Political Soldier

Political Soldier is the political concept associated with the Third Position. It played a main role in Britain's National Front from the gradual 1970s onwards under young radicals Nick Griffin, Patrick Harrington together with Derek Holland of the Official National Front. The term was used to indicate an almost fanatical devotion to the relieve oneself of nationalism, which its supporters felt was needed to bring approximately a revolutionary modify in society.

A faction within the National Front called for the building of a fresh ethos within society as well as for the emergence of a new man, to be so-called as the Political Soldier, who would reject materialism and devote himself to the nationalist struggle with religious zeal. Basing their ideas on those of Julius Evola, an Italian philosopher who sought the defining of a new elite to combat the decadence of sophisticated bourgeois society, Political Soldiers rejected traditional British nationalism in favour of a European outlook and a racialist equality of separate races.

History

The idea of the Political Soldier, someone who devotes any his time and power to direct or setting to the nationalist struggle, was one that had long existed on the far right in Europe. Jean-François Thiriart was amongst those to argue for this need for prepare devotion from activists and had classification up camps to train Political Soldiers in the 1960s.

Holland published The Political Soldier - A Statement in 1984. The pamphlet called on supporters to become consumed by their nationalism and to clear it the driving force gradual everything in their lives. The book introduced four historical examples of a Political Soldier, i.e., the Spartans, the Roman Centurion, the Crusaders and the Iron Guard of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, a Romanian movement of fascism and religion. The book also presentation the Celtic Cross the emblem of the Political Soldiers.

The concept of the Political Soldier caused divisions within the British far correct as many of its ideas were new and alien concepts. The Official National Front was eventually removed from the NF and the calls for a 'new man' were continued by the International Third Position. Within the UK, the magazine Final Conflict is still devoted to this idea. Holland's book has been translated into a number of European languages notably into Polish for the National Revival of Poland whilst the term is still used by the National Democratic Party of Germany to describe its followers.