Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Legionário, No. 460, July 6, 1941

In its latest issue, commenting on the German-Russian conflict, Legionário promised to publish a list with some news items it published on several occasions demonstrating the effective solidarity between the Nazi and Communist regimes.

We only do so out of a desire to make our thoughts clear to our readers, in the interests of the Church, and to prevent confusion from entering people’s minds.

We will not quote Legionário’s consistent and longstanding opinion on how Nazism and Communism are identical to save work and space. We expressed it before the famous Nazi-Soviet pact. Unfortunately, many readers received it with an incredulous smile because Hitler was then working hard to appear as a champion of the fight against Communism.

He only dropped this mask when it suited him to achieve his goal more easily on the eve of attacking Poland.

Since then—September 1939—with our readers convinced of the solidarity between the two regimes, we have sought to warn them against future maneuvers of the two anti-Catholic leaders and their henchmen.

Again in 1939, we wrote that “this alliance, as long as it suits them, keeps shows itself as it is: increasingly stronger.”

That same year, we assumed that Russia could dominate the Reich at any time.

 “The truth is that after Germany and democratic countries are exhausted by war, Russia will be able to impose another regime on them. But this should not worry Hitler’s henchmen too much, for, after all, either regime turns out to be the same thing.”

On December 17, 1939, when the astonishment caused by the Nazi-Soviet pact had not yet subsided, commenting on Hitler’s maneuvers to avoid an alliance between the Scandinavian countries and England to help Finland, we wrote:

“With the news of a possible conflict between the Reich and the Soviets, those countries find themselves in an extremely difficult situation: to help Finland by allying with whom?

“In fact, Italy’s aid to Finland was hindered by the retention of numerous airplanes in German territory. Thus, keeping uncertainty in the air, the Reich always reserves the last chance to save itself by sacrificing its great ally.

“But, above all, while this indecision lingers, it keeps confusion on the international scene by enabling Russia to keep advancing into Finnish territory.

“The German-Russian alliance is more profound than many want to believe. Underneath the seemingly different appearances, both governments share a common background.

“We had long insisted that this alliance would take place when circumstances made it suitable. Now that it is on, we note that one must not forget that these are two forms of a single orientation, which explains that, at any moment, they may sacrifice one to ensure the victory of the other.

“Undoubtedly, it would be ideal for the Reich to save itself from the war it unwisely provoked by replacing in Moscow the hammer and sickle with the swastika.”

From 1939 to this year, through all the vicissitudes of war, we have consistently warned our readers against the confusion that a German-Russian conflict could cause in Catholic circles.

We now offer our readers a few more excerpts from feature articles in the “7 days in Review” and “International Note” sections to warn them once again against the enemy’s trap:

“...In Germany, there still echo the last sounds of the Nazi-Soviet feast, which today clearly shows the solidarity between their heresies, although tomorrow they may resume their comedy and erstwhile disguises.”

* * *

“Accordingly, Communists begin to reject the Communist mask without rejecting its mentality or processes. The real, objective Russia that Communists wanted to build and did when in complete control, this Russia now dumps its Communist costume and appears to the world's eyes as it is: oligarchic, authoritarian, tyrannical, absorbing, dangerous.

* * *

“What can this mean? The Communists are concocting some new tactics. What can it be? It is too early to tell, but our generation, which has already witnessed the alliance of almost all the powers of the anti-Komintern pact with Russia, will perhaps see some other scene of the same kind. For example, Russia transforms itself into an anti-Komintern power or some other farce in this genre. Let the naive be prepared. Some “menu” laden with all kinds of frauds must be in the air. With their usual voracity, they will ultimately swallow and enjoy them all without exception.”

* * *

On December 29, 1940, we predicted what is now happening:

“In more than one issue, the Legionário insistently said that the fictitious hostility between Nazism against Communism—which has abated only “officially” and for political interests (in the real world there never was a struggle and thus nothing to abate)—can flare up again even stronger from a moment to the next. It is very much in the style of the Nazi dictator to strike a hard blow on Communism to present himself to humanity as a new Constantine and—honored by the laurels of this “Christian” victory—to wage war against Catholicism more resolutely than ever.”

“In a previous issue, we reported that the Bulgarian Communist Party, obedient to the Third International as all leftist parties usually are, has distributed in Bulgaria numerous bulletins seeking to discourage people from reacting violently against the Nazi onslaught.

“However, days later, the news telegraph brings us the curious information that the Kremlin has officially protested against the occupation of Bulgaria by German troops.

Thus, it seems that Russia is again trying to put on the anti-Nazi mask that Soviet leaders deemed old-fashioned and useless only a few days ago. ‘This farce may go a long way,’ Legionário predicted when the first rumors of Nazi occupation in Bulgaria surfaced.

“International politics remains full of mysteries, of which the most important is that of German-Russian relations. The two totalitarian powers seem to be representing a hide-and-seek farce for the whole world. Sometimes they drop the mask of their pseudo-incompatibility and present to the public their identical faces as Siamese twins; sometimes, they again masquerade as angry enemies and threaten to fight each other to the death. In the midst of all this, a gullible and naive audience is left without knowing what to think. Thus, the masquerade continues for as long as the current lords of the world want.”

*   *   *

In 1940, writing about newspapers comments predicting a cooling of relations between Russia and the Third Reich, we confirmed the dance of rapprochements and retreats between the two powers, indicated above:

“The anti-Soviet treaty signed by the Japanese government with a group of Chinese it hoisted as the government of the great eastern republic would be an expressive sign of this [cooling relationship]. Allied with Germany, Japan could not collide with the Soviets without indirectly affecting Russian-German relations. Japan certainly would not have taken that stance without consulting Berlin in advance to ascertain that Germany would not be displeased with Japanese-Soviet friction and a consequent German-Russian cooling off. Thus, the precariousness of relations between Communism and Nazism would clearly show through.

“All this seems clear and well reasoned, but it is wrong.”

“Wrong it was—it did not take long for us to see Stalin and Matsuoka in each other’s arms.”

* * *

In November, we commented on Hitler’s diplomatic maneuvers:

“After Hitler visited France and met with Franco, it emerged that the efforts of Laval and Serrano Suner were partly frustrated by various circumstances.

“In Spain, there was the same resistance from public opinion to the attempt to drag the country into war to serve the Axis.

“Given these circumstances, which prevent an attack on Gibraltar and the fact that the invasion of England has failed, leaving only the possibility of attacking the Empire through the Suez Canal, Hitler needed to resolve the issue of the Dardanelles with Russia.

“The USSR has made known in every way its opposition to the Balkans being ruled by the Axis, which would disrespect its zone of influence.

“Yet Hitler has invaded the Balkans, and the USSR has done nothing.

 “Seeing that his efforts with Spain (for which he once again put on an anticommunist mask by authorizing the press to attack the Moscow government), Hitler quit the farce and decided to enter into an understanding with the Soviets once again.

“The memory of the Russo-Finish war and the uselessness of the Muscovite army played an important role in this regard. The Führer takes advantage of the failures of his allies to establish himself as the sole master of Europe.

“Thus, the weakening of Russian forces allowed him to exert enough pressure to have Molotov go from Moscow to Berlin.”

Now the situation was better prepared, and last-minute anticommunism is dragging along all of Europe.

* * *

“As everyone can see, German-Russian collaboration is reaching its peak through active Russian intervention in Asian politics alongside Germany. Legionário has long predicted everything that is going on. Now, as that collaboration seems to have reached a zenith, we will tell our readers something that will undoubtedly surprise them: at the point where these relationships are, they may last for a long time, or Germany may suddenly attack Russia. All this without prejudice to the perfectly real Nazi-Communist symbiosis.

“He, who lives, will see.”

* * *

While convinced of German-Russian solidarity, we were also sure that displaying it would be detrimental to Nazism, and so we expected that a fake conflict would take place.

That is why we expressed surprise when numerous news reports announced that Russian airmen were helping Iraq in its fight against England:

“Russia’s attitude is also a source of surprise as it was not expected to tear off the mask of neutrality and materially assist [Iraq] in its fight against England. There were no reasons to doubt the solid ties that unite Berlin and Moscow. These ties will be broken only when, having defeated their common enemies—the countries in which a Christian and Catholic civilization still predominates—they have to decide which of the two will hold the supremacy.”

The facts show that this surprise is reasonable: the news dispatches about it were not accurate.

* * *

A few months ago, closing a note on maneuvers such as those above, in which Hitler and Stalin were cronies, we made our thinking clear:

“The repetition of this fact not only clarifies people with obtuse minds or in bad faith. In reality, Nazi and Communist politics are twins, one of which will eventually be willing to sacrifice itself for the other to achieve their common end: the destruction of Christian civilization around the world.”