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Roger Griffin is a British political theorist based at Oxford Brookes University, and one of the most prominent researchers on fascism, including post-WWII-fascism; my own field of interest.

In the paper “Europe for the Europeans: Fascist Myths of the New Order 1922-1992″ (Humanities Research Centre, 1993, also available here), he summarises Eurofascism and its ideas.

Here I will present some quotes from that paper, together with some comments of my own. My hope is to – in this way – shed light upon some of the central tenets of Eurofascism, and also to give further examples of the connections a number of European far right parties have to anti-Semitic, anti-liberal and anti-democratic groups. This will be the first of two posts tracing the ideological roots of Vlaams Belang and other European political parties of today.

The European mission of Germany. Nazi poster.

Let me begin with a quote on Mussolini:

An example is the 1931 article written for the Popolo d’Italia, 4 September, `Is the White Race Dying Out?’, which shows that official Fascism had both a supra-Italian and a racist dimension quite independently of the Pact of Steel with Nazi Germany. Mussolini’s most scholarly biographer, Renzo de Felice, points out that it was after the Ethiopian War and under the influence of the nationalist Oriani, the demographer Korherr and the philosopher Spengler that `Mussolini underwent a decisive phase of ideological evolution and involution’ which `led him to believe that Europe and the world were undergoing a profound “crisis of civilization” [...].

The idea of “a crisis of civilisation” has always been important to fascists, and indeed to many totalitarian groups both in the Western world and elsewhere. For instance, the well-known Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb begins his “Milestones” with the following exclamation:

Mankind today is on the brink of a precipice, not because of the danger of complete annihilation which is hanging over its head – this being just a symptom and not the real disease – but because humanity is devoid of those vital values which are necessary not only for its healthy development but also for its real progress. Even the Western world realises that Western civilization is unable to present any healthy values for the guidance of mankind. It knows that it does not possess anything which will satisfy its own conscience and justify its existence.

To the Nazis, the crisis was multifold. The main culprit of the story was, however, as so many times before: the Jews were of course given most of the blame. The Nazi party was rushing in, ready to save Germany – and Europe in general. Consider these two Nazi posters:

Our last hope – Hitler

Europe is under attack! With the voluntary Flemish legion in the battle against Bolshevism!

Fascism has, like any other ideology, evolved and adopted over time. The parties I have identified as Eurofascist are not directly comparable to the Nazi party, although there are ties to pre- and post-WWII fascism to be found in every single case, and although there are connections to White Power-groups, violent private militias, etc.

What today’s Eurofascists have in common with the fascists of the past is – however – essential. One of the things they do have in common are the claims of an imminent civilisational crisis. This time around it is Muslims who are the enemy – and according to the fascist mythology they are supported by other groups, the ‘inner enemies’: socialists, multiculturalists, European Union-bureaucrats, liberals, etc. “White Europe” is being threatened – there is only one alternative:

Vlaams Belang – the only alternative

It’s quite a leap. I know. But here’s the deal: Vlaams Belang has provable ties to the fascism of the past, and it has provable ties to not-so-nice-fellows even today.

I don’t think every single Fleming who votes for them is a fascist. In fact, I think most of them aren’t. But that does not change the fact that there’s something thorougly rotten about Vlaams Belang. Let us – once again – take a step back in time. Roger Griffin writes:

Another influential French propagandist of fascism’s new Europeanism, however, was Maurice Bardeche (further reading: here, here and – a nasty piece of work – here). His Qu’est-ce que le fascisme? (1961) is a major statement of the principle that the belief in the need for national rebirth (or what I have called `palingenetic ultra-nationalism’) forms the common ground between the most diverse fascist movements and should be channelled into an international crusade against Bolshevism and Americanization.

In the early 1950s he was already talking of the need for Euro-MPs to coordinate the creation of a European empire with its own colonies (cf. Mosley’s `Eurafrica’) declaring that `the aim of this European revolution will be the spiritual regeneration of Man, society and the state’.

It should be noted en passant that the intransigent and murderous stand taken by the French `liberal’ state against Algerie Francaise to resist forced decolonization was vociferously supported in such Eurofascist periodicals as Jeune Europe, Europe-Afrique, and Junges Europa. If post-war German fascism lacked an ideologue of the originality and output of Evola or Bardeche, it certainly has not been short of pan-European initiatives.

In 1949 former SS Officer Arthur Erhardt founded the monthly Nation Europa which, as its subtitle makes clear, sets out to be a forum for all those who cherished the dream of a post-liberal and anti-communist `European New Order’. This periodical has become one of the pillars of ecumenical fascist publicism and propaganda. [...] It has thus been well placed to accommodate the many new permutations of palingenetic ultra-nationalism which have arisen since 1945 and to embrace as comrades in arms the organizations and parties which covertly or overtly seek to promote them (e.g. in recent years Le Pen’s Front National, Frey’s Deutsche Volksunion, Schoenhuber’s Republikaner and Terreblanche’s Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging). It has also been at pains to capitalise on all conflicts between European and non-European cultures (e.g. in Algeria and South Africa).

One of the most interesting characters of those mentioned above is Maurice Bardèche, the French neo-fascist intellectual. Close to the collaborationist Robert Brasillach (his brother-in-law and a political inspiration source), Bàrdeche wrote several books before Qu’est-ce que le fascisme? – including Nuremberg ou la Terre Promise (Nuremberg or the Promised Land, one English translation found here). This book is a classic of holocaust revisionism.

In “Nuremberg…” Bardèche claims that that at least part of the evidence regarding the concentration camps have been falsified, and that the deaths that occured there were caused by war-related privations, including starvation and illness. According to Bardèche, the final solution of the Nazis was really referring to a transfer of the Jews to «what they called a Jewish reservate, a kind of European ghetto, a Jewish fatherland reestablished in the east».

Still, Bardèche admitted that there was a «will to exterminate the Jews» and that there were «deportations of Jews» and of «certain Frenchmen who had accepted or seemed to have accepted the Jewish cause».

The whole question, Bardèche claims, is why the Germans made this distinction. He answers himself:

The Jews were originally strangers, who were first allowed into this country with prudence – and then in always increasing numbers as some of them gained influence. In spite of this hospitality that was given them, they did not refrain themselves from taking part in the political discussions of our country. Regarding whether we should transform the invasion of Czechoslovakia or the war in Poland into a European war, they did not hesitate to fight against any spirit of reconciliation, i.e. to involve our country in a unfortunate, but desirable war, because it was directed against an enemy of their race. We ceased to be a great nation. In reality, we maybe even ceased to be an independent people, because their wealth and their influence made their viewpoint prevail over that of those French who where concerned with protecting their ground and keeping peace.

In other words, Bardèche found that the Jews were themselves to blame for their deportation and for their deaths:

They say today that they are true to this land which their parents did not know, and that they understand better than us the wisdom and mission of this country, of which some of them can hardly speak the language.

They divided us, they claimed the blood of the best and purest, and they were delighted and still are delighted with our deaths. They gave us the right to say that this war they wanted was their war, and not ours. They paid the price that is paid in all wars. We have the right not to count their deaths with our deaths.

Bardèche was soon to join up with other fascists around Europe, including Oswald Mosley in England and Per Engdahl in Sweden. In 1951, Engdahl hosted an international meeting of key European fascists leaders in the southern Swedish city of Malmö, leading to the foundation of the European Social Movement, perhaps better known simply as the Malmö Movement.

In the same period, Bardèches book was translated into Dutch. The translator’s name was Karel Dillen, the man who was eventually to found Vlaams Nationale Partij – the party which soon became Vlaams Blok and today is known as Vlaams Belang.

Was it a youthful mistake from Dillen’s side, or was it something more? Consider the following:

- Dillen and Bardèche kept in contact in many years to come.

- Roeland Raes, later a member of parliament for VB, wrote a series of articles in Dietsland-Europa throughout 1980. The articles were titled: «A great European: Maurice Bardèche» and discussed all the works of Bardèche from 1947 on.

«To us, Bardèche is one of the most gifted writers of the nationalist camp», Raes noted, «an unusually brave man and a great European intellectual». He also pointed out that Flemish nationalists owe Bardèche thanks for contributing to «a large part» of their political thinking.

According to Raes, Bardèches’ work puts down the basic demands for «real national-revolutionary attitude and action»

- In 2000, the son of Karel Dillen, Koen Dillen, writes an article in the Vlaams Blok-magazine, called “In the library of my father”. Parts of the article tells the story of Brasillach and Bardèche. One interesting quote found on the (Leftist) site blokwatch.be:

Brasillach was murdered during the repression in France. His works showed my father the way to the French belletrie (belles-lettres, art of writing), if I may use this old-fashioned word.

And:

Loyalty to a lost cause and “pessimisme gai”: this was also a heritage my father received from France.

At the end of this post, let’s go back – once again – to Roger Griffin. He adds another interesting piece to the puzzle:

Perhaps because of its size, Belgium’s fascists have since 1945 been prominent instigators of pan-Europeanism in tandem with the country’s central role in the EC. The Congo crisis was as important a catalyst to the Belgian New Europe myth as the Algerian War was to the French one, and gave birth to the group Jeune Europe, which folded in 1968 but has left a number of heirs, notably Les Groupes Revolution Europe, Jeune Garde d’Occident, and the Parti Europeen. The Flemish counterpart to such groupings, the Flemish Militants Order (VMO or Odal Group, now subsumed within the Vlaams Blok or Flemish Bloc) has been playing a major role in coordinating links with racist [and] fascist groups in Europe. As for publicistic output, we have already noted Europe Reele, but the most influential magazine to spread the ecumenical gospel after Nation Europa is Nouvel Europe Magazine which was launched way back in 1944, even before the Nazi defeat. A Flemish equivalent to Jeune Europe is Were Di, which in magazines such as Dietsland-Europa and Rebel seeks to promote the vision of a creation of a greater Flanders or `Dietsland’ within a reborn Europe.

The VMO, Were Di, Dietsland-Europa, the Odal Group, all of them have ties to Vlaams Belang.

Tags: Islam og Midtausten, Ymse

Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 12:47 am • fascisme, eurofascisme, høyrepopulisme, innvandringsmotstand • RSS 2.0 feed • leave a response or trackback