Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T05:07:02.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Radicalization of the Uruguayan Student Movement*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Mark J. Van Aken*
Affiliation:
California State University, Hayward, California

Extract

Late in April, 1917, students of Preparatory Studies in Montevideo, Uruguay, declared a strike against the authorities of their school and organized a public demonstration on the steps of the Faculty of Law of the University. Thus a decade of calm in the university student movement of Uruguay was abruptly shattered by students who were in the last years of secondary education preparing for entry into the University. In a brief but violent struggle with police, troops, and firemen the angry young men of Preparatory Studies kindled a new spirit of protest and rebellion that would soon spread to the University and awaken the dormant student movement.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The author is Professor of History and Chairman of Latin American Studies at California State University, Hayward. Research for this article was made possible by a Fulbright-Hays grant to Montevideo and by a research grant from Duke University.

References

1 El Día, April 26 and 27, 1917, and El Plata, April 27, 1917. All newspapers and periodicals in Spanish cited in this study were published in Montevideo.

2 See my University Reform Before Córdoba,” The Hispanic American Historical Review (hereinafter, HAHR), vol. LI, no. 3, August, 1971, pp. 447462.Google Scholar

3 Zerbino, Victor, “A los estudiantes,” Evolución, revista mensual de ciencias y letras (hereinafter, Evolución), October, 1913, pp. 34;Google Scholar id., “La reorganización,” Evolución, May, 1914, pp. 3–6; “Ayer y hoy,” El Estudiante libre (hereinafter, EL), March 31, 1921; and “La reforma del Plan de Enseñanza Secundaria,” Evolución, February, 1917, pp. 323–324.

4 El Día, April 28, 29, 1917; and El Plata, April 27, 30, and May 3, 1917.

5 Interviews with Hector González Areosa (May 11, 1964) and with Hugo Fernández Artuccio (May 8, 1964); and El Plata, April 30, 1917. The University Reform Law of 1908 had granted representation rights to students of the University and denied the same to students of Preparatorios.

6 In Uruguayan politics the Colorado Party tended toward liberalism and modernization, while the Blanco Party was generally conservative, pro-clerical, and protective of rural, landed interests. See Fitzgibbon, Russel H., Uruguay, Portrait of a Democracy (New York, 1954), pp. 1823, and 141149.Google Scholar

7 Interview with Fernández Artuccio; Fitzgibbon, Uruguay, pp. 130–133; and Lindahl, Goran G., Uruguay’s New Path, a Study in Politics during the First Colegiado, 1919–1933 (Stockholm, 1962), pp. 2429.Google Scholar

8 Interviews with Fernández Artuccio and with Carlos Quijano (April 24, 1964).

9 Interview with Fernández Artuccio. On nationalism, see: Whitaker, Arthur P. and Jordan, David C., Nationalism in Contemporary Latin America (New York and London, 1966), especially pp. 1417, 121129;Google Scholar and Johnson, John J., Political Change in Latin America (Stanford, California, 1958), pp. 4559 Google Scholar. The very name “Ariel” demonstrated the nationalist and continentalist vision of the students, for it showed their enthusiasm for a great national writer and his brand of cultural nationalism as it was set forth in the essay “Ariel.”

10 Concerning the cultural clubs of students in the nineteenth century, see Oddone, M. Blanca París de, La Universidad de Montevideo en la formación de nuestra conciencia liberal (Montevideo, 1958), pp. 5354, 6477, 106120, and 282.Google Scholar

11 The complete title was Ariel, revista del Centro de Estudiantes Ariel. It was initially published on a monthly basis but soon began to appear at irregular intervals, 1919–1931.

12 José Enrique Rodó, “Ariel,” in Rodó, Obras Completas (ed. by Emir Rodríguez Monegal) (Madrid, 1957), pp. 202–244; early issues of Ariel, July, 1919-January 1920; and “Ariel,” EL, July, 1919.

13 See the early issues of Ariel. Fernández Artuccio states that the Ariel Center “contained a deep anti-United States sentiment from the very start.” Interview with Fernández Artuccio.

14 Ariel, December, 1919-January, 1920, p. 222.

15 Fitzgibbon, , Uruguay, pp. 106118, and 198204;Google Scholar Vanger, Milton, José Batlle y Ordoñez of Uruguay, the Creator of his Times, 1902–1907 (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), pp. 67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Conzi, Efraín González and Giùdice, Roberto B., Batlle y el batllismo (2nd ed., Montevideo, 1959), pp. 296298, 300304;Google Scholar Fitzgibbon, , Uruguay, p. 129.Google Scholar

17 Conzi, and Giùdice, , Batlle, pp. 350358;Google Scholar Vanger, , José Batlle, pp. 195, 200203, 259260.Google Scholar

18 Conzi, and Giùdice, , Batlle, pp. 298300, 354359;Google Scholar Fitzgibbon, , Uruguay, p. 128;Google Scholar and “Reorganización universitaria,” Evolución, January, 1915, pp. 3–4.

19 Conzi and Giùdice, Batlle, pp. 158, 163–164, 305–340; Felde, Alberto Zum, Proceso histórico del Uruguay (Montevideo, 1963), pp. 246248;Google Scholar Vanger, , Batlle, pp. 206211, 256257;Google Scholar Fitzgibbon, , Uruguay, pp. 129133.Google Scholar

20 Vanger, , Batlle, pp. 244245;Google Scholar Fitzgibbon, , Uruguay, pp. 131133;Google Scholar and Conzi and Giùdice, Batlle, pp. 276–295.

21 Batlle’s progressivism has been credited by a leading Uruguayan historian with having slowed the development of the Socialist and Communist Parties in Uruguay. Felde, Zum, Proceso, pp. 246247.Google Scholar

22 Kenniston, Kenneth, Youth and Dissent; the Rise of a New Opposition (New York, 1971), pp. 159160.Google Scholar

23 Interviews with Fernández Artuccio and González Areosa; Conzi, and Giùdice, , Batlle, pp. 154155, 160, 296304;Google Scholar “Reorganización universitaria,” loc. cit.; and Felde, Zum, Proceso, pp. 250251.Google Scholar

24 For an interesting examination of similar reasoning by radical U.S. students, see Searle, John R., The Campus War; a Sympathetic Look at the University in Agony (New York and Cleveland, 1971), pp. 1216.Google Scholar

25 Valdez, Ildefonso Pereda, “Extensión universitaria,” Ariel, pp. 258261.Google Scholar

26 For general information on the University Reform see Mazo, Gabriel del, Estudiantes y gobierno universitario (2nd ed., Buenos Aires, 1955);Google Scholar id. (comp.), La Reforma Universitaria (3 vols., La Plata, 1941); Federación Universitaria de Buenos Aires, La Reforma Universitaria, 1918–1958 (Buenos Aires, 1959); Bonilla, Frank and Glazer, Myron, Student Politics in Chile (New York and London, 1970);Google Scholar and Walker, Richard J., Student Politics in Argentina: The University Reform and its Effects, 1918–1964 (New York and London, 1968).Google Scholar

27 “Docencia libre,” defined by reformistas as the right of teachers to teach courses in competition with profesores titulares and to replace the latter if chosen by the students. See Mazo, Del, Estudiantes, pp. 6163.Google Scholar

28 Already attained in Uruguay, but not in most Latin American countries. This proposal for a reform already achieved underlines the partially imitative character of the Reform movement in Uruguay.

29 “Nuestro programa; reafirmándonos,” Ariel, August, 1920, pp. 4–5.

30 Ibid.

31 Bonilla, and Glazer, , Student Politics, pp. 4075;Google Scholar Torre, Haya de la, “La Reforma Universitaria, la realidad social,” in Mazo, Del, Reforma, II, 168169 Google Scholar. Also see, Klaiber, Jeffrey L. S. J., “The Popular Universities and the Origins of Aprismo, 1921–1924,” HAHR, November 1975, 693715.Google Scholar

32 Interviews with Artuccio, Fernández, Areosa, González, and Quijano, Carlos; “Carlos Quijano,” Revista del Centro de Estudiantes de Derecho (hereinafter cited as RCED), November-December, 1927, pp. 626 627.Google Scholar

33 “Max Eastman y Romain Rolland,” Ariel, September-October, 1920, pp. 17–19; “De Rusia,” Ariel, January-February, 1921, pp. 21–22; and letter from France, Anatole and Barbusse, Henri, Ariel, November-December, 1920, pp. 1819.Google Scholar

34 Interviews with Carlos Quijano and Fernández Artuccio; Berman, Gregorio, “La revolución estudiantil argentina,” Ariel, August, 1920, p. 10.Google Scholar

35 “Marcha del movimiento,” Ariel, September, 1922, p. 6.

36 “Los sucesos universitarios del Perú,” EL, July 1, 1923, p. 5; Schnake, Oscar, “La Reforma Universitaria en Chile,” Ariel, September, 1922, pp. 79;Google Scholar and interviews with Fernández Artuccio and González Areosa.

37 Interviews with Fernández Artuccio, González Areosa, and Quijano. Aprismo, the doctrine of APRA (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), founded in 1924 by Haya de la Torre. Whether its program was truly radical and revolutionary is currently a subject of dispute among scholars, but university students and non-revolutionary politicians of the 1920’s certainly regarded APRA and Aprismo as revolutionary. See Kantor, Harry, The Ideology and Program of the Peruvian Aprista Movement (2nd ed., Washington, D.C., 1966);Google Scholar Pike, Frederick B., “The Old and the New APRA in Peru: Myth and Reality,” Inter-American Economic Affairs, Vol. XVII (Autumn, 1964), 10, pp. 345;Google Scholar and Davies, Thomas M. Jr., “The Indigenismo of the Peruvian Aprista Party: A Reinterpretation,” HAHR, vol. 51 (November, 1971), 4, pp. 626645.Google Scholar

38 Interviews with Fernández Artuccio, González Areosa, and Quijano. Evidence of increasing influence of the Russian Revolution, as well as the Mexican Revolution, is seen in Carlos Sánchez Viamonte, “La Nueva América,” Ariel, July, 1924, pp. 6–7. On the founding and early development of the Communist Parties of Uruguay and Argentina, see Poppino, Rollie, International Communism in Latin America … (London, 1964) pp. 5961, 65 67;Google Scholar and Alexander, Robert J., Communism in Latin America (New Brunswick, N.J., 1957), pp. 135140, 154160.Google Scholar

39 Interviews with Fernández Artuccio, González Areosa, and Quijano; “Reiniciación,” Ariel, July, 1924, p. 1; “Rodrigo Soriano en Montevideo,” ibid., pp. 3–5; Carlos Benvenuto, “El movimiento fascista y el marxismo,” ibid., pp. 5–6; Fernar (pseudonym of Fernández Artuccio), “El Dr. Quijano,” ibid., May, 1930, p. 13; Pedro Ceruti Crosa, “Justicia de clase,” ibid., pp. 14–15; A.E.F., “El problema social en nuestro país,” ibid., December, 1930, pp. 15–16; and “La República Española,” ibid., June, 1931, pp. 2–3.

40 [Hector González Areosa], “La revisión de Rodó,” Ariel, December, 1927, pp. 1–2, and ibid., September, 1929, pp. 1–2.

41 “De Ariel a la realidad,” EL, September-October, 1929, pp. 144–145.

42 “Régimen Bolsheviki,” EL, October 1, 1920, p. 9; “La revolución universitaria en la Argentina …,” ibid., December 1, 1922, pp. 8–9; “Obreros y estudiantes,” ibid., September, 1925, pp. 1–2; “Del movimiento estudiantil peruano,” ibid., November, 1925, pp. 18–19; “La universidad y el obrero,” ibid., August, 1926, pp. 7–8; and “La extensión universitaria,” ibid., August, 1926, p. 4.

43 Even González Areosa ceased being a student when he abandoned his law studies and gave up the idea of receiving a university degree. On elected officers, see, “Nueva Comisión Directiva del CE. Ariel,” Ariel, May, 1930. Concerning Argentine anarchists, “El caso Radowitzky,” ibid., pp. 10–11. Also, interviews with Fernández Artuccio and González Areosa.

44 Cardoso, José Pedro, “La Reforma Universitaria,” Ariel, December, 1930, pp. 1315 Google Scholar. The publication of Cardoso’s article by Ariel indicated the Center’s approval of Cardoso’s views, for the author was not a member of Ariel. See the editorial note at the beginning of the article. Cardoso became a Marxian socialist soon after writing the article.

45 A.E.F., “El problema social en nuestro país,” Ariel, December, 1930, pp. 15–16.

46 “El ‘Centro Ariel’ ante el 1° de mayo,” Ariel, June, 1931, p. 2.

47 Origins of the idea of people’s universities can be traced to university extension proposals made in the Student Congress of 1908 in Montevideo; see my “University Reform before Cordóba,” HAHR, August, 1971, pp. 458–459. In 1920 Carlos Quijano and his associates in the Ariel Center began a short-lived university extension service in labor union headquarters; see “Los principios del Centro de E. ‘Ariel.’” Ariel, November-December, 1920, pp. 18–19. Of more immediate importance was the Universidad Popular “González Prada” in Lima, Peru; see “Universidad Popular en Lima,” Ariel, August, 1920, p. 15, and “El Centro Protección de Chauffeurs y el proyecto de universidad popular,” ibid., December, 1927, p. 20.

48 González Areosa, “Creación de las Universidades Populares …,” in Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios de Uruguay (FEUU), Memoria de 1er Congreso Nacional de Estudiantes (Montevideo, no date), pp. 33–41, 45–49; Prunell, Arturo, “Imperialismo,” in FEUU, Memoria, pp. 135146;Google Scholar Universidad Popular del Barrio Olímpico (newspaper), September, 1936, pp. 8,10; and interview with González Areosa.

49 Communists, after attempting unsuccessfully to seize control of the Universidades Populares, withdrew support from them and sabotaged the efforts of Ariel leaders. Interviews with González Areosa and Fernández Artuccio. Patrulla civil, May, 1933; and El Pueblo, January 26, June 21–30, and most dates in July, 1937.

50 Interviews with González Areosa and Fernández Artuccio; and minutes of the Consejo de Emergencia de la Universidad Popular Central, November 24, 1942, in the private collection of González Areosa.

51 The radicalizing influence of Ariel in the 1920’s and 1930’s was similar to that of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the U.S. during the 1960’s. On the SDS, see: Jr.Shoben, E. Joseph et al, “Radical Student Organizations,” in Foster, Julian and Long, Durward (eds.), Protest! Student Activism in America (New York, 1970), pp. 202214, 222;Google Scholar Bell, Daniel and Kristol, Irving (eds.), Confrontation; the Student Rebellion and the Universities (New York and London, 1968), pp. 6796, 129142;Google Scholar and Skolnick, Jerome H., The Politics of Protest (Washington, D.C., 1959), pp. 89129.Google Scholar

52 Concerning the role of the Ariel Center as leftist gadfly, see: El Centro de Derecho; el contenido y la forma,” Ariel, October, 1926, p. 3;Google Scholar and La orientación del Centro y de la Revista,” RCED, January-February, 1928, pp. 739742.Google Scholar

53 Interviews with Fernández Artuccio (who participated in the occupation of the Law School), and Arturo Figueredo (August 20, 1963); El Plata, June 30, 1930; El País, July 1, 1930, and other Montevideo newspapers of June 30 and July 1, 1930; and A.J.D. [Arturo J. Dubra], “El asalto a la Facultad de Derecho,” Ariel, May, 1930, pp. 9–11.

54 “El caso Radowitzky,” Ariel, May, 1930, pp. 10–11; “La Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios frente al caso Radowitzky,” ibid., pp. 20–21; and “Memoria de la Federación …,” FEUU, Memoria, p. 211.

55 Ibid., p. 216.

56 FEUU, “Manifiesto al pueblo,” Revista jurídica, (hereinafter cited as RJ) February, March, April, 1930, pp. 213–216.

57 FEUU, Memoria, passim, especially reports by Hector Armando Loubejac, pp. 59–60; Dubra, Arturo J., pp. 93118;Google Scholar and Figueredo, Arturo R., pp. 170171.Google Scholar

58 Ibid., p. 202. Note, however, that Batlle was not praised for his extensive social, economic, and political reforms.

59 Prunell, Arturo, “Imperialismo,” in ibid., pp. 135146;Google Scholar and Arosteguy, Amadeo, “Fuentes, utilización y defensa de la riqueza nacional,” ibid., pp. 147153.Google Scholar

60 “Resoluciones del Primer Congreso Nacional de Estudiantes,” Ariel, December, 1930, p. 17.

61 Information regarding student indifference to university politics and elections is drawn from data on elections published in various student magazines and from interviews with student leaders. On the average about 75% of the students failed to vote in the elections of the federated centers. Regarding the unsuccessful attempts of moderates to keep control of the Law Center, see: “La obra de la comisión directiva durante el ejercicio 1931–32 …,” RJ, January May, 1933, pp. 4–7; C., “Frente a los hechos: nosotros y ellos,” id., January-May, 1932, pp. 7–9; and “Unidad gremial,” Revista de estudios jurídicos y sociales, (hereinafter cited as REJS), March, 1935, pp. 9–11.

62 An excellent example of the leftist tactics in winning support for the “social function” of the university was the opening speech by José Pedro Cardoso to the National Student Congress of 1930, in FEUU, Memoria, pp. 18–22. See also: “Del movimiento estudiantil,” EL, January, 1926, pp. 8–9; FEUU, Memoria, pp. 211 212; “La función social de la Uni versidad,” Jornada (official newspaper of FEUU), July, 1934, p. 6; and “La Asamblea del Claustro,” REJS, March 1939, p. 15.

63 “Acción extra universitaria,” REJS, March, 1935, pp. 11–14; Jornada, November, 1933, p. 8, January, 1934, p. 7, July, 1934, p. 8, August, 1934, pp. 1 and 8, August 25, 1934, pp. 1 and 3, etc. The May Day Manifesto was published twice in Jornada, July, 1944 and October, 1939.

64 The present writer was an eyewitness of the cane worker program of FEUU in 1963–1964. Best news coverage of the cane worker episode was published in the newspaper Epoca. See especially issues of September 15, 1963, February 2 and 6, March 13, and April 6, 1964. Raul Sendic, later chief of the terrorist Tupamaros, was the leading organizer of the “March on Montevideo” by the cane workers.

65 “La dictadura y los trabajadores,” Jornada, November, 1933; “El mitin por la libertad y contra la dictadura,” ibid., November, 1934; “Acción extra universitaria,” loc. cit.; “Actividades del Centro Estudiantes de Derecho,” REJS, May, 1942, pp. 25–26; “El estudiantado frente a la dictadura,” Jornada, March, 1942; and interviews with Wáshington Viñoles, February 29, 1964, Hugo Trimble MacColl, September 3, 1963, and Luis Villemur Triay, February 25, 1964 (all of them student leaders of the 1930’s). Student disillusionment was greatest over the golpes of Gabriel Terra in 1933 and General Alfredo Baldomir in 1942.

66 The figures are taken from an opinion survey which I conducted between November, 1963 and March, 1964, with a sample of only seventy students. The sample was small but the survey’s reliability was confirmed by a second survey using a sample of 700 students.

67 If the students had been primarily concerned about “imperialism” in Uruguay, they would have selected Great Britain, the chief foreign economic power in their country in the 1920’s and early 1930’s, as the target of their attacks. However, a feeling of continental solidarity with other Latin American nations appears to have caused student activists to devote most of their attention to “Yankee imperialism.” Following is a brief sampling of the many anti-imperialist writings and pronouncements of student militants: “Alfredo L. Palacios declina una invitación,” EL, May, 1926, pp. 31–32; “La dignidad de America está comprometida,” RCED, November-December, 1927, pp. 625–626; “América cobarde,” RCED, January-February, 1928, p. 738; “Hoover y el Centro de Derecho,” RCED, July, 1929, pp. 339–341; “Sandino en la brecha,” EL, January, 1929. On the Good Neighbor policy: “Ni una palabra,” Jornada, November, 1933, pp. 1, 5; and “Los estudiantes de la Argentina y el Uruguay frente al Pan-Americanismo,” id., January, 1934, p. 2. Interviews with Fernández Artuccio, González Areosa, Quijano, Viñoles, and Villemur Triay.

68 “De Ariel a la realidad,” loc. cit.

69 Prunell, “Imperialismo,” loc. cit.

70 Arosteguy, “Fuentes,” loc. cit.

71 The anti-imperialist theme in FEUU’s activities needs no documentation because it was so relentless. For a few examples see: “Capitalismo, fascismo y guerra,” Jornada, November, 1933, p. 6; “Memoria,” RCED, April, 1945, pp. 32–36; “América herida pide acción,” Jornada, July, 1944, p. 3; “El tratado de comercio y amistad uruguayo-estadounidense,” id., March, 1950, p. 12; the entire issue of Jornada, May 13, 1953, devoted to the military pact between the United States and Uruguay; and “Una historia que no termina en Punta del Este,” Gaceta de la Universidad, July, 1962, pp. 22–25.

72 My survey of student opinion, May 1964, based on a sample of 700 students.

73 Ibid. Also, see text above related to footnote #67.