Romania’s Heroic Martyr: Corneliu Codreanu
At last I have selected For my Legionaries by Corneliu Codreanu as my next topic of study. I have heard and read about this Romanian nationalist for years, and now I have begun to read what is presented as a form of his autobiography of the years of his youth and adult activism.
Archangel Michael vanquishes the undermen. Artist Guido Reni.
Codreanu called one of his organizations The Legion of Michael the Archange.
The autobiography is preceded by an Introduction titled “A Martyr’s Life” by Kerry Bolton. Next is “Historical Background To For My Legionaries” by editor Lucian Tudor. To place him in his historical context, Codreanu was active in Romanian politics and society from 1919 until 1938, when he was executed by the state in an unofficial murder. This was a period of dire Communist threat to Romania, as well as internal threats from corrupt inept liberal government. Codreanu also recognized the Jewish threat and espoused a strategic antisemitism, as did many.
Economic Theory
The online Archive version does not have the Introduction and Background. My print version say under Economic Theory in the Background section:
“There are a multitude of Third Position ideologies, the most well-known today being Fascism and National Socialism. However, it is important to remember that there are several different types of third Position ideologies which have significant differences from Fascism and National Socialism, and thus cannot all be reduced and simplified as being merely a variety of ‘generic Fascisms.’ Yet at the same time, all Third Position philosophies share certain traits and emerge out of a similar line of thought. The key idea behind Third Position economics is to create a society in which people of all classes, occupations, and social positions are spiritually united and live in a cooperative and harmonious manner. This concept accordingly rejects both the notion of class warfare present in Marxist thought as well as the sort of unrestricted competition and economic expansion favored by capitalists, which leads to workers becoming prey to blind economic forces.” (p. 45)
Both the “Marxist class warfare” and “blind economic forces” are significantly inflicted by visionary Jews, as Codreanu and his National Christian Socialists knew.
“Thus, Third Positionists generally advocate enacting laws and creating organizations which would regulate relations and alleviate tensions between employers and employees, between the upper classes and the lower classes. The reasoning behind the formulation of this kind of system is that neither Marxism—which advocates only the rights of the workers—nor Capitalism—which advocates only the rights of the financially and economically powerful—are sufficient for creating worthy societies to live in. In contrast to the other two positions, Third Positionists believe that the workers deserve a voice in the administration of their place of work, but they reject the Marxist idea of establishing a “‘dictatorship of the proletariat,’ because they realize that workers are not the sole bearers of justice, and that all classes and social positions have the potential for good as well as wrongdoing. In brief, it can be said that the central reason for the formulation of the Third Position is to avoid the injustices of both capitalism as well as Marxism.” (pp. 45-6)
The other central reason is to embrace justice and harmony that a fusion of free market capitalism as well as socialism within a nation-state enacts.
“…the most significant and earliest developed type of Third Position economics was corporatism. This system referred to the medieval guild system—and similar corporative economic practices in the ancient world—and involved organizing the economy into units or estates (called cooperatives or corporations) based on type of labor, which included both employers and employees, and thus allowed for bargaining and cooperation between workers’ and employers’ organizations, with the state functioning as a mediator.” (p. 46)
The state mediator could be populist authoritarian as in Italy with the state foremost, or similarly populist authoritarian in Germany with race foremost, but it could also be a Monarchy as Codreanu envisioned. Most urgent was that the state authority be devoted to the welfare of nation and people as a whole, uncorrupted by either material greed of the Capitalists or power greed of the Communists.
Codreanu also used the term “syndicates” (p. 47) to describe this cooperative dynamic among owners, workers and the state—as do Communists and Fascists. When we hear that Fascist Italy was corporatist, that cannot refer to the current meaning of a corporation today, but to this syndicate structure we have defined. Today’s corporations are totalitarian Capitalist, and do not cooperate with, but dominate government, workers and even social culture. ‘
“…another fundamental goal of Third Position systems is to create a nationally organic form of socialism, which involves combining nationalism with socialism. The root of this notion is that Marxism correctly asserts that workers need rights and that capitalism should be rejected, for it is a system that, with its sole goal being endless profit, leads to social strife and the creation of a predatory society in which traditional communal and social bonds are broken. Yet Marxism taken as a whole is also erroneous because it is inorganic to the nation in that it wrongly assumes that the past customs, traditions and values of a nation can simply be totally brushed aside, thus making the same materialistic error as capitalism in seeing man as a soulless animal guided by merely economic motives.
“The idea of organic socialism recognizes that people are more than just groups of classes driven solely by material interests, that people have higher motives related to spirituality, to patriotism, to loyalty to their ethnic group and cultural traditions. Thus traditionalist nationalism, which upheld these higher purposes, would be combined with the socialistic idea of workers’ rights to form a ‘national socialism.’ We should note that it is important to realize that this term does not strictly refer to Hitler’s ideology or values, for the term was not actually invented by Hitler, and was used by numerous thinkers before him, some notable examples being Johann Plenge, Hans Zehrer, and Moeller van den Bruck.” (pp. 46-7)
As we explored in my debate with Joe Atwill, Rudolf Jung was another originator of the term and ideology of National Socialism as manifest in Germany. Significantly, Codreanu believed the “higher motives” of National Socialism could also be expressed through Christianity (one reason Communism tries to eradicate it).
“To supplement the idea of National-Christian-Socialism, in 1935 Codreanu also developed the concept of ‘Legionary Commerce,’ which was meant to be a new way of doing business which would be based on Christian honesty and honor, as opposed to doing business in a manner designed simply to maximize profit.” (p. 47)
That manner could also be described as Jewish, with all its cheating, lies, deceit, manipulation, predatory nature and cruelty.
“Codreanu completely rejected Communist ideas, despite the Communist Movement’s claim of representing workers, for the same reasons as other Third Positionists; although in his autobiography he frequently gives its supposedly Jewish nature as the primary reason, it must be pointed out however that he rejected Communism not just because he believed it was ‘Jewish,’ but also because he recognized its materialistic nature and absurd antagonism toward ethniic tradition and culture. He realized that the victory of Marxist-Communism would lead to ‘the abolition of the Monarchy, the destruction of the Church, the ruin of family life, the end of private property, and the death of freedom… everything that constitutes our moral patrimony.” (p. 48)
His reasoning seems the same, since these other horrors of Communism derive from its Jewish nature.
This is an excellent explanation of the Third Position and its relation to Fascism, National Socialism, and Christianity. As embodied in the heroic martyr Corneliu Codreanu and his bold advocacy in a pre-war Communist-threatened Romania, let us consider the great worth of a Third Position in our war-torn Zionist-threatened United States today. We have only one hope and one goal: Third Position.
Excellent, thank you Karl.
This may be of related interest - it comes from the perspective of Orthodox Christianity.
• The Saint of the Prisons – the story of Valeriu Gafencu as told by Monk Moise – about the persecution of Christians in Communist-occupied Romania.
(playlist x18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LH4b8WyWAk&list=PLnWASaoD3_BWUv8cNRlSuLvlERPY1SKL8&index=1
"Overview:
This book is about a man who transformed his time incarcerated in the terrible Communist prisons into an opportunity to win his freedom in Christ. A man who loved God until the end - paying the ultimate price for Him, his life - Valeriu Gafencu was a model not only for all his fellow prison mates, but also his fellow countrymen. Indeed, he continues to be a model for all Christians who struggle against sin and against the passions of this world. Intelligent, well-educated, passionate in his ideals for his country and ardent in his faith, he was twenty years old and a student of law when he was first arrested, guilty of nothing but his convictions. What followed were eleven years of incarceration in the Communist gulag, a time of persecution and torture - both of the body and of the soul - for Valeriu, alongside his fellow inmates. ... "
https://distributistreview.com/archive/an-introduction-to-distributism
Third position economics seems vitally important. I knew something about Distributism a while ago but have forgotten most of it. It was Christian in its orientation.