In the 1950s, France was swept by a right-wing populist movement founded by a rural bookstore owner named Pierre Poujade.

Poujade, a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II and a powerful orator, found his business squeezed by taxes and price controls. His complaints struck a note among other small business owners, tradespeople, service providers and farmers who felt oppressed by the government. His individual protest gained traction and ignited a political movement — “Poujadism” — which for a time shook the French political establishment.

At its height, Poujade’s movement, the Union de Défense des Commerçants et des Artisans (Union for the Defense of Tradesmen and Artisans) grew to 800,000 members, mostly in the small towns and rural areas of southern France. Still, Poujade was able to draw a crowd of 100,000 to Paris during the same period. His party won 52 seats in parliament in the 1956 elections.

The movement ultimately fizzled and, by 1981, Poujade had personally joined the progressive fold, endorsing Socialist presidential candidate François Mitterrand.

Some earlier observers compared Poujadism to the Tea Party movement, but it is instructive now as an ideological ancestor of Trumpism, as it contains strands of the same DNA.

Among the most enthusiastic Trump supporters today are the members of the entrepreneurial middle and lower-middle classes. Much like Poujade’s "petite bourgeoisie," they are taxi drivers, independent truckers and tradesmen, farmers, hair and nail salon owners, small retailers and restauranteurs. Unlike........

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