Founded on December 16, 1911, by national syndicalist disciples of Georges Sorel - Georges Valois and Édouard Berth, the group was described as "founded by nationalists, and initially addressed only to them".[3] The organisation began as informal meetings consisting of about twenty people on average, mainly monarchists and syndicalists who were associated with the right-wing monarchist group Action Française. The main speakers at these meetings were Valois, Berth, monarchist militant Henri Lagrange and nationalist philosopher Gilbert Mayor. French historian Géraud Poumarède describes the Circle's ambition as to "convert trade unionists to the monarchy".[3]
Despite the group's close association to Sorel he was initially hostile to the group stating that he feared the Circle would make "young people less able to understand Proudhon".[3] Charles Maurras was also wary of the group describing them in his book, L’Action française et la religion catholique (1913): "The French who met to found the Circle Proudhon are all nationalists. The boss they chose for their assembly made them meet other French, who are not nationalists, who are not royalists, and who join them to participate in the life of the Circle and the writing of Cahiers. The initial group includes men of different origins, different conditions, who have no political aspirations in common, and who will freely expose their views in the Cahiers."[citation needed]
The Circle published a bulletin entitled Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon, and operated a bookstore owned by Valois named the La Nouvelle Librairie which is still open to this day.[4]
Ideology
Cover of the first issue of Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon
The first issue of Cahiers du cercle Proudhon appeared in January – February 1912 and included a Déclaration:
The founders – republicans, federalists, integral nationalists, and syndicalists – having resolved the political problem or dismissed it from their minds, are all enthusiastically in favour of an organisation of French society in accordance with principles taken from the French tradition which they find in Proudhon's works and in the contemporary syndicalist movement, and they are all completely in agreement on the following points:
Democracy is the greatest error of the past century. If one wishes to live, if one wishes to work, if one wishes in social life to possess the greatest human guarantees for production and culture, if one wishes to preserve and increase the moral, intellectual and material capital of civilisation, it is absolutely necessary to destroy all democratic institutions.
Berth and Valois had been brought together by Georges Sorel when he was planning a Nationalist and socialist-leaning journal La Cité française in 1910. This journal never appeared, except as heralded in a flyer entitled Déclaration de la Cité francaise signed by Sorel, Valois, Berth, Jean Variot, and Pierre Gilbert. However Variot quarrelled with Valois and went on to publish material with Sorel's support in L'Indépendence.[citation needed]
A controversial but influential book by Zeev Sternhell, Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France, points to the Cercle Proudhon as a pre-existing laboratory for fascist ideas that would provide a bulwark for Nazi collaboration in Vichy.[5]
In place of the bourgeois ideology and as an alternative to democratic socialism, the Cercle Proudhon propounded a new ethic suited to the alliance of nationalism and syndicalism, those "two synthesizing and convergent movements, one at the extreme right and the other at the extreme left, that have begun the siege and assault on democracy." Their solution was thus intended as a complete replacement of the liberal order. They wished to create a new world — virile, heroic, pessimistic, and puritanical — based on the sense of duty and sacrifice: a world where a morality of warriors and monks would prevail. They wanted a society dominated by a powerful avant-garde, a proletarian elite, an aristocracy of producers, joined in alliance against the decadent bourgeoisie with an intellectual youth avid for action. When the time came, it would not be difficult for a synthesis of this kind to take on the name of fascism.
Critique
Many anarchists rejected the Cercle Proudhon interpretation of Proudhon's works. In the October 1st, 1913 issue of The New Freewoman, American Individualist AnarchistBenjamin Tucker argued that Cercle Proudhon purposely misrepresented Proudhon's views:
Democracy is an easy mark for this new party, and it finds its chief delight in pounding the philosopher of democracy, Rousseau. Now, nobody ever pounded Rousseau as effectively as Proudhon did, and in that fact the Cercle Proudhon finds its excuse. But it is not to be inferred that, because Proudhon destroyed Rousseau's theory of the social contract, he did not believe in the advisability of a social contract, or would uphold a monarchy in exacting an oath of allegiance.[6]
Allen Douglas. From Fascism to Libertarian Communism: George Valois Against the Third Republic. University of California Press (1993) ISBN978-0-520-07678-5
Bernard Lanza. Georges Valois Du Cercle Proudhon au Nouvel Age,
Georges Navet. Le Cercle Proudhon, 1911-1914 : entre le syndicalisme révolutionnaire et l'Action Française. Paris : Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, 1987. (Les Travaux de l'Atelier Proudhon ; 6). ISBN2-906096-05-9
Géraud Poumarède. Le Cercle Proudhon ou l'impossible synthèse. Mil neuf cent (1994) Volume 12 Issue 12 pp. 51–86
Jack J. Roth. "Revolution and Morale in Modern French Thought: Sorel and the Sorelians". French Historical Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 205–223
Zeev Sternhell. "Fascist Ideology", Fascism, A Reader's Guide, Analyses, Interpretations, Bibliography, edited by Walter Laqueur, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976. pp 315–376.
Zeev Sternhell. Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France, Princeton Univ. Press, California ISBN0-691-00629-6
Zeev Sternhell. The Birth of Fascist Ideology, with Mario Sznajder and Maia Asheri, published by Princeton University Press, 1989, 1994 (ISBN0-691-03289-0) (ISBN0-691-04486-4)
Primary sources
Alain de Benoist (ed.) Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon. Avatar Editions (2007). ISBN978-0-9555132-0-6
Partial bibliography of Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon
DARVILLE Jean. PROUDHON. in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°1, janvier-février 1912
DARVILLE Jean/MAYREL Maurice. Analyses et critiques.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°3-4, mai-août 1912.
DARVILLE Jean. Satellites de la ploutocratie.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°5-6, fin 1912
GALLAND Pierre.PROUDHON et l'Ordre.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°1, janvier-février 1912
LAGRANGE Henri.PROUDHON et l'Ordre européen.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°2, mars-avril 1912.
LAGRANGE Henri.L’œuvre de SOREL et le Cercle PROUDHON. Précisions et prévisions.-in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°3/4, mai-août 1912 .
LES VIII.Les démocrates et PROUDHON.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°1, janvier-février 1912 .
MAIRE Gilbert. La philosophie de Georges SOREL.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°2, mars-avril 1912 .
MARAND René. Grandes rectifications soreliennes.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°3-4, mai-août 1912 .
MAYREL Maurice/ DARVILLE Jean. Analyses et critiques.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°3-4, mai-août 1912.
VALOIS Georges. Pourquoi nous rattachons nos travaux à l'esprit proudhonien.-in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°1, janvier-février 1912.
VALOIS Georges. Notre première année. Murmures et rumeurs dans la presse et dans le monde sur le cercle PROUDHON.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°3-4, mai-août 1912.
VALOIS Georges.SOREL et l'architecture sociale.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°3-4, mai-août 1912.
VALOIS Georges.L’Action Française, l'expérience POINCARÉ et le syndicalisme.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°5-6, fin 1912.
VALOIS Georges. La bourgeoisie capitaliste.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°5-6, fin 1912.
VALOIS Georges. La direction de l'œuvre proudhonienne et le cas HALÉVY.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°5-6, fin 1912.
VALOIS Georges. Notre deuxième année. Transformation des Cahiers.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°5-6, fin 1912 .
VINCENT Albert. Le bilan de la démocratie.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°2, mars-avril 1912.
VINCENT Albert. La famille chez PROUDHON et dans la démocratie.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°3-4, mai-août 1912 .
MAURRAS Charles.À Besançon.–in-Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON, n°1, janvier-février 1912.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cercle Proudhon.
(in French)Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon (facsimiles)
(in French)
(in French) New edition published by
January 21, 2023
cercle, proudhon, french, pronunciation, sɛʁklə, pʁudɔ, french, proudhon, circle, national, syndicalist, political, group, france, group, inspired, georges, sorel, charles, maurras, selective, reading, anarchist, theorist, pierre, joseph, proudhon, proudhon, c. Cercle Proudhon French pronunciation sɛʁkle pʁudɔ French for Proudhon Circle was a national syndicalist political group in France The group was inspired by Georges Sorel Charles Maurras and a selective reading of anarchist theorist Pierre Joseph Proudhon Proudhon Circle Cercle ProudhonLeaderGeorges ValoisFounderGeorges ValoisEdouard BerthFoundedDecember 16 1911 1911 12 16 Dissolved1925Succeeded byFaisceau 1 HeadquartersParis FranceNewspaperCahiers du cercle ProudhonIdeologyNational syndicalismIntegral nationalismProto fascismSorelianismPolitical positionFar right 2 Politics of FrancePolitical partiesElections Contents 1 History 2 Ideology 3 Critique 4 See also 5 References 5 1 Primary sources 5 2 Partial bibliography 6 External linksHistory EditFounded on December 16 1911 by national syndicalist disciples of Georges Sorel Georges Valois and Edouard Berth the group was described as founded by nationalists and initially addressed only to them 3 The organisation began as informal meetings consisting of about twenty people on average mainly monarchists and syndicalists who were associated with the right wing monarchist group Action Francaise The main speakers at these meetings were Valois Berth monarchist militant Henri Lagrange and nationalist philosopher Gilbert Mayor French historian Geraud Poumarede describes the Circle s ambition as to convert trade unionists to the monarchy 3 Despite the group s close association to Sorel he was initially hostile to the group stating that he feared the Circle would make young people less able to understand Proudhon 3 Charles Maurras was also wary of the group describing them in his book L Action francaise et la religion catholique 1913 The French who met to found the Circle Proudhon are all nationalists The boss they chose for their assembly made them meet other French who are not nationalists who are not royalists and who join them to participate in the life of the Circle and the writing of Cahiers The initial group includes men of different origins different conditions who have no political aspirations in common and who will freely expose their views in the Cahiers citation needed The Circle published a bulletin entitled Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon and operated a bookstore owned by Valois named the La Nouvelle Librairie which is still open to this day 4 Ideology Edit Cover of the first issue of Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon The first issue of Cahiers du cercle Proudhon appeared in January February 1912 and included a Declaration The founders republicans federalists integral nationalists and syndicalists having resolved the political problem or dismissed it from their minds are all enthusiastically in favour of an organisation of French society in accordance with principles taken from the French tradition which they find in Proudhon s works and in the contemporary syndicalist movement and they are all completely in agreement on the following points Democracy is the greatest error of the past century If one wishes to live if one wishes to work if one wishes in social life to possess the greatest human guarantees for production and culture if one wishes to preserve and increase the moral intellectual and material capital of civilisation it is absolutely necessary to destroy all democratic institutions Berth and Valois had been brought together by Georges Sorel when he was planning a Nationalist and socialist leaning journal La Cite francaise in 1910 This journal never appeared except as heralded in a flyer entitled Declaration de la Cite francaise signed by Sorel Valois Berth Jean Variot and Pierre Gilbert However Variot quarrelled with Valois and went on to publish material with Sorel s support in L Independence citation needed A controversial but influential book by Zeev Sternhell Neither Right nor Left Fascist Ideology in France points to the Cercle Proudhon as a pre existing laboratory for fascist ideas that would provide a bulwark for Nazi collaboration in Vichy 5 In place of the bourgeois ideology and as an alternative to democratic socialism the Cercle Proudhon propounded a new ethic suited to the alliance of nationalism and syndicalism those two synthesizing and convergent movements one at the extreme right and the other at the extreme left that have begun the siege and assault on democracy Their solution was thus intended as a complete replacement of the liberal order They wished to create a new world virile heroic pessimistic and puritanical based on the sense of duty and sacrifice a world where a morality of warriors and monks would prevail They wanted a society dominated by a powerful avant garde a proletarian elite an aristocracy of producers joined in alliance against the decadent bourgeoisie with an intellectual youth avid for action When the time came it would not be difficult for a synthesis of this kind to take on the name of fascism Critique EditMany anarchists rejected the Cercle Proudhon interpretation of Proudhon s works In the October 1st 1913 issue of The New Freewoman American Individualist Anarchist Benjamin Tucker argued that Cercle Proudhon purposely misrepresented Proudhon s views Democracy is an easy mark for this new party and it finds its chief delight in pounding the philosopher of democracy Rousseau Now nobody ever pounded Rousseau as effectively as Proudhon did and in that fact the Cercle Proudhon finds its excuse But it is not to be inferred that because Proudhon destroyed Rousseau s theory of the social contract he did not believe in the advisability of a social contract or would uphold a monarchy in exacting an oath of allegiance 6 See also EditNational syndicalismReferences Edit Georges Valois le precurseur d un fascisme francais September 26 2019 Alan Ritter 8 December 2015 Political Thought of Pierre Joseph Proudhon Princeton University Press pp 7 ISBN 978 1 4008 7856 7 a b c Poumarede Geraud July 22 1994 Le Cercle Proudhon ou l impossible synthese Mil neuf cent Revue d histoire intellectuelle Cahiers Georges Sorel 12 1 51 86 doi 10 3406 mcm 1994 1108 via www persee fr Une librairie d extreme droite a l assaut du Quartier latin LExpress fr September 10 2018 Sternhell Zeev 1986 Neither Right Nor Left Princeton University Press p 11 https repository library brown edu studio item bdr 519820 PDF Allen Douglas From Fascism to Libertarian Communism George Valois Against the Third Republic University of California Press 1993 ISBN 978 0 520 07678 5 Bernard Lanza Georges Valois Du Cercle Proudhon au Nouvel Age Georges Navet Le Cercle Proudhon 1911 1914 entre le syndicalisme revolutionnaire et l Action Francaise Paris Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales 1987 Les Travaux de l Atelier Proudhon 6 ISBN 2 906096 05 9 Geraud Poumarede Le Cercle Proudhon ou l impossible synthese Mil neuf cent 1994 Volume 12 Issue 12 pp 51 86 Jack J Roth Revolution and Morale in Modern French Thought Sorel and the Sorelians French Historical Studies Vol 3 No 2 Autumn 1963 pp 205 223 Zeev Sternhell Fascist Ideology Fascism A Reader s Guide Analyses Interpretations Bibliography edited by Walter Laqueur University of California Press Berkeley 1976 pp 315 376 Zeev Sternhell Neither Right nor Left Fascist Ideology in France Princeton Univ Press California ISBN 0 691 00629 6 Zeev Sternhell The Birth of Fascist Ideology with Mario Sznajder and Maia Asheri published by Princeton University Press 1989 1994 ISBN 0 691 03289 0 ISBN 0 691 04486 4 Primary sources Edit Alain de Benoist ed Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon Avatar Editions 2007 ISBN 978 0 9555132 0 6 Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon 1 annee 1912 Paris Etienne Rivet 1912 Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon Seven issues under the direction Henri Fortin Paris Etienne Rivet 1912 Charles Maurras Lorsque Proudhon eut les cent ans 1907 Partial bibliography Edit Partial bibliography of Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon DARVILLE Jean PROUDHON in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 1 janvier fevrier 1912 DARVILLE Jean MAYREL Maurice Analyses et critiques in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 3 4 mai aout 1912 DARVILLE Jean Satellites de la ploutocratie in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 5 6 fin 1912 GALLAND Pierre PROUDHON et l Ordre in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 1 janvier fevrier 1912 LAGRANGE Henri PROUDHON et l Ordre europeen in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 2 mars avril 1912 LAGRANGE Henri L œuvre de SOREL et le Cercle PROUDHON Precisions et previsions in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 3 4 mai aout 1912 LES VIII Les democrates et PROUDHON in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 1 janvier fevrier 1912 MAIRE Gilbert La philosophie de Georges SOREL in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 2 mars avril 1912 MARAND Rene Grandes rectifications soreliennes in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 3 4 mai aout 1912 MAYREL Maurice DARVILLE Jean Analyses et critiques in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 3 4 mai aout 1912 VALOIS Georges Pourquoi nous rattachons nos travaux a l esprit proudhonien in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 1 janvier fevrier 1912 VALOIS Georges Notre premiere annee Murmures et rumeurs dans la presse et dans le monde sur le cercle PROUDHON in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 3 4 mai aout 1912 VALOIS Georges SOREL et l architecture sociale in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 3 4 mai aout 1912 VALOIS Georges L Action Francaise l experience POINCARE et le syndicalisme in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 5 6 fin 1912 VALOIS Georges La bourgeoisie capitaliste in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 5 6 fin 1912 VALOIS Georges La direction de l œuvre proudhonienne et le cas HALEVY in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 5 6 fin 1912 VALOIS Georges Notre deuxieme annee Transformation des Cahiers in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 5 6 fin 1912 VINCENT Albert Le bilan de la democratie in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 2 mars avril 1912 VINCENT Albert La famille chez PROUDHON et dans la democratie in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 3 4 mai aout 1912 MAURRAS Charles A Besancon in Cahiers du Cercle PROUDHON n 1 janvier fevrier 1912 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cercle Proudhon in French Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon facsimiles in French Centre d histoire de Sciences Po Georges Valois Alfred Georges Gressent in French New edition published by Avatar Editions Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cercle Proudhon amp oldid 1130841748, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
