The First Trump?

The Free Market 18, no. 11 (November 2000)

[Editorial Note: In this unpublished piece from the Murray Rothbard archives, dated February 1956, he examines the politics of the Poujadists and finds them to be worthy not only of sympathy but praise.]

Who is Pierre Poujade? Is he just another evidence of French instability? Is he a “semi-fascist” or worse? Or is his leap into worldwide fame something to cheer about?

The first thing for Americans to realize: don’t fall blindly for the cry of “fascist.” Remember how the leftist press is always ready to smear anti-Communists and anti-Socialists or anti-internationalist Americans with the “fascist” label. Poujade himself strongly denies that his movement is fascist. He points out that the fascists did not come from the middle classes, but were usually former socialists from the ranks of the workers. 

Poujadisme is, indeed, a “people’s movement,” in the fullest sense of that overworked term. Paris was astonished to see the Poujadist delegates come to town: a parade of butchers, bakers, grocers, students, booksellers-the first real grassroots delegation in decades.

Many reporters try to write off the Poujadists as simply inheritors of the old Gaullist vote. This is incorrect. Gaullist strength was all in the North and Northeast, while Poujadist strength lies mainly south of Paris. Gaullisme really had no program but the mystique of a personal leader; it was therefore bound to break asunder once its momentum was lost. Poujadisme is a far more durable and vital force.

Clearly, the Poujade movement has international implications. Already, it has made its mark in northern Italy. Last year, rice farmers in the Po Valley staged a tax strike; and now, Raffeale Garbin, head of the Milan Fishmongers Syndicate, has formed the Italian Economic Movement along Poujadist lines. He is backed by cattle growers and fruit and vegetable shopkeepers. When the press tries to smear the movement as “fascist,” remember that there already is a neo_fascist party in Italy. And in Denmark, a gardener named Hansen has started the Independence Movement on Poujadist principles.

Pierre Poujade announced last year that he planned to set up an International Federation of the Middle Classes. If he follows through, there’ll be plenty of fun in world politics. The world has had its fill of Socialist and Communist Internationals, of Leagues and United Nations, in the past century. Imagine an anti-tax, antistatist international!

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