Unité Radicale was a

French far-right French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

political group close to the

Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a ...

and

National Bolshevism National Bolshevism (russian: национал-большевизм, natsional-bol'shevizm, german: Nationalbolschewismus), whose supporters are known as National Bolsheviks (russian: национал-большевики, natsional-bol'sheviki ...

thesis. It was founded in June 1998 from the merger of

Groupe Union Défense Groupe Union Défense (originally named ''Groupe Union Droit''), better known as GUD, is a French far-right students' union formed in the 1960s. After a period of inactivity it relaunched in 2022. The GUD was based in Panthéon-Assas University ...

and

Nouvelle Résistance Nouvelle Résistance (NR) was a French far-right group created in August 1991 by Christian Bouchet as an offshoot of '' Troisième Voie'' (Third Way), which was headed by Bouchet. Dissolved in 1997, NR described themselves as "national revolution ...

/ Jeune Résistance/ Union des Cercles Résistance, issued from

, and dissolved on August 6, 2002. The group was led by

Christian Bouchet Christian Bouchet (born 17 January 1955) is a French far-right journalist and politician. Biography Coming from a far-right family with monarchist and Organisation armée secrète links, in 1970 Bouchet joined the monarchist group '' Restaur ...

. ''Unité Radicale'' promoted a racist,

anti-semitic 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 ...

and

anti-american Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...

political agenda adopting Nazi imagery during activities. The group worked with the

Mouvement national républicain The National Republican Movement (''Mouvement national républicain'' or MNR) is a French nationalist political party, created by Bruno Mégret with former Club de l'Horloge members Yvan Blot (also a member of GRECE) and Jean-Yves Le Gallou, as ...

Bruno Mégret Bruno Mégret (; born 4 April 1949) is a French former nationalist politician. He was the leader of the Mouvement National Républicain political party, but retired in 2008 from all political action. Youth and studies Born in Paris, Bruno Mégre ...

and some members of Unité Radicale were members of the Conseil national of this party. Contributors to their website included former Collaborationist

Roland Gaucher Roland Gaucher (13 April 1919 – 27 July 2007) was the pseudonym of Roland Goguillot, a French far-right journalist and politician. One of the main thinkers of the French far-right, he had participated in Marcel Déat's fascist party Rassemblemen ...

, who participated to the 1972 foundation of the National Front, along with Le Pen. At the beginning of 2002, Unité Radicale split. Christian Bouchet departed the movement with his friends, and the group was then led by Fabrice Robert and Guillaume Luyt who gave it a more racist and anti-Muslim outlook. An ''Unité Radicale'' member,

Maxime Brunerie Maxime Brunerie (born 21 May 1977) is a French convicted criminal and former neo-Nazi activist, known for his 14 July 2002 assassination attempt on Jacques Chirac, then President of France, during the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris. Biogr ...

, tried to assassinate president

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 ...

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "t ...

in 2002. Although ''Unité Radicale'' contended that Maxime Brunerie was not even a bona fide member, the French government administratively disbanded the group.Jon Henley
France plans to outlaw far-right group of would-be assassin
', The Guardian, Tuesday July 30, 2002 Subsequently, some former members of ''Unité Radicale'' formed another group, ''

Bloc Identitaire Les Identitaires (English: The Identitarians), formerly the Bloc identitaire (English: ''Identitarian Bloc''), is an Identitarian movement, Identitarian Nationalism, nationalist movement in France. Like the Nouvelle Droite, French New Right, ...

'', while some other "nationalist revolutionaries" of ''Unité Radicale'' formed the study group '' Réseau Radical'' (2002–2006), close to Bouchet's newspaper ''Résistances''.

References

Political parties established in 1998 Far-right political parties in France Political parties disestablished in 2002 French nationalism Neo-fascist parties Third Position 1998 establishments in France 2002 disestablishments in France Neo-Nazi political parties in Europe Neo-Nazism in France {{France-party-stub