Pioneers of Clerical Fascism? Mythical Language of Revolutionary Political Catholicism in Slovakia and Visions of a “New Nation”

Abstract

HRUBOŇ, Anton. Pioneers of Clerical Fascism? Mythical Language of Revolutionary Political Catholicism in Slovakia and Visions of a "New Nation". Clerical fascism is among the vaguest and most corrupted terms in the political lexicon. As a result of abuse by the Communist regime for political purposes, it became an ideological label and insult after 1948. The present study attempts to revive this devalued term over the background of an analysis of the political language and ideology of Rodobrana, considered the first fascist movement in Slovakia (1923Slovakia ( -1929. The study defines clerofascist ideology as a system of opinions, ideas and worldviews, functionally combining clericalism and fascism into a coherent worldview. The presented case study proves that, although clerical fascism has never formed the basis of any European regime, several variously significant political movements, including the Slovak Rodobrana, met its definition criteria. After outlining the methodology and general continental European context of the issue, the study analyses the forms of militarization of Catholicism in Slovakia after 1918, the formation of the concept of mystical ultra-nation, as well as the Rodobrana's vision of establishing a new religious community. The paper pays special attention to the work performed by the myth of purity in the political language of the Rodobrana, the political instrumentalization of Christ and his sacred blood in the context of creating the "revived nation".