France's Purveyors of Hatred

This book examines the extreme right in France during the interwar period. It begins by describing the background of the French right before 1914 and then provides commentary and analysis of the broad range of the extra-parliamentary right in interwar France. Organisations such as Action Française and the militant ligues are examined as well as prominent extreme-right intellectuals such as Lucien Rebatet, Robert Brasillach and Pierre Drieu la Rochelle. The various forms of French anti-Semitism are assessed, and the book also situates the French extreme right within a broader context by assessing its impact on other European countries, including the UK. It concludes by exploring the complicated politics of wartime France where some extreme-right activists collaborated with the Nazis while others opposed them, and where few generalisations prove possible. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and students of French history, the extreme right and interwar politics.

Richard Griffiths is the author of Marshal Pétain; Fellow Travellers of the Right: British Enthusiasts for Nazi Germany 1933-1939; Patriotism Perverted: Captain Ramsay, the Right Club and British Anti-Semitism 1939-40 and What Did You Do During the War? The Last Throes of the British Pro-Nazi Right, 1940-45.

1. Introductory: The Radical Right in France Before the First World War Section A: Some Aspects of the French Radical Right's Impact Outside France in the Interwar Period 2. The French Right and Catholic Movements in Other European Countries 3. A Kind of 'torysme français'? Action Française and English Cultural Life 4. 'There are some among our younger Welshmen to whom Maurras means a great deal': The French Right as a Driving-Force of Welsh Nationalism Section B: Interwar France 5. Backdrop to Extremism: A Peculiarly French Form of Social Anti-Semitism 6. Old and New, Homegrown and Foreign: The Ligues 7. Pro-Nazism and the French Right in the Thirties: A Comparison with the British Experience 8. Joy and Despair; Two Contrasting Fascist Intellectuals, Robert Brasillach and Pierre Drieu la Rochelle 9. Fascism from the Left? 'Neo-socialism' and 'planisme' in France and Belgium in the 1930s Section C: The Second World War 10. Nazi Encouragement of Independence Movements: The Case of Brittany 11. 'Non-political' Collaboration: A Complicated Picture 12. Dilemmas of the French Right in Wartime Vichy, Paris, London and Algiers Conclusion Appendix One: The Wartime Situation Appendix Two: Rogues' Gallery