Faisceau Visions of Physical and Moral Transformation and the Cult of Youthin Inter-War France

Abstract

In the post-First World War era, French youth became the focus of considerable attention from a variety of political parties and movements, particularly on the right. One of these was the Faisceau, the first avowedly fascist group in France. Group leaders Georges Valois and Jacques Arthuys sought to mobilize youthful will, sacrifice and heroism in order to recreate the fraternity present in the trenches during the Great War and topple the Third Republic. However, neither figure took an active hand in organizing youth under the Faisceau banner, instead leaving the task to Hubert Bourgin, the group’s most conservative luminary. Concentrating on social Catholicism and tradition, he abandoned the notion of youthful ‘anciens combattants’, in favour of educational reform. Yet both visions of the moral and physical transformation of youth proved to be highly influential, auguring the extreme-rightist platform of the 1930s leagues and various factions within the Vichy regime.