Third Position
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Third Position is the name applied to a strand within the far right that sought to emphasise its opposition to both communism and capitalism. The name 'Third Position' is derived from the school of thought presenting itself as being "beyond Capitalism and Communism" and "neither Left nor Right." The movement uses the Celtic cross as its symbol.
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[edit] Development
The Third Position was developed by Roberto Fiore who had sought to re-invigorate the Italian Neo-Fascism in which he was involved by adding a strong spiritual dimension. In order to do this, Fiore looked to the ruralism of Julius Evola and sought to combine it with the desire for a cultural-spiritual revolution and the creation of a omul nou (new man) as called for by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. He also 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 joined with others to set up the Terza Posizione movement in 1979 to campaign on this ideological position.
Fiore's exile in the United Kingdom during the 1980s saw the export of Third Position to the UK where it was taken up by a group of young radicals including Patrick Harrington, Derek Holland and Nick Griffin who soon became known as the Official National Front. Continuing to develop the Third Position stance, they called for the creation of Political Soldiers who would be devoted to nationalism and also helped to clarify the economic stance of the Third Position by drawing from the early 20th Century Distributists, Social Creditors, 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 Third Way and more notably the International Third Position. As England First the ITP continue to organise on a small scale and have also produced a Third Position Handbook that details the aims of the Third Position movement. In Italy the Third Position is now represented by the New Force, led by Fiore whilst the European National Front has taken on a decidedly Third Positionist stance, advocating as it does both anti-capitalism and anti-communism. Elsewhere, the National Rebirth of Poland offer a strong commitment to Third Positionist politics in Eastern Europe.
[edit] Historical figures alluded to by Third Position
- Hilaire Belloc
- G. K. Chesterton
- Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
- Julius Evola
- Father Denis Fahey
- H. J. Massingham
- José Antonio Primo de Rivera
- Gregor and Otto Strasser
[edit] Related concepts
- Ecofascism
- International Third Position
- National anarchism
- National Bolshevism
- Nationalism
- Neo-Fascism
- Neo-Nazism
- Strasserism
[edit] Bibliography
- L. Cheles, R. Ferguson, and M. Vaughan, Neo-Fascism in Europe, London: Longman, 1992
- N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
- ITP, The Third Position Handbook, London: Third Position, 1997
