The Socialist Phenomenon 2.2

Part 6 - State Socialism, South America: The Jesuits in Paraguay.

The following is part of a series looking at The Socialist Phenomenon by Igor Shafarevich (1923-2017), first published in 1975 under the title Sotsializm kak iavlenie mirovoi istorii by YMCA Press. My intention is to offer summaries only - I cannot hope to provide robust commentary - Shafarevich provides a masterful historical analysis of socialism in a rare systematic and scientific manner. He was a mathematician of some significance in Russia and applied a similar disciplined and objective approach in his study of socialism. He, like Solzhenitsyn, believed that socialism was ultimately nihilistic and motivated by a death drive that destroys individualism.

For those interested you can find the full English translation here http://robertlstephens.com/essays/shafarevich/001SocialistPhenomenon.html

Last time we were talking about the Socialism of the Inca in South America:

The Socialist Phenomenon 2.1

The Spanish discovered Paraguay in 1516 and established a capital, Asuncion, in 1537. The Jesuits soon started missionary work among the local Guarani tribe and providing protection against the slave traders from Sao Paulo. The suppression of slave trade by the Spanish had been problematic for years, yet the Jesuits succeeded in providing security from raiders across Paraguay. Part of their success was due to the logistics of placing the local communities into settlements, called reductions, that were heavily defended, both by geography and arms. Jesuits managed to get exemptions from the Spanish crown to create an independent fighting force.

Jesuits were the only Europeans in the region. They prevailed on the government to pass a law that allowed no European to enter the territory of the reductions without the Jesuits' permission. In any case, no visitor was allowed to stay longer than three days. The Indians were not able to leave their reductions except in the company of the Fathers. In spite of numerous government demands, the Jesuits refused to teach the Indians the Spanish language; they devised a writing system for the local Guarani language. The Jesuits who lived in the area were not Spaniards for the most part, but included Germans, Italians and Scots. The territory had an army of its own and engaged in independent foreign trade. All this does tend to justify the term "Jesuit state," which is used by most scholars who have written on the subject. (Shafarevich, p. 144)

The Jesuits persisted in Paraguay until 1767-68 when they were driven out by the Spanish government.

The organisational principles of the reductions were composed by Father Diego de Torres who had started his missionary work in Peru and from which he based the system of governing for the reductions in Paraguay (see the previous installment about the Inca). The reductions were run by two Jesuit Fathers, an elder and a younger, and generally there were no other Europeans in the settlement. The older Father devoted himself to religious functions while the younger assisted in economic matters. Both spiritual and secular power was totally in the hands of these two leaders. There was an attitude that the natives were not intelligent enough to know what to do on both secular and spiritual lines and thus the need for the Fathers to tell them what to do on a daily basis. In fact Jesuits would characterise the natives as having a child’s intelligence - reminding me of the Marxian attitude that the people don’t know enough to organise themselves for their own good and so the Party needs to do that for them.

There was no law but only the decisions of the Fathers.

The entire life of the reduction was based on the principle that the Indians were to possess practically nothing of their own--neither land nor houses nor raw materials nor handicraft tools. The Indians did not even belong to themselves. Thus, de Escadón writes: "These plots, as with the other lands of the mission, belong to the community and no inhabitant has more than the right to use them. Therefore, they never sell anything to one another. The same is true of the houses in which they live. ...The community takes care of all the houses, makes repairs and builds new ones as needed." (Shafarevich, p. 145)

Land was divided into “God’s land” and “private land” and both types belonged to the mission. The “private land” was lent to a man when he was married for working and would always revert back to the mission if the man died (it was not passed onto his children). The working of the land was regulated and administrated by the mission under strict controls. If land was not cultivated properly, either on private land or the communal “God’s land”, then the individuals responsible would be severely punished.

All other work by craftsmen, tool makers, etc, were also centrally controlled and regulated as part of the common wealth of the reduction. There was no trade within the reduction and there was no money. Trade was done by way of export however, and on a grand scale to bring finances into the mission - administered by the Fathers, of course.

The layout of all reductions was to a single plan with a central plaza, church, jail, workshops, storehouses, armoury, and weaving shop. Housing was uniform and belonged to the mission, not the individual, and were terribly primitive, unlike the impressive splendour of the church building.

The start and end of the day was announced by a bell and travel to and from the reduction was forbidden without a pass. Clothing was identical except for officials and officers who dressed differently only when on duty. Marriage was arranged by the priests and ceremonies occurred only two times a year.

The Jesuits justified their control over all aspects of the Indians' lives by reference to the latter's low development. The following judgment by Funes is typical: "Never acting according to reason, they ought to have several centuries of social childhood before reaching that maturity which is the preliminary condition of the full enjoyment of liberty." In the letter quoted earlier, the Jesuit Escadón writes: "In truth and without the slightest exaggeration, none of them has greater faculty, intelligence and capacity of common sense than as we observe in Europe in children who can read, write and learn, but who are nevertheless in no condition to decide for themselves." Meanwhile the Jesuits themselves were doing everything possible to stifle the Indians' initiative and interest in the results of their labor. In the Reglamento of 1689, we find the following advice: "It is permissible to give them something to make them feel satisfied, but this needs to be done in such a way that they do not develop a sense of interest." Only toward the end of their rule did the Jesuits try (no doubt for economic reasons) to promote private initiative, for instance, by turning over cattle to individuals. But these experiments failed to bring any results. One exception, recorded by Cardiel, was a case in which a small herd was built up, though its owner was a mulatto. (Shafarevich, p. 150)

The Jesuit ideal for the natives was a hunger-free existence with rest every Sunday, guaranteed dwelling and a cloak. The reality, however, looked more like a hard-labor camp (and a private army).

The well-equipped army forces of the Jesuit camps created much apprehension for the Spanish government. Their effective fighting forces and widespread rumours of enormous riches, gave government officials reason to drive out the Jesuits. The Spanish government did not find riches and treasures in the storehouses of the reductions, and the liberated natives went back to the nomadic life they had lived prior to Jesuit “protection”.

And so we can see once again the elements of the socialist phenomenon in the Jesuit camps, likely inspired from organisation in Peru and the legacy of the Inca.

Next time we will visit ancient Mesopotamia to see the development of the socialist phenomenon.

From the Archive - Part 4: The Socialism of the Philosophers (The Great Utopias)

The Socialist Phenomenon 1.4