Mans obsession with trinitarian concepts has lasted for thousands of
years. Indeed, when presented with two distinct choices - both of which are considered
inadequate - we often look for a third alternative. In the late sixth century BC, the
famous Buddhist sage, Prince Gautama, rejected a life of opulent complacency and
experimented with self-disciple and denial. Consequently, after driving himself to the
very brink of starvation the Prince realised that there was a middle way
beyond both luxury and asceticism. In this case, it was the path of meditation and
detachment, a process in which both lifestyles were transcended and overcome.
An interesting parallel can be drawn between the example of Gautamas rejection of
hereditary privilege and the search for an alternative to Capitalism during the
late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The solution, as we know only
too well, was Communism. In fact the last century may be rightly perceived as having been
a furious historical battleground for two highly adversarial and bitterly-opposed
ideologies. But as Hilaire Belloc observed in The Restoration of Property over sixty years
ago, the differences between the two are not as distinct or clear-cut as their supporters
often like to contend: The only economic difference between a herd of subservient
Russians and a mob of free Englishmen pouring into a factory of a morning is that the
latter are exploited by private profit, the former by the State in communal fashion. The
motive of the Russian masters is to establish a comfortable bureaucracy for themselves and
their friends out of the proletariat labour. The motive of the English masters is to
increase their private fortunes out of proletariat labour. But we want something different
from either. Thus Communism is considered, not as the antidote, but as a symptom and
a product of Capitalism. Bellocs own quest for a genuine alternative to both
Capitalism and Communism was represented by The Distributist League, which he founded in
1936 with G.K. Chesterton. Both were famous converts to Catholicism and were inspired by
Rerum Novarum, a timely encyclical in which Pope Leo XIII replied to the challenge of
atheistic Communism by proposing that property be distributed more fairly and workers
treated with more dignity. As we shall see below, Belloc and Chesterton were to become two
of the chief ideologues of the new Third Position.
By the late-1970s Britains largest Far Right organisation, the National Front (NF),
had experienced an unprecedented growth spurt. Virtually indistinguishable from the more
mainstream Conservative Party in that it defended family values, law and order, capital
punishment and several other Right-wing policies, the NF became a household name due to
its opposition to multi-racialism and support for the compulsory repatriation of all
non-white immigrants. By 1979, however, the Party was heavily defeated at the ballot box
after Margaret Thatcher had herself expressed one or two outspoken comments about the
growing immigration problem. As a result, most NF supporters left for the comparatively
less extreme realms of the Centre Right, although, predictably, Mrs. Thatchers
pledge to tighten up on immigration was never practicably consolidated. From that point
onwards the NF went through a period of factionalism, as the complicated mish-mash of
ideologies which for so long had marched beneath the same banner now resulted in a bitter
struggle between reactionary conservatives, blatant neo-nazis and revolutionaries. NF
luminaries like Martin Webster and John Tyndall were ousted from the Party in the
early-1980s, clearing the way for a new up-and-coming generation of young activists; men
like Derek Holland, Nick Griffin, Patrick Harrington and Graham Williamson. These
individuals had been motivated by third way organisations abroad, not least by
Italys Terza Pozitione (Third Position) and the exiled Roberto Fiore. The strategy
of tension - Anno di Piombo - which had characterised Italian politics during the 1970s
had led to the development of the Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (Armed Revolutionary
Nuclei), and demonstrators had been seen on the streets bearing placards in simultaneous
praise of both Hitler and Mao. Many NF members had also been inspired by Otto Strasser, a
former member of the German National-Socialist Workers Party who had fought with Hitler
over the latters betrayal of the NSDAPs more socialistic tenets. So, for the
NF, this was to be a new era for revolutionary politics. One in which the boundaries of
left and right were to be totally rejected and redefined.
In 1983 the British NF began to publish a series of revolutionary magazines, entitled
Rising: Booklet For The Political Soldier, in which detailed articles were given over to
the twin concepts of political sacrifice and struggle. Meanwhile, Derek Hollands
pamphlet, The Political Soldier, inspired yet another generation of new activists and was
heavily influenced by the Italian philosopher Julius Evola. By 1986 the NF claimed to have
finally purged its ranks of Tories and reactionaries and, much to
the chagrin of the traditional Left, was soon forging alliances with Black separatist
organisations like Louis Farrakhans Nation of Islam and commending the third
way stance of Khomeinis Iran. Indeed, whilst the works of Belloc and
Chesterton were used to provide the NF with a unique economic platform, the organisation
was also advocating Popular Rule, an interesting socio-political theory in which the
structure of British society would become so decentralised that it would come to resemble
that of Colonel Qathafis Libya. Not culturally, but in terms of establishing street,
area and regional committees through which power could be decisively channelled up from
the grass roots. This, of course, was in stark contrast to the NFs former dependence
upon the electoral voting system. The NF, in awe of its Libyan counterparts, was now
distributing copies of Qathafis Green Book and happily chanting the mantra no
representation without participation. As a consequence, therefore, the NFs
rejection of the ballot box confirmed its inevitable admittance into the revolutionary
domain of extra-parliamentary politics. The movement went on to express its support for
regional independence, European solidarity, positive anti-racism and co-operation with
Black and Asian communities residing in England.
These were exciting times for supporters of Revolutionary Nationalism, but the personality
clashes which tend to prevail in all political circles eventually tore the organisation
apart during the Autumn of 1989. On one side were gathered the supporters of Derek
Holland, Colin Todd, Nick Griffin and Roberto Fiore, all of whom were involved in the
establishment of a new rural project in northern France. On the other were Patrick
Harrington, Graham Williamson and David Kerr, who believed that the administrative core of
the organisation should remain in the British Isles. Holland, Todd, Griffin and Fiore all
left to form the International Third Position (ITP), whilst Harrington and the remaining
supporters of the NF disbanded the movement in March 1990 and formed Third Way. But for
those who believed that the revolutionary dynamism of the late-1980s could somehow be
recreated, it was to end in disappointment and dejection. Third Way became far more
conservative by supporting anti-federalist and save the pound campaigns, now
portraying itself as the radical centre. The ITP, on the other hand, tried to
influence traditional Catholics grouped around The Society of St. Pius X, and - to the
horror of the overwhelming majority of its membership - took the disastrous road towards
reactionary fascism. So whilst one segment of the old NF had become respectable
and centrist, the leaders of the other were espousing the principles of Mussolini, Petain
and Franco. For the ITP, the inevitable spilt came in September 1992.
By this time I had been personally involved with the NF - and, consequently, the ITP -
since joining as a teenager in 1984. Throughout those years I had served as Regional
Organiser with both Sussex NF and the Tunbridge Wells branch of the ITP, publishing
magazines such as The Kent Crusader, Surrey Action, Eastern Legion and Catholic Action.
Combined with Northern Rising (published by the ITPs Yorkshire and Lancashire
branches), these publications comprised five-fifths of the organisations literary
output. When the ITP virtually disintegrated in 1992, these magazines all withdrew their
support. The ITP, meanwhile, was left with Final Conflict, comprising a mixture of
skinhead youth culture and Christian bigotry.
The split occurred for a variety of reasons, most notably the fact that the ITP had
rejected the internal cadre structure which had been used to such great effect during the
NF period. Coupled with the fact that Derek Holland and several others had left the
country and were now completely disinterested in the Third Positionist struggle in
England, Roberto Fiore was attacked by myself and many others for his involvement in a
ruthlessly Capitalist enterprise which operated from Central London. Several outgoing ITP
activists also accused Holland and Fiore of stealing many thousands of pounds they had
invested in property based within the groups rural enclave in northern France. But
the most decisive factor of all, however, was the ITP leaderships increasing
obsession with Catholicism and its gradual descent into the reactionary waters of
neo-fascism.
From the tattered remains of the ITP came a new independence organisation, the English
Nationalist Movement (ENM). New attempts were made to restate the principles of the Third
Position, and ENM publications like The Crusader and Catalyst attacked both Hitler and
Mussolini and preferred to emulate home-grown English socialists like Robert Owen, William
Cobbett, Robert Blatchford and William Morris. This was combined with a call to arms. The
ENM also campaigned against Unionism, advocating the break-up of the British Isles into
seven distinct nations: England, Scotland, Wales, Ulster, Ireland, Mannin (Isle of Man)
and Kernow (Cornwall). Meanwhile, its publishing service, The Rising Press, distributed
booklets and pamphlets covering a whole range of topics, including works by Otto and
Gregor Strasser, Corneliu Codreanu and Colonel Qathafi.
In 1998 the ENM changed its name to the National Revolutionary Faction and began to call
for armed insurrection against the British State in even stronger terms. A series of
detailed pamphlets and internal bulletins were disseminated amongst Nationalists across
the length and breadth of the country, seeking to end the British National Partys
(BNP) obsession with marches and elections. The revamped organisation also forged contacts
with like-minded Third Positionist groups abroad, such as Nouvelle Resistance (France),
the American Front, Spartacus (Canada), the Canadian Front, Alternativa Europea (Spain),
National Destiny (New Zealand), Devenir (Belgium), Rivolta (Italy), Free Nationalists
(Germany) and the National Bolshevik Party (Russia). National Bolshevism is a concept
which seeks to establish an alliance between East and West, and has been around for many
years. Its earliest supporters were men like Arthur Moeller van den Bruck and Ernst
Junger, both of whom tried desperately to unite Germany with Russia. National Bolshevism
today is mainly associated with the contemporary Russian thinker, Alexander Dugin, and has
become one of the NRFs main interests. Not least because the NRF supports the
creation of a decentralised Eurasian bloc in defiance of American hegemony.
In
recent years the NRF has rejected Third Positionism and now describes itself as a
National-Anarchist movement. In other words, whilst Third Positionists are committed to
going beyond Capitalism and Communism, National-Anarchists have taken things one step
further by actually transcending the very notion of beyond. According to the well-known
Anarchist thinker, Hakim Bey, writing in Millennium (1996): "Five years ago it still
remained possible to occupy a third position in the world, a neither/nor of refusal or
slyness, a realm outside the dialectic". He goes on to suggest that "Where there
is no second, no opposition, there can be no third, no neither/nor. So the choice remains:
either we accept ourselves as the last humans, or else we accept ourselves as
the opposition." This has led the NRF to praise Anarchist thinkers like Bakunin and
Proudhon, as well as to reject the concept of the State and call for independent enclaves
"in which National-Anarchists can live according to their own principles and
ideals". National-Anarchists also declare that even after the demise of Capitalism
they neither hope nor desire to establish a national infrastructure, believing that
like-minded and pragmatic individuals must set up and maintain organic communities of
their own choosing. This, of course, means that whilst the NRF retains its vision of
Natural Order and racial separatism it no longer wishes to impose its beliefs on others.
The group has also been involved in ecological campaigns, anti-Capitalist demonstrations
and animal liberation circles.
The
NRF has also been heavily influenced by Alternative Green, a group set up in the wake of
Richard Hunts resignation as Editor from the leftist newspaper, Green Anarchist.
Hunts unique economic analysis of the Western cores exploitation of the Third
World periphery, as well as his wholesale rejection of the division of labour, has led to
an open-minded alliance between Alternative Green, the NRF, Nationale-Anarchie (German
National-Anarchists), the Wessex Regionalists, Oriflamme (medievalists), Albion Awake (a
Christian-Anarchist organisation), the Anarchic Movement (influenced by both Junger and
Evola) and various other political groupuscles which all firmly believe that opponents of
Capitalism from across the board must come together in order to exchange ideas and
strategies. In May 2000 these elements staged the first Anarchist Heretics Fair in
Brighton, launching a new political initiative called Beyond Left-Right. This has since
been attacked by a variety of anarcho-dogmatists on the Left, including the
International Workers of the World (IWW) and Anti-Fascist Action (AFA). To date, however,
neither of these organisations has attempted to explain precisely why the NRF or its
allies deserve the fascist epithet or deserve their threats of violence and
intimidation. Furthermore, fewer still have tried to define the actual meaning of fascism
itself.
Given
that ideologies such as National-Socialism, National Communism and National Bolshevism
have each attempted to combine two seemingly diverse and contradictory opposites, the
arrival of National-Anarchism always seemed inevitable. But what distinguishes the NRF
from its counterparts within the prevailing left-right spectrum, however, is the fact that
it is seeking to create a synthesis.
Indeed, Synthesis is the name of a new online magazine established by the Cercle de la
Rose Noire, through which NRF thinkers, Evolians and prominent ex-members of the now
defunct White Order of Thule (WOT) are promoting the three-fold strategy of Anarchy,
Occulture and Metapolitics. The Circles website,http://obsidian-blade.com/synthesis,
has presented National-Anarchists with an esoteric perspective, becoming a huge
counter-cultural resource from which articles, essays, poetry, interviews and reviews can
be easy obtained.
Troy South gate is an editor of the SYNTHESIS, an intellectual and cultural journal
devoted to Anarchy, Occulture and Metapolitics. He contributed this article to Pravda.ru. http://obsidian-blade.com/synthesis/