“Ver, Juzgar y Actuar”: A Manifesto for the “Conservative Catholic Argentina” (1971)

Abstract

Aspects of the democratic transition that ended the process of the so-called Argentinean Revolution – military dictatorship from 1966 to 1973 – as understood by the Argentinean Society for the defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) are analyzed in this paper. The association, which was created in 1967 and was dedicated to the catholic anticommunist fight, acted towards the instruction of the public opinion on the Argentinean reality in 1971 by publishing Ver, Juzgar y Actuar, a manifesto in which their thoughts on the country’s broader context and the means for the necessary counterrevolutionary fight were presented. Considering that the changes brought by General Lanusse’s government (1971-1973) would lead the country to Communism, TFP urges Argentinean Catholics to oppose to the process through clarification and effective doctrinarian action. Based on a conservative political culture, the entity appeals to the defense of order, moral and “authentic” progress in conformity with Christian traditions as part of the entity’s broader struggle against the traits of modernity, particularly those identified with progressivism, leftism, liberalism and contemporary immorality.