The Blue Shirts : Adrien Arcand and Fascist Anti-Semitism in Canada

Hugues Théorêt, Howard Scott, Ferdinanda Van Gennip

Description

While Adolf Hitler was seizing power in Germany, Adrien Arcand was laying the foundations in Quebec for his Parti national social chrétien. The Blue Shirts, as its members were called, wore a military uniform and prominently displayed the swastika. Arcand saw Jewish conspiracy wherever he turned and his views resonated with his followers who, like him, sought a scapegoat for all the ills eroding society.

Even after his imprisonment during the Second World War, the fanatical Adrien Arcand continued his correspondence with those on the frontlines of anti-semitism. Until his death in 1967, he pursued his campaign of propaganda against communists and Jews.

Hugues Théorêt describes a dark period in Quebec’s ideological history using an objective approach and careful, rigorous research in this book, which won the 2015 Canada Prize (Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences).

Sujets

• Social History
• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: University of Ottawa Press
• Date de parution: 16 mai 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9780776624693
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

The University of Ottawa Press gratefully acknowledges the support extended to its publishing list by Canadian Heritage through the Canada Book Fund, by the Canada Council for the Arts, by the Ontario Arts Council, by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, and by the University of Ottawa.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the National Translation Program for Book Publishing, an initiative of the Roadmap for Canada s Official Languages 2013-2018: Education, Immigration, Communities , for our translation activities.
Originally published as Les Chemises bleues Les ditions du Septentrion 2012
Copy editing:
Robbie McCaw
Proofreading:
Robert Ferguson and Shyla Fairfax
Typesetting:
discript enr.
Cover design:
discript enr.
Cover image:
Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives / Archives juives canadiennes Alex Dworkin

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Th or t, Hugues, 1969-
[Chemises bleues. English]
The blue shirts: Adrien Arcand and fascist anti-semitism in Canada / Hugues Th or t; translation by Ferdinanda Van Gennip and Howard Scott.
Translation of: Les Chemises bleues : Adrien Arcand, journaliste antis mite canadien-fran ais.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-7766-2467-9 (softcover).
ISBN 978-0-7766-2468-6 (PDF).
ISBN 978-0-7766-2469-3 (EPUB).
ISBN 978-0-7766-2470-9 (Kindle)
1. Arcand, Adrien, 1900-1967. 2. National Unity Party of Canada. 3. Fascism-Qu bec (Province)-History. 4. Fascism-Canada-History. 5. Antisemitism-Qu bec (Province)-History-20th century. 6. Right and left (Political science)-Canada-History-20th century. 7. Politicians-Qu bec (Province)-Biography. I. Gennip, Ferdinanda van, 1948-, translator II. Scott, Howard, 1952-, translator III. Title. IV. Title: Chemises bleues. English.
FC2924.1.A72T4313 2017
971.4 03092
C2017-902393-4


C2017-902394-2
University of Ottawa Press, 2017
Printed in Canada
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER I
Le Goglu Builds its Nest
Arcand s Parents
Studies
The Journalist
Leisure Pursuits
CHAPTER II
Le Goglu Takes Flight
Quebec in 1929
Le Miroir
Le Goglu
L Ordre Patriotique des Goglus
The David Bill on Jewish Schools
Jewish Immigration to Quebec
The Achat chez nous Campaign
Arcand and R. B. Bennett s Conservatives
Dr. Lalanne
The Bercovitch Bill on Hate Propaganda
CHAPTER III
The Blue Shirts
Le Patriote
The National Social Christian Party
Le Fasciste canadien
The Choquette Affair
Arcand Advocates for Canadian Unity
Arcand Supports Maurice Duplessis
Arcand Outside Quebec
Watchful Eye of the RCMP
Incidents of Violent Anti-Semitism in Canada
Fascist Little Italy
A Split in the PNSC
Anticosti Island Controversy
CHAPTER IV
The Key to the Mystery
The Influence of douard Drumont
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols in Quebec
The Key to the Mystery
CHAPTER V
The Canadian Union of Fascists
The National Unity Party of Canada
Arcand Abandons the Swastika
Arcand Preaches Canadian Corporatism
The Party s Principles
Le Combat national
Against War
Canadian Fascists Under Scrutiny by the Authorities
Power Hungry
The Opposition Goes on the Offensive
CHAPTER VI
Arrests and Internments
Canada Goes to War Against Germany
Raid at Arcand s Party Headquarters
Arrests
Arcand s Internment
Life Behind Barbed Wire
Efforts to Obtain Arcand s Release
Mr. Montreal
CHAPTER VII
Liberation
Arcand s Political Failures
CHAPTER VIII
The Cold War Years
Anti-Communism in Quebec
Le Goglu Picks Up its Refrain
La R publique Universelle
Social reconstruction is inevitable
L Unit nationale Reborn
Is the unrest troubling our world today intentional?
CHAPTER IX
Post-War Anti-Semitic Correspondence
CHAPTER X
Arcand s Legacy
Serviam and the Fleur-de-Lys
bas la haine!
Arcand Denies the Holocaust
Arcand and the State of Israel
Arcand and the Second Vatican Council
La R volte du Mat rialisme
Ottawa Examines Hate Propaganda
Ernst Z ndel
Tributes to Arcand
Death of Arcand
Arcand s Heirs
Arcand Before the Judgment of History
From Communism to Internationalism
Serviam Reborn
Conclusion
The Historiographical Debates
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
T his book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
I would like to personally thank historian Pierre Anctil, who penned the preface to this book; my friends Gilles Toupin and Michel B dard, for their precious counsel; and my spouse, Emmanuelle Dubois, who encouraged me throughout this project, long and perilous though it was. And, finally, I wish to emphasize the invaluable collaboration of Janice Rosen and H l ne Vall e, of the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives / Archives juives canadiennes Alex Dworkin, as well as the archivists of Library and Archives Canada and the Biblioth que et Archives nationales du Qu bec.
Preface
T oday, with the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see that francophone academics were slow to take an interest in the Jewish presence in Quebec. There are several factors to explain this reticence, so firmly entrenched that even the great societal reorientations of the Quiet Revolution during the 1960s failed to dislodge it. For much of the twentieth century, Jews were perceived in French Canada as foreigners, their longstanding historical roots in Canada and Quebec overlooked. Jews were also seen as directly obstructing the economic ambitions of francophones-be it small merchants or those in the consumer-products industry-particularly on the island of Montreal. The Achat chez nous (Buy from our own) campaign conducted during the interwar period attests to this. Above all, certain Roman Catholic Church teachings, although dismissed and rejected outright after the 1960s, had clearly imprinted on many francophone minds the notion that the Jews could never be assimilated, were not to be trusted, and, in Quebec, were turning their backs on the French language; furthermore, in the eyes of the Church, they were guilty of deicide and perfidy. Later, they simply became people not to associate with, people whose political aspirations challenged those of the majority of francophones. In short, a lingering unfavourable bias and generally negative attitude, even recently, prompted Quebec intellectuals to avoid the subject and steer well clear of the shore of Montreal Judaism. To write in French on this theme in the early 1980s was still a perilous undertaking, especially if it dealt with intercommunity relations, and more so if it touched on Yiddish literature, Jewish cultural history, or political Zionism.
This bias has changed since the turn of the twenty-first century, when it became more apparent to researchers that the Jewish presence in Quebec raised some fundamental historical issues with respect to cultural diversity, the multiplicity of religions, and pluralism. In certain sectors of Montreal society, Jews had played an outstanding role in such critical areas as the labour-union movement, the rise of progressive ideas, and cultural creativity, to the point where they had paved the way for the emergence of modernity and stood for progressive forms of change. Since that time, new movements of Judaism have also appeared in the province, largely with immigration, movements such as Hasidism that advocate more traditional social behaviour, which are constantly being challenged in Montreal neighbourhoods like Outremont, Mile End, and Snowdon. Without a doubt, the influence of the Jewish population in Montreal far exceeded what could be measured by the number of their members or the political space they occupied.
This recognition lifted doubt around the topic and contributed to opening a theme on which very little scholarly work had been done. Within a very short time, studies and translations appeared that would never have seen the light of day as recently as twenty-five years ago. Yet the issue of the blatant, even mainstream anti-Semitism of the 1930s remained neglected, particularly as it pertained to nascent Quebec nationalism. Certainly, progress was made in the way francophones understood contemporary Judaism, but what about the Judeophobic discourse that had been common currency during the interwar period? Recalling this anti-Semitism was chilling and, for a long time, constituted a powerful disincentive to undertaking any study of the Jewish minority in Quebec-as I myself can testify from personal experience early in my career. At the Institut qu b cois de recherche sur la culture, to which I was recruited in 1980 to study the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in French-language schools after Bill 101, which officially made French the working language of the province, Montreal s Jewish history caused a gnashing of teeth and a fear that the subject would surely bring disgrace upon Quebec nationalism. In such a context, any effort to a