A critique of "Right-winged Third-worldism" from 2016.
The Other Third-worldism, From the origins to radical islamism, Philippe Baillet, ed. Akribeia.
[Philippe Baillet is a discreet, yet very productive and insightful figure of the French Radical Right. A fine connaisseur of Italian and of the Italian Right, he translated works of Julius Evola and was the main introducer to his thought in France. He worked with the Nouvelle Droite in the 1980s but soon parted ways with them, yet continued to write articles for their magazines until the 2000s. He also translated works of Catholic philosopher Augusto Del Noce, of Italian revolutionary nationalist figures Giorgio Freda and Adriano Romualdi, and more recently, of American figures of the Right such as Kevin B. MacDonald, Arthur Kemp and Greg Johnson. In the 2010s, he “returned to Nietzsche” and published several essays on culture, spirituality and politics, among which two virulent but deep critiques of several flaws of the French (but not only) Right-winged movements. The Other Third-Worldism, a 480-pages-long book, is one of them and is the topic of this long, but instructive review. In 2020, Baillet created a theoretical and scholarly magazine called “Sparta (Vital order - Ethno-racial perspective - Social critique)” with the philosopher Pierre Krebs and the famous late indo-europeanist Jean Haudry. French readers can find “L'Autre tiers-mondisme” and his other works on his editor's website akribeia; the book can be delivered internationally.]
What is The other Third-worldism ? One that differs from the Third-worldism we know, which is “classical progressist, be it Christian, humanitarian and pacifist, orthodox communist, trotskyist, or even ultra-leftist” ? Indeed. The other Third-worldism is the term used by Philippe Baillet to designate all those who could be considered to be proponents of a “right-winged Third-worldism”, or rather far-right-winged (even when they come from the Left or are left-winged themselves, like Alain Soral [an infamous figure of the French right, writer, editor and videographer; he worked with the Front National and proposed a strategy to get the “Muslim worker’s votes” and is still very attached to this idea]).
The other Third-worldism is a political sensibility that, indeed, evolved over time, but that is - in its generally accepted meaning - based on certain key-ideas. The development of a European “Third Way”, hostile to both communism and parliamentary democracy, is at its root. Non-alignment on both Blocs (before the fall of the USSR) and “anti-imperialism” logically follow from such premises. It is no surprise that the incarnation of this idea was seen as having been achieved by Fascism, or even National-Socialism, by certain currents and authors... On the other hand, “the other Third-worldism is never an internationalism, even when it sincerely shrouds itself in a sincere liking for non-Western cultures”. As a matter of fact, “it intends to approach oppressed peoples, fully respecting their characters”.
Long before the Bandung Conference (1955) and the apparition of the term “Third-world” in dictionaries, the other Third-worldism was always two-faced. The first was political and strategical. It advocates an alliance with forces from the non-Western world in order to fight “imperialism”. It does not necessarily imply a particular attraction towards peoples of the Third-world (an emblematic case of this attitude would be Jean Thiriart), unlike the second one, that is above all idealist and metapolitical. Here, we are dealing with personalities that could be enthralled by cultural or spiritual aspects of the non-Europeans, in particular by Islam. We therefore find converts among the first-rate figures of the other Third-worldism : Johann von Leers or Claudio Mutti. The ideas treated by the book are mainly found among “revolutionary nationalists”, but not only, since they come from a “movement [mouvance], rather than from a very structured phenomenon”.
On this complex but oh-so instructive topic of the history of ideas, Philippe Baillet, known for his work as the main French translator of Julius Evola, but also, more recently, for some other remarkable works, led with his known discipline an in-depth study of actors, currents, networks and movements that can be linked to the other Third-worldism within the European radical Right, where it “found its way, slowly but surely”. After having been marginal for a long time, they have become an important part in the doctrines of our movements (and of others around them) these days. However, The Other Third-worldism cannot be reduced to a simple scholarly work : it is meant to be a militant book which intends to demonstrate, from the study of such ideas, how lethal they are in the framework of European Nationalism. The reader may be surprised by the length of this column. There are two reasons for that : the richness of this book, which you here only catch a glimpse of, and the importance of such a publication, that I believe is fundamental for our school of thought.
One Century of the other Third-worldism
Baillet believes that we can trace the other Third-worldism back to Europe, to Fiume, in the aftermath of the Great War. Willing to be “the epicentre of the global revolution of oppressed peoples”, there was created the League of Fiume that denounced the “global trust of rich States” that was the League of Nations. Not very present within the Fascist State, it is in the Germany of the 1920s and 1930s that this tendency will carry on. We can observe it, above all, everywhere in the Left wing of the NSDAP and among revolutionary nationalists that were often close to it. Two figures can be mentioned here : Johann von Leers and Friedrich Hielscher. The first joined the National-Socialist regime and would make a career there, “while retaining some typical traits of the Left wing of the NSDAP”, while the second one was hostile to it, and would eventually fight it, probably due to the fact that he (as many of his revolutionary nationalist comrades) could not make more room for his ideas in the New Germany... It must be said that Hielscher, who published in 1927 a call for the oppressed peoples of Asia and of the Arab world (seen as allies of the German people, both facing the rationalism and the cult of money of the Western world) probably had a different appreciation of the political guidelines towards non-European peoples, in comparison with the National-Socialist doctrine. Even if Hitler or Rosenberg could, as we know it, have some sympathy for a foreign culture or for some non-European people, the “defense of the race” was paramount and came before any “anti-imperialist” consideration. Could we not read in Mein Kampf such an assertion [the following quotes are, of course, only presented as historical examples of the official national-socialist doctrine] :
“To me, as a nationalist who appreciates the worth of the racial basis of humanity, I must recognize the racial inferiority of the so-called 'Oppressed Nations', and that is enough to prevent me from linking the destiny of my people with the destiny of those inferior races.”
Rosenberg himself, “fel[t] that one day or the other, the rising tide of the coloured people could find a clear direction and some form of unity through islam.” The following quote, also noted by the Author, comes from the Myth of the 20th Century :
“Before this coming purified hatred of the Black races and bastards, led by the fanatical spirit of Mohammed, the white races have more than ever all cause to be on their guard.”
After 1945 and during two decades, the other Third-worldism enters an “era of networks”. Still very marginal, this tendency was however upheld by several figures of the European radical Right whom Philippe Baillet talks about more or less : Johann von Leers, who gets a whole chapter, François Genoud, Swiss adventurer, editor and colourful figure, Maurice Bardèche, and others. From a detailed review of their writings, the Author believes they were making “their own revolution by proxy through Nasser, the Algerian NLF, and a largely fantasized islam” (he talks about Bardèche's “salon islam, fabricated in Paris”), just like the French Left that projected “all of its expectations onto the latin New World” (from Che Guevara to Castro and Chavez). Baillet's critique goes further : these figures forget the racial dimension of “Fascism as a European phenomenon” [as Romualdi calls it] and see Fascism where there is none (because Fascism, as he hammers it, is European at its core). They however had many continuators...
In the 1960s, the other Third-worldism, in its secular and political version, would really flourish and give itself a theoretical structure through the action of the Belgian Jean Thiriart. Pioneer in this field, he will develop, through his writings (among which the journals “Jeune Europe” and “La Nation Européenne”) and his political movement “Jeune Europe”, the idea of a “Europe-Force” [Europe-Pouvoir], unitary and communitarian. Even if he advocated for “anti-imperialism” and an alliance of European and Third-world revolutionary nationalists, his vision stayed strictly eurocentric : “he certainly was the one who went as far as possible in the affirmation of a political other Third-worldism, but he also was the less interested and the most contemptuous towards the peoples and cultures of the Third-world”.
Thiriart and his movement had an important influence on lots of militants (Christian Bouchet or Claudio Mutti [but also on theoricians such as Alexander Dugin, who is edited in France by Bouchet]), and we can find this posterity in organisations such as Troisième Voie or Nouvelle Résistance. In Italy, he had a more important offspring, due to Claudio Mutti, who was one of the main executives of Jeune Europe there. We can also mention “Rinascita”, journal of the national left (“destra nazionale”, still published). Anyways, the hatred of the United-States (“the main enemy”) of Thiriart and his theses were an important landmark in the intellectual and militant framework of part of the European radical Right that now identifies itself as revolutionary nationalist (in Italy, this term was applied to those who did not recognize themselves in the MSI). On another note, it can be underlined that Thiriart's anti-americanism was very elementary. It was developed considerably afterwards, especially within the Nouvelle Droite.
Ideas falling under the category of this other Third-worldism can also be found in the “revolutionary traditionalist” school, a kind of synthesis of ideas from Evola, Thiriart and the Fascist left. Its main organ in France was the magazine “Totalité”, starting from 1977 on. Its support to some forms of radical islamism is quite clear in several issues (Baillet himself contributed to several issues at the time)... Let us not forget the impact of the Iranian revolution on revolutionary nationalists at the time. The attraction towards islam became dominant among certain figures of this movement, particularly Claudio Mutti, who “is a perfect illustration of the havoc wrought by antijudaic passion, even among the most cultured and the most intelligent”. Mutti hence converted to islam and abandoned every form of racialism [he married an Egyptian] in order to endorse a universalist worldview (and seeing in that a continuity with the national-socialist struggle)... Militants nowadays can have trouble understanding that islam, [at least in France or England, where coexistence with Muslims makes people far more aware of the issues tied to both the religion and its peoples] three or four decades ago, seemed to be a partner of choice for some. Baillet quotes Alain de Benoist, who wrote in an issue of Éléments from 1985 that “the awakening of islam is not for us a menace but rather a sign of hope.” The anti-american passion also wrought havoc...
The Author [...] also explores the influence that René Guénon had (and still has). Usually well-regarded among us, this convert, who went as far as asking for Egyptian citizenship, is yet an author that scorns “the West” (therefore Europe) and fantasizes the East. No racialism in his works, where “a significant number of [his] views (...) have to be opposed without reserve.” Having contributed to foster a climate of islamophilia in France and elsewhere, Guénon had many more or less direct successors up to now. Baillet explores this cultural aspect of the other Third-worldism, underlying how dangerous this “islamophile Party”, in Europe, is difficult to combat due to its “multi-faceted character”. With its ramifications (from political spheres [the Author talks, for example, about Charles III of England] to the media, including the administration and the academic world), the “islamophile Party” sees settler-mass-migration as inevitable and considers the establishment of islam as positive. Islam fascinated, if not conquered several figures of the other Third-worldism, often for bad reasons. Baillet, who knows quite well this religion, reflects on these errors in a small and captivating chapter : he obliterates the idea that islam is a virility factor (a very commonly-used claim), and demonstrates that double-speak, lies, active deception are weapons that are commonly used by Muslims, according to their own precepts, and to their objective of conquest...
Lately, lots of islamophile positions, linked (right or wrongly) to the radical Right, became rife in what Philippe Baillet calls “radical philo-islamism”. It is generally linked with a “sketchy, discount marxism, typically Thirld-Worldist”, or is “mingled with conspiracy theories, due to the exponential growth of some sort of fanatics funfair”. Very different from “Fascism as a European phenomenon”, its main features are : a more or less notable indifference towards the “defence of the White race”, a “true anti-Jewish” and anti-American “passion”, a great hostility towards finance and capitalism, a sympathy for every “anti-imperialist” cause and for islam as a religion or civilisation. Sharing some positions existing in these currents does not make us close to one another, as the Author shows. He underlines the diversion carried-out by this sensibility in a lot of persons, who forget “the absolute priority” due to that, in this “capital moment of the history of European civilisation” : the perpetuation of the European peoples (or at least of their sane part).
From Roger Garaudy, “christiano-islamo-marxist fanatic”, Carlos the Jackal and his internationalism, to the great champion of reconciliation Alain Soral [his association is called Equality and Reconciliation] who “perfectly fits (...) into this old tradition of gurus and comic-opera Führers beloved by the French radical Right”, a great number of figures dear to the most islamophile corners of our movement are scratched by Baillet, who is equal to none when it comes to underlining their contradictions (for example, when Soral pretends to be “a French national-socialist”) or to remind us a couple of outrageous statements and immoral acts.
He proceeds by emphasizing on the attempts to islamize the national movement, taking the concrete example of “Sons of France” [Fils de France], a “gathering of French Muslim patriots” (sic) that received support from Alain de Benoist, among others. De Benoist's islamophilia has been manifest for a long time now : Baillet gives us several quotes, more or less recent, about this, that enable us to understand more about this figure... All of which means that we can agree with Baillet when he argues about the extension and diversity of the “islamophile Party” in France. “It is not reassuring at all”, indeed ! This Party is deeply rooted and must be fought “with no concession” everywhere we can find it. However, there is hope :
“Today, we can allow ourselves to think that this other Third-worldism, in the European radical Right movements, is destined to know some sort of decline, due to the legitimate fears triggered by mass migration and by the settlement of Muslims in the Western-European landscape, by the development of radical islamism and the crimes of islamic terrorism.”
Europeans and their survival
The last part of The other Third-worldism has a far more militant dimension. It is a true call to resistance in front of the islamization of our continent and of its invasion, which calls for a necessary study of the different forms of such an other Third-worldism and of the “islamophile Party”. Philippe Baillet considers that “concern or fear of islam (...) is perfectly justified” but that the fight with this religion must above all be done within an identitarian perspective, by showing that islam is “incompatible with the European spiritual and cultural heritage”. He examines (and criticizes, when it must be done) the cases of Guillaume Faye and Renaud Camus, two authors well-known for their struggle against migratory invasion and the “Great Replacement”.
(...)
In front of the uniformization, of the “erasure of every human difference” and of the “definitive advent of the planetary mixed-race man”, of “the replaceable, interchangeable man, substituable at will”, all of which are “the end-goal of globalism”, Baillet suggests several doctrinal paths : he praises the “socially protective role of prejudice” (a theme he expands around the writings of Anglo-American conservative writers, Burke especially), which is one of the “mechanisms of collective immune defence”, especially when it comes to race. Its defense should be our first battle, and even if the racial realities “resist” by themselves, racialism, “the absolute enemy of the globalists”, has to be our horizon.
(...)
Conclusion
As a work with a double dimension (history of ideas and militant perspective) that has pleased me greatly, I cannot advise you enough to attentively read The other Third-worldism. This book sheds light on important issues, demythifies and denounces lots of popular misconceptions (for example, it adresses the complete lack of recognition from Muslims who worked with members of the radical Right towards them...). It reminds us the essential foundations of our fight and show us that many errings are to be corrected in our movement (or at least in some parts of it). How can some continue to want to hobnob with a completely fantasized islam, that is absolutely contrary to what we are ? “The Quran is completely indifferent to the racial realities”, as Baillet reminds us. Some seem to still not understand...
I imagine that The other Third-worldism will make people react, but none can cast doubt on the tremendous work of Philippe Baillet, who worked with an immense variety of sources and never fails to, scholarly, give the references, unlike others...
Rüdiger, from the Cercle Non Conforme.
Note of the C.N.C.: All reproduction of this content has to mention the source.