Christian Bouchet was on the National Directorate of Resistance, a French national-revolutionary group. The following interview first appeared in Issue #9 of The English Alternative magazine.
Q: Would you provide our readers with a brief history of Revolutionary Nationalism in France, particularly with regard to your own previous involvement with Troisieme Voie?
CB: Revolutionary Nationalism came from the radical Leftist current of the French Revolution, with men like Hebert, Marat and Baboeuf. After that it was embodied in the Blanquist Movement until after the French Commune of 1870-1. These militants were at the same time both Socialists and Nationalists. At the end of the Second Empire this current was anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and believed in a form of Darwinian eugenics.
During the boulangisme and the Dreyfus Affair, the current became split between a section of the Left and Nationalist organisations. After that, and after the First World War, there were some Revolutionary Nationalist or Fascist movements like the Faisceau of Valois (a former Anarchist leader), the Parti Fasciste Revolutionnaire of Lamour, the Parti Populaire Francais of Doriot (a former Communist leader), and the Rassemblement National Populaire of Deat (a former Socialist leader). This ended in blood with the so-called �liberation� of France by the Allies. Thousands of people were killed by mobs or condemned to death by popular - in fact Communist - juries, because they were Fascists, Monarchists, Rightists and so on. At this time my grandfather was also condemned to death (thanks to the gods that he was not shot) and my whole family put into jail.
After the Second World War some tiny groups were founded like the Phalange of Lucas, which was in contact with Otto Strasser and the French section of its European Popular Movement. In the 1960�s Thiriart�s Jeune Europe came, too, followed in 1970 by Duprat (who was slain by Zionists in a car bombing). He formed the Groupe Nationaliste Revolutionnaire de Base as a faction operating both in and out of the Front National, which was created in 1972. After Duprat's death the same year, the Mouvement Nationaliste Revolutionnaire was formed by merging former members of the Group d�Action Jeunesses (an anti-Communist youth action group), the organisation Lutte du Peuple (a tiny group of Thiriart partisans, in which I served as Administrative Secretary), and the Groupe Nationaliste Revolutionnaire de Base. In 1985, the Mouvement Nationaliste Revolutionnaire changed its name to Troisieme Voie, with a youth wing called Jeune Garde.
Sometime later on, I was duly elected as the group's National Secretary. Within Troisieme Voie there was a struggle between disciples of Jean Thiriart - led by myself in a faction called Les Terceristes Radicaux [Radical Third Positionists] - and Malliarakis, the President of the party who was a reactionary. We expelled him in 1991 and then changed our name to Nouvelle Resistance. We had in Nouvelle Resistance a very National-Bolshevik orientation, and we were very active. We met and worked with former Communist leaders in Russia, officials in Libya, Islamic leaders, independence activists and so on.
At the same time we published a bi-monthly publication which was sold in all the newspaper shops in France and for two years we published a small weekly, too. We also used entryism to infiltrate the Greens (taking control of their youth section), regionalist movements and anti-fascist groups. In fact one of our members was able to infiltrate the International Socialists (French section of the Socialist Workers Party) to such an extent that he even slept with one of their female leaders! This led to great amusement when it was actually revealed in our newspaper that penetration had actually taken place on two fronts!!
Q: When and why did you actually decide to form Resistance?
CB: Our main problem was the growth of the Front National (FN), which became very popular amongst industrial workers, poor people and the youth of the lower social classes. So for us it was very difficult to gain new members and keep those we already had. In the summer of 1997 we decided to dissolve Nouvelle Resistance and to work as a fraction both in and out of the FN using the names Resistance and Jeune Resistance. Since this time, we have also worked alongside a student action group, called the Groupe d�Union et de Defense (GUD).
Q. What is the Movement�s attitude towards Jean Marie Le Pen and the Front National?
CB: For a very long time we were bitterly opposed to JMLP and the FN, but gradually the FN began to change under the influence of New Right thinkers. Its social base also changed, and the FN is now the leading workers� party in France. So it is difficult not to agree with it and impossible for a Nationalist to oppose the FN because its enemies are the same as ours: Zionists, Red activists, liberals, 'sexualdeviants' and so on. We now try to have an influence on its youth group and on its more radical wing. In many ways, we try to work as Militant has done in the Labour Party.
Q: You were heavily involved in the establishment of the European Liberation Front (ELF), so perhaps you would care to outline the aims and objectives of this committee?
CB: I think that we must unify the National Revolutionary forces in Europe and prepare them for a more effective war against the System. It is not easy. Usually, radical Nationalist groups are happy when they are exchanging letters and newspapers, and as far as they are concerned this is called �international relations�. The ELF believes that we must create a European Party, with one national directorate at a European level and regional directorates in each nation. In many ways, we must work like the Komintern.
Q: Who does Resistance consider to be its chief ideologues?
CB: The founders of Revolutionary Nationalism in France like Blanqui and Valois, but also Russians like Oustrialov, Germans like Paetel, Lass, Niekisch, Strasser and Junger, Italians like Bombacci, Evola and the Futurists, and Spaniards like Ledesma Ramos. We are also very influenced by Juan Peron, Jean Thiriart and Alain de Benoist.
Q: Given your support for political decentralisation, is a centralised Nationalist administration really a viable option or should we be looking to emulate certain strains of Anarchism?
CB: We need organic, grass-roots democracy and subsidiaries. Each level must decide to the best of its abilities.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest single hurdle facing National Revolutionaries today?
CB: Non-European immigration and globalisation.
Q: What is your current position on armed struggle, and can you ever see this changing in the future?
CB: Before speaking of armed struggle you must determine who is the enemy. You must also have a wide social base like the PIRA, the Spanish ETA or Corsican FLNC. But even then armed struggle is very difficult. Jean Thiriart wrote that it needs an exterior lung (a non-European country which can assist) or a Piedmont (a European country which has begun the war abroad). We have neither of these. In France, the last armed struggle was that of the OAS during the early 1960's and it suffered a bloody defeat. I think that it is not yet the time to speak of armed struggle. It is romantic but not very serious, although the time will come.
Q: How do you view the current situation with regard to Revolutionary Nationalism in England?
CB: I have been interested in Mosley for a long time, and particularly with the post-war ideas of the BUF. I find it very strange that they are not more popular in English Nationalist circles, as their ideas of European union were good, better than petty bourgeois Nationalism. Since the demise of the National Front I had close links with Patrick Harrington and Third Way, but I do not understand the group�s evolution. It is too soft and liberal. I do not understand what he wants to do and where he wants to go. Ulster Nation is a courageous newspaper, but so tiny. Once I met Derek Holland and various other ITP leaders, but they were strange bigots with strange ideas who, when you oppose them, do not answer politically but label you either a faggot or a Satanist!! For me the ITP is not Revolutionary Nationalist but petty bourgeois and bigoted. In fact England is crying out for the creation of a real Revolutionary Nationalist organisation, one which will be proud of the past but look to the future. I think that the cultural fight must be as important as the political fight. A grass-roots cultural fight and not one of the university variety.
Q: And finally, Christian, is there anything you wish to add?
CB: Read Gramsci, learn of the good and bad experiences of groups in other countries. Be the best and you will attract the best.
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