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CHAPTER IX

The Driving Force of the Counter-Revolution

There is a driving force of the Counter-Revolution, just as there is one of the Revolution.

1. Virtue and Counter-Revolution

We have singled out the dynamism of the human passions unleashed in a metaphysical hatred against God, virtue, good, and especially against hierarchy and purity, as the most potent driving force of the Revolution. Likewise, there exists a counter-revolutionary dynamism, though of an entirely different nature. Passions as such (here referred to in their technical sense) are morally indifferent; it is their disorderliness that makes them bad.

However, while regulated, they are good and obey the will and reason faithfully. It is in the vigor of soul that comes to a man because God governs his reason, his reason dominates his will, and his will dominates his sensibility, that we must look for the serene, noble, and highly effective driving force of the Counter-Revolution.

2. Supernatural Life And Counter-Revolution

Such vigor of soul cannot be explained unless supernatural life is taken into account. The role of grace consists precisely in enlightening the intelligence, strengthening the will, and tempering the sensibility so that they turn toward good. Hence, the soul gains immeasurably from supernatural life, which elevates it above the miseries of fallen nature, indeed, above the level of human nature itself. In this strength of the Christian soul lies the dynamism of the Counter-Revolution.

3. The Invincibility of the Counter-Revolution

One might ask, of what value is this dynamism? We respond that in thesis it is incalculable and certainly superior to that of the Revolution: “Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat” (“I can do all things in Him who strengthens me”).¹

When men resolve to cooperate with the grace of God, the marvels of history are worked: the conversion of the Roman Empire; the formation of the Middle Ages; the reconquest of Spain, starting from Covadonga; all the events that result from the great resurrections of soul of which peoples are also capable. These resurrections are invincible, because nothing can defeat a people that is virtuous and truly loves God.

1 Phil. 4:13.

CHAPTER X

The Counter-Revolution, Sin, and the Redemption

1. The Counter-Revolution Should Revive The Notion Of Good And Evil

One of the most significant missions of the Counter-Revolution is reestablishing or reviving the distinction between good and evil, the notion of sin in thesis, of Original Sin, and of actual sin. When performed with a profound assimilation of the spirit of the Church, this task does not produce despair of the Divine Mercy, hypochondria, misanthropy, or the like, so frequently mentioned by certain authors more or less imbued with the maxims of the Revolution.

2. How To Revive The Notion of Good And Evil

The notion of good and evil can be revived in various ways, including:

• Avoiding all formulations that smack of secularist or interdenominational morality, because secularism and interdenominationalism logically lead to amorality.
• Opportunely pointing out that God has the right to be obeyed and that, therefore, His Commandments are true laws, which we ought to observe in the spirit of obedience and not simply because they please us.

• Emphasizing that the law of God is intrinsically good and according to the order of the universe, in which the perfection of the Creator is mirrored. For this reason, it should not only be obeyed, but loved; and evil should not only be shunned, but hated.

• Spreading the notion of a reward and of a chastisement after death.

• Favoring social customs and laws in which uprightness is honored and wickedness suffers public sanctions.
• Favoring customs and laws meant to prevent proximate occasions of sin and even those conditions that, having the mere appearance of evil, may be harmful to public morality.

• Insisting on the effects of Original Sin in man, his frailty, the fruitfulness of the Redemption by Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the need for grace, prayer, and vigilance in order for man to persevere.

• Making use of every opportunity to indicate the mission of the Church as the teacher of virtue, the fountain of grace, and the irreconcilable enemy of error and sin.

CHAPTER XI

The Counter-Revolution and Temporal Society

The Counter-Revolution and temporal society is a theme that has been treated in depth from various standpoints in many valuable studies. This study, since it cannot encompass the entire subject, restricts itself to giving the more general principles of a counter-revolutionary temporal order¹ and to analyzing the relations between the Counter-Revolution and some of the major organizations that fight to better the temporal order.

1. The Counter-Revolution and Social Organizations

Within temporal society, there are numerous organizations dedicated to dealing with the social question and having in view, either directly or indirectly, the same supreme end as the Counter-Revolution: the establishment of the Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Given this community of ends,² it is necessary to study the relations between the Counter-Revolution and these organizations.

A. Works of Charity, Social Service, Associations of Employers, Workers, and So Forth

a. To the degree that these works normalize social and economic life, they are prejudicial to the development of the revolutionary process. In this sense, they are ipso facto precious auxiliaries of the Counter-Revolution, even if only in an implicit and indirect way.

b. Nevertheless, in this respect, it is worthwhile to call to mind some truths that are unfortunately often obscured among those who devote themselves selflessly to these works.

• There is no doubt that such works can alleviate and, in some cases, eliminate the material necessities that are the cause of so much unrest among the masses. But the spirit of the Revolution does not arise primarily from misery. Its root is moral and therefore religious.³ Accordingly, to the extent their particular nature allows, these works must promote a religious and moral formation that gives special emphasis to warning souls of the revolutionary virus, which is so powerful in our days.

• Holy Mother Church compassionately encourages everything that might relieve human miseries. She does not blind herself to the fact that she cannot eliminate all of them, and she preaches a holy resignation to sickness, poverty, and other privations.

• Undoubtedly in these works there are precious opportunities for creating a climate of understanding and charity between employers and workers and, consequently, for demobilizing those who are on the brink of class struggle. But it would be incorrect to suppose that kindness always disarms human wickedness. Not even the innumerable benefits conferred by Our Lord during His earthly life deterred the hatred the wicked had for Him. Thus, although in the fight against the Revolution one should preferably guide and enlighten souls in an affable manner, it is evident that, against its various forms — Communism, for example — a direct and express combat by all just and legal means is licit and generally even indispensable.

• It is particularly to be observed that these works should inculcate in their beneficiaries or associates a true sense of gratitude for the favors received, or, when it is not a question of favors but of acts of justice, a real appreciation for the moral uprightness that inspires such acts.

• In the preceding paragraphs, we had principally the worker in mind. It should be pointed out, however, that the counter-revolutionary does not systematically favor one social class or another. While highly zealous for the right of property, he should nevertheless remind the higher classes that it is not enough for them to fight the Revolution in the fields in which it attacks their personal interests, and, paradoxically, to favor it — as one so often sees — by word or example in every other terrain, such as in family life, at the beaches, swimming pools, and other diversions, in intellectual and artistic pursuits, and so on. A working class that follows their example and accepts their revolutionary ideas will inevitably be used by the Revolution against the “semi-counterrevolutionary” elites.• An aristocracy and a bourgeoisie that vulgarize their manners and dress in order to disarm the Revolution harm themselves. A social authority that degrades itself is comparable to the salt that has lost its savor. It is good for nothing save to be cast out and trodden on by men.⁴ In most cases, the scorning multitudes will do just that.

• Although maintaining their station in life with dignity and energy, the upper classes should have direct and benevolent contact with the other classes. Charity and justice practiced at a distance are inadequate to establish links of truly Christian love among the social classes.

• Above all, those who own property should remember that if there are many people willing to prevent communism from encroaching on the right to private property (regarded, of course, as an individual right with a function that is also social), it is because this is desired by God and intrinsically according to Natural Law. Now, this principle refers to the property of the worker as much as to that of the employer. Consequently, the same principle behind the anticommunist struggle should lead the employer to respect the right of the worker to a just wage, in keeping with his own needs and those of his family. It is worth recalling this in order to emphasize that the Counter-Revolution is not only the guardian of the property of the employer but of that of the worker too. Its struggle is not on behalf of groups or classes, but for principles.

B. The Struggle Against Communism

We will now consider organizations whose main purpose is not the construction of a proper social order but rather the struggle against communism. For reasons already expounded in this work, we deem this kind of organization to be legitimate and often even indispensable. Of course, in saying this, we are not identifying the Counter-Revolution with abuses that organizations of this kind may have committed in one country or another.

Nevertheless, we believe that the counter-revolutionary efficacy of such organizations can be greatly increased if their members, while remaining within the sphere of their specialized activities, keep certain essential truths in mind:
• Only an intelligent refutation of communism is efficacious. The mere repetition of catch phrases, even when clever and apt, is insufficient.

• This refutation, when made in cultured circles, must be aimed at the ultimate doctrinal foundations of communism. It is important to point out its essential character as a philosophical sect that deduces from its principles a particular concept of man, society, the State, history, culture, and so on, just as the Church deduces from Revelation and Moral Law all the principles of Catholic civilization and culture. Accordingly, no conciliation is possible between communism — a sect that contains the plenitude of the Revolution — and the Church.

• So-called scientific communism is unknown by the multitudes, and the doctrine of Marx does not attract the masses. An ideological anticommunist action among the general public must be aimed at a very widespread state of spirit that often makes anticommunists ashamed to oppose communism. This state of spirit springs from the more or less conscious idea that all inequality is unjust and that not only great fortunes but even medium-sized ones must be eliminated, for if there were no rich there would be no poor. This reveals vestiges of certain socialist schools of thought of the nineteenth century, perfumed with romantic sentimentalism. It gives rise to a mentality that claims to be anticommunist but, nevertheless, frequently calls itself socialist.

This mentality, which is becoming more and more powerful in the West, is a much greater danger than Marxist indoctrination itself. It leads us slowly down a slope of concessions that may reach the extreme point where nations on this side of the Iron Curtain will have become communist republics. Such concessions, which show a tendency to economic egalitarianism and state control, can be noted in every sphere. Private enterprise is more and more limited. Inheritance taxes are so onerous that in certain cases the federal treasury is the principal heir. Government interference in such things as exchange, export, and import makes industry, commerce, and banking dependent on the State. The State intervenes in wages, rents, prices, in everything. It has industries, banks, universities, newspapers, radio stations, television channels, and more. And while egalitarian statism transforms the economy in this way, immorality and liberalism are tearing the family apart and paving the way for so-called free love.

Unless this mentality is specifically fought, the West will be communist in fifty or one hundred years, even should a cataclysm engulf Russia and China.

• The right of property is so sacred that, even if a regime were to give the Church full liberty and even full support, she could not accept as licit a social organization in which all property were held collectively.

2. Christendom and the Universal Republic

While opposing a universal republic, the Counter-Revolution is also adverse to the unstable and inorganic situation created by the sundering of Christendom and the secularization of international life in modern times.

The full sovereignty of each nation does not prevent the peoples that live within the fold of the Church, gathered as one huge spiritual family, from constituting bodies profoundly imbued with the Christian spirit, and possibly presided over by representatives of the Holy See, to resolve their differences at the international level. Such bodies could also favor the cooperation of the Catholic peoples for the common good in all its aspects, especially with regard to the defense of the Church against the infidels and the protection of the freedom of missionaries in pagan lands or those dominated by communism. Finally, such bodies could enter into contact with non-Catholic peoples for the maintenance of good order in international relations.

Without denying the important services that lay bodies may have rendered on various occasions, the Counter-Revolution should always call attention to the terrible shortcoming that lies in their secularism and alert persons to the risk of these bodies becoming a germ of a universal republic.⁵

 

3. The Counter-Revolution and Nationalism

In this connection, the Counter-Revolution must favor the maintenance of all sound local characteristics, in whatever field, in culture, customs, and so on.

But its nationalism does not consist of the systematic disparagement of what belongs to others nor the adoration of national values as if they were extraneous to the great treasury of Christian civilization.

The grandeur the Counter-Revolution desires for all countries is and can be only one: Christian grandeur, which entails the preservation of the values peculiar to each and a fraternal relationship among them all.

4. The Counter-Revolution and Militarism

The counter-revolutionary must lament armed peace, hate unjust war, and deplore the arms race of our days.

However, since he is under no illusion that peace will always reign, he considers the military class a necessity in this land of exile, and requests that it be shown all the sympathy, gratitude, and admiration rightfully owed to those whose mission it is to fight and die for the common good.⁶

1. See especially Part I, Chapter 7,2.
2. See Part II, Chapter 12, 7.
3. Cf. Leo XII, encyclical Graves de Communi, January 18, 1901, in Wynne, The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII, pp. 485-486.
4. Cf. Matt. 5:13.
5. See Part I, Chapter 7, 3, A, k.
6.  See Part I, Chapter 12.

CHAPTER XII

The Church and the Counter-Revolution

 

Homosexual “Marriage” Rally, November 2008, held in NY. Photo taken by CarbonNYC [in SF!].

As we have seen, the Revolution was born from an explosion of disorderly passions that is leading to the total destruction of temporal society, the complete subversion of the moral order, and the denial of God. The great target of the Revolution is, then, the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, the infallible teacher of the Truth, the guardian of Natural Law, and, therefore, the ultimate foundation of temporal order itself.

 

Accordingly, we must examine the relation between the Divine institution that the Revolution wants to destroy and the Counter-Revolution.

1. The Church Is Much Higher and Far Broader Than the Revolution and the Counter-Revolution

The Revolution and the Counter-Revolution are extremely important episodes in the history of the Church, for they constitute the very drama of the apostasy and the conversion of the Christian West. Even so, they are mere episodes.

The mission of the Church does not lie only in the West, nor is it bound by time to the length of the revolutionary process. Amid the storms through which she passes today, she could proudly and tranquilly say: “Alios ego vidi ventos; alias prospexi animo procellas” (“I have already seen other winds, I have already beheld other storms”)¹ The Church has fought in other lands, against adversaries from among other peoples, and she will undoubted continue to face problems and enemies quite different from those of today until the end of time.

The Church’s objective is to exercise her direct spiritual power and her indirect temporal power for the salvation of souls. The Revolution is an obstacle that arose to prevent the accomplishment of this mission. For the Church, the struggle against this specific obstacle (among so many others) is no more than a means limited to the dimensions of the obstacle — most important means, of course, but, nevertheless, only a means. Thus, even if the Revolution did not exist, the Church would still do everything she does for the salvation of souls.

We might make the matter clearer if we compare the position of the Church in face of the Revolution and the Counter-Revolution with that of a nation at war. When Hannibal was at the gates of Rome, all the forces of the Republic had to be marshaled and directed against him. This was a vital reaction against a most powerful and nearly victorious foe. Did it make Rome a mere reaction to Hannibal? Could anyone believe such a thing?

It would be just as absurd to imagine that the Church is only the Counter-Revolution.

In this regard, it should be made clear that the Counter-Revolution is not destined to save the Spouse of Christ. Supported as she is on the promise of her Founder, she does not need men to survive. On the contrary, it is the Church that gives life to the Counter-Revolution, which, without her, is neither feasible nor even conceivable.

The Counter-Revolution wants to contribute to the salvation of the many souls threatened by the Revolution and to the prevention of the catastrophes that menace temporal society. To do this, it must rely on the Church and humbly serve her, instead of vainly imagining that it is saving her.

2. The Church Has the Greatest Interest In Crushing the Revolution

If the Revolution does exist, if it is what it is, then the crushing of the Revolution is within the mission of the Church, it is in the interest of the salvation of souls, and it is of special importance for the greater glory of God.

3. The Church Is a Fundamentally Counter-Revolutionary Force

Considering the term Revolution in the sense employed herein, the words of this heading are the obvious conclusion to what we have said above. To state the contrary would be to say that the Church is failing in her mission.

4. The Church Is the Greatest Counter-Revolutionary Force

The primacy of the Church among counter-revolutionary forces is obvious if we consider the number of Catholics, their unity, and their influence in the world. But this legitimate consideration of natural resources has a very secondary importance. The real strength of the Church lies in her being the Mystical Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

5. The Church Is the Soul of the Counter-Revolution

If the Counter-Revolution is the struggle to extinguish the Revolution and to build the new Christendom, resplendent with faith, humble with hierarchical spirit, and spotless in purity, clearly this will be achieved, above all, by a profound action in the hearts of men. This action is proper to the Church, which teaches Catholic doctrine and leads men to love and practice it. Therefore, the Church is the very soul of the Counter-Revolution.

6. The Ideal of the Counter-Revolution is To Exalt the Church

This is an evident proposition. If the Revolution is the opposite of the Church, it is impossible to hate the Revolution (considered in its entirety and not just in some isolated aspect) and to combat it without ipso facto having the ideal of exalting the Church.

7. In a Way, the Purview of the Counter-Revolution Is Broader Than the Ecclesiastical Ambit

The foregoing serves to show that the action of the Counter-Revolution involves a reorganization of all temporal society. “There is a whole world to be rebuilt from its very foundations,”² said Pius XII at the sight of the ruins with which the Revolution had covered the whole earth.

Now, while this task of a fundamental counter-revolutionary reorganization of temporal society must, on the one hand, be wholly inspired by the doctrine of the Church, it involves, on the other hand, innumerable concrete and practical aspects that are properly in the civil order. And in this respect, the Counter-Revolution goes beyond the ecclesiastical ambit, though always intimately bound to the Church in every matter that has to do with her Magisterium and indirect power.

8. Whether Every Catholic Should Be Counter-Revolutionary

In so far as he is an apostle, the Catholic is a counter-revolutionary.

But he can be one in different ways.

A. The Implicit Counter-Revolutionary

He may be one implicitly and, as it were, unconsciously. This is the case of a Sister of Charity at a hospital. Her direct action is aimed at the cure of bodies and, above all, the good of souls. She can perform this action without speaking of the Revolution and the Counter-Revolution.

She may even live in such special conditions that she is unaware of the phenomenon Revolution and Counter-Revolution. Nevertheless, to the degree that she really benefits souls, she will be diminishing the influence of the Revolution upon them. This is implicitly waging Counter-Revolution.

B. The Modernity of a Counter-Revolutionary Explicitness

Given that our times are immersed in the phenomenon Revolution and Counter-Revolution, it seems to us a condition for wholesome modernity that it be deeply understood and faced up to perspicaciously and energetically as circumstances dictate.

Thus, we believe it is most desirable that all present day apostolate, whenever it be the case, have an explicitly counter-revolutionary intention and tone.

In other words, we believe that — regardless of the field in which he works — the truly modem apostle will greatly add to the effectiveness of his labors if he discerns the Revolution within his field and exerts a corresponding counter-revolutionary influence in all his actions.

C. The Explicit Counter-Revolutionary

No one may deny that it is licit for certain persons to take upon themselves the task of developing a specifically counter-revolutionary apostolate in Catholic and non-Catholic circles. This they will do by proclaiming the existence of the Revolution, describing its spirit, method, and doctrines, and urging everyone to counter-revolutionary action.

In so doing, they will be putting their activities at the service of a specialized apostolate as natural and meritorious as (and certainly more profound than) the apostolate of those who specialize in the struggle against other enemies of the Church, such as spiritism and Protestantism.

To influence the numerous Catholic and non-Catholic circles in order to alert souls against, say, the evils of Protestantism is undoubtedly legitimate, and necessary for an intelligent and efficacious anti-Protestant action. The Catholics who devote themselves to the apostolate of the Counter-Revolution will proceed in an analogous manner.

Possible excesses in this apostolate — which may happen as in any other — do not invalidate the principle we established. After all, “abusus non tollit usum” (“abuse does not abolish use”).

D. Counter-Revolutionary Action That Does Not Constitute an Apostolate

Finally, there are counter-revolutionaries who do not practice an apostolate in the strict sense, for they devote themselves to the struggle in certain fields such as specifically partisan politics or economic undertakings to combat the Revolution. Undoubtedly, these activities are highly relevant and can only be looked upon with approval.

9. Catholic Action and Counter-Revolution

If we employ the expression Catholic Action in the legitimate sense that Pius XII gave it (that is, a group of associations that, under the direction of the Hierarchy, collaborate with its apostolate), then in our view, the Counter-Revolution in its religious and moral aspects is a most important part of the program of a soundly modern Catholic Action.

Naturally, counter-revolutionary action can be pursued by one individual working alone or by several working together in a private capacity. With due ecclesiastical approval, this action can even culminate in the formation of a religious association especially dedicated to fighting the Revolution.

Obviously, counter-revolutionary action in the strictly partisan or economic terrain is not part of the goals of Catholic Action.

10. The Counter-Revolution and Non-Catholics

May the Counter-Revolution accept the cooperation of non-Catholics? Are there counter-revolutionary Protestants, Moslems, and others? The answer must be carefully nuanced. There is no authentic Counter-Revolution outside the Church.³ But it is conceivable that certain Protestants or Moslems, for instance, are in a state of soul in which they begin to perceive all the wickedness of the Revolution and to take a stand against it.

Such persons can be expected to form obstacles, at times even great ones, against the Revolution. If they respond to grace, they can become excellent Catholics and, therefore, efficient counter-revolutionaries. Until then, they at least oppose the Revolution to some degree and can even force it back. In the full and true sense of the word, they are not counter-revolutionaries. But their cooperation may and even should be accepted, with the care that the directives of the Church demand.

Catholics ought to be particularly mindful of the dangers inherent in interdenominational associations, as Saint Pius X wisely warned:

Indeed, without mentioning other points, the dangers to which — because of associations of this sort — our people expose or certainly can expose both the integrity of their faith and the just obedience to the laws and precepts of the Catholic Church are incontestably grave.⁴

Among non-Catholics, our best apostolate should focus on those who have counter-revolutionary tendencies.

End of Part II

 

1. Cicero, Familiares, 12, 25, 5.
2. Pius XII, exhortation to the faithful of Rome, February 10, 1952, Discorsi e radiomessagi, vol. 13, p. 471.
3. See no. 5, above.
4. Saint Pius X, encyclical Singulari quadam, September 24, 1912, Bonne Presse, Paris, vol. 7, p. 275.

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Revolution and Counter-Revolution (York, Penn.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, 1993), Part II, Ch. IX – Ch. XII, pg. 103-121. End of Part II.