The Prison Notes by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu & Julius Evola

Author:Corneliu Zelea Codreanu & Julius Evola
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Logik Förlag
Published: 2019-03-28T16:00:00+00:00

Appendix 1: Articles on Codreanu and the Iron Guard by Julius Evola

Foreword to the Appendix

Corneliu Codreanu’s idea of a Preface was something ‘short, military- like, and Fascist’ – or so the leader of the Iron Guard stated when an Italian edition of his Pentru legionari (For My Legionaries) was going to press in 1938. How inappropriate it would be, then, to preface an appendix to his book with anything lengthier than an essential Foreword!

The reason why we have chosen to include Julius Evola’s writings on Codreanu in this volume is twofold: firstly, because they bear witness to the striking appearance and character of the Captain, ‘a distinctly Aryo-Roman type’; and secondly, because they bring out the most significant feature of the Iron Guard movement: its profound spirituality. According to a Romanian Legionary and friend of Mircea Eliade’s, Vasile Posteuca, the day Evola met Codreanu the two of them hardly spoke of politics at all. Instead, ‘they became engrossed in discussions about the inner path, mystics, and Christian doctrine’. It is this spiritual drive of the Iron Guard, which Evola stresses again and again in his articles, that has contributed to make of Codreanu’s movement such a powerful exemplar for national revolutionaries the world over.

Evola’s articles on Codreanu have been collected in an Italian volume entitled La tragedia della Guardia di Ferro (The Tragedy of the Iron Guard) , which has served as the basis for the present translations. 1 The little historical information provided in this Foreword – including the quotes above – is likewise derived from Claudio Mutti’s excellent introduction to that book. In this appendix, we hope to have collected all of Evola’s most important writings concerning Codreanu and his Legionaries.

Julius Evola travelled to Bucharest in the spring of 1938. According to Prof. Mutti, Evola had been put in touch with members of the Iron Guard either by Mircea Eliade or Vasile Lovinescu – or possibly both. 2 What is certain is that Codreanu made such a strong impression upon the Italian philosopher that in the same year the latter published five articles on the Iron Guard in important Italian newspapers. A sixth article was released only a few months before Evola’s death in Civiltà, the official journal of the Italian organisation Ordine Nuovo. Despite certain discrepancies and overlaps, these articles clearly testify to Evola’s admiration for Codreanu as a man and leader. They also shed light on the reasons behind his murder, and provide a useful assessment of the wider significance of the Iron Guard movement.

1 Julius Evola, La tragedia della Guardia di Ferro (Europa Libreria Editrice, 1996).

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