National Revolution
국민혁명
The National Revolution was the official ideology and programme for reorganising the French state and society promoted by Vichy France from 1940 to 1944. Replacing the republican motto of liberty, equality and fraternity with “Work, Family, Fatherland,” it rejected parliamentarism and pluralism while advancing authoritarian hierarchy, traditional family order and class collaboration as means of national regeneration.
In depth
Vichy presented defeat and the collapse of the Third Republic as an opportunity to remake institutions and society. The National Revolution gathered anti-parliamentarism, leader cult, state antisemitism, corporatist order, ruralism and traditional communities into a language usable by conservative, authoritarian and fascist currents. It was less a single stable doctrine than a coalition of conflicting reform projects, and its official prominence declined after Pierre Laval returned to power in 1942. The term, support for Pétain and collaboration with Germany overlapped, but they were not identical categories.
Sources
- fr.wikipedia.org (defines the Révolution nationale as Vichy’s official ideology from July 1940 to August 1944; describes its replacement of the republican motto and authoritarian, anti-parliamentary principles)
- guides.loc.gov (Library of Congress guide identifies Travail, Famille, Patrie as the dominant ideology under Pétain and Vichy, and distinguishes supporters of Pétain from adherence to the programme)
- repository.rice.edu (university repository paper discusses the programme’s rhetoric of national renewal, traditionalism, and rejection of interwar ‘decadence’)