And I Begin to Pray… – Folha de S. Paulo, May 31, 1970
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
I will never tire of emphasizing that leftism is not a widespread movement but merely a sad sign of the elites’ decline. Social subversion has its most radical and influential supporters in some churches, universities, newspapers, and upscale nightclubs. However, the ideological ferment from these centers does not significantly sway the masses or, for that matter, most of the elites themselves.
Although an almost frenzied media campaign attempts to create the widespread impression that leftism aligns with the masses’ desires, the truth is that they have little interest in it. It is well known, for example, that the guerrilla movements Fidel Castro started a few years ago in Colombia and other South American countries died out because the rural populations hated the guerrillas trying to “liberate” them and reported their hideouts to the police. It is also well known that the Brazilian rural masses were so indifferent to Goulart’s socialist and confiscatory land reforms that he complained bitterly about them in one of his last speeches. In Chile, rural workers are protesting with increasing vigor against Frei’s land reforms. The failure of Cuba’s “record harvest” is undoubtedly due to the insensitivity of poor sugarcane cutters to Fidel’s appeals. And so, the examples could multiply.
However, no single episode in recent days has likely made the working masses’ alienation from the left so clear as the monumental workers’ parade held a few days ago in New York in support of Richard Nixon’s international policy.
As everyone could read in the newspapers, 150,000 workers, merchants, and clerks marched down Wall Street, showing their determination to fight against and defeat communism. To boost their patriotic spirit, a huge shower of confetti was thrown from the offices lining the skyscrapers of the great thoroughfare. This reflected the mood of the people in the largest American city.
In contrast to the crowd of serious, orderly, and dignified demonstrators who marched, cheering for their country and waving the national flag, what was the leftist protest held days earlier in front of the White House?
Some São Paulo newspapers reported that 100,000 people attended that rally. More trusted American sources estimated only 75,000, half of those who marched in New York.
A massive propaganda campaign drew 75,000 protesters. They consisted of local minorities from across the country, representing a cross-section of potential leftist support in the large American population. How much less significant and unrepresentative this is compared to the solid mass of workers and white-collar clerks from a single city!
On the other hand, how different was the attitude of leftist demonstrators in Washington from that of New York’s patriotic workers! In Washington, the atmosphere resembled a fair. Literary, artistic, and political celebrities paraded on a stage, but no one paid attention. People talked during the speeches. Many of those present bathed in the public fountain while the demonstration took place. Several bare-breasted girls tried to add a pornographic and “modern” flavor to the dull demonstration. The height of Freudian “uninhibitedness” was reached by two young men who wandered around completely naked. What a curious and revealing encounter between leftism and corruption. Who were these 75,000 followers of political decadence and moral decline? All indications suggest they were mostly vagrant students, “fashionable” people, and members of the “intelligentsia.” There were few or no workers.
The truth is clear. I repeat it as a final conclusion: it’s not the masses who are leftist; it’s the corrupt elements among the elites.
In this context, special attention should be paid to the article by János Lengyel published by O Globo on the 1st of this month, which reports that “a recent popular survey in West Germany showed that most workers prefer a direct increase of 5% to 8% and a few more days of paid vacation to the idea of participation or co-management.” De Gaulle’s August 17, 1967 decree establishing mandatory participation in France is a partial failure.
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I received a photocopy of an invitation published on April 18 by El Siglo in Santiago, Chile. In the upper left corner, there is a sketch showing Lenin and the hammer and sickle beside him. A little further down are the words: “A tribute to Lenin at Santa Catarina Church in Salvador Cruz Gana. Today, Saturday the 18th at 7 p.m., Carlos Maldonado, Secretary General of the Institute for Marxist Research, will speak, and the documentary film ‘Lenin in October’ will be screened.” According to the information I have, this is a Catholic church.
Reading this enormity and thinking of Father Comblin, who continues to act in Brazil with the approval of many church authorities, I feel sad when I recall the petition where 2 million South Americans asked His Holiness Paul VI to take measures against communist infiltration in the Church. And I begin to pray.
