Disandro - Principles of a Foundational Policy

1968 article by Disandro

Translator’s note: this is one of the first of Disandro’s writings I was able to find. In it, Disandro outlines the correct relationship and role between the different bodies, institutions, and principles involved in statecraft: the nation, state, people, church, tradition, etc. It is more accessible than his other writing, and clarifies some of the points made in his Reassumption of the Hypberborean Principle. For information on Disandro’s life and role in Peronism, see my translation of this biographical article.

Principles of a Foundational Policy

I.                   NATION, STATE, PEOPLE

The Nation is an enduring historical unity. It therefore constitutes the substratum of all processes, the objective of the historical life of a people, and the aim of a State which serves it and enhances it. The State and the People find their complete realization within the whole framework of the Nation. The Nation is superior to forms of government, to political constitutions, to technical-administrative structures, to the modern development of so-called political parties, etc.
            The Nation is independent of global centralizing tendencies, and its destiny should not be submitted for any reason to the dictates of destructive international powers: money, banks, propaganda, military-political technology, esoteric sects, etc. Each of these factors should be studied in order to overcome its attacks and ambushes, because they seek to CRUSH THE NATION.
            The historical reality which we call Nation is not exclusionary, but creative - nor is it an indifferent vacuum – rather, it fulfills a precise and unmistakeable mission; it does not constitute a mix of random concepts, but stands in the world as a unity, and as an unchangeable constant, to which the diverse contributions of the times and men must submit themselves.
            The State is the conscious structure of the Nation. It serves the Nation, and exists as its higher and clearer manifestation.

            Because the State serves the Nation, and not the reverse, all its political, administrative, pedagogical, and financial structures should be ordered towards:

1)      Maintaining the HISTORICAL UNITY of the Nation;

2)      Furthering its CREATIVE DRIVE or its HISTORIC EXPANSION;

3)      Incorporating all more or less peripheral elements into the vertical development of the Nation.

            Accordingly, the State is obliged to:

1)      Reject dissolutive elements and processes with regard to that HISTORIC UNITY;

2)      Prevent the internal and external assault on the CREATIVE DRIVE, taking note of what constitutes a deviation from this orientation, and repressing it.

3)      Displace those peripheral factors, which, as a consequence of their development and their violence, may transform into revolutionary factors, buttresses against the Nation’s content.

            The People is the concrete subject where the Living History of the Nation realizes itself. The Nation is expressed in the People, though it is not to be confused with it.
            The nexus between the Nation and the People is precisely the State, and it is for that reason that when the State declines, or is corrupted, or falls into the hands of factious actors, it tends to destroy the Nation and enslave the People. Then, either the transformation of the State is imposed, or the creation of a new State, which serves the Nation and orders its politico-administrative structures, pacifies the People and gives them cohesion upon the basis of the just and good.

            Nation, State, and People represent the point of departure for a conception of History, in which Races, Lineages, Man, his Institutions, and his Works.

II.                RELIGIOUS, TEMPORAL, CULTURAL ROOTS

            No Nation, State, or People is a mere historical phenomenon. They possess, or should possess, an undertone where the Presence and Activity of God in History manifests itself. This conception may be called the Sacred Conception of History, to which a Rationalist, Evolutionist, Materialist conception of History is opposed.
            According to the Sacred conception, the Nation is ultimately an organ of God in History, according to the materialistic conception, the Nation or State constitute the result of a physical evolution which must follow its course.
            The Sacred conception has its greatest expression in the Catholic conception of History and the role of Nations.
            The Materialist conception has its greatest expression in the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the Nation and the State.
            These two conceptions are opposed, exclusive, and contrary to one another. They cannot enter into alliances; and as for so-called coexistence, this is just a tactic of the Leninist-Communist Position.
            Thus the Nation has a transhistorical root, or rather, it is beyond merely temporal events, purposes, and ends; it is a result of this that the Nation takes after its people. The Nation as a Historic Unity, as Men, as personal Unities, recognizes only one Author and Lord: God. This is the first affirmation of authentic traditionalism, which does not depart from any localist, more or less folky source, but rather underlines an absolute source of all tradition.
            This tradition, furthermore, has concrete cultural and temporal expressions: certain men, guided by determined ideals, and assisted by Divine Providence, set the historic Unity of our Nation in motion.
            This is the second meaning of traditionalism, the most concrete and visibly active, which often leads to error.
            In brief, then: traditionalism has two strands: an absolute one, which has to do with God’s link with the Nation. In our case, this link is expressed in the role of Catholic Spain, and in the role of the Catholic Church as cofounder of the Nation.
            The second strand has to do with the men, institutions, events, etc., that constitute the logical surface phenomenon but whose validity depends on the correct relation with their sources. That is why it has been said above that this aspect tends toward frequent errors. This relationship is not guaranteed, and the Nation is not obliged to safeguard something which would mean its suicide.
            In this second strand we all agree that a Geronimo Luis de Cabrera, a Belgrano or San Martin participate in relation to this tradition correctly. Otherwise, it is arguable whether a Rivadavia or a Mitre is. This is what must be examined according to analytical criteria, and in the light of the principles outlined above.
            The break of Tradition or the correct link with its sources tends to be seen not at the level of the Nation but at the level of the State and the People. This rupture between the fundamental and living traditional and the State, as the consciousness of the Nation and as the nexus between the Nation and the People, this rupture, then, becomes the way that the revolutionary, Anti-Traditional process consolidates, which in the history of the West has taken the concrete form of Marxism-Leninism.

III.             THE SPHERE OF POWER

            Neither the Nation, nor the State, nor the People are formed in an amorphous, indifferent process. On the contrary, they come together like an army of a concrete Power.
            History is formed by Ideas, which are expressed in processes, and by Power, which incarnates them and gives them their temporal consistency. Power is the active element of the Nation and represents that which in the personal individuality is the link between intelligence and will. In power is manifested the historic course of the State’s and People’s Nation.
            As for the Nation, Power derives from its traditional authentic roots, or should do so, attempting to avoid their separation from the Metaphysical Unity of the Nation in any historical junctures.
            As for the State, Power gives it its Foundational character, which allows it to maintain a just and beneficial expansion, incorporate multiple social, pedagogical, and technical aspects and keep watch over the Political Path of the Nation.
            In a word, the sphere of Power is summarized in the following characteristics: it is Foundational; that is, Power is the Creative and Operative principle of the Nation, expressed in the Sovereign and Just State and directed towards consolidating the creative aspects of the People as a National Community; it is Organizing and Promotive, that is, it establishes the Political Regime, which coincides with the History of the Nation; it is Offensive and Defensive, that is, it eliminates, through effective decisions, the course of the Communist Leninist Revolution.

            In the dialectic between Tradition (with the characteristics stated above) and the Leninist Revolution, the latter is oriented towards facilitating: 1) Chaos in Social Foundations; 2) emptiness of Power.
            Both situations being produced simultaneously, their objective is clear: the assault on Politico-Military Power, which will give them the leadership of the State and allow the final break with the path of the Nation.
            This process is almost fatal for revolutionary Leninist doctrine in its biological-deterministic aspect.
            Regarding this concept and such situations, Power, founded upon traditional roots, which we have called absolute, and in others, which we have called temporal and cultural, there is no other solution than to express its creative character in order to confront the Leninist Revolution through an act of historic creation in which the link between Nation, State, and People manifests itself. Power, thus conceived, defeats the Leninist Revolution (in our case accelerated by Arthur Frondizi, the typical Leninist) no through a reactionary attitude, but through a creative act, which saves Tradition and incorporates its modern historic meaning without renouncing its sources, nor the link between God and the Nation.
            In order to provide a concrete application on this subject, it must be said that Argentine liberal rationalism, after Caseros – but whose roots go much deeper – has corrupted the nation of Power, and has prepared the lapse we have today, with grave danger for the Nation: there is, consequently, no other path than establishing Power with the traits we have set forth. This implies the complete downfall of the Regime, for therein lies the true cause of entry of the Leninist Revolution.

            One of the fundamental problems of the realization of this Power (that it be pleasing to the Nation, that it express the foundational element of the State and shape the People as a National Community) lies in the correct relationship between Civil Power and Ecclesiastical Power, between Temporal and Political Sovereignty of the Argentine State, and the Eternal and Religious Sovereignty of the Catholic Church.
            This question has been confused by the so-called “Christian liberalism” seen today, for example, in the supposed Christian democrats.
            One must depart from the following fundamental positive principle, whose realization we seek: Civil Power and Religious Power are united without confusion, and distinct without separation.
            The “Christian liberalism” of the 19^th century and the currents of “integral humanism” of J. Maritain and certain Marxist tendencies disguised as progressive Christianity in the last few decades have caused great disorientation and a destructive influence on the doctrine both amongst laymen and the clergy. All these currents are opposed to a real or supposed “clericalism” and search for the distinction between church and state through separation, which is an error.
            The lack of political consciousness in the various levels of the Church has, in turn, created an unhealthy intervention of Ecclesiastical Power, or a dangerous commitment with contradictory elements of the Political Power. That is, the opposite error has been committed; instead of a true union, a corrupting confusion.
            The Doctrine which should be promoted against these errors is: union without confusion, distinction without separation. This doctrine should descend to the concrete, historic order through a new accord between the Church and State, which will not be possible if the State does not have a visible existence, in Power, and a correct link with the Nation.

IV.             SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

If the Nation is a subsistent and lasting principle beneath changes and events, if the State is the conscious structure of the Nation, then from this it follows that Nation and State are expressed in the context of the Community. The existence of a Just Community, which is creative, which is able to unite Tradition and the march of history – this is the clearest sign of National Greatness.
            The People arises from two preliminary institutions and exists as a more complex reality: 1) the elementary character of its constituents, 2) the tendency to express itself as a mass. The People is the harmonious and balanced result of the link between the lasting principle: the Nation and the changeable, substitutive, expired elements. The existence of the People, in this sense, implies a conscious political and spiritual direction.
            But social organization proceeds from the affirmation of certain positive aspects, as  well as the elimination of other negative aspects.
            The positive aspects are: a) family, b) trade associations, c) professional organizations, d) cultural organizations.
            The negative aspects which must be eliminated are: a) class struggle, b) exploitation of the poor by the rich, c) the concentration of wealth, d) usury.
            Lastly, there cannot be social organization without the exercise of Justice, which is the active principle that determines the existence of the community. The Nation and the State transfer their permanent and creative aspects for the security and efficacy of Justice (it is precisely this which is most corrupted in the case of Argentina, and that which makes the development of the Communist Revolution possible). 
            So-called Social Justice is the crown of a structure in which Commutative Justice, Legal Justice, and Distributive Justice are realized. In a country like Argentina, where the three fundamental expressions of Justice have basically disappeared, the attempts at Social Justice are either motivated by demagogues interested in defeating Power, or revolutionary slogans aimed at motivating class conflict.
            It is the State which must develop anew the bases of the Justice so that there may also be a true distribution of work and its benefits, and so that the Nation’s Wealth may serve first the members of the National Community, a not the exploiters – from inside and outside. The efficacy of Power is shown, in the first place, by the instauration of Justice. As for Social Justice, it must be a natural manifestation of the equilibrium of a Christian Society.

V.                EDUCATION

There are three fundamental educational bodies: the Family, the State, the Catholic Church. These do not exclude other cultural, intellectual, and scientific activities, rather, they articulate the Education System of the Nation and orient and determine the contents of education.
            The Family, when it is part of a social organization which promotes and safeguards it, supported by the necessary resources and endowed with educational means of a cleansed and balanced social environment naturally fulfills a considerable pedagogical task. Into this framework enters the multitude of possibilities of private organizations, directed and maintained by parents.
            The Catholic Church has a manifold task in education. It is not only the mission inherent in the divine nature of the Church and the character of its apostolate that must be considered within the structure of a just Christian society. The Church fulfills and will continue to fulfill this mission and apostolate, even in non-Christian or communist countries and societies (as it does in Eastern Europe, for example).
            The state in turn promotes and directs the task of education in harmony with the other bodies.
            Important here is the complete transformation of public education at all levels. It is necessary, as a general rule, to banish Positivist Encyclopaedism and to replace it with the method and contents of a Humanistic education, with content that is religious, cultural, alive, and active.

VI.             THE ARMED FORCES

THE ARMED FORCES are the expression of the Nation; they constitute an educational body of the Argentine State, and work for the Spiritual consolidation of the People. The Military is a service, not a privilege.
            The Armed Forces are not only the Defensive and Offensive Military Capacity of the Nation, they are also an aspect of the Political Conscience of the State. They must not be politicized, but they must have a clear Political Conscience. Together with the Catholic Church, professional and trade organizations, they constitute the Spiritual Foundations of Power.
            The Armed Forces constitute a Civilizing body: in the conquest of Argentine lands, in technical expansion, in the foundational act of the State, which has in the Armed Forces an arm of its creative activity, the Armed Forces are eminently foundational. This is the link between Strength and Spirit. It eliminates forever the divide between the Armed Forces and the People, and blocks one of the routes taken by the Leninist Revolution.
            The Armed Forces are the basis of Power, and in the political organization of a just state, they are developed and strengthened in the service of the nation. There are not, nor should there be, Armed Forces without a Political Conscience, detached from the Creative and Promotive Management of the State.
            The Armed Forces have a preponderant role in the process of technification, above all so that this technification should maintain a correct relationship with National Life, which always comes first, and so that the manifold aspects of national defence are also taken into account.

VII.          TRADE UNIONS

 The trade union is an intrinsic part of a modern social structure.
            A pluralistic organization should not be advocated.
            Trade unions must be involved in the economic development of the Nation. They are not only an element of social protection for the worker or wage earner, but a principle of just intervention in the structure of the Nation.  
            Trade unions or guilds constitute the organization of labour and the social backbone that allows for a fair balance in the distribution of goods. They are also one of the bases of power with the responsibility inherent to such a function. This means a service, not a privilege.

VIII.       ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION

The Nation, State, and People have the right to full ownership of the economic and financial apparatus. This is the fundamental principle of a just organization, which influences the structure of a society. Anything that contradicts this principle must be eliminated radically.
            Private initiative (which is not excluded; on the contrary, it is rightly protected) and the collaboration of foreign goods and capital, as long as they are subject to the economic structure of the Nation, are in with this principle.
            The fair distribution of land, which is totally ineffective within an unjust, anti-national economic and financial structure, fits into this picture. An agrarian reform practised on the basis of the current conditions implies accentuating social problems.
            To this fair distribution must be added an adequate distribution of the resources of exploitation, from the strictly financial to the technical and instrumental. There is no real problem of agrarian reform in the country; what exists is an abandonment of the land, instigated by revolutionary Leninist currents. This is one of the aspects of the foundational state which makes it possible to recover large tracts of uncultivated land, to encourage the founding of towns and cities to civilize Argentina’s vast territory, and to solve the problem of urban concentration.
            The State must plan industrial development, through an Ad Hoc Council in which businessmen, workers, technical-professional organizations and the State itself are represented.
            It is necessary to establish that economic policy cannot exist without the political sovereignty of the State. The division of these two aspects, or the inversion of their hierarchical relationship, implies opening a breach through which the Leninist Revolution may advance. That is why the State must not recognize tutelage of any kind, neither that of the International Monetary Fund, nor from any other party.
            Trade with the countries of the Americas, especially with our neighbours, is fundamental to our policy. We must industrialize, and therefore we must complement ourselves economically with the neighbouring countries and not solely with Europe and the United States, which are already industrialized and do not want us to; they want us to continue to depend on them while they use our raw materials and foodstuffs.
            Argentina should barter its foodstuffs for Chilean iron, coal, and copper; tin from Bolivia; Timber from Paraguay and Chile; coal and iron from Peru, etc. Brazil can buy all our exportable wheat.
            A real stabilization of our finances and our economy, aided by a tax system that does not plunder as it does at present, would bring back to the country the capital that has emigrated.
            It would be fortunate for the country if it could not get any more loans, for that would force us to make do with what we have.
            A fair sale of Argentine products would mean more income in foreign currency than imported capital.

IX.             CONCLUSION

The “Leninist revolution” is now taking place under the leadership of the Synarchy, which is tantamount to pointing out the concentration of apparently opposing powers. In this sense, the defence of the Nation and the State requires a correct and sound application of the principles outlined above.
            In the Synarchy, there are religious powers at play, embodied in the vast manoeuvring of Judeo-Christianity, whose visible manifestation is ecumenism, contrary to the best religious and patriotic traditions.
            The Argentine State will therefore not recognize any of these pseudo-religious forms, including those that hide behind ecclesiastical authority and apply various forms of political pressure and coercion. The Argentine State will proceed to exclude those tendencies of synarchical ecclesiastical power, contrary to sovereignty and justice, and will promote a total revision of its relations with the Church according to the principles of a correct understanding.
            The synarchical powers are trying to work our other bases of government and political conduct opposed to national sovereignty. At this time, integrationist tendencies in their various hues must be considered enemies of the Nation and the Argentine People. They must be discerned and eliminated from the political horizon.
            No form of social justice can exist if it ignores the imperative of the national sovereignty of peoples. In this sense, the sovereign state cannot accept the globalist, pro-Marxist tendencies of many ecclesiastical, political, and economic documents of the current international powers.
            The promotion of social justice is the result of political sovereignty and economic independence. The true alliance of Latin American peoples is based on this fundamental premise. For this reason, all integrationist and developmentalist arguments, which under the guise of improving socio-economic conditions, tend to erode and ultimately destroy the very foundations and meaning of the Nation, are unacceptable.

Principios de una política fundacional, Mar del Plata, Editorial Montonera, Colección Estado Nuevo, Cuaderno 1, 1968. The original text can be found on library genesis.