Sinistrism

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Sinistrism (French: sinistrisme from Latin: sinister “left”, but also cf. French: sinistre “ominous”) is a political term coined by the French literary critic Albert Thibaudet , which describes the constant displacement of left parties by new, more radical parties, so that each Party or its positions gradually wander into the political center , especially in France of the Third and Fourth Republic . So were z. B. the republicans of the 19th century by the radical party , this in turn by the French section of the Workers International (socialists) and this by the communists . Thibaudet introduced the term in 1932 in his work Les idées politiques de la France . He regarded this constant drift to the left as historically inevitable. He saw this as the reason for the tendency of the French right to avoid the self-designation droite (right) entirely, as this was historically colored by the completely outlawed monarchism .

The Conservatives of the Third Republic adopted the name Droite constitutionnelle or républicaine (constitutional or republican rights) in 1893 , but replaced it in 1899 with Action libérale (liberal action) and took part in the elections in 1902. In 1910 another expressly named right was created, which gathered the last nostalgics of the monarchy around itself. According to the historian René Rémond , the term "right" disappeared from 1924 from the vocabulary of this faction. Members of the Alliance républicaine démocratique (Democratic-Republican Alliance), the most important center-right faction in the Third Republic, actually sat in the parliamentary group of the "Left Republicans" (républicains de gauche) . " Conservative " was a widely used synonym for "right" during the Third Republic, especially through the National Bloc , a center-right alliance. In the 1920s, MPs who were close to the right-wing extremist Action française named themselves “independents” . Later, in the Fourth Republic, it was used for less reactionary politicians.

After the Second World War, the Rassemblement des gauches républicaines (Left Republican Collection) united many Conservative MPs, especially those of the oppositely named Radical Socialists , opponents of the Radical and Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France , Independent Radicals (who formed the Radical Party in 1928 because of their participation in the so-called Cartel des gauches - cartel of the left), as well as members of the Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance (Democratic and Socialist Union of Resistance).

The German historian Manfred Kittel sees the liberal success in the Dreyfus affair as the “definitive breakthrough” of Sinistrism after a hundred years of conflict. "The identification with a certain idea of progress strengthened on the left the awareness of moral loftiness in relation to the dark clerical opponents of the revolutionary principles of 1789 ", to which the failure of various reactionary regimes ( 1830 , 1848 , 1870 ) had contributed. Kittel draws comparisons to today's phenomenon of political correctness , insofar as left-wing forces were sometimes able to enforce claims through their higher prestige, despite their minority position. This contributed to the stabilization of the republic.

In order to avoid political ostracism, the terms “left” and “republican” were used so excessively by actors in the center that they ultimately lost all meaning. Around 1930 the bon mot was circulating that a left-wing Republican was a middle-class man whom Sinistrism forced to sit on the right (in parliament). The revolutionary-minded socialist MP Édouard Vaillant is ascribed the quote (addressed to his parliamentary colleagues): "For us, the right begins much further to the left than you think."

Rémond observed that only one candidate voted for the right in the 1974 presidential election: Jean-Marie Le Pen ; 1981 then nobody else. Political scientist Pascal Perrineau confirms: “Up until the 1970s, almost no one stood up for the right, mainly because de Gaulle and the Gaullists rejected the division into left and right and those who belonged to the independent right had lost the term. "

literature

• Albert Thibaudet: Les Idées politiques de la France , 1932.
• Jean Touchard, Michel Winock: La gauche en France depuis 1900 , Seuil 1977, ISBN 2-02-004548-6 .

supporting documents

1. ↑ Jacques Du Perron: Droite et gauche. Tradition et révolution. Pardès, 1991, p. 149.
2. ^ Maurice Duverger : Les Partis politiques. Librairie Armand Colin, Paris 1973. Quote: Un républicain de 1875 aurait voté radical en 1901, socialiste en 1932 et communiste en 1945.
3. ^ René Rémond: Les droites en France. 4th edition, Paris 1982, p. 390.
4. ^ René Rémond: Les droites en France. 4th edition, Paris 1982, p. 391.
5. ↑ Manfred Kittel: Province between Reich and Republic: Political Mentalities in Germany and France 1918–1933 / 36 , 2000, p. 119 f.
6. ^ Judgment of the contemporary and legal scholar Joseph Barthélemy. Alfred Grosser u. François Goguel: Politics in France , 1980, p. 45.
7. ↑ Marcel Gauchet: La droite et la gauche , 1992, p. 417.
8. ↑ René Rémond: Les Droites en France , Aubier 1982, p. 391, new edition of La Droite en France , 1954.
9. ^ Dans la tête de Jean-Marie Le Pen , podcast on FranceCulture.fr, June 11, 2016 (accessed January 13, 2017). From 21 min 50 s. Own translation based on the original quote: «[...] jusque dans les années 1970, personne à peu près ne revendique la droite, d'abord parce que le général de Gaulle et les gaullistes refusaient ce clivage entre la gauche et la droite et que ceux The appartenaient à la droite indépendante avaient mis un mouchoir sur leur appartenance à la droite [...] »