NEITHER HAMLET NOR FAUST: THE AMOR FATI OF D. QUIXOTE IN FRANCISCO CAMPOS’ ANTI-LIBERALISM1

Francisco Campos analyzes the classic Don Quixote de la Mancha in his essay Atualidade de D. Quixote (Contemporaneity of D. Quixote), in order to trace the spiritual crisis of modern times and the feeling of despair currently lived by men. Three hallmark figures of literature are featured in Campos’ narrative: Hamlet, Faust, and D. Quixote. Hamlet and Faust represent the cowardly hesitation and the hermetic art and literature of liberal intellectuals, who are unable to communicate collective experiences to organize a social order of stability. This makes possible for Campos to state his strong criticism toward liberal institutions and ideas, in a Schmittian anti-liberal bias. It is necessary to recover the rationale of D. Quixote, who, with his amor fati (love for the common destiny), decides, as a statesman, to “transform thought into will and will into action”. It is an arduous civilizing task of making the masses a cohesive people, obedient, civilized and united in a common superior order (the National State), guided by Catholic values, and willing to fight against the enemy. It is only possible to save democracy from “cataclysm” if the call for the 1 Article developed from the discussions held in the Research Group “Teoria Crítica do Constitucionalismo” (Critical Theory of Constitutionalism) (DGP/CNPq), in the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direitos e Garantias Fundamentais (Graduate Program in Fundamental Rights and Guarantees), at the Law School Faculdade de Direito de Vitória (FDV). 2 Ph.D. in Fundamental Rights and Guarantees at Faculdade de Direito de Vitória (FDV). Master’s degree in Theory, Sociology and Philosophy of Law at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). Professor of Political Science and Theory of the State, and of Philosophy of Law, at Faculdade de Direito de Vitória (FDV), and Professor of Criminal Law, and Law and Art at Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). Vitória (ES), Brazil. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3256-2046. CV Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/5465716530462055. E-mail: wiltonbisifdv@hotmail.com. 3 Post-doctorate in Law at Universidad de Sevilla (Spain). Post-doctorate in Law at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS). Ph.D. in Law at Universidade do Vale do Rio dois Sinos (UNISINOS). Leader of the Research Group Teoria Crítica do Constitucionalismo (DGP/CNPq). Leader of the Research Group Direito e Psicanálise (FDV-ES/Escola Lacaniana de Psicanálise de Vitória). Visitor Professor of the Academic Visitor Program at la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Sevilla. Member of the Group of Investigación Antagónicos de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Sevilla. President of Rede Brasileira Direito e Literatura (RDL). Vitória (ES), Brazil. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8295-4275. CV Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/2535094687665916. E-mail: nelsoncmoreira@hotmail.com. ANAMORPHOSIS – Revista Internacional de Direito e Literatura, v. 5, n. 2, p. 565-585 566 final Crusade is accepted. Hence the Contemporaneity of D. Quixote. This article intends to carry out an interpretive effort of the essay Contemporaneity of D. Quixote, in order to highlight some aspects of the anti-liberal political and constitutional thought by Campos.


INTRODUCTION
Modern constitutionalism is deeply influenced by liberalism. The idea of a Constitution -together with the separation of powers, of the Rule of Law per leges and sub lege, of individual rights and guarantees, of representative parliamentary democracy -comes from the liberal concern of creating limiting mechanisms to political power, so that the Leviathan does not become a frontal threat to the individual. This article's aim is to think, however, about another modern constitutional tradition: antiliberalism, whose most noteworthy thinker in the Twentieth Century was Carl Schmitt.
The constitutionalist Francisco Campos brings in a privileged way this Schmittian anti-liberal view to Brazil and institutionalizes it as Minister of Justice (1937Justice ( -1942 in the Estado Novo regime of President Getúlio Vargas.
It is worth noting that the jurist from Minas Gerais was one of the most influential men in Brazilian public life of the period and was responsible for adapting the country's legal framework, translating the wishes of Getúlio Vargas to the new guidelines and the new values placed on law and politics in a mass society. The watchword was the urgent necessity of overcoming liberal ideas and institutions, as they were seen as anachronic and politically irresponsible. In this line of considerations, the Federal Constitution of 1937, written by Francisco Campos, was fully adjusted to endorse the authoritarian legal-political rationale that informed both the exercise of political power as well as exceptional laws and practices.
Anti-liberalism can be conceived, based on the contributions by Rogério Dultra dos Santos, from the fundamentals used to support the political relationship of authority. While liberalism derives its legitimacy, in the 19th and 20th centuries, from the rational procedures constituting political representation, anti-liberalism sustains -as of the 1920s -another justification for political authority, inspired by the reaction of conservative Catholic thinkers, such as De Maistre, Bonald, and Donoso Cortés, to the French Revolution. In summary, in the words of Rogério Dultra, Anti-liberal political representation -that is, the relation between people and government -can be established both by the existence of professional corporations, by an enlightened elite or through plebiscite. In such cases, the State restricts parliament to budgetary functions and / or legislation on general principles, to be regulated by the Executive Branch. When speaking of anti-liberal constitutionalism, the distinctive element is the possibility of suspension of the right authorized by the law itself, which means that this constitutionalism legitimizes the existence of dictatorships. It is in this way that the Executive Branch can exercise its will free of legal restrictions. This constitutional engineering, which operates by instruments of exception, is justified by the need for facts and uses a specific way of democratic legitimation, gathered in antiliberal thought, the plebiscitary legitimation (2007, p. 282-283, translated).
The explanation for the adoption in Europe (Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain) and in Brazil, from the 1930s, of an anti-liberal constitutionalism can be summarized by Cândido Motta Filho -professor of Constitutional Law at USP at that time, later a Minister of the Federal Supreme Court -, which also defended the primacy of the Schmittian perspective, appropriate to legitimize the Dictatorship of Vargas. According to him, the contemporary political scenario, especially after the First World War, shares an "excessive political unrest", which requires an answer, in different countries, for common political and social problems. Therefore, there must be a "great effort to reinforce the authority of the Executive, since a strong Executive is a technical necessity of the freedom regime", that is, of a democracy: The analysis of political facts, after the war, the examination of parliamentary activities, the growth of criticism in the press among the learned, the riots, the revolutions, the legal transformations of the administrative and political units, all these events signal the excessive political unrest in the contemporary world and the great effort to strengthen executive authority, without destroying the dogmas of freedom (Motta Filho, 1940, p. 15-16, translated).
From the above, this anti-liberal view -which stands in opposition to liberal-democratic ideas and institutions -assumes an authoritarian political-legal bias, which does not tolerate political dissent and which over- invokes what Cornelius Castoriadis (apud Ost, 2004, p. 28) called a magma of meanings, that is, "a set of imaginary social meanings that give meaning to the data of experiences". That is why one can state that in -to answer the crisis of our times, which is due to the decadence of civilization and the uneasy feeling of abandonment that impregnates the liberal-individualist modern man. Such crisis is inserted in the context of mass Society and can only be ended towards order, peace, stability, freedom 6 It should be noted that Campos' interpretation of Don Quixote should not be the definitive conclusion of an alleged authoritarian nature of the Cervantes' text. On the contrary, literary texts bring with them the possibility of a rich profusion of meanings, which in addition to enriching these texts (and often reaffirming their classic character), always make them an open work. In this sense, it is worth checking two articles: (1) that of Melina Girardi Fachin (2017), which relates Don Quixote and the perseverance of humanity in its historical and political struggle for Human Rights; and (2) Marcelo Campos Galuppo (2018), which links Don Quixote and the foundation of a Constitution. and civilization, if a certain sovereign political authority points the way, by rightfully using irrational elements, of emotional sorts. Hence the cry for the contemporary need of D. Quixote's spirit! In the following section, we transcribe certain excerpts from Contemporaneity of D. Quixote, in order to contribute to the knowledge of some aspects of the anti-liberal political and constitutional thought by Francisco Campos.

CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUAL CRISIS
Francisco Campos (1951, p. 83) states we are living in times of crisis, which generates a feeling of helplessness to man. And the nature of this crisis is not economic or political, but emotional, due to the absence of meaning that characterizes our times. This raises concerns, discontent, frustration, anguish. In the author's own words: "the crisis of the world occurs when the restrained emotions find nothing more than pale and awkward reproductions of a lost hierarchy. It is the anguish of man without the tradition of rite, symbols and ideals that channel emotions towards obedience to an order" (Campos, 1951, p. 75, translated).
Liberal individualistic rationalism and the consequent process of secularization are largely responsible for this crisis, since modern man, perceived as decadent; the feeling is that we are "under the eschatological tension of the next and last catastrophe" (Campos, 1940, p. 5, translated). This is so, because emotion has lost its discharge poles, it no longer has the traditional valuative references by which to vent its immense energy potential in a state of accumulated tension.
The rationalized and technical world did not significantly fill the void of divine absence, originated from the process of modern secularization.
For this reason, man surrendered to low superstitions and became fascinated by pseudo-myths constructed by skeptical and relativist intellectuals who operate by instigating "moral abuse, the Machiavellian degradation of intelligence that proposes to secrete the masses to, by betraying them, lead them to Caesar's corral" (Campos, 1951, p. 81-82, translated), to a Dictator. The result of the crisis of the ordered employment of emotion is "the totalitarian, communist or Nazi state, and the [destructive] political ideologies of our time" (Campos, 1951, p. 79, translated).
In addition to the need to face the crisis of our historical period, there is also the challenge of doing so in the context of emergence of mass society.

SOCIOLOGY OF THE MASSES AND DEMOCRATIC ELITISM
Modern society is a society of masses. For Campos, it is a reality: "The entry of the masses into the political scene [...] is already developing a decisive influence onto it" (1940, p. 17, translated). Hence the political need to know them and integrate them into the State regime, in order to govern effectively.
The figure of the squire Sancho Panza represents in the text the "ordinary and primitive nature" 7 of the masses. The traits that constitute them are evolutionarily inferior, in physical, intellectual and moral terms, such as: gluttony; foolishness; porcine eyes, lack of maturity in adult reason and understanding; weakness of the flesh, bovine torpor of the spirit 8 ; sensuality of the soul (created in kitchens, stables, dumps); animal thickness of the figure that failed to emerge fully from nature; fat; disability, laziness; instincts (Campos, 1951, p. 6, 13, 20, 42, 18, 28, 30, 35, respectively. Translated).
As for the knight D. Quixote, he represents in the essay the "noble nature" of the ruling elite 9 , given the characteristics of physical, intellectual 7 This expression is used to refer to Sancho Panza, that is, to the masses, on page 30 of the book Contemporaneity of D. Quixote. 8 Which indicates the vulgar supremacy of the flesh over the spirit. Hence, its crude nature, concerned especially with food and reproduction needs, with "worldly satisfactions, illusions, superstitions, vain greed". 9 This expression appears on page 18, to refer to the evolutionary superiority of Don Quixote, who by vocation and nature is able to govern. and moral superiority: disinterest / altruism, loyalty, delicacy 10 , righteousness; hard reason; friend, protector and kind; gentle and gracious in manners; aquiline traits (Campos, 1951, p. 18, 3, 17, 30, respectively. Translated (1951, p. 28, translated).
The conclusion is that nature makes only some people, who are physically, intellectually, morally superior, can have the ability to rule, which refutes the pertinence of a democracy that enhances the role of the masses, and the acceptance of the perspective of a Democratic elitism 11 . 10 The softening of customs, attributed to the elites, appears again in the following passage referred to D. Quixote to attest that, by nature, he is authorized to rule (Campos, 1951, p. 29, translated): "king by vocation and nature [.. .], a truly regal soul who is able to fulfill the golden cycle of his gestures in this world". 11 Once again, Francisco Campos and Gustave Le Bon share the same understanding. For the French social psychologist, since the masses act driven by emotions, inconstant, barbaric, not moderated by reason, wherever the masses dwell there will be violence.

POLITICS SEEN AS A FRIEND-FOE RELATIONSHIP: CAMPOS AND SCHMITT'S ANTI-LIBERALISM
To think politically is to think controversially, in a hostility relationship. Francisco Campos brings to Brazil the Schmittian vision of politics, which is seen as a friend-foe relation. The relation of political enmity has, in short, the following peculiarities (Schmitt, 2008, p. 28-39): (1) it occurs between groups, not between individuals, and the enemy is required to be a socially significant group, as it is capable of causing disastrous social effects; (2)  is necessary, as they are anachronistic, politically irresponsible and inept to generate order and political integration of the masses (Campos, 1940, p. 1-111;Ferreira, 2004).
capable of destruction and disorder, absolutely unfit for ruling, for leading a nation towards a dignifying political project.

Such institutions are informed by rationalistic and individualistic
presumptions, which makes them anachronistic in the context of mass societies, due to irrationalism and the political use of myths, that is, due to emotional elements. For example, with regard to political representation, that is, the possibility for citizens to compete for the administration of public affairs, the mechanisms constructed by the liberals were suffrage, political parties, and parliament, an environment that makes representative democracy viable. It is important to note that parliamentary democracy presupposes that all political conflicts can be overcome with the so-called "feminine" characteristics of rational dialogue between antagonistic political positions, which aim at asserting their points of view through the public debate of ideas, pacifism and negotiation in parliament, culminating in the best and most just laws, able to solve all relevant social conflicts within the routine of its unitary, coherent and complete normative programming. However, when antagonism becomes political, it becomes an enemy; consequently, there is no dialogue or negotiation with a group that threatens the existence of a people as such. In this sense, the great task of politics is to generate the unity of the nation, identified with homogeneity, absence of pluralism.
Due to that, liberalism is seen as politically irresponsible, because it has a great concern to stop the exercise of state political power, in the sake of the uncompromising defense of individual fundamental rights and freedoms, which: (1) weakens state authority by imposing a series of limits onto its actions; (2) allows the enemies to use those same freedoms of political expression, constitutionally guaranteed, to publicly disseminate enemy political ideas, which incite disruptive actions in the current legalpolitical order, endangering the existence of the State and the community. consequently, political integration will only be possible based on images and myths, in order to discipline the passions that mobilize so much struggle and violence, otherwise they will only result in destruction and disorder: hence the political theology of the moment 12 and the need for strong leadership, full of authority, able to translate public aspirations and lead the masses into a political project perceived as sublime and that, therefore, everyone feels like they are part of.
Finally, it should be emphasized that Schmitt and Campos attest that liberalism, with its intellectualist and individualistic foundations, depoliticizes and demilitarizes politics. This results in the inability of the authority to decide who the enemy is and to offer institutional barriers to overcome them, which enormously threatens the public order and the existential identity of the nation.
This inability of the liberals to make decisions is represented by the anti-heroism of the characters Hamlet and Faust, whose spirits are "gray, soft and evasive like underwater vegetation" (Campos, 1951, p This reason considered as sovereign is, as previously seen, "a type of reason that has abdicated or doubts its reality" (Campos, 1951, p.  The contemporary time demands, therefore, a decision-making spirit like that of Quixote.

POLITICAL DECISIONISM IN D. QUIXOTE
Quixote shows great symbolic strength: he represents the expressiveness of the logical spirit, "hard, defined, dry and uniform as the Mediterranean granite, air and sky" (1951, p. 68-70;50-51, translated), endowed with the "masculine" ability to transform thought into will and will into action; heroic attitude essential to intervene with courage in dilemmatic political experiences 13 that demand decision in the face of political enemies that threaten the permanence of the State.
The myth of the charismatic personality is present here. It is worth remembering that in a mass society, political integration will be effective if the mobilized myths mention the most immediate experience of the masses.
Based on the fact that mass politics is the most personal of politics, the 13 It should be emphasized here, as Rogério Dultra stresses, the significant change of interpretation given by Francisco Campos to Don Quixote, compared to the usual reading that, in a less careful interpretation of this literary work, sees him as a lunatic involved in imaginary battles; therefore, in total disconnection with reality.
hypnotic fascination with the charismatic personality is explained (indicating that in the Schmitt-Campos' perspective, the political regime of the masses is dictatorship). The superior qualities present in Don Quixote, a character of a "luminous, sociable, communicative" spirit, represent the traits that undoubtedly must permeate a great statesman. In order to acquire such attributes, he adopts an ethically superior political pedagogical philosophy, which allows him to overcome both the bourgeois relegation

CIVILIZATORY PROCESS OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTMENT + DEMOCRATIC MORAL PERSPECTIVE
The end of the spiritual crisis of our time resides, in Francisco Campos' perspective, in the civilization process of Sancho Panza (as the masses) carried out by the contact Quixote's routine (as of the great statesman). That is, the solution lies in the possibility of the charismatic leader transforming mass into people, making them feel part of a higher political community (the nation) and a great common destiny, which goes beyond their petty individual interests.
The journey with his master makes it clear that Sancho's crude nature had been advantageously remodeled, showing even more morally illustrious qualities: With time, Sancho had become more serious, wiser and more sensible, the reach of his language and understanding was broadened, making him realize that the flesh is capable of enduring the greatest pain when the spirit, instead of agreeing with its cowardice, mounts the stallion of fire and insists that, although painful, it can gallop on, without asking where and in search of what benefits (Campos, 1951, p. 42, translated).
The intervention of culture (cultivation of certain virtues) in the crude and ordinary nature of the masses does not happen automatically, it is a civilizing process, of gradual and constant spiritual elevation. It depends both on Don Quixote's pedagogy and Sancho's willingness to learn, which, despite his "ordinary and primitive nature", contains traces of greatness: "In the moments of transition, of the interference of hitherto independent plans, at the crossroads of destiny, Sancho maintains the same fidelity as trees to the land" (1951, p. 30-31; highlighted, translated). Besides fidelity, Sancho also has other positive qualities: a heart bigger than the spirit (that is, despite having a 'weak mind', the common people are good), simplicity, hunger for wisdom (1951, p. 33); love and respect for the master -that is, hierarchical obedience, respect for authority (1951, p. 35).
It is worth highlighting how the civilizing process happens (Campos, 1951, p. 43), that is, the transformation of the masses into a people, with a noble collective destiny, carried out by Quixote (representation of the ruler, who is a true Statesman) in Sancho (representation of the masses). This process is not instantaneous, without disruptions and without the willingness to develop skills: [...]when tasting from Don Quixote's chalice, Sancho noticed that the first drops were bitter; with the following, however, he felt his strength increased, his spirit more lucid and calmer, and the more frustrated his ambitions and the rougher the hindrances, the lighter his body seemed, the hotter the blood, the more peaceful his sleep, and in his soul there was a rumor saying he had finally found what, without knowing it, he had been looking for, ever since he had been born in this world (Campos, 1951, p. 47, translated).
The state of mind for moral aggrandizement was only possible because, after living with Don Quixote's leadership, Sancho was asked to decide on his "supreme definition: frog or star", mass or people (and, as a people, revealing his nobility potential). "Conceal your instincts", overcome "the greasy paste in which nature hurriedly molded you to an elementary figure, without a countenance, without history" (Campos, 1951, p. 33, translated) and become morally higher, "reveal your nobility potential", and make "that poisoned meat ball purge the filth, burn the slag, and fight the impurities" (1951, p. 35, translated). Staying beside the solar figure of Don Quixote, which is the opposition of the figure of Sancho, makes it possible to gather "all the defeats of life and weave with them the crown of thorns of his final victory" (1951, p. 34, translated); Thus, Quixote works the "miracle of adding meaning to that crude leather bag that is the spirit of our poor Sancho" (1951, p. 32, translated). In other words, it gives a renewed and sublime meaning to his existence, based on the willingness to sacrifice. Both Francisco Campos and Carl Schmitt (2008, p. 32), the latter influenced by the privileged dialogue with Leo Strauss (2008, p. 158-159), believe that the foundation of collective life is not happiness, but sacrifice.
As Francisco Campos himself (1951, p. 78) attests, the emotions of the masses are accessible: the one who can win the hearts, the feelings of the masses, of the working class, is either the charismatic personality, or Communism. Francisco Campos (1951, p. 47) stands and emphasizes the historical magnitude of leadership: [...]the important thing is that, in Don Quixote, Sancho found a pole for his emotions, the more satisfying, the louder and more electrified. There his nature was quieted, his destiny rested in silence and in that pole, he gained the necessary strength to renounce at once the illusions and greed that had been inspired by his poverty.
In the Brazilian scenario, there was one capable of moralizing the masses and transforming them into a people, willing to sacrifice in the fight against communism, the great enemy of the Brazilian nation. This person was the charismatic personality of the strong leader, Getúlio Vargas, who was the incarnation of Don Quixote in this authentic Crusade! And the figure mentioned to inspire this historic role is none other than the Pope (Campos, 1951, p. 84).
Similar to the Pope's conduct of guiding his spiritual flock, through herding, the statesman Getúlio Vargas must lead the masses in a civilizing project that molds them into people, with a morally superior public soul and direction. The National State is not only a political body, focused on the administration of things, it is also a political soul, and the superior values that inform it are the Catholics.
Following this line of considerations, Francisco Campos emphasizes the need to moralize democracy, as a condition for it to survive the "cataclysm" (1951, p. 82).

Thus, one should
Revisit one's beliefs, revitalizing the institutions that were excessively rationalized by legal thinking, creating the ceremonial, the rite, the liturgy, once again taking the roots in the hearts of the people. To be a Crusade. [...] Soul, sacrifice, courage, risk, passion, humility, penance, imitation of Christ. A river of emotions running, which finds in greatness the liberation people ask for, the job they lack, the ideal that suits the hearts of the people (Campos, 1951, p. 84-85, translated).
It is important not to lose sight of the fact that, if the people's emotions are rampant, but accessible, the re-Christianization of Brazilian society and the political use of rites, symbols, and Catholic liturgy can order the feelings of the people, generate political loyalty, stability, civilization, and a life full of meaning. Therefore, "the peace of the Lord will descend upon our heads and only then will we be given joy in tasting that wine of piety and mercy, whose drunken happiness is the name, and out of it, there's but boredom, dryness, drought, desert sand, infertility, loneliness " (Campos, 1951, p. 22, translated).

A BRIEF CONCLUSION: THE MEANING OF THE 1937 FEDERAL CONSTITUTION IN THE BRAZILIAN CIVILIZATORY PROCESS
The sacralization of politics, due to the ties with Catholicism, aimed at restoring the public importance of God as the source of values that cannot be renounced in a meaningful existence for human beings: The November 10 [1937] Constitution is not agnostic. It recognizes ideals and values, and takes them out of the forum for free discussion. These are indisputable values, because they are a condition of national life. If, with that, a futile intellectualism is deprived of the pleasure of dancing in public with certain elegant and suspicious ideas, the Nation gains in substance, in awareness of itself, in tranquility, well-being and security (Campos, 1940, p. 68, highlighted, translated).
The new foundation of the Brazilian state, with an authoritarian profile, which relativizes or suppresses individual fundamental rights and freedoms and prohibits political disagreement (Campos, 1940, p. 232), is the result of an "imperative of national salvation" (1940, p. 35, translated).
And the mark of this new regime of exception resides in the Federal Constitution of 1937, which was written by Francisco Campos and which legally translated the demands, among others, of reinforcement of the state authority, legitimizing, therefore, a hypertrophy of the Central Executive Power, in order to grant broad powers to the President of the Republic so that he could exercise sovereignty and have the exceptional institutional conditions to react to the 'terrible disintegrating forces of the Nation'. Such guidelines arose from the need to oppose, as previously seen, liberal thought and institutions, since they weakened the State due to the concern to devise mechanisms to limit the exercise of state political power, neutralizing it and making it incapable of identifying and repressing political hostility.
The political enemy of Brazil was duly pointed out, as it undermines the existential values that make up the nation's unity, and the preamble to the Constitution of 1937, written by Francisco Campos, openly manifests the institutional 'war' against the extreme political doctrine and practice of Communism: MEETING the legitimate aspirations of the Brazilian people for political and social peace, deeply disturbed by well-known factors of disorder, resulting from the growing aggravation of party dissent, which, a notorious demagogic propaganda seeks to denature in class struggle, and the extreme, of ideological conflicts, tending, by its natural development, to resolve itself in terms of violence, placing the Nation under the dire imminence of a civil war; MEETING the needs created by the state of apprehension in the country due to communist infiltration, which is becoming more extensive and deeper day by day, requiring remedies, of a radical and permanent character; MEETING the ideas that, under the previous [liberal] institutions, the State did not have the normal means of preserving and defending the peace, security and wellbeing of the people; Without the support of the armed forces and yielding to the inspirations of national opinion, both and justifiably apprehensive in face of the dangers that threaten our unity and the speed with which the decomposition of our civil and political institutions has been proceeding; This document ensures to the Nation its unity, respect for its honor and independence, and for the Brazilian people, under a regime of political and social peace, the necessary conditions for their security, well-being and prosperity, decreeing the following Constitution, which will be fulfilled from today throughout the country (BRASIL, 1937, translated).
The anti-communist imaginary already existing in the country gained materiality in the face of the situation of 'real danger', made concrete in the attempt of insurrection that occurred in 1935, known as 'Intentona Comunista' ('Communist attempt'). Under such extraordinary circumstances, which cannot be encompassed by routine institutional normality, the exception must be invoked to face political enmity: for this group, the communist revolutionaries, the restriction of the rights of individual and political freedom is authorized (such as: loss of mandate of parliamentarians and public office; parties and unions made illegal; seizure and / or burning of propaganda material; impossibility of functioning of associations and publishers of books labeled as spreaders of this foreign subversive doctrine) and their political ideas should be censored, aiming at safeguarding the identity culture of the Brazilian nation. In these abnormal situations, the predominance of state interests is justified, an institution that politically embodies the existence of the nation, and not individual rights and freedoms. In this Schmitt-Campos anti-liberal perspective, to resort politically to the exception due to the identification of the enemy is to exercise the masculine and personal trait of decision, in the case of social scenarios of serious crises and, thus, not to neglect the constitutive seriousness of politics, since hostility politics is the only reason capable of legitimately demanding the sacrifice of one's life (Schmitt, 2008, p. 32).
It is worth highlighting that the institutional elevation of communism to a political enemy in the Brazilian Constitutional Charter of 1937 has a deeper political and philosophical significance, based on Francisco Campos' reception of the political theology present in Carl Schmitt. Both are Catholic authors. This means that, in thinking politics, they think morality (the decisive combat of life and death) and have a Christian view of history, based on faith (Schmitt, 2008, p. 160-163;Meier, 2008, p. 68 This Christian perspective of history can be summarized, having as reference the study of Montserrat Herrero, in the concept of Katechon, which is the existence of a historical force that, in an unknown way, annuls the end of time, interposes barriers to prevent the evil (Antichrist) to conquer.
Whenever men act to put barriers to evil in the world, Divine Providence manifests itself in history and, moreover, the importance of politics is justified, namely: to fight without end against the devil.
From the above, communism is perceived as an enemy both in the theological dimension and in the political sphere, as it implies the potential physical and spiritual death of human beings.
If history, conceived from the notion of Katechon, has the purpose of preventing the end of time, communism is the materialization of the end of time. This is because it has a reading of history as a class struggle and with the revolutionary process the class war would not subsist: it would be the end of history and, consequently, the end of time.
Furthermore, communism sustains the revolutionary struggle, led by the labor class, the result of which is the destruction of the state and the institutions that support it, as they build an intrinsically unjust social organization. By demolishing God's work and erecting a better, more just one, a Paradise on Earth, communism thus would replace God, dethroning him; Hence it is a thought perceived as the entrance of the Antichrist on Earth.
Following the outlined reasoning, a genuine crusade in the face of the devastating communist enemy is justified in a politically conservative approach. It thus demands from the sovereign the decision to employ all the legal and political means of exception to save us from physical and spiritual death.