When Disgust Is Overwhelming – Folha de S. Paulo, August 16, 1970

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Like all major media outlets, Madrid’s ABC is widely discussed. I am among those who challenge it. However, one cannot deny that it is one of the West’s most well-known and influential newspapers. The newspaper’s correspondent in Paris recently published a set of information so unexpected—and important—that I don’t want to keep it from my readers.

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ABC correspondent Luís Calvo begins by recounting that small groups of Maoists decided to disrupt the French bourgeoisie’s vacations and even their daily lives.

To this end, they systematically set large fires in specific summer resort areas. In the Côte d’Azur and Provence, at the mouth of the Rhône and in Isère, massive fires destroyed entire forests, large estates, and important industries. Confirming widespread suspicions, authorities believe these events were deliberate and criminal. At the same time, public swimming pools, where entry fees are highest, were invaded by groups of strange vagrants who bathed in them. Strangers have entered the residential gardens of the famous Avenue Foch to have picnics, “camp” or play soccer. Violent “gatecrashers” have settled on private beaches at will. These strange “visitors” have intentionally spread filth and chaos everywhere.

They entered the lobbies of large hotels to rest and occupied the restrooms for extended periods, leaving behind wasps, bees, insects, and cockroaches. Signs forbidding public access in all areas where “private property” was posted were torn down. On the roads, these neo-barbarians enjoyed throwing fruit and fish to rot. They seized all the microphones to broadcast revolutionary propaganda and entered casinos to loudly read communist propaganda pamphlets.

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Where does the order for all these atrocities originate? It comes from a widely circulated newspaper, L’Idiot International. Its readers include small groups of fanatics who carried out this vile and sinister plan.

Where does the money to publish this wicked paper come from? This is where French “toads” come in. According to the ABC correspondent, the director of L’Idiot International is Jean-Edern Hallier. In Paris, he has just bought for one million new francs, none other than the palace of the Dukes of Chatillon.

According to Mr. Calvo, Hallier, the son of a general, is married to the heiress of the Italian steel trust Falck, named after Giovanni Falck, a close friend of Mussolini.

The deputy director of the vandalistic rag is Miss Silvina Boissonas, daughter of an influential businessman from H.S.P. (high society Protestant), Eric Boissonas, and Silvia Schlumberger, daughter of Conrad Schlumberger, a well-known Protestant banker connected to the Servan-Schreiber family. Silvina Boissonas’s paternal grandfather, Jean Boissonas, left his diplomatic career to focus on banking, mining, and the railroad industries.

Viscount Olivier Soufflot de Magny, owner of a castle in Brittany, and Count Charles-Henri de Choiseul-Praslin, son-in-law of the magnate Henri de Wondel, are among the shareholders of L’Idiot International. The latter runs the far-left Gauche prolétarienne (GP), a movement connected to L’Idiot International. The son of the Marquis de Roux, Emmanuel de Roux, is also a shareholder in the latter.

But these are not the most influential people. At L’Idiot International, much of the power resides with Jean-Edern Mallier—owner of a castle in Brittany—and Miss Boissonas, whose parents are part of the well-known group of France’s two hundred most prominent families.

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Along with my outright condemnation of nudist vacations by the modern bourgeoisie—and some working classes in European countries who follow their corrupt example—I also reject this neo-barbarian propaganda against public and private spaces—and ultimately against Western civilization—fueled by these “toads” who ironically own banks, castles, and famous names.

How can I express this rejection? No words are enough when my disgust is overwhelming.