The far-right tradition in France finds its origins in the Third Republic with Boulangism and the Dreyfus Affair. The modern "far right" or radical right grew out of two separate events of 1889: the splitting off in the Socialist International of those who chose the nation and the culmination of the "Boulanger Affair", which championed the demands of the former Minister of War General Georges Boulanger. The Dreyfus Affair provided one of the political division lines of France. Nationalism, which had been before the Dreyfus Affair a left-wing and Republican ideology, turned after that to be a main trait of the right-wing and, moreover, of the far right. A new right emerged, and nationalism was reappropriated by the far right who turned it into a form of ethnic nationalism, itself blended with anti-Semitism, xenophobia, anti-Protestantism and anti-Masonry. The Action française, first founded as a review, was the matrix of a new type of counter-revolutionary right-wing, and continues to exist today. During the interwar period, the Action française (AF) and its youth militia, the Camelots du Roi, were very active. Far right leagues organized riots.

Far-right politics are right-wing politics to the right of the mainstream centre right on the traditional left-right spectrum. They often involve a focus on tradition as opposed to policies and customs that are regarded as reflective of modernism. They often have a disregard or disdain for egalitarianism, if not overt support for social inequality and social hierarchy, elements of social conservatism and opposition to most forms of liberalism and socialism. The terms are commonly used to describe Nazism,neo-Nazism, Fascism, neo-Fascism and other ideologies or organizations that feature extreme nationalist, chauvinist, xenophobic, racist, or reactionary views. Some far-right movements, such as the Nazis, have pursued oppression and genocide against groups of people on the basis of their alleged inferiority or their alleged threat to the nation or state.

Definition and terminology

The far right in Switzerland was established in the course of the rise of fascism in Europe in the interwar period. It was a mostly marginal phenomenon in the Cold War period, excepting a surge of radical right-wing populism during the early 1970s, and has again attracted some media attention since 2000.

World Wars (1914-1945)

Switzerland was one of the least likely countries in Europe to succumb to fascism as its democracy had deep roots, it lacked a frustrated nationalism, had a high standard of living, wide distribution of property ownership and a secure economy. Despite this, before World War II a number of far left and fascist groups existed in Switzerland.

The earliest of these was Eugen Bircher's Schweizerischer Vaterländischer Verband, established in 1918. Gaining some influential members, it lasted until 1947. It was linked to the Heimatwehr, an anti-Semitic group established in 1925. Dr. Jakob Lorenz's Aufgebot Bewegung, formed in 1933, enjoyed some lower middle class support by advocating collaboration with Nazi Germany. Franz Burri advocated a similar closeness and led a variety of movements including Bund der Schweizer in Grossdeutschland (1941), Nationalsozialistische Schweizerbund and the Nationalsozialistische Bewegung in der Schweiz (both 1942).