Julio Meinvielle
Encyclopedia
Father Julio Meinvielle was an Argentine
priest and prolific antisemitic writer.
and Theology
in Rome
and soon afterwards became a prolific writer of religious, historical and economic books within the school of Thomism
. He came to see history as a process of decline in Catholic values, as determined by three events that he saw as catastrophic i.e. the work of Martin Luther
, the French Revolution
and the October Revolution
.
during the late 1930s. The conflict had begun in 1936 when Maritain visited Argentina for the first time and was initially well received by a number of leading Catholic figures. As editor of the integralist
journal Critero Meinvielle attacked Maritain as the 'advocate of the Spanish
Reds', sparking off a war of words between the two. His book From Lammenais to Maritain was actually an attack on the ideas of Jacques Maritain, claiming that Maritain was defending the faithlessness of modern society by his endorsement of liberalism
. Tracing the origins of Maritain's work to Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais as well as that of Marc Sangnier
and Le Sillon
, he argued that the humanism
of these writers was incompatible with the Catholic faith.
and Marxism
and he sought to draw parallels between the two by arguing that materialism
was the basis for both. Instead he sought an economic system based on Roman Catholicism in which consumption regulated production and in which wealth creation was fine as long as the wealth was re-invested. In common with Rodolfo Irazusta
he was a stern critic of usury
and he blamed this practice on the Jews, citing Werner Sombart
as his inspiration for this conclusion.
He further contended that Judaism
had the destruction of Christianity
as its basis and therefore argued that whatever ills befell the Christian world were inherently the fault of the Jews. As part of this critique he repeated the blood libel
as well as suggesting that capitalism and communism
were both Jewish constructs as part of their plan for world domination. Whilst his ideas owed a lot of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Meinvielle did not explicitly endorse that document, as a number of contemporary court cases had found it to be a fraud. He did however feel that it was possible to defeat the Jews by unity and, where necessary, violence, drawing on the notions of Nimio de Anquín
that violence in service of 'truth' is justified.
To this end he applauded the rise of fascism
, for which he saw a Christian mission. His 1936 book El Judio distilled these views and gave his thinking an Argentine dimension as he argued Buenos Aires
was the archetype of 'Babylon
', dominated as he felt it was by international Jewish financial interests.
in Argentina. Practically, he served as advisor and spiritual inspiration to the highly anti-Semitic Tacuara Nationalist Movement. However on a wider level he had a deep impact on the nationalist
intellectual strand, with the likes of Jordán Bruno Genta
heavily influenced by his words. Other future government figures such as Mario Amadeo
, Alberto Baldrich
and Samuel Medrano were also influenced by his works to an extent. Similarly Colonel Mohamed Alí Seineldín
, who was arrested in 1987 for plotting a military coup also declared himself a disciple of Meinvielle. The diplomat Máximo Etchecopar
had also written for Meinvielle's journal Balcón during his formative years.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
priest and prolific antisemitic writer.
Background
Meinvielle studied for his Doctorate in PhilosophyPhilosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and soon afterwards became a prolific writer of religious, historical and economic books within the school of Thomism
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
. He came to see history as a process of decline in Catholic values, as determined by three events that he saw as catastrophic i.e. the work of Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
, the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
.
Catholic orthodoxy
Meinvielle was a staunch critic of what he perceived as slipping standards in Catholic teaching. On this basis he had a well publicized feud with Jacques MaritainJacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
during the late 1930s. The conflict had begun in 1936 when Maritain visited Argentina for the first time and was initially well received by a number of leading Catholic figures. As editor of the integralist
Integralism
Integralism, or Integral nationalism, is an ideology according to which a nation is an organic unity. Integralism defends social differentiation and hierarchy with co-operation between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups...
journal Critero Meinvielle attacked Maritain as the 'advocate of the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Reds', sparking off a war of words between the two. His book From Lammenais to Maritain was actually an attack on the ideas of Jacques Maritain, claiming that Maritain was defending the faithlessness of modern society by his endorsement of liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
. Tracing the origins of Maritain's work to Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais as well as that of Marc Sangnier
Marc Sangnier
Marc Sangnier was a French Roman Catholic thinker and politician, who in 1894 founded le Sillon , a liberal Catholic movement. He aimed to bring Catholicism into a greater conformity with French Republican ideals and to provide an alternative to anticlerical labour movements...
and Le Sillon
Le Sillon
Le Sillon was a French political and religious movement founded by Marc Sangnier which existed from 1894 to 1910...
, he argued that the humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
of these writers was incompatible with the Catholic faith.
Antisemitism
He was also critic of capitalismCapitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and he sought to draw parallels between the two by arguing that materialism
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
was the basis for both. Instead he sought an economic system based on Roman Catholicism in which consumption regulated production and in which wealth creation was fine as long as the wealth was re-invested. In common with Rodolfo Irazusta
Rodolfo Irazusta
Rodolfo Irazusta was an Argentine writer and politician who was one of the leading lights of the nationalist movement of the 1920s and 1930s. He collaborated closely with his younger brother Julio Irazusta throughout his career....
he was a stern critic of usury
Usury
Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...
and he blamed this practice on the Jews, citing Werner Sombart
Werner Sombart
Werner Sombart was a German economist and sociologist, the head of the “Youngest Historical School” and one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century....
as his inspiration for this conclusion.
He further contended that Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
had the destruction of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
as its basis and therefore argued that whatever ills befell the Christian world were inherently the fault of the Jews. As part of this critique he repeated the blood libel
Blood libel
Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...
as well as suggesting that capitalism and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
were both Jewish constructs as part of their plan for world domination. Whilst his ideas owed a lot of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Meinvielle did not explicitly endorse that document, as a number of contemporary court cases had found it to be a fraud. He did however feel that it was possible to defeat the Jews by unity and, where necessary, violence, drawing on the notions of Nimio de Anquín
Nimio de Anquín
Nimio de Anquín was an Argentine Thomist writer and fascist politician.A native of Córdoba, Argentina, de Anquín studied law at National University of Córdoba. With his studies in Argentina completed he travelled to Germany to study philosophy under Ernst Cassirer...
that violence in service of 'truth' is justified.
To this end he applauded the rise of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, for which he saw a Christian mission. His 1936 book El Judio distilled these views and gave his thinking an Argentine dimension as he argued Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
was the archetype of 'Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
', dominated as he felt it was by international Jewish financial interests.
Influence
Meinvielle's influence was strong throughout the far rightFar right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
in Argentina. Practically, he served as advisor and spiritual inspiration to the highly anti-Semitic Tacuara Nationalist Movement. However on a wider level he had a deep impact on the nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
intellectual strand, with the likes of Jordán Bruno Genta
Jordán Bruno Genta
Jordán Bruno Genta, was an Argentine writer and educator, widely considered the ideologue of the Argentine extreme right-wing.In his youth, Genta actively campaigned against several attempts at education reform, fearing that the changes would dilute the influence of Catholic teachings...
heavily influenced by his words. Other future government figures such as Mario Amadeo
Mario Amadeo
Mario Amadeo was an Argentine conservative nationalist politician, diplomat and writer who served as a minister in the government of Eduardo Lonardi...
, Alberto Baldrich
Alberto Baldrich
Alberto Baldrich was an Argentine philosopher and sociologist who served as Minister of Justice and Public Instruction during the de facto presidency of General Edelmiro Farrell .-Biography:...
and Samuel Medrano were also influenced by his works to an extent. Similarly Colonel Mohamed Alí Seineldín
Mohamed Alí Seineldín
Mohamed Alí Seineldin was an Argentine army colonel who participated in two failed uprisings against the democratically elected governments of both President Raúl Alfonsín and President Carlos Menem in 1988 and 1990.Seineldín was born in Concepción del Uruguay into an Arab Argentine family...
, who was arrested in 1987 for plotting a military coup also declared himself a disciple of Meinvielle. The diplomat Máximo Etchecopar
Máximo Etchecopar
Máximo Etchecopar was an Argentine diplomat, writer and early adherent of the nationalist strain in the country's political and intellectual elite.-Political career:...
had also written for Meinvielle's journal Balcón during his formative years.