Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Catolicismo, May 2008

Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira denounced the generalization of chaos over 70 years ago.

Juan Gonzalo Larrain Campbell

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira spoke of the metamorphosis, not the death, of communism. He saw this maneuver as part of a universal Revolution to lead the world to its final goal through chaos. This step beyond communism is a tribal-anarchic collectivism.

Turning Utter Disorder into a Method

To show the importance of chaos as a maneuver of revolutionary psychological warfare, we must remember that the Revolution’s ultimate goal is not just to provoke religious, moral, political, social and economic crises. Its promoters seek to break down the human psyche by introducing disorder in people’s minds. This disorder then spreads to institutions, which in turn aggravates the mental chaos, thus forming a vicious circle. People become increasingly driven by their instincts and governed less by reason. This process leads to a state of psychopathic barbarism unprecedented in history.

Indeed, the chaos afflicting contemporary society is not a simple disorder. This systematic imposition of extreme disorder eliminates all Christian authorities, laws, customs and principles. It establishes neo-paganism that gives free rein to all forms of decadence and suppresses anyone who reacts against them.

“Psycho-social AIDS”

Thus, we will show how far in advance Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira denounced this widespread penetration of chaos, which he aptly called a “psycho-social AIDS.” We will recall some of his early warnings.1

In 1930, he noted that an exaggerated trust in the methods of natural science applied to all fields based on failed doctrines was affecting a newly paganized society. He warned how the world was facing the sad twilight of human reason and predicted that it would lead people to be governed by their passions, which would produce chaos. He wrote:

“There is a clash of doctrines, a confusion of systems, and a number of contradictions found in today’s discoveries. These things clash with the laws that people used to hold as true. Hence, it is hard to discover the straight and leafy tree of truth—the magnificent cedar tree of eternal knowledge that resists all scrutiny and stands above all scientific paradigms….

“We see that the neo-paganism of our times has infiltrated science in such a way that even people of indisputable renown and intellectual ability trample upon common sense and deny even the most elementary knowledge.

“It could not be otherwise! Eighteenth-century philosophers denied the Catholic Faith in the name of reason. The French Revolution sought to establish a cult to reason. The same revolutionary movement evolved and ended up denying reason leaving only rubble, which is what we see almost everywhere.”2

There will be no Lasting Order

In 1932, Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira predicted the consequences of the intellectual anarchy then prevalent. He declared:

“As long as this chaos persists in the world of thought, it will be absolutely impossible to establish a lasting order in the fields of politics and economics.”3

Commenting on Pius XII’s motto, Opus Justitiae pax, Prof. Corrêa de Oliveira analyzed international relations. He affirmed that order among peoples is only possible when they obey the Law of God. When disobeyed, chaos would only worsen:

“Of course, there have always been and will be frequent violations of the Law of God throughout history. However, when these violations are transformed into law, disorder is hoisted and presented as a legitimate and permanent hierarchy. It establishes a radical and absolute denial of the entire Law of God as a fundamental principle. A monstrous and profound disorder tends to become definitive. Such a specter must terrify every mind in which there still survives a few glimmers of what I would no longer characterize as Catholic sense—but simple and upright natural reason.

“Indeed, we can refer to this, not as simple injustice but the glorification of injustice. It is the consolidation and enthronement of injustice as a fundamental rule of action and basic norm governing relations between peoples.”4

Monstrous Catastrophe

Continuing his commentary on the Pius XII’s motto of office a week later, Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira insists on the same point. He argues that the ruin of our civilization will not only be a consequence of disorder but of something much worse, which is tranquility in disorder.

“If peace with justice that the Holy Father Pius XII desires with such apostolic ardor is a priceless good, then tranquility resulting from consummate injustice is a monstrous catastrophe. This “peace” ends all resistance against the forces destroying Catholic civilization. It is comparable to the fall of the Western Empire of Roman antiquity.”5

The Forces of Chaos

In his masterpiece, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, published in 1959, Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira denounces the imposed character of this chaos placed at the service of the Revolution:

“Considered superficially, the events of our days seem a chaotic and inextricable tangle. From many points of view, they are indeed. However, one can discern profoundly consistent and vigorous resultants of this conjunction of so many disorderly forces when considering them from the standpoint of the great crisis we are analyzing.

“Indeed, under the impulse of these forces in delirium, the Western nations are being gradually driven toward a state of affairs which is taking the same form in all of them and is diametrically opposed to Christian civilization. “Thus, this crisis is like a queen whom all the forces of chaos serve as efficient and docile vassals.”6

Having read the excerpts above, we conclude by paraphrasing Madame Roland (a revolutionary guillotined by the French Revolution, who exclaimed at the foot of the scaffold: Liberty, liberty: how many crimes are committed in your name!). We can say Chaos, chaos, how many crimes are committed by hiding your name, methods and goals!

Footnotes

Articles by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira on the subject can be found at http://www.pliniocorreadeoliveira.info

“Quid est veritas?” Legionário, nº 64, August 24, 1930.

“Patriotismo,” Legionário, nº 105, October 2, 1932.

“Justitia,” Legionário, nº 433, December 29, 1940.

“Opus justitiae pax,” Legionário, nº 434, January 5, 1941.

Revolution and Counter-Revolution, Part I, Chapter III, 4.