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Industrialists and the Rise of Perón, 1943-1946: Some implications for the Conceptualization of Populism*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Joel Horowitz
Joel Horowitz*
Affiliation:
Saint Bonaventure University, Saint Bonaventure, New York
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Extract

Support by a segment of industrialists for Juan Perón has been a crucial feature of much writing about Peronism. This has been sustained by such diverse authors as Torcuato Di Tella, Miguel Murmis and Juan Carlos Portantiero, and Guillermo O'Donnell. Moreover, in many discussions of the nature of populism—in which Peronism is considered an epitome of the phenomenon—a critical role is played by a multiclass alliance which included both workers and industrialists. Yet in 1945 industrialists as a group did not support Perón. The year 1945 is critical to any discussion of the nature of Peronism because it was then that Perón built his core constituency. In addition, there occurred what can only be considered the founding myth of Peronism—the massive workers' demonstration of October 17. Later Perón was able to expand his support, but his base was created in 1945. In order to better understand both the development of Perón's support and then to reflect on what this tells us about the nature of populism, the relationship between Perón and industrialists will be explored from the military's seizure of power in June 1943 to the presidential elections in February 1946. During this period—although Perón was rapidly gathering power—he was not formally head of the government.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , October 1990 , pp. 199 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1990

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Tulio Halperín Donghi, Peter Winn, David Collier and Gordon De La Vars for their comments on earlier versions of this article.

References

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2 See for discussions of October 17, James, Daniel, “17 y 18 de octubre de 1945: el peronismo, la protesta de masas y la clase obrera argentina,” Desarrollo Económico, vol. 27, no. 107 (Oct-Dec. 1987), 445–461 Google Scholar; Torre, Juan Carlos, “El rol del sindicalismo en los orígines del peronismo” (Spanish version; doctoral dissertation, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, 1983), Ch. 2Google Scholar; Horowitz, Joel, Argentine Unions, the State, and the Rise of Perón, 1930–1945 (Berkeley, 1990), pp. 188–190.Google Scholar

3 Murmis and Portantiero.

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9 Fabril Argentina, Nov. 1943, pp. 15–16 and Jan. 1944, p. 6.

10 For the repression of Communist unions, see for example La Vanguardia, Oct. 9, 15, 20, 1943; Unidad Nacional, Sept. 30, Oct. 7, 14, Nov. 1943, Cuarta semana Jan. 1944. See also, Horowitz, , Argentine Unions, pp. 180–215 Google Scholar for a general picture of unions during the years 1943–1945.

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12 Revista de Trabajo y Previsión, Apr./June 1944, pp. 641-671. Companies frequently worried that other firms would pay their workers less and preferred that minimum salaries be set. See de Diputados, Cámara, Diario de sesiones, IV, Sept. 17, 1941, p. 568 and Horowitz, Argentine Unions.Google Scholar

13 Fabril Argentina, Nov. 1943, pp. 22, 43–44, Jan. 1944, pp. 4, 49; Revista de la UIA, July 1944, pp. 75–79; Dardo Cúneo, Comportamiento y crisis de la clase empresària (Buenos Aires, 1967), p. 167; La Prensa, Dec. 25, 1944.

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15 See El Obrero Ferroviario, Oct. 1943-June 1944; Horowitz, Argentine Unions.

16 El Obrero Municipal, Apr. 16, 1944; Lu Vanguardia, Apr. 16, 19,22, 1944; Federación, Apr. 30, 1944.

17 For differing views of unions during the 1930s, see Horowitz, , Argentine Unions; Hiroschi Matsushita, Movimiento obrero argentino, 193011945 (Buenos Aires, 1983)Google Scholar; and Tamarin, David, The Argentine Labor Movement, 1930–1945 (Albuquerque, 1985).Google Scholar

18 Murmis and Portantiero, p. 106. The use of May Day 1944 as a watershed in Perón’s approach to labor is derived from the thinking of Luis Gay. Author’s interview with Luis Gay, Buenos Aires, June 29, 1984; Gay, Luis, “Partido Laborista,” unpublished manuscript, pp. 25–26.Google Scholar

19 Blanksten, George I., Perón’s Argentina, (Chicago, 1953), pp. 261–262.Google Scholar For a list of labor laws in the pre-1943 period, see Ramicone, Luis, Apuntes para la historia: La organización gremial obrera en la actualidad (Buenos Aires, 1963), pp. 66–67.Google Scholar

20 Revista de Trabajo y Previsión, July/Sept. 1944, pp. 1016-1067 and Oct./Dec. 1944, pp. 154673x2013;1660. The figure for 1945 is drawn from de Estadística Sociales, Dirección, Investigaciones sociales, 1943–1945, pp. 32–33.Google Scholar The two sources disagree on the figures for 1944, but I have used the former because of its wider definition of a contract. See Revista de Trabajo y Previsión for examples of contracts. For labor leaders, see CGT, Oct. 1, 1944; Unión Ferroviaria, Libros de Actas de la Comisión Directiva, Acta 6, June 5–7, 1945, p. 36; Federación, July 14, 1945.

21 See for example, Review of the River Plate, June 15, 1945, p. 28 and June 22, 1945, p. 25.

22 Montgomery, David, Workers’ Control in America: Studies in the History of Work, Technology, and Labor Struggles (Cambridge, 1979)Google Scholar and The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State and American Labor Activism, 1865–1925 (Cambridge, 1987).

23 Escudé, Carlos, Gran Bretaña-Estados Unidos y la declinación argentina (Buenos Aires, 1983), pp. 253–298 Google Scholar; Giussani, Pablo, Montoneros: La soberbia armada (Buenos Aires, 1984), pp. 153–159 Google Scholar; Kenworthy, pp. 22–25; Office of Strategic Services, Research and Analysis Branch, R & A 2842, “Colonel Perón and the Argentine Industrial Union,” Mar. 16, 1945, pp. 3, 6 in OSS/State Department Intelligence and Research Reports, Part XIV, Latin America 1941–1961, roll V (Frederick, MD: Univer sity Publications of America). These intelligence reports need to be used carefully. As is indicated in R & A 567, “Interview No. 4,” Apr. 23, 1942, p. 4, roll IV, the OSS had a weak grasp of Argentine reality. They seemed not to know who the important Communist leader Orestes Ghioldi was.

24 de Comercio, Federación Empleados, Memoria de la Comisión Directiva 1938/1939 (Buenos Aires, 1939), pp. 10–11 Google Scholar; Leirós, Francisco Pérez, Instituto Di Tella Oral History Program, p. 127 Google Scholar; Ritmo, Dec. 1944; La Prensa, Dec. 5-10, 1944; Puiggròs, Rodolfo, El peronismo: Las causas (Buenos Aires, 1969), pp. 130–131 Google Scholar; Unidad Nacional, primera semana Dec. 1944; Plana, Primera, “Historia del peronismo,” 11, Aug. 24, 1965, p. 44.Google Scholar

25 La Prensa, Dec. 22, 1944; Revista de la UIA, Jan. 1945, pp. 42–43, Cúneo, pp. 174–175; Office of Strategic Services, “Colonel Perón and the Argentine Industrial Union,” pp. 2–3.

26 La Prensa, Dec. 27, 1944, Jan. 16-Feb. 7, 1945; Revista de la UIA, Jan. 1945, pp. 38–40; Feb. 1945, pp. 8–16, Mar. 1945, pp. 18–19, Apr. 1945, pp. 15–17; Office of Strategic Services, “Colonel Perón and the Argentine Industrial Union.” Perón’s charges were at least partially correct. The UIA did represent more adequately the larger, established firms of greater Buenos Aires. Llach, Juan J., “El Plan Pinedo de 1940, su significado histórico y los orígenes de la economía política del peronismo,” Desa-rrollo Económico, vol. 23, no.92 (Jan.-Mar. 1984), 535.Google Scholar

27 Office of Strategic Services, “Colonel Perón and the Argentine Industrial Union,” p. 10; Primera Plana, “Historia del peronismo,” XI, Aug. 10, 1965, pp. 42–43. Lagomasino may have exaggerated his isolation somewhat. Miguel Miranda may have begun to support Perón earlier than Lagomasino indicated. Potash, Robert A., The Army & Politics in Argentina, 1945–1962: Perón to Frondizi (Stanford, 1980), p. 53.Google Scholar

28 La Prensa, June 16–24, 1945. For the “tragic week”, see Bilsky, Edgardo J., La Semana Trágica (Buenos Aires, 1984)Google Scholar; Rock, David, Politics in Argentina 1890–1930: The Rise and Fall of Radicalism (London, 1975), pp. 157–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 Félix Luna, EI 45 (Buenos Aires, 1969), pp. 203–208, 216–219; Revista de la UIA, Sept. 1945, pp. 3–6, 61 and Oct. 1945, pp. 3–4.

30 CGT, Aug. 16 and Sept. 16, 1945; El Obrero en Calzado, Sept. 1945; Unión Sindical, Sept. 10, 1945; La Vanguardia, Sept. 4, 11, 1945. For the labor law see Decree, 23.852 in Leyes obreras de la revolución (Buenos Aires, 1947), pp. 18–22.Google Scholar For other measures, see same work. For consulting with labor leaders on the new labor law, see Unión Ferroviaria, Libros de Actas de la Comisión Directiva, Acta 6, June 5–7, 1945, pp. 18-19.

31 Ferrero, Roberto A., Del fraude a la soberanía popular, 1938–1946 (Buenos Aires, 1976), p. 348 Google Scholar; Revista de la UIA, Nov. 1945, pp. 3–4 and Dec. 1945, pp. 14–16.

32 Leyes obreras de la revolución, pp. 141–147; Revista de la UIA, Jan. 1946, pp. 3–19; La Prensa, Dec. 20, 1945-Jan. 17, 1946.

33 The best description of the mood of the period can be found in Luna, El 45. Cámara de Diputados, Diario de sesiones, XI (1946), Apr. 9, 1947, p. 510; Orientación, Sept. 19, 1945; La Vanguardia, Sept. 4, 11, 1945; Ritmo, Sept. 1945.

34 Revista de la UIA, Apr. 1946, p. 8, May 1946, p. 3, June 1946, pp. 3–4; Cúneo, pp. 178–188; Kenworthy, pp. 21–22.

35 See for example, O’Donnell.

36 In Argentina—despite running a populist campaign—Carlos Menem’s policies in his first year in office have in many ways veered far from the populist model.

37 Di Tella’s, “Populismo y reformismo” originally appeared in Desarrollo Económico, vol. 4, no. 16 (Jan.-Mar. 1965).Google Scholar

38 See for example, Erickson, Kenneth Paul, The Brazilian Corporative State and Working Class Politics (Berkeley, 1977), especially pp. 6, 49–50 Google Scholar and Conniff, Michael L., “Populism in Brazil,” in Latin American Populism in Comparative Perspective, ed. by Conniff, Michael L. (Albuquerque, 1982), pp. 67–91.Google Scholar

39 Laclau, Ernesto, Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory (London, 1977), p. 174.Google Scholar For examples of the comparative approach, Canovan, Margret, Populism (New York, 1981)Google Scholar; Ionesçu, Ghita and Gellner, Ernesto, eds., Populism: Its Meaning and National Characteristics (New York, 1969)Google Scholar; Conniff, Latin American Populism; Laclau, pp. 143–298. In both Europe and North America populism was essentially rural in orientation, while in Latin America populists have focused on urban populations.

40 Too much of the literature has been marred by the conviction that the popular sector is irrational, acts against its own best interest, and can be manipulated easily by other classes. Too frequently it is a left (which should be sympathetic to workers) that sees workers as behaving illogically and refuses to see that workers may have a good perception of the limits imposed by the society in which they live.

41 Germani, Gino, Política y sociedad en una epoca de transición (5th ed; Buenos Aires, 1974)Google Scholar; Di Tella. For a work that examines populism through Di Tella’s perspectives, see Dix, Robert H., “Populism: Authoritarian and Democratic,” Latin American Research Review, vol. 20, no. 2 (1985), 29–52.Google Scholar For a recent examination of the principal interpretations of Peronism, see de Ipola, Emilio, “Ruptura y continuidad. Claves parciales para un balance de las interpretaciones del peronismo,” Desarrollo Económico, vol. 29, no. 115 (Oct.-Dec. 1989), 331–359.Google Scholar

42 Laclau, pp. 143–198. For a recent work that comes from a similar prespective, see Vilas, Carlos M., “El populismo latinoamericano: un enfoque estructural,” Desarrollo Económico, vol. 28, no. 111 (Oct.-Dec. 1988), 323–352.Google Scholar

43 Di Tella.

44 See for examples, El Obrero Municipal, Apr. 16, 1944; El Obrero Ferroviario, May 1 and Aug. 1, 1945; CGT, Mar. 1, 1944 and Apr. 1, 1946. Also see, Horowitz, , Argentine Unions, pp. 22–25 Google Scholar and 180–215; Baily, Samuel L., Labor, Nationalism and Politics in Argentina (New Brunswick, N.J., 1967), pp. 74–90.Google Scholar

45 For examples of voting studies, see works by Smith, Peter H., Kenworthy, Eldon and Germani, Gino, among others, in Mora, Manuel y Araujo, and Llorente, Ignacio, eds., El voto peronista (Buenos Aires, 1980)Google Scholar and Schoultz, Lars, The Populist Challenge: Argentine Electoral Behavior in the Postwar Era (Chapel Hill, 1983).Google Scholar

46 See the detailed analysis of the retail clerks’ union in Horowitz, Argentine Unions.

47 Portes, Alejandro, “Latin American Class Structures: Their Composition and Change during the Last Decades,” Latin American Research Review, vol. 20, no. 3 (1985), 7–39, esp. 12–13.Google Scholar

48 For two studies of provincial politics, see Llorente, Ignacio, “Alianzas políticas en el surgimiento del peronismo: El caso de la Provincia de Buenos Aires,” pp. 269–317 Google Scholar and Esteves, Luis A.J. Gónzalez, “Las elecciones de 1946 en la Provincia de Córdoba,” pp. 319–364 Google Scholar both in Mora y Araujo and Llorente, eds., El voto peronista. Much information can be gleaned from Luna, Félix, Perón y su tiempo: La Argentina era una fiesta, 1946–1949 (Buenos Aires, 1984).Google Scholar

49 The need to create this differentiation was pointed out to me by Rebecca Abers, a student in my seminar on populism and unions in Latin America, which was given for the Committee on Social Studies of Harvard University in the spring of 1987.

50 Freels, John William Jr., El sector industrial en la política nacional (Buenos Aires, 1970), pp. 27–32; Cúneo, pp. 188–204.Google Scholar