Editing Pierre Poujade (section)

===Political involvement===
In 1955, the UDCA was a strong political movement, with 400,000 members. Its adherents were encouraged to protest against taxes and withdraw their deposits from state-owned banks. The movement called for new [[French States-General|Estates General]] to re-found the French political regime, and published the ''Fraternité Française'' newspaper.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}
The UDCA secured 52 seats in the [[1956 French legislative election|1956 elections]].<ref name="nyt03"/> "Experts said he might win six to eight seats", ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' wrote. "A great many political leaders, including M. [[Edgar Faure|Faure]] two years ago, have promised to do something about [the tax system]. If they had made good, Poujadism would never have been born".<ref name="sep19560211">{{Cite magazine |date=1956-02-11 |title=France Needs Some Drastic Political Surgery |url=https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1956-02-11/page/n11/mode/2up |magazine=The Saturday Evening Post |type=editorial |language=english |page=10 |access-date=2020-03-24}}</ref> The youngest member of parliament, elected on a UDCA list, was [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]], then leader of the youth branch of UDCA. Poujade was critical of the decolonization of Algeria, and of the [[Treaty establishing the European Defence Community|European Defence Community]].<ref name="indie">{{cite news|author=D.S. Bell|work=The Independent|date=29 August 2003|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/pierre-poujade-548666.html |title=Pierre Poujade, Political campaigner of the French right}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> To justify his support for the [[Algerian War]], Poujade declared in 1956 to ''Time'' Magazine:

<blockquote>Big [[Wall Street]] syndicates found incredibly rich [[Petroleum reservoir|oil deposits]] in the [[Sahara]], but instead of exploiting the discovery, they capped the wells and turned the Algerians against us...All this is a great diabolic scheme to dismember France. Already the [[Saar Protectorate|Saar]] is gone, and soon the Italians will want [[Corsica]]...As for those who are against us, I need only say: let them go back to [[Jerusalem]]. We'll even be glad to pay their way."<ref name="time" /></blockquote>
 
After the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]] was established in 1958 under [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s presidency, Poujade and his party largely faded from view.<ref name="lmobit">Weill, Nicolas (28 August 2003). La mort de Pierre Poujade, précurseur d'un nouveau populisme. Le Monde, 28 August 2003. Retrieved from http://www.droitconstitutionnel.net/PierrePoujade.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720005657/http://www.droitconstitutionnel.net/PierrePoujade.htm |date=20 July 2008 }}.</ref>

Poujade ran for National Assembly again, but was defeated in 1962, after which he went on to found an organization that distributed [[Nazi]] political speeches and military songs.<ref name="nazi-speeches-german-military-songs">{{cite web |title=Jean-Marie Le Pen |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Marie-Le-Pen |website=www.britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=9 July 2024 |language=en |date=8 July 2024}}</ref>

In 1965, Poujade supported [[Jean Lecanuet]] for president.<ref name="lmobit" />

In the 1981<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/world/2017/04/who-will-vote-marine-le-pen-issues-could-divide-front-national |title=Who will vote for Marine le Pen? The issues that could divide the Front National |last=Drochon |first=Hugo |date=18 April 2017 |website=[[New Statesman]] |access-date=18 April 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419054625/http://www.newstatesman.com/world/2017/04/who-will-vote-marine-le-pen-issues-could-divide-front-national |url-status=live }}</ref> and 1988<ref name="lmobit" /> presidential elections, Poujade favored [[François Mitterrand]], while in the 1995 election he voiced his support for [[Jacques Chirac]].<ref name="lmobit" />

In 1984, Pierre Poujade was appointed to the ''Conseil économique et social'' by Mitterrand. Poujade used this position to promote [[biofuels]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Benjamin|last=Coriat|title=L'alcool carburant et son économie|trans-title=Alcohol Fuel and its Economy|journal=Revue d'économie industrielle|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rei_0154-3229_1981_num_18_1_1101|volume=18|issue=1|page=133|date=1981|doi=10.3406/rei.1981.1101|language=fr|accessdate=29 January 2016|archive-date=7 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407060101/http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rei_0154-3229_1981_num_18_1_1101|url-status=live}}</ref>

Poujade distanced himself from Le Pen and declared in 2002 that he would have preferred to break his own leg than to make him a deputy.<ref>{{cite news|last=Webster|first=Paul|title=Le Pen's ex-mentor regrets rise of 'liar'|newspaper=The Observer|date=28 April 2002|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/28/france.paulwebster|accessdate=29 January 2016|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307161939/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/28/france.paulwebster|url-status=live}}</ref>