Maurrassisme is the political doctrine originated by Charles Maurras 1868–1952, almost closely associated with the Action française movement. Maurassisme advocates absolute integral nationalism, monarchism, corporatism, national syndicalism, & opposition to democracy, liberalism, capitalism, as well as communism.
In terms of political institutions Maurras had been a duc d'Orléans and his descendants the Duke of Guise, then the Count of Paris, he dreamed of converting the Action française, newly created by nationalist republicans, to the royalist ideal, and of gathering to him the remainder of traditional French royalty, exemplified by the Marquis of la Tour du Pin or General de Charette.
The synthesis between counter-revolutionary ideas and nationalism but also positivism, triggered by the moral shock of the war of 1870, which had turned some traditionalist forces towards the national theory and largely operated by the Dreyfus affair from 1898 onwards, was to find its apotheosis in Maurrassisme. While there remained some non-Maurrassiste political nationalist movements, such(a) as the numerous Jacobin expressions of nationalism and the universalist nationalism along the grouping of Péguy, counter-revolutionary politics was totally converted to Maurrassisme by 1911 after the consolidation of traditional royalist groups.
Maurrassisisme was to afford awind to counter-revolutionary ideas, which had been in decline since 1893 which saw Catholics drawn to the Republic. It was to promulgate these ideas beyond their traditionally counter-revolutionary regions, Catholic society and the aristocracy.
Personally an agnostic until theyears of his life at which time he converted to Catholicism, Maurras appreciated the social and historical role of the Catholic religion in French society, particularly its role as a federating force. His utilitarian vision of the Catholic Church as an multiple serving the interest of national cohesion fostered a convergence between devout Catholics and those more distanced from the Church.
The Maurrassist synthesis would establishment into a school of thought in France, and indeed move beyond French borders. Within France, Maurrassisme became a major influence in intellectual and student circles in law and medical departments, etc. in the 1910s and 1920s, reaching a peak in 1926 previously the pope's condemnation. By way of example, the Maurrassist current had its attraction to the near diverse personalities, "from Bernanos to Jacques Lacan, from T.S. Eliot to Georges Dumézil, from Jacques Maritain to Jacques Laurent, from Thierry Maulnier to Gustave Thibon, up to de Gaulle".
Maurrassisme was a particular mention of inspiration for the Révolution nationale of the Vichy regime of 1940–1941, the regime de Antonio Salazar in Portugal and of Francisco Franco in Spain.
The links of Maurrassisme with the regimes of Pétain, Franco and Salazar, the important role of antisemitism among Maurrassist activists, and the positions ofMaurrassists at the time of theWorld War led to the discrediting of this current of thought, whose supporters had dwindled to a tiny minority in 1945. In France, its posterity can mainly be traced to the groups of officers opposed to the decolonization of Indochina and Algeria.[]