Georges Sorel
Georges Eugène Sorel (2 November 1847 – 29 August 1922) was a French (mostly) far leftist who developed a theory on the claimed positive role of violence in far leftist class conflicts and revolutions.
In 1897, Sorel was a passionate defender of the Jewish Alfred Dreyfus, but he became disgusted with the way the parties of the left exploited “the Affair” for their own political advancement, instead starting to support views such as anti-democracy, syndicalism, and violent far leftist revolutions. His most known work is Reflections on Violence (1906).
However, after 1909 Sorel became disatisfied with revolutionary syndicalism and started to support Action Française, which had somewhat similar views some on issues. See the article on National syndicalism.
Later, he was critical of Italian fascism, but sometimes praised Mussolini. After the Russian Revolution, he was supportive of the Communists and Lenin.
