Abstract

RUDERER, Stephan. Crusade against Communism: Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) in Chile and ArgentinaCrusade against Communism: Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) in Chile and Argentina. Soc. relig. [online]. 2012, vol.22, n.38. ISSN 1853-7081.

This article analyses the impact the group Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), a society of conservative Catholic laymen, has had in the justification of violence during the last military dictatorships in Argentina and Chile. In both countries, the TFP has been battling the innovations of Vatican II and "progressive" bishops and priests since the 1960's. The group headed a discursive crusade against anything and anyone they perceived as too friendly with communism, including the Christian-Democratic party in Chile. The article asks which elements in the discourse could have served the military regimes to legitimize their repression with religious arguments. Beside this, it examines the personal relationships between members of the TFP and the political and military elites in both countries to better understand the impact the TFP might have had. This analysis of a group of traditional Catholics sheds new light upon conservative Catholicism in Latin America and its impact on the dictatorships.

Keywords : TFP; Anticommunism; Military dictatorships; Conservative Catholicism; Argentina; Chile.

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