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Pierre Poujade (; 1 December 1920 – 27 August 2003) was a French
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
politician after whom the
Poujadist Pierre Poujade (; 1 December 1920 – 27 August 2003) was a French populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently a ...
movement was named.


Biography

Pierre Poujade was born in
Saint-Céré Saint-Céré (; Languedocien: ''Sant Seren'') is a commune in the Lot department, southern France. Its population is 3,414 (2019). The commune includes within its borders the castle of Saint-Laurent-les-Tours, where the artist Jean Lurçat li ...
(Le Lot), France, and studied at Collège Saint-Eugène d'Aurillac, a Roman Catholic private school. On the death of his father, an architect, in 1928, he was unable to afford the tuition and left school to work as a manual laborer. As a teenager, Poujade joined the
Parti populaire français The French Popular Party (french: Parti populaire français) was a French fascist and anti-semitic political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II. It is generally regarded as the most collaborationist party of France. ...
(PPF) of
Jacques Doriot Jacques Doriot (; 26 September 1898 – 22 February 1945) was a French politician, initially communist, later fascist, before and during World War II. In 1936, after his exclusion from the Communist Party, he founded the French Popular Party (P ...
. From 1940 to 1942, Poujade supported the
Révolution nationale The ''Révolution nationale'' (, ''National Revolution'') was the official ideological program promoted by the Vichy regime (the “French State”) which had been established in July 1940 and led by Marshal Philippe Pétain. Pétain's regime wa ...
of
Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...
. After the invasion of the free zone by German forces, he joined the
Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...
in
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, where he met his future wife, Yvette Seva, with whom he would have five children.


Poujadism

After the war, Poujade was the owner of a book and stationery store. On 23 July 1953, with a group of about 20 persons, Poujade prevented inspectors of the tax board from verifying the income of another shopkeeper. This was the start of a
tax protest A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax claiming that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid. Tax protesters are different from tax resisters, who refuse to pay taxes as a protest against a government or its policies ...
movement by shopkeepers, first in the
Lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...
department, then in the
Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitants ...
department, and finally the whole south of the
Massif Central The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,0 ...
. On 29 November 1953, Pierre Poujade created the '' Union de Défense des Commerçants et Artisans'' (UDCA; Defense Union of Shopkeepers and Craftsmen), to organize the tax protesters. This movement would soon be called "Poujadism" (French: ''Poujadisme''). Poujadism flourished most vigorously in the last years of the Fourth Republic, and articulated the economic interests and grievances of shopkeepers and other proprietor-managers of small businesses facing economic and social change. The main themes of Poujadism concerned the defense of the common man against the elites. In addition to the protest against the income tax and the price control imposed by finance minister
Antoine Pinay Antoine Pinay (; 30 December 1891 – 13 December 1994) was a French conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1952 to 1953. Life Antoine Pinay was born on 30 December 1891 in Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise. He was a child ...
to limit inflation, Poujadism was opposed to
industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
,
urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
, and American-style modernization, which were perceived as a threat to the identity of rural France. Poujadism denounced the French state as "rapetout et inhumain" ("thieving and inhuman"). The movement's "common man" populism led to
antiparliamentarism A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
(Poujade called the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
"the biggest brothel in Paris" and the deputies a "pile of rubbish" and "pederasts"), a strong
anti-intellectualism Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical, politically ...
(Poujade denounced the graduates from the
École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...
as the main culprits for the woes of 1950s France and boasted that he had no book learning),
xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
, and
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
especially aimed against Prime Minister
Pierre Mendès France Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (; 11 January 190718 October 1982) was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for eight months from 1954 to 1955. As a member of the Radical Party, he headed a government supported by a co ...
(claiming "Mendès is French only as the word added to his name"), who was perceived as responsible for the loss of
Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
.Source Unknown (date unknown). Video of a speech of Poujade against Mendès-France. Uploaded to Dailymotion.com by MisteurCocktail on 2006-08-27. Retrieved from http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbzln_poujade . Poujadism also supported the cause of
French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
.


Political involvement

In 1955, the UDCA was a strong political movement, with 400,000 members. Its adherents were encouraged to protest against taxes and withdraw their deposits from state-owned banks. The movement called for new Estates General to re-found the French political regime, and published the ''Fraternité Française'' newspaper. The UDCA secured 52 seats in the 1956 elections. "Experts said he might win six to eight seats", ''
The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
'' wrote. "A great many political leaders, including M.
Faure Faure is an Occitan family name meaning blacksmith, from Latin ''faber''. It is pronounced differently from the accented surname Fauré, as in Gabriel Fauré, French composer and organist. People Politicians * Dominique Faure (born 1959), Fre ...
two years ago, have promised to do something about he tax system If they had made good, Poujadism would never have been born". The youngest member of parliament, elected on a UDCA list, was
Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...
, then leader of the youth branch of UDCA. Poujade was critical of the decolonization of Algeria, and of the European Defence Community. To justify his support for the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, Poujade declared in 1956 to ''Time'' Magazine:
Big Wall Street syndicates found incredibly rich
oil deposits A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...
in the Sahara, but instead of exploiting the discovery, they capped the wells and turned the Algerians against us...All this is a great diabolic scheme to dismember France. Already the
Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name *Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist *Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), Est ...
is gone, and soon the Italians will want
Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
...As for those who are against us, I need only say: let them go back to
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. We'll even be glad to pay their way."
After the Fifth Republic was established in 1958 under
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
's presidency, Poujade and his party largely faded from view.Weill, Nicolas (28 August 2003). La mort de Pierre Poujade, précurseur d'un nouveau populisme. Le Monde, 28 August 2003. Retrieved from http://www.droitconstitutionnel.net/PierrePoujade.htm . In 1965, Poujade supported
Jean Lecanuet Jean Adrien François Lecanuet (4 March 1920 – 22 February 1993) was a French centrist politician. Biography Lecanuet was born to a family of modest means in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and gravitated towards philosophy studies. He received his di ...
for president. In the 1981 and 1988 presidential elections, Poujade favored
François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
, while in the 1995 election he voiced his support for
Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...
. In 1984, Pierre Poujade was appointed to the ''Conseil économique et social'' by Mitterrand. Poujade used this position to promote biofuels. Poujade distanced himself from Le Pen and declared in 2002 that he would have preferred to break his own leg than to make him a deputy.


Legacy

Although the UDCA has lost its influence, some of the ideas of Poujadism persist in modern French politics. In 1969, Gérard Nicoud started the CID-UNATI (''Comité Interprofessionnel de Défense-Union Nationale des Travailleurs Indépendants''), a tax protest movement similar to the one of Poujade. Examples of recent political groups with strong poujadist leanings include Le Pen's own National Front (which has a strong anti-tax message), the ''Comité de Défense des Commerçants et Artisans'' of Christian Poucet (that encouraged French shopkeepers to declare their business in Britain in order to avoid paying the French Social Security taxes), and the ''Union des Contribuables Français''. The magazine ''Le Cri du Contribuable'' owned by Nicolas Miguet also maintains the poujadist tradition. In France, ''Poujadisme'' is often used pejoratively to characterize any kind of ideology that declares itself ''anti-establishment'' or strongly criticizes the current French political system or political class, even when the anti-tax or anti-intellectual aspects of the original Poujadism are absent. For instance, '' Le Monde diplomatique'' was accused of ''poujado-marxisme'' in the 1990s. In a 1990 pamphlet, reissued in 2012,
Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...
refers to a "... Poujadiste female with ideas above her station", presumably a reference to
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
and her humble origins as a Grantham grocer's daughter. In February 2010, ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' commentator Robert Zaretsky compared the American
Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defi ...
with Poujadism. In a May 2016 editorial, ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' columnist
Ross Douthat Ross Gregory Douthat (born 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and ''New York Times'' columnist. He was a senior editor of ''The Atlantic''. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in Americ ...
identified
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
as a Poujadist. British historian
Timothy Garton Ash Timothy Garton Ash CMG FRSA (born 12 July 1955) is a British historian, author and commentator. He is Professor of European Studies at Oxford University. Most of his work has been concerned with the contemporary history of Europe, with a spe ...
used Poujade in discussing the British vote to leave the European Union. In a piece published in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in June 2016, he wrote about some of those who voted for
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
, saying that:
It is a mistake to disqualify such people as racist. Their concerns are widespread, genuine and not to be dismissed. Populist xenophobes such as
Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
exploit these emotions, linking them to subterranean
English nationalism English nationalism is a nationalism that asserts that the English are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of English people. In a general sense, it comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for English c ...
and talking, as he did in the moment of victory, of the triumph of "real people, ordinary people, decent people". This is the language of
Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitari ...
hijacked for the purposes of a Poujade.


Further reading

* Wampole, Christy. (2019) "Poujade's Infowars: On Barthes' Anti-Anti-Intellectualism." ''The Yearbook of Comparative Literature.'' Vol. 62: pp. 73–103. * Fitzgerald, Sean (1970). The Anti-Modern Rhetoric of Le Mouvement Poujade. The Review of Politics 32 (2): 167-190.


Bibliography

* ''J'ai choisi le combat'' (Société Générale des Editions et des Publications, 1955) * ''A l'heure de la colère'' (Albin Michel, 1977)


References


External links


– Cover of TIME Magazine, 19 March 1956, showing "France's Pierre Poujade"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poujade, Pierre 1920 births 2003 deaths People from Lot (department) Politicians from Occitania (administrative region) Union for the Defense of Tradesmen and Artisans politicians Politicians of the French Fourth Republic Right-wing populism in France French tax resisters