The Sources of Charles-Brun’s Federalism: Maurras or Proudhon?

Abstract The federalist idea in French political thought had, by the Belle Époque, begun to experience a dichotomy similar to that in the Félibrige. Promoted by the far left as the central theme of the Paris Commune in 1871, the federalism of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was transformed by Charles Maurras and Maurice Barres in the 1890s. Ironically, the relationship between the right and regionalism, so often misunderstood, developed because of the interest of Maurras and Barres in ideas that had emerged from left-wing democratic thought in France. Jean Charles-Brun sought in his own history of federalism to demonstrate that both Maurras and Proudhon were valid as references for Belle Époque federalists, and showed the centrality of republican federalism to his own regionalism. He explained that his idea of regionalism was merely a staging-post to his long-term goal, a federalist constitution. This federalism in turn pointed to internationalism, as his activity on behalf of the League of Nations in 1920s showed.