Neither Right nor Left
Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France (French: Ni droite, ni gauche. L'idéologie fasciste en France) is an influential book on the political history of France by the historian Zeev Sternhell. It was first published in French by Éditions du Seuil in 1983 and was part of a trilogy of books looking at the origins of fascism in France before World War II. According to one historian, "[f]ew books on European history in recent memory have caused such controversy and commotion".[1] It was first published in English translation by Princeton University Press in 1996.
| Author | Zeev Sternhell |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ni droite, ni gauche. L'idéologie fasciste en France |
| Translator | David Maisel |
| Country | France |
| Language | French language |
| Subject | Political history of the French Third Republic |
| Publisher | Editions du Seuil |
Publication date | 1983 |
Published in English | 1996 (Princeton University Press) |
Context and argument
Neither Right nor Left is the third of Sternhell's trilogy of books on the intellectual origins of fascism in France. Sternhell published Maurice Barrès et le nationalisme français (1972) and La Droite révolutionnaire (1978) which addressed the intellectual origins of Maurice Barrès and the development of largely unsuccessful radical right-wing movements in France before 1914. According to Robert Wohl, in Neither Right nor Left:
Sternhell recapitulated the central arguments of La Droite révolutionnaire, stated them with even greater force, escalating them audaciously, an extended them into the interwar period, claiming (in implicit contrast to earlier books) that by 1940 French political culture was thoroughly saturated (imprégnée) by fascist ideology. Only this fascist penetration of French political and intellectual life, Sternhell insisted, could explain the abruptness of the French defeat and the radical transformation of French political institutions after the creation of the Vichy regime in June 1940.[2]
Sternhell did not apply the concept of fascism rigorously to a particular political movemnet. Rather, he "described a mood or complex of ideas in which fascism was one but not the only, or even most important, variant. This mentality took the form of a general rejection of liberal values and institutions as they existed under the Third Republic combined with an acute anxiety about the future of France."[3] As a result, he argues that fascist ideas permeated across the political spectrum and drew on various disparate political traditions from far-right nationalists to personalists and revisionist Marxists. In particular, Sternhell argued that fascism was chiefly "a product of the left-wing revisionism of Marxist socialism".[4] As a result, he emphasizes the commitment to planisme among many authoritarian former socialists such as Henri de Man and Marcel Déat.[5]
Wohl argues that the book's radicalism lay in the contrast with the previous tendency to think of fascism as a marginal or weak force in French politics.[2] It also broke with the existing consensus that French fascism originated in the experience of World War I and was imported from Italy and Germany and was not essentially indigenous.[6]
Reception
Neither Right nor Left was considered extremely polemical on its publication in France. Sternhell was sued for defamation by Bertrand de Jouvenel in 1983 after the book described him as having been a fascist in the 1930s. Jouvenel, on whose behalf the anti-fascist intellectual Raymond Aron testified, sued him on nine counts. The judge, finding Sternhell liable on two counts, made him make amends with a fine that was more symbolic than punitive, and took care to allow Sternhell to retain the offending passages in future editions of the book. Robert Wohl states was a "major defeat" for the plaintiff.[1]