It was chaired by Jacques Rougeot, who was close to the Rally for the Republic (RPR) and president of the National Inter-University Union (UNI).
However, the MIL struggled to take off, though it had several thousand members, including Alain Peyrefitte and the former Chief of Staff of the Army, General Jean Delaunay.
It used an anti-immigration, pro-life, defense of private schools and the rejection of left-wing values, a package that had nothing to envy to the National Front's program".
It is part of the UMP's right-wing and is a "Gaullist loyalist" organization as opposed to neo-Gaullism, which integrates neoliberalism and moderate centre-right ideas.
The MIL is a "movement of thought" out of defending the common civic values (primacy of individual freedom, responsibility, duty and cohesion of society).