António Sardinha
Encyclopedia
António Sardinha was a Portuguese
writer and the main intellectual behind the Integralismo Lusitano
movement. He espoused as a strongly conservative
world view which has been characterised as an early fascism
.
but by 1911 he had shifted his opinions, under the influence of his highly conservative mother, and became a strong advocate of monarchism and Catholicism
. He was also influenced in this regard by the Spanish
conservative Juan Vázquez de Mella
, who was a close friend of Sardinha from the early 1900s.
in 1913 along with José Hipólito Raposo
and Alberto de Monsaraz. He would serve as a deputy for a time under the Presidency of Sidónio Pais
, who was vaguely sympathetic towards Integralism.
Sardinha was this group's foremost ideologue and his programme was outlined in his 1925 work, La Allianza Peninsular, which called for a regression in Iberia
and a new Catholic corporatism
that recalled the work of Charles Maurras
. This highly nationalist
and ruralist work was seen in Spain
as the basis of Hispanidad. His writings revealed a strong affinity for the agricultural as a historical and economic basis as well as support for anti-Semitism
. This anti-Semitism was influenced by Action Française
, from whom he also took a strong strain of anti-liberalism. He added to this a hard-line racism
in which he strongly criticised miscegnation although this element of his ideology was rejected by some within the movement, most notably José Hipólito Raposo
. Further to this Sardinha also grafted elements of the works of Georges Sorel
, adopting his theories of revolutionary validity and the social value of myth to his own ideology.
Under Sardinha's direction the movement converted from being a group of monarchist nostalgics into a coherent ideology that hoped to establish a new era in Portuguese history under the leadership of a strong centralised monarchy. Unlike some of his contemporaries Sardinha considered a close relationship to Spain to be of central importance for Portugal and he also took an internationalist view in general, hoping to see similar integralisms develop elsewhere, particularly in Brazil
where the proved to be the case
.
His early death in 1925 saw Integralismo Lusitano lose its most celebrated thinker and as a movement it failed to recover from the blow. Drawing from traditional monarchism, Hispanidad, ruralism, Integralism
, scientific racism
, fascism and national syndicalism
he had created a complex syncretic
ideology that inevitably fissured into various factions after his death.
that sought to counter liberal
interpretations of history. Amongst his pet theories was that António de Araújo e Azevedo, 1st Count of Barca
had collaborated with France
during his time as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Peninsular War
. Similarly he rejected the widely celebrated Portuguese discoveries
as ushering in an era of capitalism
and cosmopolitanism
and thus flying in the face of his ruralist ideals.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
writer and the main intellectual behind the Integralismo Lusitano
Integralismo Lusitano
Integralismo Lusitano was a Portuguese integralist political movement, founded in Coimbra in 1914, that advocated traditionalism but not conservatism. It was against parliamentarism; instead, it favored decentralization, national syndicalism, the Roman Catholic Church, and the monarchy...
movement. He espoused as a strongly conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
world view which has been characterised as an early fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
.
Early politics
Sardinha graduated in law from the University of Coimbra in 1911. During his student years he was a supporter of Republicanism and even flirted with anarcho-syndicalismAnarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
but by 1911 he had shifted his opinions, under the influence of his highly conservative mother, and became a strong advocate of monarchism and Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. He was also influenced in this regard by the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
conservative Juan Vázquez de Mella
Juan Vázquez de Mella
Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul was a Spanish scholar and politician, closely associated with the Spanish legitimist and traditionalist movement known as Carlism.-Career:...
, who was a close friend of Sardinha from the early 1900s.
Integralism
He was the founder of Integralismo LusitanoIntegralismo Lusitano
Integralismo Lusitano was a Portuguese integralist political movement, founded in Coimbra in 1914, that advocated traditionalism but not conservatism. It was against parliamentarism; instead, it favored decentralization, national syndicalism, the Roman Catholic Church, and the monarchy...
in 1913 along with José Hipólito Raposo
José Hipólito Raposo
José Hipólito Raposo was a Portuguese politician, writer, lawyer and historian.-Integralism:He was educated at the University of Coimbra before taking up practice as a lawyer...
and Alberto de Monsaraz. He would serve as a deputy for a time under the Presidency of Sidónio Pais
Sidónio Pais
Sidónio Bernardino Cardoso da Silva Pais was a Portuguese politician and diplomat, the fourth President in 1918. He was known as the President-King.-Family:...
, who was vaguely sympathetic towards Integralism.
Sardinha was this group's foremost ideologue and his programme was outlined in his 1925 work, La Allianza Peninsular, which called for a regression in Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
and a new Catholic corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
that recalled the work of Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
. This highly nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and ruralist work was seen in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
as the basis of Hispanidad. His writings revealed a strong affinity for the agricultural as a historical and economic basis as well as support for anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. This anti-Semitism was influenced by Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, from whom he also took a strong strain of anti-liberalism. He added to this a hard-line racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
in which he strongly criticised miscegnation although this element of his ideology was rejected by some within the movement, most notably José Hipólito Raposo
José Hipólito Raposo
José Hipólito Raposo was a Portuguese politician, writer, lawyer and historian.-Integralism:He was educated at the University of Coimbra before taking up practice as a lawyer...
. Further to this Sardinha also grafted elements of the works of Georges Sorel
Georges Sorel
Georges Eugène Sorel was a French philosopher and theorist of revolutionary syndicalism. His notion of the power of myth in people's lives inspired Marxists and Fascists. It is, together with his defense of violence, the contribution for which he is most often remembered. Oron J...
, adopting his theories of revolutionary validity and the social value of myth to his own ideology.
Under Sardinha's direction the movement converted from being a group of monarchist nostalgics into a coherent ideology that hoped to establish a new era in Portuguese history under the leadership of a strong centralised monarchy. Unlike some of his contemporaries Sardinha considered a close relationship to Spain to be of central importance for Portugal and he also took an internationalist view in general, hoping to see similar integralisms develop elsewhere, particularly in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
where the proved to be the case
Brazilian Integralism
Brazilian Integralism was a fascist political movement in Brazil, created on October 1932. Founded and led by Plínio Salgado, a literary figure who was somewhat famous for his participation in the 1922 Modern Art Week, the movement had adopted some characteristics of European mass movements of...
.
His early death in 1925 saw Integralismo Lusitano lose its most celebrated thinker and as a movement it failed to recover from the blow. Drawing from traditional monarchism, Hispanidad, ruralism, Integralism
Integralism
Integralism, or Integral nationalism, is an ideology according to which a nation is an organic unity. Integralism defends social differentiation and hierarchy with co-operation between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups...
, scientific racism
Scientific racism
Scientific racism is the use of scientific techniques and hypotheses to sanction the belief in racial superiority or racism.This is not the same as using scientific findings and the scientific method to investigate differences among the humans and argue that there are races...
, fascism and national syndicalism
National syndicalism
National syndicalism is a nationalist variant of syndicalism.- Founding of national syndicalism in France :National syndicalism was founded in France by the fusion of Maurrassian integral nationalism with Sorelian syndicalism. Interest in Sorelian thought arose in the French political right,...
he had created a complex syncretic
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
ideology that inevitably fissured into various factions after his death.
Historian
As well as his political activism Sardinha was also noted as a somewhat controversial historian. Much of his work was given over to a historical revisionismHistorical revisionism
In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event...
that sought to counter liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
interpretations of history. Amongst his pet theories was that António de Araújo e Azevedo, 1st Count of Barca
António de Araújo e Azevedo, 1st Count of Barca
António de Araújo e Azevedo, 1st Count of Barca was a Portuguese statesman, author and amateur botanist. After cooperating in the establishment of the Academia de Ciências at Lisbon, he represented his government in Holland, France, Prussia, and Russia...
had collaborated with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during his time as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. Similarly he rejected the widely celebrated Portuguese discoveries
Portuguese discoveries
Portuguese discoveries is the name given to the intensive maritime exploration by the Portuguese during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European overseas exploration, discovering and mapping the coasts of Africa, Asia and Brazil, in what become known as the...
as ushering in an era of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
and thus flying in the face of his ruralist ideals.