947, he published Lettre à François Mauriac (La Pensée libre, 1947), defending collaborationism, attacking the excesses of the Resistance, and denouncing the purge of Vichy supporters and the execution of individuals like Brasillach. In 1948, he founded his own publishing imprint Les Sept Couleurs (The Seven Colours), named for a book by Brasillach. In 1948, he published Nuremberg ou la Terre promise (Nuremberg, or the Promised Land) (Les Sept Couleurs, 1948), a critique of the Nuremberg trials which landed him in court for defending war crimes. Sentenced to a year in prison, his sentence was commuted by President René Coty. In 1950, he published Nuremberg II ou les Faux-Monnayeurs (Nuremberg II or The Counterfeiters) (Les Sept Couleurs, 1950). In 1952, he founded his journal Défense de l’Occident (Defense of the West), which he published until 1982.
In 1951, Bardèche joined Sir Oswald Mosley, Karl-Heinz Priester, and Per Engdahl in founding the European Social Movement (MSE), the goal of which was to promote pan-European nationalism. Bardèche served as vice-president.
True to his heritage as a “Frank,” Bardèche never dodged labels like “rightist” or “fascist.” Instead, he owned them and tried to give them substance. In the Introduction to his book Qu’est-ce que le fascisme? (What is Fascism?) (Les Sept Couleurs, 1961) he states forthrightly “I am a fascist writer.” Bardèche sought to bring fascism back to its socialist and syndicalist roots. He was particularly attracted to Mussolini’s late experiment, the Italian Social Republic.
Counter-Currents has published the following works by Bardèche:
- “The Fascist Dream,” Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
- “From International Law to Global Oligarchy”
- “Nuremberg or The Promised Land”
- “The Rights of Man”
- “Six Postulates of Fascist Socialism” (Ukrainian translation here)
- “The True Foundations of the Nuremberg Tribunal“
- “What is Fascism?” (Czech translation here)
Counter-Currents will publish Bardèche’s Nuremberg or The Promised Land in 2013 and What is Fascism? in 2014.
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1 comment
Yes, I do like this man. I am quite amazed at myself moving from the idea that fascism is such a taboo topic to actually thinking that maybe it is not some demonic idea and that people can think about it in a positive way and it is not evil. To me the inquisition was a fascist event, in the sense of forcing a politically correct thoughts upon people with the use of torture. How is that different today in our so called democracy? The inquisition was not about higher ideals of race and nation, but about power and thought control through violence. Isn’t that what is happening to us now with all this crap about demonizing the Golden Dawn? Just who are the fascist (in the negative sense)? Inversions and Jews, now that those are twins in the scheme of things.
I have this feeling that fascism, will in the long run win out as people finally decide what it is and that is what they want. Not necessarily Hitler’s way or even Mussolini’s way, but the way of higher ideals and who we are. I am optimistically pessimistic, but maybe that is pessimistically optimistic.
I was thinking today that the magic negro Obama just is not living up to the archetype. The movies said so, but the reality is very different.
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