The Counterfeiters – Folha de S. Paulo, August 23, 1970

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

“I see Lenin as the most remarkable politician of our era; his legacy belongs not only to the Soviet Union but to the entire world. I believe it is the duty of Chilean intellectuals to take part in all efforts to mark the centennial of Lenin’s birth.”

According to the well-known Madrid magazine Fuerza Nueva, published on May 11, 1970, Chile’s Christian Democrat leader and Minister of Education, Mr. Máximo Pacheco, made this statement during the preparatory period for the worldwide campaign commemorating Lenin’s centenary.

In my opinion, they perfectly illustrate the supposed balance that Christian Democrats claim to maintain between capitalism and communism. As is well known, Lenin played the same role in the Russian revolutionary process as Robespierre, Danton, or Marat did during the French Revolution. That is, a complete scoundrel. Christian Democrats, always eager to harshly criticize any strong measures taken against communism in the West, openly declare that Lenin was a great man in the true sense of the word. Is this impartiality?

If the reader remembers that Christian Democrat President Eduardo Frei assigned the Ministry of Education to Mr. Máximo Pacheco, they won’t be surprised to learn that Chile’s public schools have organized an entire celebration program for Lenin’s centenary. Then they will realize the great advantage communism gains when Christian Democracy is in power.

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Logically, considering Lenin as the greatest figure of our century, Christian Democrats do not hesitate to occasionally use the red despot’s favorite strong-arm tactics, not only against major opponents they label as persistent enemies, but also against ordinary people as long as they oppose the movement’s “social” programs, even slightly.

Thus, in its August 11 issue, Santiago’s El Diario Ilustrado, one of Chile’s leading newspapers, published a heavily documented story with photographs that clearly demonstrate what Christian Democratic despotism looks like.

In the province of Santiago’s El Paico region, there was a rural property where everyone felt happy—employers and employees alike. No one wanted to hear about land reform. Nevertheless, CORA (the government agency responsible for enforcing the socialist and confiscatory division of land in the agrarian reform law) intervened and forced everyone to be “happy” with the happiness imposed by Christian Democracy, rather than the happiness they had and loved. The land was divided. Disgusted, both owners and farmworkers fled from socialist “happiness.” However, in true Leninist fashion, CORA did not hesitate. It called in people from other places to try the “happiness” adventure that the region’s natives refused. As we shall see, in the image of CORA and Christian Democracy, incoming people were also bilious and boastful.

A typical land reform example illustrates this. Inside the “La Red” property was a small island enclave belonging to third parties, unaffected by the forced division. It was home to an honest and exemplary family of farmworkers who had served the owners of “La Red” for over 30 years and received the property as a reward. It included the house and some surrounding land. As we see, it was an ideal example of good relations between employers and workers.

No one will be surprised to learn that, unaffected by the confiscation, the Castillo Guajardo family, which benefited from that donation, wanted to remain under the roof they had lawfully received.

However, the newcomers did not like their neighborhood, and CORA even less because the Castillo Guajardo family opposed the Christian Democratic land reform implemented in their homeland. CORA supporters started a psychological warfare against the unfortunate family and threatened to expel them forcibly. They also cut the electricity supply to their modest home. CORA refused to hire anyone from that family and surrounded their house with barbed wire to confine them to that dwelling and prevent them from using the half-acre of farmland where they raised poultry and had a plantation. CORA itself explicitly ordered this measure.

What crime did this modest, orderly and hard-working family commit? It was not just one crime but two:

1. Remaining steadfast on their property when the super-powerful land reform agency favored simple users over genuine owners, similar to Soviet Russia’s “kolkhozes.”

2. They believed and claimed that they understood the happiness of manual workers and small landowners differently than Christian Democracy does.

Unfortunately, the clipping from El Diario Ilustrado does not reveal how the case was resolved. However, what has been described so far clearly demonstrates Christian Democratic ideology, temperament, and style.

Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the Pedecista leader installed in the Ministry of Education passionately supports Lenin.

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The Christian Democrat Party and Third World groups are essentially the same. “Third World” priests claim to be neutral between the two major blocs, socialist and capitalist. However, they work hard to eliminate private property across Latin America. When speaking to the press about his recent trip to the United States, Dom Helder voiced his opposition to private property. Third World priests in Argentina recently issued a statement supporting the implementation of collectivism.

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How can doctrines that are radically opposed to the Church thrive under the Christian label? Whose fault is it?

The phenomenon is too complex to answer this question in just a few sentences. However, it’s appropriate to quote here an observation by the great Joseph De Maistre (Les soirées de St. Petersburg, La Colombe, Paris, 1960, 33): “False opinions are like counterfeit money, which is minted by the guilty and then used by honest people, who perpetuate the crime unknowingly.”

This brackish and grayish honesty is that of useful innocents, which the Spanish language more sharply and appropriately calls “idiotas utiles” (useful idiots).