The axes of the confrontation of Catholic nationalism against university reformism in Córdoba (1918-1943)

Abstract

This work explores the development of four fundamental axes of the ideological confrontation that Catholic nationalism maintained against the phenomenon of the University Reform in Córdoba between the years 1918 and 1943. The University Reform opened a new chapter in the Church’s struggle against the advance of educational secularism and led from the sectors of Catholic nationalism in Córdoba to a response that to delegitimize its nature and objectives, and promoting and supporting political actions aimed at this end. The axes of confrontation developed by Catholic nationalism aimed to present the University Reform as a phenomenon at odds with Argentine national identity (first axis), and as a direct threat to the social order and an instrument at the service of the international expansion of the influence of Soviet communism (second axis). To these two axes of confrontation were added the radical opposition to the postulates of the Reform, highlighting its connection with a supposed decline in the academic and intellectual level of the National University of Córdoba (UNC) and with the supposed penetration of Soviet communism into the country (third axis); and, finally, the various attempts to discredit those who were identified with the defense of the University Reform and to demystify the nuclear postulate of democratization of university government defended by the Reform (fourth axis).