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Votre bel aujourd'hui

First edition.
Author	Charles Maurras
Genre	Politics
Publisher	Fayard
Publication place	France
Pages	491

Votre bel aujourd'hui (Your Glorious Today) is a posthumous book by the French journalist and politician Charles Maurras published in 1953. The work serves as a rebuttal to the book Yesterday and Tomorrow, written by President of the Republic Vincent Auriol and published in 1944.

Overview

Context

Following the Hiroshima bombing, Charles Maurras began drafting an extended letter addressed to Vincent Auriol in response to his 1944 book Yesterday and Tomorrow, which analyzed the events leading to the military disaster of 1940 and proposed post-war projects. Maurras vigorously refuted Auriol's work point by point. The text was completed in April 1950 while Maurras was incarcerated at Clairvaux Prison and published in 1953, one year after his death.

Analysis

Historian Martin Motte explains that Maurras focused on three major challenges in the post-Second World War era.

First, Maurras criticized the European unification:

The Europe people talk about does not exist. Or no longer exists. Or not yet. Or not at all. It lacks the unity that draws being from nothingness. Do you want to give it that unity? Go ahead! But do not pretend it is already done.

Maurras dismissed calls for European unity as disguises for national ambitions, pointing to Nazi Germany in 1940–1944 and Great Britain, which, despite advocating a European federation, was resolute in "sacrificing none of its sovereignty nor the nationalism underpinning it".

Second, Maurras opposed Franco-German unity, interpreting it as "a German ruse to achieve peacefully the expansionist aims it failed to impose by force". He argued that demographic disparities would allow fifteen million Germans to overwhelm France. Although this reasoning is flawed, historian Martin Motte notes that Maurras accurately foresaw a potential informal domination by Germany, transforming Europe into a "new Holy Roman Empire", leaving France as a mere "satellite".

Third, Maurras discussed the issue of nuclear weapons, calling them an "dreadful device". He deemed it crucial for France to acquire nuclear capability and prevent its misuse by "fanatical sects". He even proposed testing such weapons in "African and Oceanic solitudes", predicting French nuclear tests in Reggane and Moruroa.

In conclusion, Maurras implored Vincent Auriol to champion the restoration of the monarchy and prepare for the accession of the Count of Paris to the French throne. According to Pierre Pujo, the book exemplifies empiricism of organization.

Despite the Final Solution and the creation of Israel, Maurras continued advocating state anti-Semitism in Your Glorious Today, calling for civic exclusion of Jews.

External Link

• Your Glorious Today on Gallica, the digital library of the BnF.

Notes and References

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1. ^ Pierre Pujo; Sarah Blanchonnet (2006). The Treasure of Action Française (in French). L'Âge d'Homme. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-2-8251-3712-3. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
2. ^ The Political Thought of Maurras by Martin Motte, in Charles Maurras (2018). Jean-Christophe Buisson (ed.). L'Avenir de l'intelligence et autres textes. Bouquins (in French). Groupe Robert Laffont. ISBN 978-2-221-21928-7. Retrieved 2022-10-21., pp. 482–485.
3. Charles Maurras (1953). Your Glorious Today: Last Letter to Monsieur Vincent Auriol, President of the [[:Template:IVe]] (in French). A. Fayard. p. 435. Retrieved 2022-10-21. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
4. Charles Maurras (1953). Your Glorious Today: Last Letter to Monsieur Vincent Auriol, President of the [[:Template:IVe]] (in French). A. Fayard. p. 438. Retrieved 2022-10-21. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
5. Charles Maurras (1953). Your Glorious Today: Last Letter to Monsieur Vincent Auriol, President of the [[:Template:IVe]] (in French). A. Fayard. p. 441. Retrieved 2022-10-21. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
6. Charles Maurras (1953). Your Glorious Today: Last Letter to Monsieur Vincent Auriol, President of the [[:Template:IVe]] (in French). A. Fayard. p. 442. Retrieved 2022-10-21. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
7. Charles Maurras (1953). Your Glorious Today: Last Letter to Monsieur Vincent Auriol, President of the [[:Template:IVe]] (in French). A. Fayard. p. 447. Retrieved 2022-10-21. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
8. Stéphane Giocanti (2006). [[Charles Maurras: Chaos and Order]]. Flammarion. p. 485. ISBN 978-2-0812-2110-9. Retrieved 2022-10-21. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
9. Charles Maurras (1953). Your Glorious Today: Last Letter to Monsieur Vincent Auriol, President of the [[:Template:IVe]] (in French). A. Fayard. p. 449. Retrieved 2022-10-21. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
10. Edmond de Jaive (1955). "Your Glorious Today". Books Abroad. 29 (2): 188–189.
11. Olivier Dard (2013). Charles Maurras: The Integral Nationalist (PDF) (in French). Armand Colin. p. 8. ISBN 978-2-200-29030-6. Retrieved 2022-10-21.

• Works by Charles Maurras
• 1950s French essays
• Essays published in 1953
• Political books
• Essays on politics
• Essays on French politics