| Julio Meinvielle | |
|---|---|
| Born | Julio Meinvielle 1905 |
| Died | 1973 |
| Nationality | Argentine |
| Education | Doctor of Philosophy and Theology |
| Occupation | Priest |
| Known for | Writer |
| Notable works | From Lammenais to Maritain |
| Political party | Tacuara Nationalist Movement |
| Religion | Roman Catholic Church |
Father Julio Meinvielle (1905-1973) was an Argentine priest and prolific antisemitic writer.
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Meinvielle studied for his Doctorate in Philosophy and Theology in Rome and soon afterwards became a prolific writer of religious, historical and economic books within the school of Thomism.[1] 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.[2]
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 Maritain 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6]
He was also critic of capitalism 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.[7] 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.[7]
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.[8] 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.[8] 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.[8] 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.[9]
Meinvielle's influence was strong throughout the far right in Argentina. Practically, he served as advisor and spiritual inspiration to the highly anti-Semitic Tacuara Nationalist Movement.[10] 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.[11] Other future government figures such as Mario Amadeo, Alberto Baldrich and Samuel Medrano were also influenced by his works to an extent.[12] Similarly Colonel Mohamed Alí Seineldín, who was arrested in 1987 for plotting a military coup also declared himself a disciple of Meinvielle.[13] The diplomat Máximo Etchecopar had also written for Meinvielle's journal Balcón during his formative years.[14]