Thenon-conformists of the 1930s were groups and individuals during theinter-war period inFrance that were seeking new solutions to face the political,economical and social crisis. The name was coined in 1969 by the historian Jean-Louis Loubet del Bayle to describe a movement which revolved aroundEmmanuel Mounier'spersonalism. They attempted to find a "third (communitarian) alternative" betweensocialism andcapitalism, and opposed bothliberalism/parliamentarism/democracy andfascism.[1][2]
Three main currents of non-conformists may be distinguished:
Theseyoung intellectuals (most were about 25 years old) all considered that France was confronted by a "civilisation crisis" and opposed, despite their differences, what Mounier called the "established disorder" (le désordre établi). The latter was represented bycapitalism,individualism,economic liberalism andmaterialism. Opposed both toFascism and toCommunism (qualified for the first as a "false Fascist-spiritualism[4]" and for the latter as plain materialism), they aimed at creating the conditions of a "spiritual revolution" which would simultaneously transform Man and things. They called for a "New Order", beyond individualism andcollectivism, oriented towards a "federalist," "communautary and personalist" organisation of social relations.
The Non-Conformists were influenced both by Frenchsocialism, in particular byProudhonism (an important influence ofOrdre nouveau) and bySocial Catholicism, which permeatedEsprit and theJeune Droite. They inherited from both currents a form of scepticism towards politics, which explains someanti-statism stances, and renewed interest in social and economical transformations.[5] Foreign influences were more restricted, and were limited to the discovery of the "precursors ofexistentialism" (Kierkegaard,Nietzsche,Heidegger,Max Scheler) and contacts betweenOrdre nouveau and several members of the GermanConservative Revolutionary movement.[6] They were in favor ofdecentralization, underscored the importance of intermediary bodies, and opposedfinance capitalism.[6]
The movement was close toliberalism in the attention given tocivil society and in its distrust of the state; but it also criticized liberal individualism and its negligence of "intermediate bodies" (family, village, etc.[7] — the reactionary writerMaurice Barrès also insisted on the latter). They were characterized by the will to find a "Third Way" between Socialism and Capitalism, individualism and collectivism,idealism and materialism and theleft–right distinction in politics.[8]
After theFebruary 6, 1934 riots organized byfar-right leagues, the Non-Conformists split toward various directions.Bertrand de Jouvenel made the link between the Non-Conformists and the supporters ofplanisme, a new economical theory invented by the BelgianHenri de Man, as well as with thetechnocraticGroupe X-Crise. They influenced bothVichy'sRévolution nationale (Jeune France, Ecole des cadres d'Uriage, etc.) and political programs of theResistance (Combat,Défense de la France,OCM, etc.) In November 1941,René Vincent, in charge of Vichycensorship services, created the journalIdées (1941–44) which gathered the Non-Conformists who supported MarshalPhilippe Pétain's regime.[9]
After World War II, many of these Non-Conformists (Robert Aron,Daniel-Rops,Jean de Fabrègues,Denis de Rougemont,Alexandre Marc,Thierry Maulnier) became activists ofEuropean federalist movements. The founder ofOrdre nouveau, Alexandre Marc, became in 1946 the first secretary of theUnion of European Federalists.[10] He would then create theCentre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE) in 1954, which lives on to this day.
Breaking with part of its legacy,Esprit involved itself inNew Left movements and would also influence in the 1970s the "Second Left", gathered around theUnified Socialist Party (PSU).
AfterMay '68, someenvironmentalist movements renewed with this "spirit of the 1930s" (in particularDenis de Rougemont orJacques Ellul). They have also influencedChristian Democracy.
Abroad, the Non-Conformists found an audience inQuebec between the 1930s to the 1970s or among Eastern European dissidents, and would also influence Catholic circles in the second half of the 20th century.