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Jeune Europe (French; "Young Europe") was a neo-fascist euro-nationalist movement formed by Jean Thiriart in Belgium. Emile Lecerf, a later editor of the Nouvel Europe Magazine, was one of Thiriart's associates.
Young Europe Jeune Europe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Jean-François Thiriart |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Dissolved | 1969 |
| Preceded by | Mouvement d'Action Civique |
| Newspaper | La nation européenne |
| Ideology | Pan-Europeanism Neo-fascism Anti-imperialism National Communism Nazi-Maoism National Bolshevism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| European affiliation | National Party of Europe |
History
editFollowing the Algerian War of Independence, Thiriart decided to look to a more Europe-wide vision and founded Jeune Europe as a result, calling for a united Europe that would be "neither Moscow nor Washington" but rather a third superpower in order that the individual states could stop being squeezed in the Cold War.[1] Jeune Europe quickly grew in influence, with major branches opening in France, Italy and Spain, as well as minor groups in nine other countries.[1] Its strongest following was amongst students although it attracted wider attention in part due to the strength of Thiriart's personality and his unusually syncretist message.[2] They also participated in 1962 Conference at Venice, where they agreed to participate in the National Party of Europe, along with Oswald Mosley's Union Movement, Otto Strasser and others.[3] Jeune Europe as a movement, and Thiriart in particular, also foresaw a future rapprochement with the Soviet Union and sought a rapprochement with Maoist China in order to oust the Americans from Europe.[4][5]
Although Thiriart publicly disavowed fascism and branded Nazism obsolete, the movement was still accused of having a fascist basis, be it through adopting the Celtic cross, a symbol widely used in neo-fascism, as its emblem or advertising the activities of neo-Nazi leader Hans-Ulrich Rudel in its eponymous weekly magazine.[6] The group also maintained links with the network of former SS officers that organised through the magazine Nation Europa.[7] However, Thiriart's flirtation with China and the Soviet Union alienated some rank and file members for whom links with fascism were not to be eschewed and when he began to follow a more national communist path and seek contact with Nicolae Ceauşescu membership fell.[8] Other members went in the other direction: Notably, Renato Curcio, an early member of Giovane Europa (as the group was called in Italy), who eventually switched allegiance to the communist Red Brigades.[9]
One member of Jeune Europe, Roger Coudroy, enlisted in Fatah.
It was dissolved in 1969.[10]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, Warner Books, 1998, p. 170.
- ^ Piero Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 126.
- ^ S.J. Woolf, Fascism in Europe, Methuen (1981), p. 363.
- ^ Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p. 173.
- ^ Lebourg, Nicolas. "Neo-fascisme et nationalisme-révolutionnaire. 2. Etat-Nation-Europe". phdn.org. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
- ^ Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p. 172.
- ^ Woolf, Fascism in Europe, p. 361.
- ^ Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p. 174.
- ^ Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p. 182.
- ^ José Cuadrado Costa (1992). "Da Jeune Europe alle Brigate Rosse".