Third Position

Template:Third Position Third Position is a nationalist political strand that emphasises its opposition to both communism and capitalism. The name 'Third Position' is derived from the school of thought presenting itself as being "beyond Capitalism and Communism" and "neither Left nor Right." The movement uses symbols such as the Celtic cross and the Wolfsangel.

Development

Italy

Codreanu - one of the main progenitors of the Third Position

The Third Position was developed by Roberto Fiore, along with Gabriele Adinolfi and Peppe Di Mitri, in the tradition of Italian Neo-Fascism. Third Position’s ideology is characterized by a militarist formulation, an extreme nationalism looking favourably to national liberation movements, support for racial separatism and the adherence to a 'soldier style of life'.

In order to construct a cultural background for the ideology, Fiore looked to the ruralism of Julius Evola and sought to combine it with the desire for a cultural-spiritual revolution and the creation of a omul nou (new man) as called for by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. He also adopted some of the positions of the contemporary far right, notably the ethnopluralism of Alain de Benoist and the Europe-wide appeal associated with such views as the Europe a Nation campaign of Oswald Mosley (amongst others). Fiore joined with others to set up the Terza Posizione movement in 1879 to campaign on this ideological position.

UK

Fiore's exile in the United Kingdom during the 1980s saw the export of Third Position to the UK where it was taken up by a group of neo-fascists including Patrick Harrington and Derek Holland who soon became known as the Official National Front. Continuing to develop the Third Position stance, they called for the creation of Political Soldiers who would be devoted to nationalism and racial separatism, also helping to clarify the economic stance of the Third Position by drawing from the early 20th Century Distributists, Social Creditors, Guild Socialists and other "radical patriots". Within the UK the ideology was less overtly Catholic than in Italy although Catholic social teaching remained an important aspect.

France

Third Position ideology gained some support in France where, in 1985, Jean-Gilles Malliarakis set up Troisième voie along similar lines. Taking the United States, communism and Zionism as its three main enemies, the group advocated radical paths to national revolution. Associated for a time with the Groupe Union Défense, TV was nonetheless on generally poor terms with Front National until 1991 when Malliarakis decided to approach them. As a result TV fell apart, although a radical splinter group under Christian Bouchet, Nouvelle Résistance, continued to be informed by Third Positionist thinking.

With the split of the National Front the Third Position stance in Britain was carried on by the Third Way and more notably the International Third Position. As England First the ITP continue to organise on a small scale and have also produced a Third Position Handbook that details the aims of the Third Position movement. In Italy the Third Position is now represented by the New Force, led by Fiore whilst the European National Front has taken on a decidedly Third Positionist stance, advocating as it does both anti-capitalism and anti-communism. Elsewhere, the National Rebirth of Poland offer a strong commitment to Third Positionist politics in Eastern Europe.

Querfront ideology in Germany and Eastern Europe

Querfront (cross-front) was the name for the goals of the National Socialist Movement in Germany to cooperate with the far left during the Weimar Republic. On the left, the Communist social fascism strategy focused against the Social Democrats, resulting in a stalemate and temporary cooperations towards genuine fascist and extreme nationalist forces. The term is also used today for mutual infiltration or cooperation of left and right-wing groups.

Among other, Ernst Niekisch tried to combine communist and fascist forces to overthrow the existing order of the Weimar Republic. He already called it National Bolshevism. Kurt von Schleicher, based on earlier attampts (see Strasserism) pursued a strategy of demerging the left wing of the NSDAP to split the whole National Socialist Movement and finally prevent Hitler's rise to power. His idea was a Querfront of left Nazis and the Trade Unions, but Schleicher's plan failed.

As the Nazi government crushed down far reaching Querfront attempts in the Night of the Long Knives, Querfront strategies in nowadays far right allow to distance oneselve from the Nazi regime while continuing right-wing credentials.

Querfront today means a close connection or similar approaches of left and right wing radicals. Anti-Americanism and Antizionism allowed attempts of right wing individuals to find common ground with parts of the Peace Movement and Antiglobalization Movements. Eastern Germany and especially Thuringia has a significant higher amount of Querfront activities and supporters. .

A similar mixture of extreme left and right positions seems to be more common in Eastern Europe, such as in Russia, where the parties Rodina, the National Bolshevik Party and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia follow a similar course.

Related concepts

• Neo-Fascism
• Neo-Nazism
• Racism
• Nationalism
• Ecofascism
• International Third Position
• National anarchism
• National Bolshevism
• European nationalism
• Strasserism

Bibliography

• L. Cheles, R. Ferguson, and M. Vaughan, Neo-Fascism in Europe, London: Longman, 1992
• Giorgio Cingolani, La destra in armi, Editori Riuniti, 1996 (in Italian).
• N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
• Gianni Flamini, L’ombra della piramide, Teti, 1989 (in Italian).
• ITP, The Third Position Handbook, London: Third Position, 1997

External links

• Racial Nationalism, the Third Position, and Ethnoviolence
• Outdated guide to Third Position on the web