The Nouvelle Droite and "Tradition"

Introduction

The Nouvelle Droite (ND; New Right) is a unique school of thought within the landscape of the French radical right. Because of its relative longevity (it was born in January 1968, although it was not yet known by that name), it has undergone several changes and renewals of its doctrine. The ND is considered by many observers as fundamentally pagan because it rejects the monotheistic legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition.¹ Yet in the latter half the 1970s and early 1980s the ND virulently rejected positivism and Westernization, while some of its tendencies posited a Traditionalist worldview, which is holistic and antimodern.²

The ND's Traditionalism is a radical contestation of modernity, in the sense that its adherents seek to destroy the political and social model born from this modernity, with the will to rebuild a traditional and organic society inspired by antique, ancient and medieval European societies and also by acknowledged traditional societies such as Indian ones or those of the Muslim world. This radical antimodernism reflects a fundamental cultural pessimism concerning "the modern decadence"; modernity is thus perceived as an absolute polymorphic alienation. According to these Traditionalists, the "myth of progress" would be the ultimate idol of a materialist civilization in complete spiritual decay. This antimodernism radicalizes the criticism of modernity by the fact that it sees decline in any form of progress. Therefore, what we are facing here is a deeply pessimistic philosophy that questions, or even denies, modern optimism. Indeed, the latter refuses to rely on time, challenging the idea that the individual, as a principle and a value, has really succeeded in emancipating himself, because submission to traditional authority is being slowly replaced by socioeconomic values and the concept of mass consumption. In this respect, the New Right's traditionalism is radical, in spite of the fact it does not want to reverse society in a violent way, but rather through subversion, leading to its ultimate decay. It is that aspect of the ND traditionalist discourse, more than interesting, that we will study in this article.

Traditionalism

For the purposes of this article, Traditionalism means the Traditionalist esotericism of René Guénon (1886 -1951) or Italian philosopher Julius Evola (1898 -1974). "Tradition," which is written with a capital T, refers to the notion of a "primordial Tradition." The term "tradition" is derived from the Latin word tradere, meaning "to convey." It is a polysemic term, thus causing intellectual confusion in respect of its various meanings. "Tradition" connotes the ongoing transmission of cultural content in a historical processes linked to a founding event, or an immemorial past. Second, Tradition also refers to customs, historical memories, and folklore, which are inherited from the past and have permanence. Tradition is fundamentally opposed to the modern world, novelty, and change. In addition, Tradition is a form of collective consciousness related to the primordial identity of human communities. It is the memory of what has been, with the duty to transmit and enrich the traditions of the past. This is the project of Tradition in the esoteric sense. In the religious and metaphysical senses, Tradition connotes a corpus of myths, texts, and rituals. Tradition inspires specific cultural or social activities. It is fundamentally spiritual and metaphysical. It refers to a unique tradition, a "primordial Tradition" that precedes all local traditions. It is also a metaphysical doctrine, which is superhuman, immemorial, and guided by the wisdom of universal and invariable first principles. Or, as Mark Sedgwick succinctly writes, a Traditionalist is "someone who prefers a specific established practice over something that has replaced it."³ Tradition is sometimes confused with what Anglo-Saxon authors call Perennialism, or a quest for the "Tradition" which reconciles all religious traditions. Finally, for Guénon, "Tradition" could only be found in the monotheistic religions rather than pagan societies. Guénon insisted that Traditionalism must be understood in its esoteric meaning, which means, in short, acceptance of the "School of Tradition," a current of thought founded by René Guénon. This begs the question: How did currents within the ND embrace Traditionalism, while...