by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Imagine, dear reader, that someone assigned you the task of writing an article to prove that an orange and a cane are different objects. Because the difference is so obvious, it can’t really be proven. People with normal vision only need to open their eyes and see. For those without normal vision, what’s the point of arguing?
The insistence of certain sectors on labeling the TFP as Nazi-fascist forces me to demonstrate once again that Nazi-fascism is the complete opposite of the organization I have the honor of leading. This is as embarrassing as trying to prove that an orange is not a cane.
I apologize for writing these lines because my frustration does not align with the constant courtesy required when dealing with public opinion (and even its stubborn sectors). Having fulfilled my obligation, I now turn to the subject at hand.
However, another challenge arises right from the beginning. There are so many differences between an orange and a cane that one could fill a small encyclopedia about them. The same goes for the differences between Nazi-fascism and the TFP. So, how can I summarize this topic in a newspaper article? The only option is to highlight just a few of the thousand discrepancies between the two, and even then, only in a broad outline.
- Doctrinal Foundations. Just as communism and Nazism drew inspiration from Hegel’s pantheism, they were complemented by Haushofer’s geopolitical ideas and Rosenberg’s racism. Fascism was based on Croce and Gentile’s philosophical thought, also traced back to Hegel.
Naturally, Pius XI condemned the errors of both doctrines: Fascism in the Encyclical Non abbiamo bisogno and Nazism in Mit brennender Sorge.
The TFP strictly follows Catholic social doctrine and its theological and philosophical assumptions, without which it would be meaningless. Nothing is more opposed to TFP thinking than Hegelianism. Regarding racism, one only needs to observe our diverse volunteers—white, black, and yellow—participating in our street campaigns to see that we reject racial discrimination and Rosenberg’s pagan doctrines altogether. So, how can the TFP be branded as Nazi-fascist?
- Methods of action. Both Nazism and fascism fostered a true cult of violence. Their brutal methods, rooted in Nietzsche’s blatantly anti-Christian doctrine, became legendary.
The TFP has never resorted to violence. Its only method is persuasion through ideological action. Is there anything more different from Nazi-fascism?
The repeated physical assaults and threats by terrorists and communist progressives against the TFP have compelled our members and volunteers to use self-defense tactics. Is this Nazi-fascism? Are all citizens who learn or teach self-defense fully compliant with the law, Nazi-fascists?
The same reason has led the TFP—on the advice of the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat—to apply for gun licenses for some of its most targeted members or volunteers. Can any citizen who applies for a gun license because they feel threatened be called Nazi-fascist?
Again, on the advice of the Public Security Secretariat, the TFP implemented a night surveillance service at its headquarters. Is this Nazi-fascism? Are bank directors, who protect their establishments with much greater resources, Nazi-fascists?
Is the federal government Nazi-fascist when (as I’ve read in a newspaper) it has just authorized banks in the Federal District to have paramilitary guards?
Is exercising the right of self-defense Nazi-fascism? Is it Nazi-fascism to assign a young man, armed with a legally owned weapon, to protect his sleeping companions from a cowardly nighttime attack? Is it absurd to have a guard? I believe it would be absurd not to have one.
- Conception of the State. For Nazism and fascism, consistent with their pantheistic ideology, the individual is nothing and the State is everything. This explains their dirigiste, socialist, and totalitarian nature. Under these regimes, the social body’s energy flows from outside to inside and from top to bottom. That is, from the rulers to the amorphous mass of subjects. Embodying the State, the Führer or Duce makes all decisions based on committees of technocrats. People are governed by decree, and the discontented are persecuted, abused, and killed.
Faithful to the papal encyclicals, the TFP proclaims the principles of social organicity and subsidiarity. And there is nothing more anti-totalitarian than these principles.
The state, province, municipality, family, and other private institutions create a harmonious hierarchy of powers that should govern individuals based on the principle of subsidiarity.
According to this principle, everyone should have complete freedom, except the freedom to do evil.
Within this broad spectrum of actions, the family should only intervene in an individual’s life to assist him or her when they are not self-sufficient. Likewise, the municipality should do the same with the family, the province with the municipality, and the state with the province. As you can see, this principle beautifully balances freedom and authority, while dictatorship remains an unjust and suffocating straightjacket.
The principle of organicity is closely connected to subsidiarity. A country’s vital energy must come from within and from the grassroots, not just from the outside in and from the top down. A nation’s legitimate customs and traditions must carry the force of law. Each social group must move with the vitality of its members, and each level of civil authority must be enlivened by the “sap” flowing from lower levels. This is irreplaceable and enriches and completes the specific actions of the government apparatus.
Is there anything more diverse than Nazi-fascist dirigisme and chefism?
* * *
The fact that the TFP thinks this way is documented in its numerous and widely circulated books, the monthly cultural magazine Catolicismo, and my daily press articles.
Furthermore, I have written and insist that TFP leaders have a long and well-documented history of anti-Nazi-fascist struggle, which at that time included integralism. Anyone seeking proof can examine the collection from the official weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of São Paulo, Legionário, from 1935 to 1943, when I was the editor. This collection is available to anyone interested.
* * *
Why should we then be called Nazi-fascists? Is it because we have a standard? How many entities around the world have one? Why do our young people wear capes during street campaigns? They serve a similar purpose as modern advertising. Moreover, Nazis and fascists wore distinctive shirts, not capes. Is a cape a shirt? And if wearing a typical shirt proves someone is a Nazi-fascist, then we should also say that soccer clubs are Nazi-fascist.
Nothing could be more vain than attempting to turn people against the TFP by labeling it Nazi-fascist.
* * *
Please forgive me for this article’s possible insipidity. How can you write excitingly and interestingly to prove that a cane is not an orange?