French National-Collectivist Party (French National Communist Party) Parti français national-collectiviste (Parti français national communiste) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Pierre Clémenti |
| Founded | February or April 1934 |
| Banned | September 1944 |
| Split from | Francistes |
| Headquarters | Paris (various locations) Lyon (from 1941) |
| Newspaper | Le Pays Libre! |
| Youth wings | French Guards Jeune Front |
| Female wing | French Women |
| Membership |
|
| Ideology | National communism Fascism (French) Third Position Racial antisemitism Dirigisme Economic nationalism (French) Pan-European nationalism Rattachism Anti-Masonry Collaborationism |
| Political position | Syncretic |
| National affiliation | Groupe Collaboration (1942) |
| Colours | Blue, white, red |
| Party flag | |
 | |
The French National-Collectivist Party (French: Parti français national-collectiviste, PFNC), originally known as the French National Communist Party (Parti français national communiste), was a minor political group active in the French Third Republic and reestablished in occupied France. Its leader in both incarnations was the sports journalist Pierre Clémenti. It espoused a "national communist" platform noted for its similarities with fascism, and popularized racial antisemitism. The group was also noted for its agitation in support of pan-European nationalism and rattachism, maintaining contacts in both Nazi Germany and Wallonia.
Always a minor movement within the French far-right, it was initially a dissident wing of Henry Coston's Francistes. Temporarily re-absorbed by that party in 1934, it reemerged following Coston's personal row with Clémenti. Its activity was interrupted in 1936, though it returned to incite industrial workers against the Popular Front government. Clémenti was the subject of interrogations during the clampdown on La Cagoule, and briefly jailed in early 1939 for spreading racial hatred. Again imprisoned during the Phony War, he fought against Germany in the Battle of France, but immediately after offered to collaborate with the occupiers. The PFNC was allowed to recruit and organize, but had to drop all references to national communism, including in its name.
Although minor, the PFNC had a combative stance on the pluralist scene of French fascism and collaboration. Strongly opposed to the French Popular Party, it had a working relationship with the National Popular Rally. Its rattachist campaigns also made it an adversary of the Rexist Party in occupied Belgium. With several other French parties, the PFNC helped organize the Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism, which fought on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union. This activity consumed Clémenti, leaving his party in disarray. The PFNC absorbed Robert Hersant's Jeune Front, but thereafter was exposed to power struggles between Hersant and other party militants, involving the German authorities as arbiters.
Centered on Lyon after 1941, the PFNC was only formally active during the Liberation of Paris, when it was officially proscribed. Facing a death penalty, Clémenti evaded capture for several years, and was eventually pardoned. He attempted to infuse his ideas into the European Freedom Union, which he briefly led in the late 1960s. The ideological legacy was also embraced by the newspaper Socialisme Européen, put out by Clémenti's godson Pierre Vial.