Editor’s note: This interview with Riaan Van Zyl of the Radical Fidelity Substack was originally published on Kokx News earlier this year.
Stephen Kokx: I am a supporter of the term “Counter-Revolution.” It has roots in the Church’s past and it better reflects what our true “strategy” should be: we are opposed to the revolution not just in the Church (i.e. Vatican II) but the revolution that has occurred in politics as well. Do you agree?
The Dispatch
Riaan Van Zyl: This is clearly a belief we share. Long before we ever spoke, we were both promoting ideas surrounding revolution and counter-revolution. I have been hugely influenced by Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira’s work on this subject.
The time has come for every Catholic to re-familiarize themselves with Catholic Integralism — which is simply the Catholic way, with a fancy name. This is precisely why Latin-Mass-only traditionalism falls so short. It’s just one piece of what’s at stake. The philosophy and Church teaching underpinning Integralism is what we are fighting for here and now.
Catholics must aspire to live lives in which every sphere of existence is subjected to Catholicism—politics, culture, society, economics. All of this must flow from personal holiness.
Stephen Kokx: What do you think Counter-Revolutionary Catholics should be doing in the months and years ahead?
Riaan Van Zyl: Besides the obvious — more Rosaries, daily Mass as often as possible, weekly confession, penance, and fasting — we must also move out of our comfort zones.
Flowing from this, and looking toward what Counter-Revolutionary Catholics should actually be doing, I think the time has come to move beyond loose talk and begin thinking in concrete, strategic terms.
An idea that has been gestating in my mind for some time, but which I’ve struggled to articulate as succinctly as I’d like, is that Counter-Revolutionary Catholics must begin developing parallel communities within their existing communities. These would most naturally arise from parish life, or whatever stands in for a parish today — be it a priory, chapel, or other central place of worship.
READ MORE: What does Integralism look like in the 21st century?
The goal is not isolationism or retreat, but the deliberate strengthening of Traditional Catholic identity, discipline, and will, in order to wage the Counter-Revolution from within. These enclaves would serve as bases from which Catholics can act in coordinated, creative, and industrious ways. In other words, we need to start reclaiming ground — first the neighborhood, then the wider community, suburb, city, and eventually the nation — inch by inch, through principled fidelity to Catholic teaching and action that flows directly from it.
In practical terms, this means Counter-Revolutionary Catholics deliberately supporting one another economically, doing business with like-minded Catholics, and refusing to fund openly anti-Christ institutions and companies. It means boycotting the filthy Hollywood-Industrial Complex in ways that actually cost them money. It means pursuing greater self-sufficiency and, where possible, off-grid living. It means forming homeschooling networks and educational structures deeply informed by Catholic Counter-Revolutionary principles and Catholic Integralism. Politically this means seeing through the false left vs. right, liberal vs. conservative dichotomy. Stop voting for the lesser of two evils!
This is admittedly an idea that is in its infant stages in my mind, and is not a romanticism or an abstract theory, but simply about Catholics once again ordering every sphere of life — economic, cultural, social, and political — toward Christ the King.
Secondly, Catholics need to start seriously studying pre-conciliar Church teaching: doctrine, dogma, encyclicals, ecclesial documents, and the works of the Saints. They must confront the Revolution wherever they encounter it. Warn your friends who are fast asleep. Speak up in your parishes. Speak up for Christ in the workplace, at school, and at university. Stop condoning what offends God and opposes Catholicism.
In every sphere of life, we must be counter-revolutionary. This means realizing that the fight is between only two parties namely the Catholic Church — not the Synodal Religion — and the world (which would include the protagonists of the Synodal religion). This battle is between Christ’s Church and the enemies of Christ’s Church. Comfy, Sunday-Mass Catholicism is over.
Now is the time for saints to be born. To be counter-revolutionary in these times is to raise your hand for martyrdom daily. If you are not willing to suffer for the Truth, for the Counter-Revolution, you will — by default — be swallowed up by the Satanic Revolution which is closing in on all sides.
