Jean-François Thiriart: Difference between revisions

Jean-Francois Thiriart was a leading figure on the extreme right in Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. He was a native of Belgium.

Initially a Socialist Thiriart evolved into a Nationalist form of non-marxist Socialism. In 1939 he joined the National Legion, a far right organisation, who had ties with the German NSDAP during the War, most notably as a paratrooper. He served time in prison for his collaboration and upon his release set up business as an optometrist, with some success.

Thiriart returned to the political scene in the 1960s after Belgium gave up its claim to Congo. Establishing links with French groups similarly opposed to decolonization he eventually became convinced of the need for a united Europe. As a result he formed Jeune Europe as a movement to reach out across Europe and he soon founded branches in Italy, Spain and France as well as Belgium. With a policy that was both Anti-American and Anti-Soviet, Thiriart presented Europe as the cradle of all innovation and was opposed to unmitigated immigration and imperialism, supporting instead national liberation, sovereignty and self-determination for Europeans and allied ethnic peoples; causing many foes from both the orthodox right and left. Despite all of the above, Thiriart denied that he was a Nazi and claimed to belong to the centre of the political spectrum.

Seeking to support radical revolutionaries in Latin America and black power movements in the United States, Thiriart began to develop the idea of the Political Soldier and set up training camps to facilitate their creation. He also became an admirer of Nicolae Ceauşescu, indicating a sympathy towards Communism that displayed strong Nationalist characteristics. Communist China was also admired for these same reasons. As such Thiriart moved towards National Bolshevism and in later life he worked closely with such exponents of this idea as Eduard Limonov. As well as being a member of the small Belgian Parti Communautaire National-European, Thiriart came to spend a lot of time in Russia where he saw the potential for an explosion in European Nationalism.

Thiriart died of a heart attack on November 23,1992 at the age of 70.