Editing Pierre Poujade

{{Short description|French politician (1920–2003)}}
{{Distinguish|Pierre Pouyade}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
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| birth_date         = {{birth date|1920|12|1|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Saint-Céré]], France
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2003|8|27|1920|12|1|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[La Bastide-l'Évêque]], France
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| employer           = 
| occupation         = Politician
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| spouse             = Yvette Seva
| children           = 5
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}}

'''Pierre Poujade''' ({{IPA|fr|pjɛʁ puʒad|lang}}; 1 December 1920 – 27 August 2003) was a French [[Right-wing populism|right-wing populist]] politician after whom the [[#Poujadism|Poujadist]] movement was named.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Douglas|date=28 August 2003|title=Obituary – Pierre Poujade: Shooting star of a 1950s small traders' revolt|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/28/guardianobituaries1|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=29 January 2016|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307084747/http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/28/guardianobituaries1|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Biography==
Pierre Poujade was born in [[Saint-Céré]] (Le Lot), France, and studied at Collège Saint-Eugène d'Aurillac, a Roman Catholic private school. On the death of his father, an architect, in 1928, he was unable to afford the tuition and left school to work as a manual laborer. As a teenager, Poujade joined the [[Parti populaire français]] (PPF) of [[Jacques Doriot]].<ref name="obit" />

From 1940 to 1942, Poujade supported the [[Révolution nationale]] of [[Philippe Pétain]]. After the [[Case Anton|invasion of the free zone]] by German forces, he joined the [[Free French Forces]] in [[Algiers]], where he met his future wife, Yvette Seva, with whom he would have five children.<ref name="obit" />

===Poujadism===
[[File:Epinglette de l'Union de Défense des Commerçants et des Artisans.jpg|thumb|Logo of the organisation]]
After the war, Poujade was the owner of a book and stationery store.<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|title=Foreign News: An Ordinary Frenchman|magazine=Time Magazine|date=19 March 1956|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824029-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025083728/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824029-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 October 2012}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

On 23 July 1953, with a group of about 20 persons, Poujade prevented inspectors of the tax board from verifying the income of another shopkeeper. This was the start of a [[tax protest]] movement by shopkeepers, first in the [[Lot (department)|Lot]] department, then in the [[Aveyron]] department, and finally the whole south of the [[Massif Central]].<ref name="time" />

On 29 November 1953, Pierre Poujade created the ''[[Union de Défense des Commerçants et Artisans]]'' (UDCA; Defense Union of Shopkeepers and Craftsmen), to organize the tax protesters. This movement would soon be called "'''Poujadism'''" (French: ''Poujadisme'').<ref name="time" /> Poujadism flourished most vigorously in the last years of the [[Fourth French Republic|Fourth Republic]], and articulated the economic interests and grievances of shopkeepers and other proprietor-managers of small businesses facing economic and social change. The main themes of Poujadism concerned the defense of the [[commoner|common man]] against the elites.<ref name="time" />

In addition to the protest against the income tax and the price control imposed by finance minister [[Antoine Pinay]] to limit inflation, Poujadism was opposed to [[Industrialisation|industrialization]], [[urbanization]], and American-style [[Modernization theory|modernization]], which were perceived as a threat to the identity of rural France.<ref name=":0">Serieys, Jacques (23 July 2009). "23 juillet 1953 : Pierre Poujade lance le poujadisme sur le Lot, l'Aveyron puis la France rurale entière. Remarques sur le mouvement des commerçants et artisans". Parti de Gauche: Midi-Pyrénées, 23 July 2009. Retrieved from http://www.prs12.com/spip.php?article3648 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004044538/http://www.prs12.com/spip.php?article3648 |date=4 October 2011 }}.</ref> 

The movement's "common man" populism led to [[antiparliamentarism]] (Poujade called the [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] "the biggest [[brothel]] in Paris" and the deputies a "pile of [[Solid waste|rubbish]]" and "[[Pederasty|paederasts]]"), a strong [[anti-intellectualism]] (Poujade denounced the graduates from the [[École Polytechnique]] as the main culprits for the woes of 1950s France and boasted that he had no book learning), [[xenophobia]], and [[antisemitism]], particularly aimed against Jewish Prime Minister [[Pierre Mendès France]], with Poujade claiming "Mendès is French only as the word added to his name". Mendès was perceived as being responsible for the loss of [[French Indochina]].<ref name="video">Source Unknown (date unknown). Video of a speech of Poujade against Mendès-France. Uploaded to Dailymotion.com by MisteurCocktail on 2006-08-27. Retrieved from http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbzln_poujade {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519153848/http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbzln_poujade |date=19 May 2011 }}.</ref> Poujadism also supported the cause of [[French Algeria]].<ref name="nyt03">{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/29/world/pierre-poujade-dies-at-82-rallied-france-s-rightists.html|title=Pierre Poujade Dies at 82; Rallied France's Rightists|date=29 August 2003|author=Alan Riding|accessdate=29 January 2016|archive-date=5 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205155837/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/29/world/pierre-poujade-dies-at-82-rallied-france-s-rightists.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===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>

=== Death ===
Poujade died on 27 August 2003 in [[La Bastide-l'Évêque]] at the age of 82.<ref name=":0" /> His funeral was officiated in the Church of Saint John the Baptist in La Bastide-l'Eveque, on 30 August 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kichkoff |first=Gladys |date=28 August 2003 |title=" Poujade...il savait parler " |url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2003/08/28/199503-poujade-il-savait-parler.html |access-date= |website=[[La Dépêche du Midi]] |language=fr}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Although the UDCA has lost its influence, some of the ideas of Poujadism persist in modern French politics.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Henley |first1=Jon |title=French elections: what is the republican front – and will it head off National Rally? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/04/french-elections-what-is-the-republican-front-and-will-it-head-off-national-rally |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=4 July 2024}}</ref>

In 1969, Gérard Nicoud started the CID-UNATI (''Comité Interprofessionnel de Défense-Union Nationale des Travailleurs Indépendants''), a tax protest movement similar to the one of Poujade. Examples of recent political groups with strong Poujadist leanings include Le Pen's own [[National Front (France)|National Front]] (which has a strong anti-tax message), the ''Comité de Défense des Commerçants et Artisans'' of Christian Poucet (that encouraged French shopkeepers to declare their business in Britain in order to avoid paying the French Social Security taxes), and the ''Union des Contribuables Français''. The magazine ''Le Cri du Contribuable'' owned by Nicolas Miguet also maintains the poujadist tradition.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

In France, ''Poujadisme'' is often used pejoratively to characterize any kind of ideology 
that declares itself ''anti-establishment'' or strongly criticizes the current French political system or political class, even when the anti-tax or anti-intellectual aspects of the original Poujadism are absent.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

For instance, ''[[Le Monde diplomatique]]'' was accused of ''poujado-marxisme'' in the 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

In a 1990 pamphlet, reissued in 2012, [[Christopher Hitchens]] refers to a "... Poujadiste female with ideas above her station", presumably a reference to [[Margaret Thatcher]] and her humble origins as a Grantham grocer's daughter.<ref>[[Christopher Hitchens]] ''The Monarchy: A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish'' published by Vintage Digital (29 May 2012).</ref>

In February 2010, ''[[The New York Times]]'' commentator Robert Zaretsky compared the American [[Tea Party movement]] with Poujadism.<ref name="zaretsky">{{cite news |title=The Tea Party Last Time |first=Robert |last=Zaretsky |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2 February 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/opinion/03zaretsky.html?sudsredirect=true&pagewanted=all |access-date=19 February 2017 |archive-date=24 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424180745/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/opinion/03zaretsky.html?sudsredirect=true&pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref>

In a May 2016 editorial, ''The New York Times'' columnist [[Ross Douthat]] identified [[Donald Trump]] as a Poujadist.<ref name="Douthat">{{cite news |title=Make Family Policy Great Again |first=Ross |last=Douthat |newspaper=The New York Times |date=28 May 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/opinion/sunday/make-family-policy-great-again.html |access-date=19 February 2017 |archive-date=15 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915190045/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/opinion/sunday/make-family-policy-great-again.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

British historian [[Timothy Garton Ash]] used Poujade in discussing [[Brexit|the British vote to leave the European Union]]. In a piece published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' in June 2016, he wrote about some of those who voted for [[Brexit]], saying that:

<blockquote>It is a mistake to disqualify such people as racist. Their concerns are widespread, genuine and not to be dismissed. Populist xenophobes such as [[Nigel Farage]] exploit these emotions, linking them to subterranean [[English nationalism]] and talking, as he did in the moment of victory, of the triumph of "real people, ordinary people, decent people". This is the language of [[George Orwell|Orwell]] hijacked for the purposes of a Poujade.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/lifelong-english-european-the-biggest-defeat-of-my-political-life-timothy-garton-ash-brexit|title=As an English European, this is the biggest defeat of my political life|date=2016-06-24|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=2016-06-26|archive-date=22 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122115526/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/lifelong-english-european-the-biggest-defeat-of-my-political-life-timothy-garton-ash-brexit|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

==Bibliography==
* ''J'ai choisi le combat'' (Société Générale des Editions et des Publications, 1955)
* ''A l'heure de la colère'' (Albin Michel, 1977)

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Wampole, Christy. (2019) "Poujade's Infowars: On Barthes' Anti-Anti-Intellectualism." ''The Yearbook of Comparative Literature.'' Vol. 62: pp.&nbsp;73–103.
* Fitzgerald, Sean (1970). The Anti-Modern Rhetoric of Le Mouvement Poujade. The Review of Politics 32 (2): 167-190.

== External links ==
* [https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19560319,00.html – Cover of TIME Magazine, 19 March 1956, showing "France's Pierre Poujade"]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Poujade, Pierre}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Lot (department)]]
[[Category:Politicians from Occitania (administrative region)]]
[[Category:Union for the Defense of Tradesmen and Artisans politicians]]
[[Category:Politicians of the French Fourth Republic]]
[[Category:Right-wing populism in France]]
[[Category:French tax resisters]]