Journalists From Italy

"Stalin improvised the economic programme with top-down planning for rapid industrialisation and the forced collectivisation of the countryside, accompanied by the physical liquidation of millions of reluctant peasants. It was a new civil war won by the totalitarian state, which propaganda, as false as it was effective, defined as the immediate realisation of socialism, arousing waves of genuine enthusiasm among the younger generation and, at the same time, using coercive measures of unlimited brutality. (p. 106)"

"Vittorio de Caprariis, Eugenio Montale, Leo Valiani, Benedetto Croce, Edizioni di Comunità, 1963."

"As leader of the victorious Red Army, and as an overwhelming public speaker and brilliant writer, Trotsky, who before joining Bolshevism in 1917 had been an independent left-wing socialist, enjoyed great popularity. However, he lacked the skills for behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, faction-building, intrigue and cunning, which, especially in a dictatorship where open dissent and public political debate are prohibited, counted more than anything else. These were qualities, if they can be called that, which the party's general secretary, Stalin, possessed in abundance. (p. 105)"

"If thought is truth, then, if it encountered no obstacles, it would consist in the contemplation of itself. (p. 68)"

"Carlo Antoni noted in his essays on Croce that the struggle over the distinction between activity and between ethical and economic-political practice initially changed, unnoticed by its author, the perspective of the entire edifice. Turning, in “'Filosofia della pratica”', with still only speculative interests, to the consideration of politics, Croce was critical, above all, of humanitarian, Enlightenment, egalitarian democracy. (p. 72)"

"An internationally renowned novelist, Arthur Koestler, whose most popular book earned him a flattering review from Benedetto Croce, recounted in “The Earth's Foam” how Croce's philosophy was our daily topic of conversation even in the concentration camp. (p. 59)"

"Prisons are places conducive to reading philosophical texts. Silvio Spaventa, Croce's uncle, spent his years of life imprisonment well, meditating on the works of Hegel. (p. 61)"

"Among the sailors and workers of Kronstadt, who rose up in early 1921 against the party's totalitarian dictatorship, there were many who had fought in the ranks of the Bolsheviks at the beginning of the Soviet revolution. Trotsky, who led the fierce repression of this rebellion, nevertheless succeeded in portraying them as instruments of the counter-revolution. (pp. 104-105)"

"Israel is not Austria, which kept Lombardy-Veneto under its heel. It is like the constitutional Austria of 1867, which opened its Parliament to minorities, to the Italians of Trento, Trieste and Pola. No one denies the Palestinians living in the occupied territories the right to irredentism. I fully recognise that. But under that Austria, would Italian irredentists have done well to resort to terrorism? Even in Trieste, many distanced themselves from Oberdan's plan to assassinate the king. His attempt would have had dramatic consequences if it had been carried out."

"I am the first to criticise Israeli policy in the West Bank, the settlements, the restrictions on democratic freedoms, everything that is reactionary and repressive. I criticise Israel's very presence in those territories. But I do not demand its suicide."

"They were just idealists. In addition to a political organisation, Arafat administers large financial interests under the banners of petrodollars, sheikhs and, in general, Arab states that are anything but democratic. Israel is much more so."

"Of course, it would be good to evacuate the territories occupied in the 1967 war, with the exception of Jerusalem, which is a special case. But this cannot be expected if an organisation that practises terrorism against Israel and whose aim is the destruction of that state is established in these territories. No one can be asked to commit suicide."

"The comparison between Yasser Arafat and Giuseppe Mazzini does not hold up. Mazzini was opposed to the terrorist plans of certain factions of the Carbonari. In fact, he generally disapproved of the Carbonari and broke with them. This is one of his historical merits. He wanted an association, the “Giovine Italia”, which would call for open political struggle. This also included the use of arms against absolutist and tyrannical governments that did not allow any freedom. But it was an armed struggle aimed at mobilising public opinion, not at physically suppressing opponents."

"The Masonic year begins in March because the Egyptian mysteries were celebrated at the spring equinox and were related to the cult of the sun: in fact, although the sun is reborn at the winter solstice, it does not begin to exert its fertilizing power on the universe until the spring equinox."

"If the Freemasons had wanted to take a saint of the Catholic Church as their patron, they would have designated exactly who they chose. On the contrary, they remain vague: they call themselves Brothers of St. John, but which St. John, the Precursor or the Apostle Evangelist? They do not care and solemnly commemorate both of these figures, St. John of Winter and St. John of Summer."

"Freemasonry, if not formally, essentially dates back to ancient times: over a long series of centuries, it was always recognized as a sanctuary of good morals, a refuge for innocence, a school of wisdom, a temple of philanthropy: at the threshold of this temple, Freemasons lay down or forget their noble titles and vain pomp, because the level of equality restores each individual, in the Lodge, to the genuine conditions of his being, and Freemasons recognize and call each other Brothers."

"In some ancient ritual dialogues, reference is made to the secrets of the Order, which must be kept in an ark of bone—the head—or in a casket of coral—the heart—to which only the initiates have the key—the tongue—which, however, is bound by an unbreakable oath. :*Part One, Origins and Rites, p. 118."

"From Gnosticism sprang the Manichaeans, who had Mani as their founder and teacher. Mani, freed from his servile status by a rich widow from Persia – hence he was also called “son of the widow” and his disciples were called “sons of the widow” – handsome, bold, deeply erudite in Alexandrian philosophy, initiated into the Mithraic mysteries, full of resourcefulness and endowed with an unyielding will, he imagined a system in which pure and simple dualism predominates: Christ is confused with Mithras, the Gospel with the Zendavesta, and the result is a squalid and almost desperate doctrine, because it teaches the perpetuity of evil."

"Bacon of Verulam, one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest of the precursors of modern philosophy, with his “Instauratio magna,” created the most logical method for directing intelligence in studies and replaced this method, based solely on sensory evidence, observation of nature, and experiments, with that of Aristotle, which derived everything from reasoning. Therefore, it was said that Bacon was the first to break through the Aristotelian school, while everyone else, either out of fear or lack of ingenuity, revered it."

"Thousands of years before Christianity, the cross was a sacred emblem among ancient peoples: in Egypt, it decorated the hands of most divine statues, and in India it appeared carved above the most majestic shrines: even the temples of Ellora and Elephanta were carved into the rock in the shape of a cross, as were those of Bemares and Mathura. The cross, whatever form it took, always signified life, new life; Christians had it as a symbol of sacrifice and death; but there is no shortage of evidence that even for them it expressed the same idea that it did in the most ancient religions."

"The cross, [...], in ancient times, symbolized the junction of the ecliptic with the equator: for the initiated, it was therefore nothing more than the image of the equinoxes: the spring equinox symbolized life, the autumn equinox symbolized death: it is always the ancient legend of the sun."

"It has been said by some that Essenism gave rise to the Kabbalists and the Gnostics: the Essenes, who adapted Christianity to their old doctrines, became Gnostics: The Essenes who remained Jews became Kabbalists: thus Essenism died, giving birth to these two powerful twins: Kabbalah and Gnosticism."

"The Essenes, who are worth discussing briefly due to the connections or links that, according to some, connect them to modern Freemasonry, were already well known as an institution almost two centuries before the spread of Christianity. As Josephus states, the Essenes were direct and legitimate children of the Jewish religion and probably the most select part of Phariseeism, because they did not limit themselves to the dry interpretation of the scriptures, but derived the rules of life from them, so that they were not a school, but an institution intended primarily to bring men together, moralizing them through work."

"So what? Is not Christian socialism the most powerful explosive charge against bourgeois society, which is based on the idea of confrontation and the reality of luxury, enjoyment, pleasure, vain and superfluous things? When Leo XIII praises the worker, he always takes as his example “the frugal and well-behaved worker”. (I, III; p. 57)"

"But by abolishing property, the Church would legitimise an overly vivid hope in an overly “just” world. Catholic socialism has an insurmountable limitation: Christian pessimism. The idea of happiness is beyond this perspective. But not that of balance, with the mediation of charity. Christian socialism is ultimately nothing more than this: the search for a social balance that saves charity. (I, I; p. 33)"

"The Reformation, through Calvin, had laid the foundations of capitalism, legitimising individual initiative aimed at any goal, sanctifying the effort and daring of the individual even if it aimed at greatness and domination, consecrating gain and success as signs of predestination and divine election. By rejecting the modern State and capitalism, the Papacy rejects the very principle of “struggle” that underpinned both. The new social order, conceived by Catholic socialism, resolves the struggle and dissolves the state itself. It is a challenge to Protestantism. The Church, which has always opposed the Faustian conception of life, the reduction of existence to the category of war, the idea of progress and becoming, the principle of competition, selection and class struggle, and action as the measure of the world, the Church aims to achieve its greatest victory by once again launching and imposing its message of peace, love, brotherhood, and charity. (I, III; p. 59)"

"On a historical level, what is communism if not the last heir of the Reformation, Romanticism and classical German philosophy? By definition, it is the sworn enemy of the Church. Its foundation is the state; its principle is revolution; its method is struggle; its ideal is immanence; its goal is justice. (I, III; p. 64)"

"The purpose of the Church, the sole and supreme repository of revelation, remains in any case to summarise and resolve politics in religion. But the purpose of the State, of any State worthy of the name, is precisely the same, reversed: to resolve religion in politics, God in man. Every State is also a Church; political authority is necessarily moral authority; political history logically takes the form of “sacred history”. Its political ends are also moral and religious: they encompass and reabsorb within themselves all possible morality and religion. (I, I; p. 20)"

"Charity and forgiveness: this is the “socialism” of Christ, this is Christian society. In life there is not, there cannot be, absolution (only God will absolve); but there can be, there is, and there will be an amnesty, a daily amnesty. Life is a punishment (this is the meaning of original sin, the deepest interpretation of human pain): but it is a punishment that is pardoned in life and absolved in death. This is the greatest justice. (I, I; p. 17)"

"Nothing more than messianic socialism, socialism that aims at a golden age, a city of sunshine, perfect justice, nothing more than such socialism repels the Christian conception. Christianity, due to its insurmountable pessimistic prejudice, cannot even conceive of the total salvation and liberation of men on earth, and by virtue of an earthly order. Hell is the punishment for violated charity. Only punishment can achieve justice. Eternal damnation is the great disciplinary force of the world. (I, I; p. 16)"

"Nothing contrasts more with the Christian conception of hope in the earthly paradise, in the kingdom of freedom and justice. None of the liberal and secularist philosophies escapes the sin of Adam. Every revolution hides the temptation of Eden. On the contrary, the only freedom left to the believer is that of ascending to God to achieve justice. (I, I; p. 21)"

"If Mazzini is the prophet of the left, Ricasoli can rightly be considered the prophet of the right: among all the successors of Cavour, among all the politicians who governed the new state in the fifteen years from 1861 to 1876, among all those who appeared “moderate” and in reality carried out the only profound revolution in our history, the Tuscan baron is the only one who inspired his political action with a religious conception of life, the only one who instilled in the acts of power a secret “reformist mysticism”, such as to justify all his audaciousness and allow all his conquests. (Appendix, 1. Ricasoliana, Ch. I, p. 277)."

"Religious criticism denies mystery; historical criticism destroys legend; literary criticism dissolves creation: it is the era in which secularism reacts to ancient traditions and conventions in the name of “fully explained reason”. Salvation is sought in erudition, which demolishes prophecies and ghosts. The demands of faith are resolved in the thirst for knowledge: the problematic nature of life allows the unity of religion to be overcome. Dogma, the unity consecrated in dogma, is answered with faith in antinomy, with an awareness of multiplicity, with the torment of contradictions that are at the basis of the human spirit and are only resolved on the plane of history. (II, II; p. 91)"

"Yes: the case of Prezzolini was one of the most significant in contemporary culture in our country. Prezzolini embodied a constant critical and sceptical need in a world of culture increasingly tending towards conformism and orthodoxy, or rather conformism and orthodoxies."

"(About Carlo Donat-Cattin) A man who constantly fought to maintain a strong link between institutional structures and the needs of the world of work."

"(About Bettino Ricasoli) Grumpy, reclusive, wild: almost always shut away in his Brolio, from which he rarely descended, and with the calculated slowness of a sovereign. But the only one who exercised undisputed authority over all the other notables of Tuscany: “the only eminent individual known, revered and esteemed in Italy and abroad” (as Celestino Bianchi, his devoted secretary and incomparable collaborator, would say a few years later, even though he would not grant him the intimacy of “tu” in return for his many services). He was also the court of last resort in all doubtful or difficult cases, such as during the days of bloodshed and tension that followed the Aspromonte incident. (I partiti politici nella Firenze capitale, Ch. II, pp. 82-83)"

"It will be under the aegis of the invincible Axis, the new Europe of Law, Justice, Freedom and Love. The Europe of the future, which is the goal of that bloc of countries headed by the tripartite pact between Italy, Germany and Japan."

"Mrs Gandhi was moving closer to the West. Even within the non-aligned countries, she was forging ever stronger ties with the world of European democracies. :*In Italy, grief but also fears for the future, “'L'Unità”', 1 November 1984"

"There can be no united Italy without the foundation laid by Garibaldi. The Garibaldi legend is, in reality, the only national thread running through our modern history."

"The cause of authority is sacred to the Church, inasmuch as a ray of God lives in authority. (II, III; p. 102)."

"Ricasoli embodied the concept of the modern state, which does not tolerate limitations and competition from other powers, which is based on the irreplaceable and pre-eminent values of civil morality, which replaces religious morality with military discipline, which attributes to the authority of the officer the value of priestly authority, which contrasts combatants with missionaries, the armed forces to the regular clergy, and universities to seminaries and convents. (Appendix, 1. Ricasoliana, Ch. I, p. 262)"

"Solve the mystery of the Mig23 and you will have found the key to discovering the truth about Ustica."

"This is why the Reformation, which frees man from authority on the religious level, creates the conditions for Marxist rebellion, in that it frees men from all fear of higher forces regulating social life and launches them into a conflict without rules and without restraint, aimed at conquering humanly perfect orders. (I, I; p. 27)"

"(About Giulio Andreotti) Opposed to general ideas, pragmatic and realistic like few others, with his own streak of “Catholic Giolittism”."

"In the eyes of the Enlightenment thinkers themselves, it was clear that the revolt against authority, the basis of their polemic, could only escape the temptations of anarchism by falling back on the contemplation of an absolute model of justice that would frame human life, giving it meaning and justification. It is the unlimited faith in the “'law”', in the equality of all before the law, that alone legitimises the function of the State and elevates it from the political to the moral plane, rightly making it “part of the heavenly”. The “general will”, the powerful idea that must justify the source of power, will coincide with a law of nature and become the very expression of natural fatality. Thus was born the “mystique of democracy”, which found its point of origin in The Social Contract and its historical conclusion in universal suffrage. Law and freedom became one and the same: absolutism no longer had any reason to exist. (II, I; p. 78)"

"It is the bourgeoisie that has opposed its morals to those of the Church, its philosophy to that of Catholicism, its politics to that of Christianity, within the framework of an entirely secular and earthly conception of life. The “people”, who represent the antithesis of the bourgeois spirit, the “moral protest” against the law of force, are best qualified to embody the values of Christian ethics, which alone, by devaluing the world, ideally allows for the peaceful coexistence of men on earth. It is no coincidence that “populism” is the socially permanent tendency of the Church: only the people can implement Christian teaching, which is one of renunciation and poverty. (I, I; p. 32)"

"Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre is one of the most important guardians of Catholic Tradition who distinguished themselves in the 20th century. He is a champion of the deposit of faith of the Holy Roman Church, a faithful guardian of the Holy Mass, of the sanctifying integrity of the priesthood, of the Petrine primacy, and of the stable and firm Creed. In the collective imagination, his name is often linked to the figure of a “rebellious” bishop who was disobedient to the Church. Since the 1970s, just uttering his name seemed to evoke who knows what negativity, who knows what divisions... Much of the press and journalists portrayed him as a “schismatic,” someone who wanted to create his own Church... In reality, he was an uncomfortable figure because he spoke with courageous clarity at a time of great confusion in the Church and in the world."

"Catherine of Siena was only six years old when Jesus appeared to her dressed majestically as the Supreme Pontiff, with three crowns on his head and a red cloak, flanked by St. Peter, St. John, and St. Paul. She devoted herself to serving the Church and, in particular, the clergy and the Pope."

"For more than 50 years, since Vatican II, the Church, in its constant anxiety and tension to “dialogue” with the world and pay attention to those “far away,” has increasingly distanced itself from itself, losing its adherence to doctrine and, therefore, to the principles that constitute its own identity."

"Saint Ferdinand, who completed the Reconquista of the Iberian domains that had fallen into the hands of Islam, is the only Spanish sovereign to date to be considered by the Church worthy of the glory of the altars. Everyone, even his enemies, agrees in recognizing his purity of morals, prudence, heroism, generosity, meekness, and great spirit of service to his people and the Church. His practice of virtue and wise ability to administer the Spanish kingdoms made him a model Christian sovereign and ruler."