CONSTANTINE’S LETTERS 14/1 (2021), pp. 131 – 145 ••• | 131 | PIONEERS OF CLERICAL FASCISM? MYTHICAL LANGUAGE OF REVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL CATHOLICISM IN SLOVAKIA AND VISIONS OF A “NEW NATION” 1 Anton Hruboň DOI: 10.17846/CL.2021.14.1.131-145 Abstract: HRUBOŇ, Anton. Pioneers of Clerical Fascism? Mythical Language of Revolutionary Political Catholicism in Slovakia and Visions of a “New Nation”. Clerical fascism is among the vaguest and most corrupted terms in the political lexicon. As a result of abuse by the Communist regime for political purposes, it became an ideological label and insult afer 1948. Te present study attempts to revive this devalued term over the background of an analysis of the political language and ideology of Rodobrana, considered the frst fascist movement in Slovakia (1923 – 1929). Te study defnes clerofascist ideology as a system of opinions, ideas and worldviews, functionally combining clericalism and fascism into a coherent worldview. Te presented case study proves that, although clerical fascism has never formed the basis of any European regime, several variously signifcant political movements, including the Slovak Rodobrana, met its defnition criteria. Afer outlining the methodology and general continental European context of the issue, the study analyses the forms of militarization of Catholicism in Slovakia afer 1918, the formation of the concept of mystical ultra-nation, as well as the Rodobrana’s vision of establishing a new religious community. Te paper pays special attention to the work performed by the myth of purity in the political language of the Rodobrana, the political instrumentalization of Christ and his sacred blood in the context of creating the “revived nation”. Keywords: clerical fascism, Blood of Christ, Rodobrana, Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party, Vojtech Tuka, Slovak fascism, political mysticism, mythic language Clerical fascism – between an ideological label and an analytical tool Te term clerical fascism provokes rather passionate reactions in the Slovak milieu. In general, it is considered a product of post-1948 Marxist-Leninist historiography, which attempted to embed the Church and fascism in a mutually compromising correlation, thus killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. Despite some eforts to give it scientifc weight (Sirácky 1955), Marxist- Leninist historiography used the term very vaguely, as an ideological weapon against the enemies of the Communist regime, with the result that the term was perceived as an empty label for many 1 Tis work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the Contract no. APVV- 19-0358. Te study is also an outcome of the KEGA project no. 002UMB-4/2019 Kultúrne kódy „Novej Európy” na Slovensku v rokoch 1938 – 1945 v medzinárodnej komparatívnej perspektíve (Cultural codes of the “New Europe” in Slovakia 1938 – 1945 in an international comparative perspective). Basic research was supported by the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah (Paris) as part of the project Quest for Cultural Roots of Holocaust in Slovakia: Te Making of Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party’s Anti-Semitic Ideology (1890s – 1920s) from a Transnational Perspective and Its Foreign Inspirations.