Third Position
Encyclopedia
Third Position is a revolutionary nationalist
political ideology that emphasizes its opposition to both communism
and capitalism
. Advocates of Third Position politics typically present themselves as "beyond left and right", instead claiming to syncretize radical ideas
from both ends of the political spectrum.
Third Positionists tend to advocate for the ownership of the means of producing goods and services
to be distributed
as widely as possible among the "productive members of society"
, seek alliances with separatists
of ethnicity and race other than their own to achieve "separate but equal" ethnic and racial segregation
, support national liberation movements in the least developed countries, and have recently embraced environmentalism
and reconstructionist paganism
.
Political scientists, such as Roger Griffin
, dismiss Third Positionist claims of being "beyond left and right" as specious. They argue that Third Positionism is in fact an ideological mutation of the neo-fascist
right, which rejects both Marxism
and liberalism
for an ultranationalism that seeks to achieve a national rebirth by establishing a confederation
of ethnically and racially homogeneous communities
where ownership of productive property is distributed
among all members. The main precursors of Third Position politics are National Bolshevism
, a synthesis of nationalism and Bolshevik
communism, and Strasserism, a radical, mass-action and worker-based form of Nazism
.
, the former Argentine President
Juan Perón
(1946–55; 1973–74) defined the international position of his doctrine (Peronism
) as a Third Position between capitalism and communism, a stance which became a precedent of the Non-Aligned Movement
.
Perón had no racial bias and he had good relations with the important Argentine Jewish community, but it has been alleged that he had a personal affinity towards German Nazism
and Italian Fascism
(especially for the controversial refuge of Nazi fugitives in Argentina after WWII), although this affinity didn't permeate the Peronist doctrine. Perón was known to have praised the mass mobilizations of Benito Mussolini
(he valued positively the fact that italian fascism had led the masses to an effective participation in the political life of the country), and he received refuge in the Francoist Spain after the bloody coup
that ousted him, although his relations with Franco were bad, and he didn't receive any direct help from him throughout his whole stay in the country.
where, in 1985, Jean-Gilles Malliarakis
set up Troisième Voie (TV). Considering its main enemies to be the United States
, communism
and Zionism
, the group advocated radical paths to national revolution. Associated for a time with the Groupe Union Défense
, TV was generally on 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 Position views.
in Germany with the far left
during the Weimar Republic
of the 1920s. The term is also used today for mutual entryism
or cooperation between left and right-wing groups. On the left, the Communist social fascism
strategy focused against the Social Democrats, resulting in a stalemate and incidents of temporary cooperation with genuine fascist and ultranationalist forces. Ernst Niekisch
and others tried to combine communist and anti-capitalist
nationalist forces to overthrow the existing order of the Weimar Republic. He called this merger National Bolshevism
. The Chancellor, General Kurt von Schleicher
pursued a strategy of demerging the left wing of the Nazi Party as a way of gaining Adolf Hitler
's support for his government. Schleicher's idea was to threaten the merger of the left-leaning Nazis and the trade union
s as way of forcing Hitler to support his government, but his plan failed.
, 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, a palingenetic ultranationalism
looking favourably to national liberation movements, support for racial separatism
and the adherence to a soldier lifestyle
.
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. He 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 was one of the founders of the Terza Posizione
movement in 1978. Third Position ideas are now represented in Italy by Forza Nuova, led by Fiore.
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
. They called for the creation of Political Soldier
s, 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 Credit
ors, 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.
With the split of the National Front
, the Third Position stance in Britain was carried on by the group Third Way
, and more notably the International Third Position
(ITP). Renamed England First, ITP continues to organise on a small scale and has produced a Third Position Handbook that details the aims of the movement.
, Third Position politics has been promoted by some white nationalist
groups, such as the National Alliance, Rockford Institute
, American Front
, and White Aryan Resistance
, as well as some black nationalist
groups, such as the Nation of Islam
, since the late 20th century.
Third Position adherents in the U.S. actively seek to recruit from the left
by attempting to convince progressive
activists to join forces to oppose certain government policies where there is a shared critique, primarily around such issues as the use of U.S. troops in foreign military interventions
, support for Israel, the problems of CIA misconduct and covert action
, domestic government repression
, privacy rights, and civil liberties.
In 2010, the American Third Position Party
was founded, in part, to channel the right-wing populist
resentment engendered by the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and the policies of the Obama administration
.
Palingenetic ultranationalism
Palingenetic ultranationalism is a theory concerning generic fascism formulated by British political theorist Roger Griffin. The key elements are that fascism can be defined by its core myth, namely that of "national rebirth" — palingenesis...
political ideology that emphasizes its opposition to both communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. Advocates of Third Position politics typically present themselves as "beyond left and right", instead claiming to syncretize radical ideas
Syncretic politics
Syncretic politics or spectral-syncretic refers to a form of politics outside of the conventional left-right political spectrum, this term is especially used by some scholars to describe the political nature of fascism...
from both ends of the political spectrum.
Third Positionists tend to advocate for the ownership of the means of producing goods and services
Means of production
Means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production—the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth — along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the classical factors of production minus financial capital and minus human capital...
to be distributed
Distributism
Distributism is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K...
as widely as possible among the "productive members of society"
Producerism
Producerism, sometimes referred to as "producer radicalism," is a right-wing populist ideology which holds that the productive members of society are being exploited by parasitic elements at both the top and bottom of the social and economic structure....
, seek alliances with separatists
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
of ethnicity and race other than their own to achieve "separate but equal" ethnic and racial segregation
Ethnopluralism
Ethnopluralism or ethno-pluralism is a European New Right theory of multiculturalism which contrasts with liberal multiculturalism."Cultural differentialism" is the view that cultures are clearly bound entities with a specific geographical location...
, support national liberation movements in the least developed countries, and have recently embraced environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and reconstructionist paganism
Polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
.
Political scientists, such as Roger Griffin
Roger Griffin
Roger D. Griffin is a British academic political theorist at Oxford Brookes University, England. His recent efforts have focused on a definition and examination of fascism...
, dismiss Third Positionist claims of being "beyond left and right" as specious. They argue that Third Positionism is in fact an ideological mutation of the neo-fascist
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post–World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. The term neo-fascist may apply to groups that express a specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism or any other fascist leader/state...
right, which rejects both Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
for an ultranationalism that seeks to achieve a national rebirth by establishing a confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
of ethnically and racially homogeneous communities
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
where ownership of productive property is distributed
Distributism
Distributism is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K...
among all members. The main precursors of Third Position politics are National Bolshevism
National Bolshevism
National Bolshevism is a political movement that claims to combine elements of nationalism and Bolshevism. It is often anti-capitalist in tone, and sympathetic towards certain nationalist forms of communism and socialism...
, a synthesis of nationalism and Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
communism, and Strasserism, a radical, mass-action and worker-based form of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
.
Argentina
At the peak of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the former Argentine President
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
(1946–55; 1973–74) defined the international position of his doctrine (Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
) as a Third Position between capitalism and communism, a stance which became a precedent of the Non-Aligned Movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
.
Perón had no racial bias and he had good relations with the important Argentine Jewish community, but it has been alleged that he had a personal affinity towards German Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and Italian Fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
(especially for the controversial refuge of Nazi fugitives in Argentina after WWII), although this affinity didn't permeate the Peronist doctrine. Perón was known to have praised the mass mobilizations of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
(he valued positively the fact that italian fascism had led the masses to an effective participation in the political life of the country), and he received refuge in the Francoist Spain after the bloody coup
Revolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
that ousted him, although his relations with Franco were bad, and he didn't receive any direct help from him throughout his whole stay in the country.
France
Third Position ideology gained some support in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where, in 1985, Jean-Gilles Malliarakis
Jean-Gilles Malliarakis
Jean-Gilles Malliarakis is a French far-right politician and writer. He is the son of noted painter 'Mayo' and was educated at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.-Early career:...
set up Troisième Voie (TV). Considering its main enemies to be the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, the group advocated radical paths to national revolution. Associated for a time with the Groupe Union Défense
Groupe Union Droit
Groupe Union Défense or Groupe Unité Défense , better known as GUD, is the name of a succession of violent French far-right student political groups. Regularly dissolved, it keeps surfacing under altered names...
, TV was generally on 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
Christian Bouchet
Christian Bouchet is a French far right journalist and politician. An exponent of the Third Position, with sympathies to National Bolshevism....
, Nouvelle Résistance
Nouvelle Résistance
Nouvelle Résistance was a French far right group created in August 1991 by Christian Bouchet as an offshoot of Troisième Voie , which was headed by Bouchet. Dissolved in 1997, NR described themselves as "national revolutionary" and part of the National Bolshevism and Third Position movement...
, continued to be informed by Third Position views.
Germany
Querfront (cross-front) was a term used to describe cooperation between conservative revolutionariesConservative Revolutionary movement
The Conservative Revolutionary movement was a German national conservative movement, prominent in the years following the First World War. The Conservative Revolutionary school of thought advocated a "new" conservatism and nationalism that was specifically German, or Prussian in particular...
in Germany with the far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
during the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
of the 1920s. The term is also used today for mutual entryism
Entryism
Entryism is a political tactic by which an organisation or state encourages its members or agents to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely...
or cooperation between left and right-wing groups. On the left, the Communist social fascism
Social fascism
Social fascism was a theory supported by the Communist International during the early 1930s, which believed that social democracy was a variant of fascism because, in addition to a shared corporatist economic model, it stood in the way of a complete and final transition to communism...
strategy focused against the Social Democrats, resulting in a stalemate and incidents of temporary cooperation with genuine fascist and ultranationalist forces. Ernst Niekisch
Ernst Niekisch
Ernst Niekisch was a German politician. Initially associated with mainstream left-wing politics he later became a Prominent exponent of National Bolshevism.-Bavaria:...
and others tried to combine communist and anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
nationalist forces to overthrow the existing order of the Weimar Republic. He called this merger National Bolshevism
National Bolshevism
National Bolshevism is a political movement that claims to combine elements of nationalism and Bolshevism. It is often anti-capitalist in tone, and sympathetic towards certain nationalist forms of communism and socialism...
. The Chancellor, General Kurt von Schleicher
Kurt von Schleicher
Kurt von Schleicher was a German general and the last Chancellor of Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic. Seventeen months after his resignation, he was assassinated by order of his successor, Adolf Hitler, in the Night of the Long Knives....
pursued a strategy of demerging the left wing of the Nazi Party as a way of gaining Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's support for his government. Schleicher's idea was to threaten the merger of the left-leaning Nazis and the trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s as way of forcing Hitler to support his government, but his plan failed.
Italy
In ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the Third Position was developed by Roberto Fiore
Roberto Fiore
Roberto Fiore is an Italian nationalist politician and a founding member of the European third position movement which is against both communism and capitalism...
, along with Gabriele Adinolfi
Gabriele Adinolfi
Gabriele Adinolfi is an Italian far right ideologue and essayist. He was one of the prominent characters of the 1970s extraparliamentary far right.-Early political career and Terza Posizione:...
and Peppe Di Mitri, in the tradition of Italian neo-fascism
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post–World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. The term neo-fascist may apply to groups that express a specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism or any other fascist leader/state...
. Third Position’s ideology is characterized by a militarist
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
formulation, a palingenetic ultranationalism
Palingenetic ultranationalism
Palingenetic ultranationalism is a theory concerning generic fascism formulated by British political theorist Roger Griffin. The key elements are that fascism can be defined by its core myth, namely that of "national rebirth" — palingenesis...
looking favourably to national liberation movements, support for racial separatism
Racialism
Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations. Currently, racialism entails a belief in the existence and significance of racial categories, but not necessarily that any absolute hierarchy between the races has been demonstrated by a rigorous and comprehensive scientific process...
and the adherence to a soldier lifestyle
Political Soldier
Political Soldier is a political concept associated with the Third Position. It played a leading role in Britain's National Front from the late 1970s onwards under young radicals Nick Griffin, Patrick Harrington and Derek Holland of the Official National Front...
.
In order to construct a cultural background for the ideology, Fiore looked to the ruralism of Julius Evola
Julius Evola
Barone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...
and sought to combine it with the desire for a cultural-spiritual revolution. He adopted some of the positions of the contemporary far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
, notably the ethnopluralism
Ethnopluralism
Ethnopluralism or ethno-pluralism is a European New Right theory of multiculturalism which contrasts with liberal multiculturalism."Cultural differentialism" is the view that cultures are clearly bound entities with a specific geographical location...
of Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
and the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
-wide appeal associated with such views as the Europe a Nation
Europe a Nation
Europe a Nation was a policy developed by British politician Oswald Mosley as the cornerstone of his Union Movement. It called for the integration of Europe into a single entity....
campaign of Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
(amongst others). Fiore was one of the founders of the Terza Posizione
Terza Posizione
The Terza Posizione was a far right group founded in Rome in 1978 . The TP rejected both capitalism and socialism, looking instead to found a political and economic Third Position, with its main influence being Julius Evola...
movement in 1978. Third Position ideas are now represented in Italy by Forza Nuova, led by Fiore.
United Kingdom
Fiore's exile in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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
Patrick Harrington
Patrick "Pat" Harrington is a British Politician, currently General Secretary of Solidarity – The Union for British Workers an organisation affiliated to the British National Party, and a Director of the Third Way think-tank...
and Derek Holland, who soon became known as the Official National Front
Official National Front
The Official National Front was one of two far-right groups to emerge in the United Kingdom in 1986 following a split within the National Front...
. They called for the creation of Political Soldier
Political Soldier
Political Soldier is a political concept associated with the Third Position. It played a leading role in Britain's National Front from the late 1970s onwards under young radicals Nick Griffin, Patrick Harrington and Derek Holland of the Official National Front...
s, who would be devoted to nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and racial separatism
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
, also helping to clarify the economic stance of the Third Position by drawing from the early 20th century distributists
Distributism
Distributism is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K...
, Social Credit
Social Credit
Social Credit is an economic philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas , a British engineer, who wrote a book by that name in 1924. Social Credit is described by Douglas as "the policy of a philosophy"; he called his philosophy "practical Christianity"...
ors, guild socialists
Guild socialism
Guild socialism is a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds. It originated in the United Kingdom and was at its most influential in the first quarter of the 20th century. It was strongly associated with G. D. H...
and other "radical patriots". Within the UK, the ideology was less overtly Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
than in Italy, although Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...
remained an important aspect.
With the split of the National Front
British National Front
The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
, the Third Position stance in Britain was carried on by the group Third Way
Third Way (UK)
The National Liberal Party – The Third Way is a United Kingdom political party that was formed on 17 March 1990 as The Third Way. In 2006, the Third Way registered the name National Liberal Party – The Third Way with the Electoral Commission....
, and more notably the International Third Position
International Third Position
International Third Position ' was a neo-fascist organization formed by the breakaway faction of the neofascist British National Front and Italian neofascists led by Roberto Fiore....
(ITP). Renamed England First, ITP continues to organise on a small scale and has produced a Third Position Handbook that details the aims of the movement.
United States
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Third Position politics has been promoted by some white nationalist
White nationalism
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism. The former seek a separate white nation state, while the latter add ideas from social Darwinism and...
groups, such as the National Alliance, Rockford Institute
Rockford Institute
Rockford Institute is a conservative think-tank associated with paleoconservatism, based in Rockford, Illinois. It is known for the John Randolph Club, and publishes Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture....
, American Front
American Front
American Front is a white supremacist organization started in 1987 in San Francisco, California by Bob Heick. It began as a loose organization modeled after the British National Front. Heick began working with Tom Metzger's White Aryan Resistance in 1988. Heick and artist Boyd Rice posed for...
, and White Aryan Resistance
White Aryan Resistance
White Aryan Resistance is a neo-Nazi white separatist organization founded and led by former Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger. Part of the American far right, it is based in Warsaw, Indiana and is incorporated as a business....
, as well as some black nationalist
Black nationalism
Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
groups, such as the Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
, since the late 20th century.
Third Position adherents in the U.S. actively seek to recruit from the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
by attempting to convince progressive
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
activists to join forces to oppose certain government policies where there is a shared critique, primarily around such issues as the use of U.S. troops in foreign military interventions
Criticism of American foreign policy
Criticism of United States foreign policy encompasses a wide range of sentiments about its actions and policies over time.-Common criticisms:...
, support for Israel, the problems of CIA misconduct and covert action
CIA transnational human rights actions
This article deals with those activities of the Central Intelligence Agency that preserve or violate human rights.-General principles:In 2003, Patricia Derian, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights in the Carter Administration wrote, "Through these U.S. military and...
, domestic government repression
Political repression
Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....
, privacy rights, and civil liberties.
In 2010, the American Third Position Party
American Third Position Party
The American Third Position Party is an American political party of the far-right, which promotes white nationalism. It was founded in 2010, and defines its principal mission as representing the political interests of white Americans. The party takes a strong stand against immigration and...
was founded, in part, to channel the right-wing populist
Right-wing populism
Right-wing populism is a political ideology that rejects existing political consensus and combines laissez-faire liberalism and anti-elitism. It is considered "right-wing" because of its rejection of social equality and government programs to achieve it, its opposition to social integration, and...
resentment engendered by the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and the policies of the Obama administration
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
.
See also
- EcofascismEcofascismEcofascism, can be used in two different ways:# The term is used as a pejorative by political conservatives, centrists, and leftists to discredit deep ecology, mainstream environmentalism, radical environmentalism and other ecological positions....
- Franco FredaFranco FredaFranco "Giorgio" Freda is one of the leading intellectuals of the post-war Italian far right. He has been accused of having personally contributed to the Piazza Fontana bombing.-Biography:...
- International Third PositionInternational Third PositionInternational Third Position ' was a neo-fascist organization formed by the breakaway faction of the neofascist British National Front and Italian neofascists led by Roberto Fiore....
- National-AnarchismNational-AnarchismNational-Anarchism is a radical, anti-capitalist, anti-statist, right-wing political and cultural ideology which emphasizes ethnic tribalism. As a prelude to an anticipated racial civil war and a collapse of the capitalist system, National-Anarchists seek to establish autonomous villages for...
- Nouvelle DroiteNouvelle DroiteNouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
- ProducerismProducerismProducerism, sometimes referred to as "producer radicalism," is a right-wing populist ideology which holds that the productive members of society are being exploited by parasitic elements at both the top and bottom of the social and economic structure....
- Syncretic politicsSyncretic politicsSyncretic politics or spectral-syncretic refers to a form of politics outside of the conventional left-right political spectrum, this term is especially used by some scholars to describe the political nature of fascism...
- Terza PosizioneTerza PosizioneThe Terza Posizione was a far right group founded in Rome in 1978 . The TP rejected both capitalism and socialism, looking instead to found a political and economic Third Position, with its main influence being Julius Evola...
External links
- Political Research AssociatesPolitical Research AssociatesPolitical Research Associates , named and known on the Web as PublicEye.org, is a non-profit research group located in Somerville, Massachusetts.-Mission:...
. What is the Third Position?, on PublicEye.org (2000). - Southern Poverty Law CenterSouthern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
. Third Position On The Web in Intelligence Report, Winter 2000, Issue Number: 97.