The Self-Destroyers – Folha de S. Paulo, May 28, 1984

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

I’m not sure how to condense the lively wealth of material I promised for today into the hundred lines allowed by my article’s strict limit. “Making do” is the classic form of Brazilian savoir-faire. Let’s see if I can do it this time.

Regarding the future Civil Code, which threatens to be hastily imposed on our defenseless Brazil like a straitjacket, I have expressed my concern that it will become an instrument of self-destruction for the social classes currently in power. There are many reasons to fear that, under its rule, Brazilian society will become considerably more distant from old Christian standards and much more aligned with communist standards. In other words, those among the bourgeoisie who control public affairs will have led us through a critical stage of the already short path remaining before we reach complete communization.

The self‑destruction of ruling classes is a phenomenon of paramount importance, seen in all the great revolutions that have shaken the West. It first appeared during the vast religious and cultural upheaval of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which included Humanism, the Renaissance, and the Protestant Revolution. It reappeared at the end of the eighteenth century in its socio‑political counterpart, with broad economic implications: the French Revolution. And it reached its most devastating form in the sociopolitical and economic catastrophe of the global Communist Revolution, inaugurated in 1917 with the establishment of the Soviet regime in Russia.

According to communist theory, the next explosion will be the self-managing revolution, in which the communist state itself undergoes self-destruction, giving rise to the utopia of self-managing, “symphonic” anarchism.

It’s unlikely that this series of disasters would have advanced so far and succeeded so completely without the repeated acts of self-destruction that, for example, caused many French aristocrats to support the revolution that ultimately consumed them, and led many Russian aristocrats and bourgeoisie to do the same against the tsarist regime, destroying themselves. Or that it would have even gone much beyond the initial stage.

We have reached a point where the left-wing bourgeoisie—the group of leftists who are not manual workers—is contributing to its own destruction. Leading this process are its two main forces: capital and the clergy (who, at least on the surface, seem to be enemies!). True successors to the revolutionary sectors of the ruling classes from earlier eras, similar sectors of today’s ruling classes are now actively involved.

One only needs to recall the unrest in Ivinhema, Guariba, Bebedouro, and elsewhere—disturbances that, throughout this past two weeks of agitation and confusion, received overt and decisive support from church leaders. A cycle started with the warning from Cardinal Primate, His Eminence Avelar Brandão, whose words so shocked the unwary: “Anything can happen. If we are not careful, the buildup and fostering of tensions could lead us to a confrontation. So that there may not be a period of confrontation or civil war…” (Folha de S. Paulo, May 6, 1984).

You might say that once spoken, these words hardened and took shape like a magic wand—a fateful wand that, touching the soil of the homeland, sparked this wave of unrest, with no one knowing when it would end.

Unfortunately, the role of the leftist clergy has become quite clear in Brazil and around the world. What is less obvious to many readers is the leftist mission of capital.

Capitalism, which peaked in the nineteenth century and continues to dominate the world in the twentieth—not only in the West but also in the various communist regimes that would have long since fallen into utter misery if not for the massive subsidies that a certain Western capitalism provides, either intentionally or unintentionally—has played a dual role in promoting the gradual spread of communism worldwide.

First, by mimicking the surviving aristocracies, it gradually replaced them; and in doing so, it shaped society to be less elitist, more egalitarian, and more focused on future proletarianization. Second, through this very process, monarchies became hollow and fragile, paving the way for the widespread rise of republics around the world, until the remaining monarchies became the most fragile versions of themselves.

Proclaimed in the name of an egalitarian, radical, and absurd philosophy—this is the great evil—these republics unleashed revolutionary appetites across the world.

None of this would have happened without the cooperation of key sectors of today’s society, especially left-wing capitalists and their capital.

Are these reflections merely the fleeting ramblings of a reactionary—thank God—who is positioned within the most authentic doctrinal camp of reaction? They are not. One of the greatest theorists of communism, Engels himself, affirms the same point and, in this regard, shows his admiration and gratitude toward capital.

In a passage discussing the global revolutionary role of capitalism, Yuri Kuroliov, writing in the journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, quoted Engels as saying: “So, carry on your struggle with courage, most excellent lords of capital! At this moment, we need you. In some places, we even need your rule. You must remove the remnants of the Middle Ages and absolute monarchy from our path. You must eliminate the vestiges of the patriarchal era, carry out centralization, and transform the more or less propertyless classes into true proletarians, our recruits. With the help of your factories and your commercial ties, you must create for us the material resources the proletariat needs for its emancipation” (Yuri Kuroliov, “Marx and Latin America,” in Latin America, journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Progress Publishers, Moscow, October 1983, no. 10 (70), pp. 4 ff.).

Could it be any clearer what the communists expected from capitalists? Today, that task now falls to left-wing capitalists, who are increasingly becoming devoted “traveling companions” of communism.

I just reread what I wrote, and it all fits into a hundred lines, so I was able to “work around it.” How great it is to be Brazilian.

Will my beloved country and its people know how to “work around” the increasing pressures they face from the self-destructive ruling classes of the left? This article aims to offer selfless, unwavering support so they can confidently take on this challenge.