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The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43Author(s): Alberto Spektorowski
Source: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Jan., 1994), pp. 155-184Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/260959Accessed: 11-06-2015 19:35 UTC
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Alberto
Spektorowski
The
Ideological
Origins
of
Right
and Left
Nationalism
n
Argentina,
1930-43
This
work
examines
the
development
of
a
particular
nationalist
ideology
from the
late 1920s
through
Peron's ascent
to
power,
an
ideology
that
has had an
important
influence on
Argentinian
politics
ever since.
Although
the first
attempt
to
implement
it
politically
was
made
in
1930,
with
Uriburu's
abortive
military coup,
the
ideology
only
achieved consummation
with
the
successful
revolution of
1943,
which
ushered
in
Peronism. The
following analysis
concentrates
on
the
Argentinian
intellectual rebellion
against
the West's liberal
democratic models of national modernization. This intellectual
rebellion was the basis
for
the
delegitimization
of
the liberal
version
of
Argentinian nationalism, which eventually gave way to an organic
populist
version.
The
Argentinian
intellectual rebellion
against
the West's
liberal,
democratic
and
bourgeois
values and its models
of
national
modern-
ization was motivated
by
two
different
political
and
intellectual
trends.
One
of them was the
'integralist'
nationalism of
Charles
Maurras,
Italian
fascism,
and the
resurgence
of the ideal of
'Hispanismo'
as
a
cultural
and
developmental
alternative to
the
materialist,
utilitarian values
of
the West.
The
other
was rooted
in
the
'authentic' national
populist
tradition raised
by
the Radical
Party,
with its
impetus
in
anti-imperialism
and
social
justice.
In
the
1930s,
General A.
Justo's conservative
government
provided
the
necessary
political
and economic
backdrop
for
an
ideological synthesis
between
the two
trends,
national
populism
and
the
integralist
concept
of
nationalism. This
synthesis
produced
an
alternative 'third
road'
of
political
and
economic modernization
to counter
the modernization
programme
advocated
by
the liberal
elites,
an
alternative
which,
in
the Argentinian context, would include elements of national
integration,
social
justice,
populist
mobilization and economic
and
cultural
anti-imperialism.
Journal
of
Contemporary
History
(SAGE,
London,
Thousand Oaks
and
New
Delhi),
Vol. 29
(1994),
155-184.
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Journal
of
Contemporatry
History
This formula was the
basis for a
particular
version
of
fascist
ideology
which
emphasized
social
justice
and
anti-imperialism,
two
concepts
that
on
the
surface
would
appear
alien to the fascist
ideology
developed
in
Europe.
Whereas
in
Europe,
fascist
ideology
blended a
new anti-liberal nationalism and an
anti-Marxist socialism
derived
from Sorel's revision
of
Marxism,
the
Argentinian
version was
rooted,
as
mentioned,
in
the
synthesis
of
two trends of
nationalism,
the
integralist
and the
populist.'
However,
both
syntheses represented
a
total
political,
social and economic
response
to
problems
created
by
political
modernization.'
Our
purpose
here is to examine the
development of Argentinian nationalism within the context of the
fascist
ideological
revolution.3
Any
discussion
of
the emergence of
Argentinian
anti-liberal
nationalism
must deal first with the
characteristics
of the
Argentinian
liberal-democratic
order and with the
appearance
of
the first
'populist
democratic'
attacks on
it.
From 1810 to
1852,
Argentina
was a
country divided by the struggle between Federalists and Unitarists.
The
eventual
triumph
of
the
latter
reflected the
victory
of a national
modernization
project
based
on the
principles
of the
Enlightenment
over the caudillista
anti-modernist tradition
represented by
the
Federalists.
In
fact,
from the
defeat
in
1853
of
Juan Manuel de
Rosas,
the
Federalist
caudillo who best embodied the values of
the anarchical
uncivilized
past,
Argentina began
a liberal
process
of
modernization,
a
process
idealized
in
the works
of
intellectuals
like Bartolome Mitre
and
Domingo
F.
Sarmiento.
According
to
them,
Argentina
was a
'barbarous',
ignorant
country,
a
product
of
Spanish
colonialism,
which had
to
be
civilized
by
means of
a new
ideology
of
progress
based on
positivist
philosophy.4
The
modernizing
6lites were influenced
by
the American
Constitution
and the Declaration
of Human
Rights.
At the
same
time,
however,
they
were
also
inspired
by
the
positivist
social
thought
of
Comte,
Saint
Simon,
Fourier and
others.
They
believed
in
the
power
of reason
as a
guide
for
human
behaviour,
and
in
the
Enlightenment ideas which linked material progress to science and
human
liberties.
When
General J.A.
Roca's
presidency began
in
1880,
the
positivist
ideology
was
implemented
under the
slogan 'peace
and
admini-
stration'.
At the end of
the second
half of the
century, Argentina
entered
a
period
of
high
economic
growth,
and
foreign
investment
156
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Spektorowski:
Right
and
Left
Nationalism in
Argentina
was
encouraged.
The
British established new
banks,
a railroad
network
and
gas companies,
while a
great
wave of
immigration
from
Spain,
Italy,
Ireland
and
other countries transformed the
sociological
face of the
country.
Buenos
Aires,
the
capital,
was
federalized,
the
provincial
guards
who
constituted
the local
power
base were
suppressed,
and the
monetary system
was unified.
However,
under
Roca's
administration,
economic
development
took
place
without
political
democratization.
Indeed,
despite
the
process
of socio-economic
modernization,
the nation's
political
system
remained
closed until
1912.
As late as 1910 it was estimated
that only some 20 per cent of the native male population voted.
Political
power
was
concentrated
in the hands of the
PAN
(Partido
Autonomista
Nacional),
which
represented
the
oligarchy's
economic
and
political
interests.
As a
political analyst
of those
years
has
observed,
the
government 'accepted
all the
great
ideas of
political
liberty...
and universal
suffrage
... but it has a
theory
which it
rarely
confesses,
which is its
guiding
idea,
and
that is the
theory
of the
tutelary
functions of
government'.5
The firstprotests against the liberal democratic establishment and
the liberal elite's modernization
programmes
came from two different
sources.
The first was the new middle class created
by
the
process
of
economic
modernization,
which was
beginning
to seek
political
participation.
As we
will
see,
the Radical
Party
was the new
movement that
expressed
the demands of
this
class,
with a
populist,
democratic but anti-liberal
programme.
The second source of
unrest
was
a class-conscious
working
class,
mostly
of
immigrant origin,
which
supported
the Socialist
Party
and
the
anarchist-led unions.6
Although
both the Socialists and the anarchists threatened the
oligarchy's political programmes, ideologically
and
culturally they
did not
oppose
the
concept
of
political
modernization based on
secularization,
anti-traditionalism and faith
in
universal human
values.
Moreover,
they accepted
in
principle
the
liberal elite's faith
that the
flow of
European immigration
would
exert
a
modernizing
influence
in
Argentina by defining
the
parameters
of a
modern,
'Europeanized'
nation.
The
anarchists,
however,
took a more
radical,
revolutionary stance, whereas the Socialist Party advocated a policy
of
gradual
reform.7
In
his
book
Theory
and
Practice,
J.B.
Justo,
the founder of
the
Socialist
Party,
describes
a
process
of
gradual
development
in
Argentina
in
which a
capitalist
stage
and the
constitution of a
national
bourgeoisie
were
preconditions
for
the
development
of a
157
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Journal
of
Contemporary
History
socialist
society.8
Endorsing
the elites'
modernization
programme,
Justo
rejected
the
spontaneity
of
the
masses and
'caudillo
politics',
and
accepted
the liberal
premise
that a
dependent
economy
was
merely
a
temporary stage,
a
step
towards
modernization.
By
adopting
this
assumption,
the
Socialist
movement
joined
the
de-
fenders of
former
democracy
and
economic
liberalism,
issues
that
became the
focus of
nationalist
attacks
during
the
1930s.
It is not the
intention here
to delve
into the
development
of the
Argentinian
labour
movement or the
differences
between its
socialist
and anarchist
ideologies.
However,
to
understand the later
devel-
opment ofintegralist and anti-imperialistnationalism in Argentina, it
is
important
to realize that the
socialist
and
anarchist
movements did
not
object
to
culturally
enlightened
modernization.
They
both
feared
any
kind
of
'authentic'
nationalism.
They
would
never
praise
the
national
collectivity
as an
organic entity
with
its traditional
myths,
religion,
glories
and
graveyards.
They simply
refused to bow
down
before it and its cultural
baggage.
The real
ideological
challenge
to
the
proponents
of an
enlightened
and limited democracy, however, came during the first years of the
century,
when a new
political
movement,
rooted
in
the
pre-liberal,
traditionalist caudillista
populism,
made its
appearance.
In
1890 the
Union Civica Radical led the first
violent dissent
against
what some
members of the
oligarchy
saw as the
fraudulent administration of
President Juarez Celman.
During
the
1920s the Union
developed
into
a
popular
movement that
spoke
for the new
native middle class then
seeking political representation.
The Radical
movement,
indeed,
was
the first to raise the
flag
of
universal
suffrage,
and at the same time it
refused to be definedas a
party
of sectorial interests. In
fact,
since the
Radical movement
conceived
society
as
integrated
and
organic,
it
saw
itself
as
representing
the whole of the nation. As
such,
it
rejected
the
bourgeois
establishment
of the
liberal conservatives and
reformist
socialists as
well as the class
struggle
of
the anarchists.
In
its
view,
both
trends,
the
liberal and the
Marxist,
contributed to the
disintegration
and the 'denationalization'
of
Argentina.9Advocating
a
violent,
intransigent struggle
for
democratization,
and for the
rescue of the 'authentic' national identity of the country, the
movement
manifested,
from the
beginning,
the
rebellious
spirit
exemplified
by
its first
leader,
Leandro Alem. The latter was
representative
of 'the
oppressed
canons inserted into
the caudillist
tradition
...
[more]
...
than... the idea... of a modern
nation'.'0
In
other
words,
Radicalism was
synonymous
with
rebellion,
with a
158
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Spektorowski:
Right
and
Left
Nationalism in
Argentina
new
morality opposed
to
bourgeois
materialism and the
cosmo-
politan spirit promoted by
the
oligarchy.
This rebellious
spirit
was
continued
by
the next 'caudillo' of
the
movement:
Hipolito
Yrigoyen.
Under
his
leaderhip,
the Radical
movement
accentuated
its
'intransigent'
struggle
for universal
suf-
frage by
making
another
revolutionary
attempt against
the
legal
government
in
1905.
Although
this
attempt
also
failed,
it
enhanced
the movement's
revolutionary
democratic
appeal.
It also
sparked
renewed
popular
interest
in
the ideals
of
Radicalism,
and
convinced
the
oligarchical
elites once and
for all
to allow democratic
reform,
in
orderto turn the Radical 'rebel' movement into a partyof the system.
The Saenz
Pefa law of universal
suffrage
in
1912 was what clinched
the Radical movement's
bid for
power
in
1916.
It
may
be said that at
that
point
the cultural and
political
delegitimization
of liberal
democracy began, paving
the
way
for the
age
of
populist
democracy.
In
no time the
staid,
closed
atmosphere
of the
oligarchy
was
swept
away by
a wave of
popular
euphoria.
Yrigoyen,
indeed,
was to
challenge
the rationalist
and materialist
utopia of the liberal elites. Heir to the rebellious, traditionalist,
anti-modernist
Federalist
spirit,
Yrigoyen attempted
to
integrate
the
politics
of
regional
federalism
with the constitutional order.
This translated into a
concept
of direct
democracy
or clientelist
politics
reflected
in
increased
links between
Yrigoyen
and local
caudillos,
particularly
in
populous
areas. This
system
of
patronage
ruffled
the
feathers of not
only
the conservative forces outside the
party
but also the Radical
movement's own
elite,
which could not
accept Yrigoyen's populist
style
of
operating through
the
party's
committees."
In
contrast to
Yrigoyen's
constitutional
populism,
characterized
by
federal intervention
in
the
provinces
and
the sanction of
presidential
decrees and ministerial
resolutions,
the
party's
aristoc-
racy
demanded more
congressional
control and a more rational
management
of
public
funds. These conflicts
reached a
peak
in
1928,
when
Yrigoyen
ran for re-election. The
anti-Yrigoyenists,
dubbed
'antipersonalistas',
found
common
ground
with the
conservative
parties of the aristocratic elite, who shared their support for an
orderly,
institutionalized
democracy.
Yrigoyen's supporters
remained
the
'intransigent',
moralist,
and
organically
nationalist
wing
of
the
party.
In
the 1928
elections, however,
Yrigoyen
was re-
elected
by
a wide
margin, proving
once
more that the formula of
popular democracy
had been
accepted by
the
Argentinian people.
159
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Journal
of ContemporaryHistory
During
the
widespread
economic
depression
at the end of the
1920s,however,
the
regime began
to
disintegrate.
At
the
height
of the
depression,
a coalition
of interests
ranging
from
conservative
liberals
to national
corporatists
was
composed.
Although Yrigoyen
posed
no
threat to their economic
interests,
the conservative liberals
despised
his rhetoric and
political
style.'2They
were flanked
by
a new
group
of
nationalist intellectuals
who wanted to
replace
the
populist
state with
a
strong,
authoritarian,
corporatist
state. Common to both
groups
was the
belief that
the
political
formula of constitutional
populism
was
inappropriate
for
confronting
the new
challenges posed
by
economic depression. It is clear, however, that the coalition against
Yrigoyen
was
the
product
of a
temporary
intersection
of interests
between
corporatist
and
liberal conservatives.
As we shall
see,
during
the 1930s a
different
ideological
environ-
ment
developed.
While the
Yrigoyenist
ideology supported
a
populist
democratic
attack
on liberal
democracy,
the new nationalist
inte-
gralist
ideology
presented
a
corporatized
authoritarian
alternative
to
it.
A
synthesis
of the
two
ideological
lines,
seemingly
inconceivable
in
1930, was possible later in the decade when the issues of anti-
imperialism,
the revision
of the
Argentine's
history,
and
neutrality
in
the
second
world war
became central
problems
for both trends.
The most
prominent
pioneer
of
a new
political
ideology
restating
the
values of
military strength,
heroism, order,
technical
efficiency
and
anti-politics
was
the renowned
poet
Leopoldo
Lugones.
Lugones,
who was well
known
in
Argentina
for his
poems,
historical
works
(such
as La
Historia de
Sarmiento),
and articles he wrote for various
newspapers
in
the
capital,
was
unquestionably
a
poet
whose
poetry
could
not
be
separated
from
his
political
ideas.
A
radical
revolu-
tionary
socialist
during
his
youth
and
a
right-wing
nationalist
and
fascist
in later
life,
Lugones
never
wavered
in his scorn
for
liberal
democracy
and reformist
socialism.
His
most famous
political
statement
was delivered
in
a
speech
at
Ayacucho,
Peru,
in 1924.
There,
during
the
centenary
celebrations
of
the famous battle of Ayacucho, Lugones heralded the 'hour of the
sword'.
He
was
referring
to the
Argentinian
army,
which had
fought
for
independence
and
was the
only
reliable
institution
exemplifying
hierachy
and
order.
This
speech
also
represented
an
attack
against
bourgeois
morality
and
politics.
In
fact,
Lugones
believed
strongly
in
social
Darwinism
and
the use
of
force
as the
basis
for a new
morality:
160
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Spektorowski: Right
and
Left
Nationalism
in
Argentina
'Life does
not
triumph
by
means
of
reason
and
truth,
but
by
means
of
force.
Life is
incomprehensible
and
inexorable
.
. .3
The militarization of
society
and industrial
modernization
under
a
corporatist
state were to
be the
response
to liberal
democracy
as
well
as to anarchist
populism. Lugones
insisted, moreover,
that in a
world
of
imperialist
competition,
an
industrially
backward,
militarily
weak
country,
in
which
partisan
politics
took
the
place
of a
defined
national
identity,
could not survive. His
political
message
had a
great impact
on
a number of
army
officers,
and
especially
on
a
group
of
young
intellectuals
who
congregated
in
the offices
of the
journal
La
Nueva
Republica,which had begun to appear in 1927. They all agreed with
Lugones
that
'the
general
progress
of
technology,
and
the
correlative
empire
of
the scientific
method,
have
certainly
modified
the old
political
concepts
. .
Majority democracy
is
already
a
failed
experiment."4
In
the
expectation
that the
world was
in
the
process
of
a new
conservative
revolution,
this
group
of
nationalist
intellectuals
pro-
moted a new
interpretation
of
nationalism and an
alternative
concept
of 'corporatized' democracy. Instead of liberal democracy and
constitutional
populism,
La Nueva
Republica
proposed
a
different
system
of
representation
based on:
the
organized
and
corporatized
collectivity,
in
which
individual interests are
subordinated to the
Nation.
The common
good
of
the
people
which
is
the end of
all
government
is
contrary
to
these abstract
principles
of
popular
sovereignty,
freedom,
equality
or
proletariat redemption.'
This
type
of
nationalism was
clearly inspired by
Charles
Maurras's
idea of'le nationalisme
integral',
which was
deeply
suspicious
of
any
popular
participation
in
the
political
process.'6
Only
an
elite
not
elected
by
the
process
of
formal
democracy
could
represent
the
nation
as
an
organic
unity.
For
the
nationalists of
La
Nueva
Republica,
the
Yrigoyenist
concept
of
populist
democratization,
although
based on
the
pre-liberal
tradition,
meant
the intrusion
of
the
unintelligent
masses into
the
political
system.
Democratization
implemented
by
means of a
law of
universal
suffrage
ed
inevitably
to
the
consumerism
produced by populism. This assumption, too, reflects Maurras's
influence. In
his
Enquete
sur
la
Monarchie,
Maurras
asserts
that when
a
republic
tends
towards
democratic
forms,
it
passes
from a
regime
of
regular production
to a
regime
of
pure
consumerism.'7
That was
indeed La
Nueva
Republica's
fundamental
objection
to
Yrigoyen's
democratic
populism
as well
as to
liberal
democracy.
161
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Journal
of
Contemporary
History
This
criticism of
liberal
democracy
and
constitutional
populism
was shared
by
the anti-liberal
wing
of
the
Argentinian
Church.'8
Argentina,
according
to
the
anti-liberal
clergy,
was
oppressed by
a
revolutionary immigrant
working
class that
fomented labour
unrest,
and
also
by
a liberal
oligarchy
responsible
for
the
secularization of
the
Argentinian
political system.
The
disputes
between
the
modernizing
political
elites and the
Church
came
to
the fore
when
President Roca
took measures to limit
the civil
functions of
the Church
in
1884. From
then
on,
relations between the
secular
state and the
Church were
never
completely
comfortable,
although they
managed
to
establish a
modus vivendi, especially during Agustin Justo's administration.'9
From the theoretical
as well as the
practical
point
of
view, however,
the
right-wing
Catholic
message
conveyed by
nationalist
Catholic
publications
like Criterio
(founded
in
1928),
as
well as Sol
y
Luna
and
Baluarte,
was far
from
conciliatory
towards
the liberal state.
Moreover,
it aimed for the
theoretical
synthesis
of Catholicism and
fascism. The same
message
was
imparted
in
the
Cursos de Cultura
Catolica
(courses
in
Catholic
culture),
set
up
in
1932 with the
Church's financialsupport. The ostensible purpose of the Cursos was
to raise the intellectual level of
Argentinian
Catholic
intellectuals,
but
their real
goal
was to
prepare
for the
counter-revolution
by
delegitimizing
the
concept
of
liberal,
popular democracy.
A
turning-point
for
Argentinian
nationalist Catholic intellectual
development
was Cesar Pico's article
responding
to
Jacques
Maritain's
book,
Humanisme
Integral.
In
that book Maritain
harshly
criticized
Catholics who
supported
totalitarian
regimes. According
to
Pico,
however,
the
Italian fascists and the
Spanish
and Latin
American nationalists were to
develop
a doctrine in which Cath-
olicism and
fascism would find common
cause.?2
In
spite
of the
secular nature
of fascist totalitarianism
in
the world
ideological
struggle against
liberal
democracy,
fascism was an authoritarian
way
of
restoring
Catholic
doctrinairism.21
In
the
Argentinian
context,
however,
only
the
army
could
rescue
this nationalist Catholic
spirit.
For more than
a
decade,
the anti-liberal
clergy
had believed a
military
takeover
was
necessary,
and these
views,
together
with those
promoted by La Nueva Republica and the poet Lugones, gained
currency
at
army headquarters, especially
in
the influential
Circulo
Militar,
where
the most
distinguished
officers met. These
doctrinary
views were not the
only impetus
to the
military
revolution
against
Yrigoyen's
administration,
however.
The
first
signs
of
army
unrest
came
when some
key
officers
162
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Spektorowski: Right
and
Left
Nationalism
in
Argentina
complained
of what
they
considered to be an
attempt by Yrigoyen
to
politicize
the
army.
The events that
followed, however,
were
not
prompted solely by practical professional
concerns. It was
impos-
sible,
in
fact,
to isolate
the
army
from
the
new
ideological develop-
ments
in
the
world and
in
Argentina;
the
Argentinian military
was
a
microcosm of
ideological
developments
in
the
country
as a
whole.22
Two
important military
figures represented
the two
major
rival
ideologies
in
Argentina.
One of
them
was General
Agustin
Justo,
who
had
been
war minister
in
Marcelo T. de
Alvear's
administration and
director of the
influential Circulo Militar in
1928;
the other
was Jose
Felix Uriburu, who played a cardinal role in the ensuing political
developments.
While
Agustin
Justo was
a
legalistic
military
man of
liberal
democratic
convictions,
Jose
Felix
Uriburu
was a
corporatist
nationalist and an
admirer
of
Prussian
military discipline.
Trained
in
Germany
under
Prussian officers
(the
army
had
sent
him
to
Germany
during
the first
world war
to
study
command
techniques),
Uriburu
was well
aware of the
nationalist
uprising
in
Europe,
and
believed
that a
new nationalist
style
and
political
method
could be
developed
in non-European countries.23 Influenced also by contacts with
Lugones
and the
nationalist
intellectuals of La
Nueva
Republica
and
by
their
writings,
Uriburu
reaffirmed
the
nationalist
corporatist
concepts
he had
developed
as a result of his
European
experience.
Both
Uriburu and
Justo
conspired
against
Yrigoyen
by
organizing
the
military
coup
d'etat
of
1930,
but
they
demanded
Yrigoyen's
resignation
for
different
reasons. While
Justo
wanted the
military
revolution to restore
political
hegemony
to
conservative
liberalism,
Uriburu
believed the
liberal
democratic
political
structures
should be
transformed into those of a functional or
corporatized
democracy.
Preparations
for the
military
coup
were
accompanied
by
discussion
of
these
goals.
It is a
fact,
however,
that
although
Jose Felix
Uriburu
led
the
revolutionary upheaval
of
1930,
most of
the
regular
officers
supported
General
Agustin
Justo's
defence of
constitutionality.
Thus,
from the
outset it was
clear that
without the
support
of
Justo's
line
officers
and
the
representatives
of
the
political
opposition
parties
there
would
be
no revolution at all. In short, contraryto the expectations of Lugones
and the
rest of
the
nationalist
intellectuals,
Uriburu's
revolution
was
doomed
to
failure from
the
start.
Thus,
the
uprising
of
6
September
1930 did
not
give
rise to
the
corporatist
state
as
the
integralist
nationalists
had
expected.
Scarcely
a
year
later,
the
old
conservative
establishment
returned
to
power
under
General
Justo.
163
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Journal
of
Contemporary
History
However,
the
return of the
oligarchical
liberal
democracy
provided
a framework for a
radical
metamorphosis
of the
nationalist
ideo-
logues' political
discourse. Until
the end of
the
1920s,
Argentinian
integral
nationalism remained
elitist
in
nature. Its
adherents feared
political participation
by
the
masses. But
in
the 1930s
radical
nationalists were introduced
to the
language
of
anti-imperialist
economics,
something
that was
to be reflected in
their
ideology.
The
Justo
era,
although
characterized
by
a
modicum of industrial
modernization and
political stability,
was in
fact an era
in
which the
dependent
character
of the
Argentinian economy
and
society
was
greatly felt. Argentinian nationalists defined these years as the
'infamous
decade';24
the
time was
ripe
for a new
synthesis
between the
concepts
of
economic
emancipation,
fascism and traditional Cathol-
icism.
In
other
words,
in
the
context of liberalism
and economic
dependency,
a new
ideology receptive
to the modernist
message
of
fascism
merged
with the
demand for economic
emancipation
and the
recovery
of cultural
identity.
To
Argentinian
nationalists,
fascism offered a new
anti-liberal
order,
synthesizing
a novel
concept
of nationalism and a
different
under-
standing
of socialism. For
Carulla,
C.
Ibarguren
and R. Laferrere
(the
founder of La
Liga Republicana),
fascism was not
properly
Italian
but
represented
the ideas of a new
order,
an attractive
form of
nationalism
from which the
Argentinian
renaissance could learn.
It
was a doctrine full of
vitality,
discipline
and
order,
comprising
a new
conception of political life and cultural revolution. In 1933, the
nationalist
newspaper
Bandera
Argentina
wrote:
Fascism
was born of the
necessity
for
pure
action. The war
imposed
it on the
world,
but
before the
war,
in
1904 and
1910,
Sorel and his
disciples,
Peguy, Lagardelle
and
some other
French and Italian
syndicalists,
had tried to revitalize
socialism
by
adding
to it a
spirit
of action in order to drive electoralist
opportunism
out of
it.25
To the Argentinian nationalists, however, fascist ideology was
neither a
response
to communism
nor
purely
a result of
the first
world
war,
but
rather a total cultural
and
political response
to the
problems
presented
by
political
modernization,
in
both
developed
and under-
developed
or
economically dependent regions.
Whereas for
the
Catholic
wing
of
Argentinian
nationalism
fascism was
the
political
movement that
would halt anti-traditionalist
world
forces,
for
most
164
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Spektorowski: Right
and
Left
Nationalism
in
Argentina
modernist nationalists fascism
represented
a new call
for
mass
mobilization and national
revolution.
One man
who
clearly
understood
this
point
was the
prominent
nationalist
writer Manuel
Galvez,
who
specifically
addressed
himself
to
the modernist
significance
of the
fascist
revolutionary
trend
for
the
Argentinian
national
uprising.
Inevitably,
Galvez's
analysis
of
fascism as
a
modernist,
populist phenomenon
reopened
a
local
discussion
of the
problem
of
populist
democracy
in
Argentina.
Acceptance
of
the idea
that the masses
had a role to
play
in
the
political
game
was in
fact a
step
towards a
synthesis
of the
ideological
elements of the fascist revolution with the authentic republican
tradition of
the
Yrigoyenist
movement.
Galvez was
seriously
convinced that
fascism could
develop
in
Argentina.
Galvez's
conception
of
fascism, however,
was linked
to
populism
and
social
justice;
in
this
respect
he
differed
sharply
from the
La
Nueva
Republica
nationalists,
whom
he
defined as
authoritarians
and
militarists
rather than
true
fascists. For
Galvez,
fascism
had a
social
and
modernizing
content;
he tried
to
prove
that 'fascism
(in
Italy)
is a
doctrine
of the
right,
which
opposes democracy
and
socialism,
but
socially
belongs
to the left'.26
The fact
that
in
Argentina
the
people
had
responded
to
the call of
Yrigoyen's
Radical
Party,
a
populist
and
nationalist
movement,
led him
to
the
conclusion that 'an
authentic
"Radical"
could not
be far from
fascism'.27
He wrote
his
own
biography
of
Yrigoyen,
an act
that
indicated his
reconciliation
with
the
'populist
caudillo'
deposed
by
Uriburu's
military
coup.
It
must
be
remembered
that
most
nationalists
hoped
Yrigoyen's
fall
signalled
the
beginning
of a
new
corporatist
era
that
would
completely change the structuresof the liberaldemocraticsystem. Up
to
that
point,
the
revolutionaries
could
visualize
a
corporate
authoritarian
society,
anti-liberal and
anti-oligarchic,
full of
youthful
vigour,
but
they
could not
envision
the
function of
the
people
in
that
schema,
since
anything
connected with
the
people
would
carry
connotations
of
Yrigoyenism,
anarchy
and
disorder.
Manuel
Galvez,
however,
recognized
that,
alongside
the
corporatist
formula
devised
by
the
integralists,
the
Radical
Party's
populist
tradition
had
introduced a new kind of anti-bourgeois political style based on the
heroic
spirit
of
Argentinian
national
traditions. This
was the
spirit
of
the old
caudillos,
struggling
for
independence
at the
beginning
of
the
nineteenth
century.
In
this
analysis,
the new
spiritual
force
of
fascism
revolutionizing
the
world
was
the
modern
embodiment of
the old
caudillista
spontaneous
rebellion
against
the
liberal
mode of
modernization.
165
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Journal
of ContemporaryHistory
The idea of rebellion was an
ideological development
of cardinal
importance
in
Europe
as well as
in
Argentina.
It
would
revive the
myth
of the state and the
nation,
elevating
them over the utili-
tarianism and individualism of liberal
democracy.
The
myths
of
heroic life
in
Argentina
had
been
destroyed by
the
post-independence
modernizing
elites,
but the new heroic
age
was an era of vitalism
and
idealism. Carlos
Ibarguren
wrote of the new force 'which
repudiated
the dominant intellectualism
of the end of the
XIX
century'
in
Europe
and
America,
to
replace
it
with 'a wave
impregnated
with a new
mysticism
which
appears
and
inspires
a
spiritual
exaltation.
After an
era in which the world was inundated by an anti-heroic materialism,
now we want to breathe
in
a new heroic breeze
. .28
Clearly,
an
attack
against
the liberal
&lites'
project
of national
modernization
had to be
accompanied
by
the revival of
the historical
myth
of Juan
Manuel de Rosas.
Rosas,
it
will
be
recalled,
represented
traditionalist
leadership,
the
politics
of order
and
violence,
and
the
struggle
against imperialism.
The true
political
use
of the
revision
of
Argentinian
history began
in
1930 with Carlos
Ibarguren's
book,
J.M. de Rosas, su vida,su tiempo,su drama(1930).29This book, like
others,
was a
clear
attempt
to
link
Argentina's
liberal tradition
with
cultural
and economic
dependence,
and
the Rosas
reaction
with
nationalism
and
anti-imperialism.
These books
invoking
the
mythical
values
of the
pre-liberal
past,
as
well
as
Galvez's
attempt
to fuse the
concepts
of
Argentinian
populism
with
fascism,
included,
as
mentioned,
criticism
of
Argentina's
political
and economic
dependence.
While world
fascism
was rebel-
ling against
liberal
democracy
and Marxist
socialism,
Argentinian
nationalism
waged
its
struggle
against
liberal
democracy,
which it
held
responsible
for
Argentinian
dependence.
This
conclusion,
developed
by
the
brothers
Julio and
Rodolfo
Irazusta,
was the
basis
of the
Argentinian
right-wing
anti-imperialist
conception.
These
same
issues-
the revival
of Juan
Manuel de
Rosas as
a cultural
hero
and the
new criticism
of economic
and cultural
imperialism
became dominant
concerns
for a new
group
of
intellectuals
in the
Radical
Party,
who found
the old
Yrigoyenist
political
style
to be
an
inadequate response to the problems of a new era. In spite of the
different
perspectives
of the two
groups,
their
criticism
would
fuse
to
become
the
intellectual
framework
for a
new nationalist
ideology
combining
the
revolutionary populist
tradition
of
Yrigoyenism
with
the
corporatist system
of
mass control
idealized
by
the
integralists.
166
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Spektorowski:
Right
and
Left
Nationalism
in
Argentina
Right-wing
nationalists like the Irazustas reserved their main
criti-
cism for the association that non-productive interests -public
adminstrators,
lawyers
and financiers -maintained
with
British
foreign
interests. And the
ideological
framework
for
these
foreign
interests and the local
unproductive bourgeoisie
was
liberalism.
Argentinian prosperity
cost too much ... the liberal formula of Alberdi
stimulated
immigration
but it was realized without criteria ... if
it
promoted
commerce
and
agriculture,
it was
promoted
in
an artificial and
disproportional way...
if
it
provided
for
development
of a
huge railway
network this was done
according
to
immediate
foreign
interests without
planning
for the
future.3"
For the Irazusta
brothers,
the liberal democratic model of
progress
-a
democratic
party system
based on the Saenz
Pefa Law of
1916-
was uneconomic on the one
hand,
and immoral
and anti-national on
the other. Their central
thesis was that the
liberal tradition was
associated
with
the
foreign plutocracy
and
responsible
for
the eternal
dependence
and
underdevelopment
of the
Argentinian
nation.
At the
same
time,
an
emphasis
on
the need for
economic
emancipation was to become the link between the Irazustas' philo-
sophy
and that of FORJA
(Fuerza
de
Orientacion
Radical de la
Juventud
Argentina),
the new left
wing
of the
Yrigoyenist
move-
ment.3'
FORJA
promoted
a new
species
of
economic
nationalism
that would
greatly
influence
the former
integral
nationalists.
Despite
their
diverse
philosophical
roots and
different
perspectives
on
the
specific
results of
liberal
modernization,
both
nationalist
wings
contributed
complementary
components
to a
third
path
of
development.
FORJA members did not
speak
in terms of class
struggle,
but
addressed
themselves
to
the
'Argentinian
people'
at
large.
As
the left
wing
of
the
Yrigoyen
populist
movement,
they
understood better
than
the
integralists
that
giving
the
masses
political
expression
was
the
only
route to
integration.
This
process
went
hand
in
hand
with
economic
anti-imperialism,
which
in
their case was
directed
virulently
towards
Great
Britain.
Common
to both
the
right-wing
integralists
and the
left-wing
populists was that they did not consider the Argentinian economic
crisis
as
structural
-
that
is,
the
result of
free
market
forces. In
their
view,
the
crisis
was
political,
a
result of
the
dealings
between a
non-
nationalist
elite and
British
interests.
Breaking
off
this
disadvan-
tageous
relationship
was a
precondition
for
national
industrialization
and
integration.
Moreover,
the
question
of
economic
dependence
167
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Journal
of
Contemporary
History
was
clearly
linked to
what FORJA
members
defined as the
problem
of cultural
imperialism,
a
syndrome
to
which both
the rational
right
and left fell
prey.
Arturo
Jauretche,
one of the most
prominent
FORJA
intellectuals,
linked the
problem
of colonization of
the mind to the rationalist and
materialist
right
and left.
In
other
words,
the
'enlightened'
intellectual
proponents
of
liberal democratic modernization
and the
left-wing
intellectuals who relied on a 'class
struggle'
Marxist
analysis
for
peripheral
countries held misconceived
ideas.
The
struggle
for
emancipation
and social
justice
cannot be won
separately by
different social
classes.
Moreover,
the class confrontation
was
one
of
the most
effective
techniques
used
by
British
policy
. .
.The
proletarian
revolution as an
instrument of national realization had been abandoned
by
the national movements
long ago.32
Nationalism
in
any
context
meant
class union rather than
class
struggle.
For a
peripheral
country
like
Argentina,
nationalism meant
both class union and anti-imperialism.
Altough
Jauretche
did not
develop
the
concept
of the
corporatist
state as the
nationalist
integralists
did,
he did form a
mythic
ideal of
populist
democracy.
However,
apart
from the loose reference
to the
traditional
populist
democratic
principles
of
Yrigoyenism,
he
never
defined
any
formal
political organization
that would
express
those
principles.
Clearly,
the solution
to
FORJA's
predicament
would be
a
strong,
mobilized
nationalist
state,
removed
from
political
liberalism
and collectivist
Marxist
socialism.
Rejecting
the
easy agro-export
economic order
required
a social
consensus
based on
a third
way
of
development,
one that
was neither
liberal
democracy
nor socialist
proletarian
revolution.
Unques-
tionably,
the
answer
was a
populist, corporatized
society
that
would
push
for social
integration
and industrialization.
However,
in
contrast
to the Italian
nationalists,
who
emphasized
productivity,
Argentinian
nationalists
believed
the
principle
of
productivity
should
be balanced
by
a clear
concern for social
justice.
This
was the basis
of
the 'inclusionary' concept of corporatism,which integrateda demand
for benefits
for
the
poor
and
less
protected
classes.33
n
addition,
anti-
imperialist
politics,
which
to FORJA
members meant
economic
emancipation
and mass
participation
in
the
political
process,
were
also
a
precondition
for
the
development
of
an authentic
national
programme
of industrial
modernization
and social
welfare.34
168
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Spektorowski:
Right
and
Left
Nationalism
in
Argentina
The 1930s
were characterized
by
several
attempts by
the
nationalists
to form a unified
movement, attempts
that in most cases failed.
A
number of
fascist-style leagues
were
created,
such
as La
Liga
Republicana,
which
performed
the function of the 'Camelots du
Roi'
for La
Nueva
Republica,
or La
Legion
Civica,
originally
created
by
Felix de
Uriburu
as the civil militia of the abortive revolution
of 1930.
These
leagues
reflected the
paramilitary, revolutionary
fascist
spirit.
The
Legion
Civica,
for
instance,
was
initially
identified with the
nationalist
goals
of the
army
that took
power
in
1930,
and
was
inspired by
the
martial
spirit
that
characterized
the
revolutionary
groups of the rightand left all over the world.35The Legion's doctrine
was
based
on the
assumption
that war 'more than
a function of
armies was a
function
of
peoples,
and no
component
of
the
nation
...
could not
participate
in
it'.36
There was no
danger
of
war in
Latin
America,
but the
Legion
Civica was
organized
on
military
lines,
with
brigades
and divisions that
would
parade
in
columns
of
eight
members.
In
poor
neighbourhoods
bands of
'legionaries'
were
organized
in
groups
of
twenty
headed
by
a leader.
Since one of the
organization's proposed objectives was to give the population
ideological
guidance,
its activities
naturally
included
women and
children,37
who
were trained
in
military camps.
At the
same
time,
on
the
ideological
level,
the
Legion
adopted
a
political
discourse based
on
the
specific
conditions of
Argentinian
development,
proposing
a
political
programme
that
employed
anti-imperialist,
reformist and
even
proletarian
concepts.
The
Alianza de la
Juventud
Nacionalista,
founded
by
Juan
Queralto
in
1935,
had a less
military style
than
the
Legion
Civica.
However, it was the nationalist
group
that
synthesized
most
clearly
the new
populist
and
'pro-worker'-oriented
approach,
the
struggle
for
economic
independence,
and the
traditional
concepts
of
corpor-
atist
organization.
In
other
words,
the
Alianza
combined
the
fundamental
ideological
elements of
fascism
-
the
hierarchical
organization,
the
violent
style
and
the
nationalist
rhetoric
-
with
the
indigenous
Latin
American
nationalist
features
arising
from
the
particularities
of
the
continent's own
development,
such
as anti-
imperialismand the concern for socialjustice. The Alianza advanced
the idea
of
the
syndicalist
state
by
boosting
the
participation
of
workers
and
the
unemployed,
precursors
of
Peron's
descamisados. It
was
the
first
nationalist
group
to
succeed in
organizing
mass
rallies
in
the
Plaza San
Martin
in
Buenos
Aires to
celebrate the First
of
May,
in
what was a
clear
attempt
to
transform the
international
workers'
169
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
17/31
Journal
of
Contemporary
History
holiday
into a national
celebration
of
the
Argentinian
worker. In
the
words
of
the
Alianza's
founder,
Juan
Queralto:
Our
struggle against
the
oligarchy
is
parallel
to
our
struggle
against
Marxism. We
repudiate
the 'latifundist'
[agrarian] oligarchy,
since its
existence
delays
national
progress;
[we
repudiate]
the
capitalist
oligarchy,
because
it is the
flag
of reaction
against...
our revolution in
march,
and
[we
repudiate]
the
political
oligarchy
. .
because it
has
no
patriotism
. .
3
The Alianza
accepted
the
right
to
private
property
and freedom of
contract
but
provided
for
government
intervention
against
economic
speculation and the formation of monopolized trusts. 'Production
would rest on the
principle
of
being
at the
service of the
country
and
not
at
the
service of liberal
capitalistic
accumulation...
'.3
Fur-
thermore,
'until now
any
social
policy
was based on
reforms,
conceded
by
the
liberal
system'
but 'our
national revolution
will
transform the main
concept
of work .... Work is
going
to be
associated
as a
partner
in
the
production
of
wealth'.4
Although
the
Alianza,
unlike the
Legion
Civica,
became
during
Peron's admini-
stration the movement of the 'declasses', the 'plebeians', its rhetoric
resembled
that of the
Legion.
It was clear to both of
them that
the
evils
of
capitalism
and industrialization could be overcome
by
a
strong
syndicalist
state,
to the benefit of the
workers.
Anticipating
Peronist
ideology,
which
was
to
become
popular
in
the
mid-1940s,
the
Legion
announced,
'We are not enemies of the
workers'. Solutions
to the
workers'
problems
had not
yet
been
provided
by
socialism
and
could
not
be
provided
in
the
future.
The
only
road left
was 'class
syndicalism
. .
.that
can
mediate
between
workers and
employers.
. . that would certainly develop into a
corporatist
state that
binds and
harmonizes'.4'
In
fact,
it was evident
that the
liberal democratic
regime
would have to
be
turned
into a class
state that
could
preserve
both
harmony
and social
justice.
Nevertheless,
the nationalists
made few
attempts
to
put
their
political
beliefs
into
practice.
One
of the sole efforts to institute
an
inclusionary, corporatist system
in
Argentina
was made
by
Manuel
Fresco,
the
right-wing
nationalist
governor
of
Buenos
Aires
from
1936 to 1940. Manuel Fresco understood that despising democratic
practices
was not
enough,
and that another
kind of
democracy,
or
another
way
to
reach the
people,
should be
proposed.
Fresco's
assertion
that the democratic
regime
was a
'plutocratic
regime,
that is
bourgeois,
capitalist,
atheist, materialist,
sensual
and
positivist;
sceptical, pragmatic
and
utilitarian',42
id
not,
in
his
eyes,
170
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
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Spektorowski:
Right
and
Left
Nationalism in
Argentina
rule
out
acceptance
of
an alternative
conception
of democratic
and
social
practices,
that
which characterized
the fascist
regime.
His
visit
to
Italy
in
February
1935,
while he was
president
of the Chamber
of
Deputies
in
Congress,
convinced
him of the effectiveness
of
Italian
corporatist
procedures;
and
while
governing
the
province
of
Buenos
Aires
he instituted
an
experimental
administration based
on
the
socio-economic
corporatist
model of Salazar's 'Estado
Novo'
in
Portugal.43
Under
the
slogan
'God,
Fatherland,
and
Home',
he
proceeded
to
give
an
unprecedented
boost to
public
works
in
the
province, thereby solving
unemployment
there. These reforms
were
accompanied by reactionary policies in education and politics. He
instated
religious
education
in
the schools and
outlawed the
Communist
Party.
These measures
gave
him
a certain
prestige
among
the
nationalists,
even
though
he was
considered
a
controversial
personality
of
questionable morality
because of his
relations
with
foreign
interests.44
Fresco
severely repressed
the radical left
although
he
considered it
politically
impotent.
In
the
Chamber
of
Deputies,
Fresco
defined the
Socialist Party as 'a conglomerate of the bourgeoisie',45 imited to
parliamentary
politics.
For
Fresco,
parliamentarist
procedures
were
obsolete.
He
defended what he called
'patriotic
fraud'
and
'patriotic
violence',
if
they
would lead to the
required
nationalist
social
reforms.
This was the
synthesis
of
a
nationalist fascist
state, which,
in
contrast
to
the
liberal,
socialist
state,
could
provide
social
solutions to the
demands of
the
working
class.
Fresco
sought
a
system
of
representation
in
which unions
would be
recognized
by
the
state and
would be
required
to
submit their
demands to compulsory state arbitration.These
principles
were
given
expression
in
the
Organic
Labour Act of
1937.
Fresco
also
stressed
that while the
nationalists
were
working
for
national
emancipation
and
social
justice
and
fighting against
economic
imperialism,
the
communists and
socialists,
who
had
formed the
Popular
Front
in
the
mid-1930s,
had made
the
struggle
against
fascism
their
priority.
In
other
words,
while
the
struggle
for
democracy kept
the
socialists,
communists,
and
liberal
democrats
busy,
both
the
right-wing
and
left-wing nationalists were engaged in the fight against imperialism.
On 4
June
1943,
the
armed
forces
led
by
General
Rawson took
power
in
Argentina.
The
military
uprising
followed a
political
crisis
within
the
conservative
government
then in
power.
The
domestic
front
had
171
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
19/31
Journal
of
Contemporary
History
seen
growing
dissatisfaction with the
government's
economic strat-
egy; this, together
with certain
administrative
malpractices
and the
threat of a
possible
communist
upheaval, galvanized
the
army
leaders
into
action.
The
actual
trigger,
however,
was
the
military
leaders'
fear
that Robustiano
Patron
Costa,
a
supporter
of the
Allies,
would be
elected
president
and
end
Argentina's
neutrality
in
the second world
war.
The defence
of
Argentinian
neutrality
in
the
second
world war was
a cause
that united nationalists
of both the
right
and the left.46
Moreover,
this
issue,
which
in the
case
of the nationalist
right wing
meant clear support for the Axis, could not be separated from the
political
and
ideological
convictions
of both
rightists
and leftists who
sought
the
end of
the liberal state.
The conviction
that
Argentina
had
to
change
its
political path
went
hand
in
hand
with the conviction
that the old world
of the Western
democracies
would
soon
collapse.
In the words of Marcelo Sanchez
Sorondo,
it was
the
'revolution
we announced'.47
t
was,
in
fact,
the
anticipated
revolution
that would
put Argentina
both on the road
of
national liberation and in the midst of the universal fascist revolution
against
the
Western democracies.
Although
its
objectives
were
unclear,
the
GOU
(Grupo
de
Oficiales
Unidos,
the
military
pressure
group
that led
the
military uprising
in
1943)
seemed
to be fascist-
oriented.
For the
anti-semitic
priest
Meinvielle,
the
coup
was the
expected
counter-revolution,
while
for
the
'plebeian'
Alianza
it was
a
radical,
anti-imperialistic,
populist
revolution
that
would create
a
single
nationalist
party
supported
by
the
declasses.
As
it
turned
out,
these
developments
would have to await Peron's accession to power, but
Colonel
Juan
D. Peron
was an
integral part
of
the
revolution
from
the
beginning.
One of
the
most
significant
acts
that determined
the
political
direction
of
the
government
took
place
on
27 October
1943,
when
President
General
P.P.
Ramirez,
who had been
part
of
Uriburu's
political
circle,
decreed
the conversion
of the
Departamento
Nacional
de
Trabajo
into an
autonomous
department,
one
which Juan
Peron
would later use as a springboard from
the
military
to
political
leadership.
As
Ramirez
declared,
'social
justice'
was
to
be
one
of
the
'fundamental
objectives'
of the
military government.
In
Decree
156.074
of
27 November
1943,
Peron
was
assigned
the task
of
taking
the
necessary
measures
to
improve
relations
among
the
productive
forces
in
the
country.48
172
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20/31
Spektorowski:
Right
and
Left
Nationalism
in
Argentina
Indeed,
the
improvement
of the
relationship
between
the
workers'
unions and
the state
was essential for the
implementation of the
military
government's
short-term
industrial
policies.
Mixed
indus-
trial
complexes
were created with
the
goal
of
exploiting
national
resources,
and
long-term
loans were
offered
to
industrial
concerns.
The
'productive' conception inspired by
Lugones's
thesis
of
national
strength
was
accompanied
by
a limited social
policy
designed
by
the
nationalist
intellectuals,
reflecting
their
attempt
to
achieve
a
degree
of
social
justice.
However,
social
justice
and
the welfare
of
the
workers
could
only
be achieved by the regulativehand of the state. This control allowed
the state
to manoeuvre
freely
when
circumstances
warranted. The
ideas
implemented by
Peron,
as we have
seen,
were
originally
developed by
the
nationalists.
Yet
the
local nationalists
were
not
the
only
influence on
Peron's
ideological
development.
Peron
had also
been
deeply impressed by
his
visit
to
Italy
in
the
period
1939-41.
That
personal
experience
encouraged
his admiration of
Italian
fascism,
especially
as a
way
to
lead the
working
class.49 In
fact,
Peron's
approach to industrial relations resembled Mussolini's. In his view,
all
syndical organizations
must be
corporatized by
the
state,
because
it suits
the state to
have
organic
forces
it can control and
lead rather
than
inorganic
forces
that
escape
its
leadership
..
We do not
want
unions divided
into
political
factions,
because what is
dangerous
is,
precisely,
the
political
unions.5s
At the same
time,
however,
Peron
was
convinced that
he
could
improve
upon
Mussolini's
experience,
by
paying greater
attention
to
worker welfare.
The
Syndical
Statute,
initiated
by
the
military government
in
1943,
represented
the
first
effort to
institute
corporatist
authoritarian
control of the
workers'
organizations,
which had
to be
approved
and
supervised
by
the
government.
Yet it
also
offered
benefits
for
the
working
class,
including
a reduction of
housing
rents and
a rise in
salaries
for the
lowest-paid
public
administration
workers.
The
Syndical
Statute was
followed
by
the
1945 Law
of
Professional
Associations, whose provisions were also almost identical with those
of
Mussolini's
Labour
Code.
Under this
law,
only
officially
recog-
nized
unions
and
employers'
associations
could
sign
labour
contracts,
and
only
one
employers'
association
and
one
labour union
was to be
permitted
in
each
economic
field,
and
strikes and
lockouts
were
forbidden.
173
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8/17/2019 Alberto Spektorowski - The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43
21/31
Journal
of
Contemporary
History
The
nationalist
press
reacted
enthusiastically
to what it
saw as an
atte