Peronism and Argentina (Latin American Silhouettes)

516 Pages·1998·1.22 MB·English

by  James P. Brennan

Peronism and Argentina Latin American
title:
Silhouettes
author: Brennan, James P.
publisher: Scholarly Resources, Inc.
isbn10 | asin: 0842027068
print isbn13: 9780842027069
ebook isbn13: 9780585196336
language: English
Peronism--History, Argentina--Politics and
subject government--1943- , Social movements--
Argentina--History--20th century.
publication date: 1998
lcc: F2849.P492 1998eb
ddc: 982.06
Peronism--History, Argentina--Politics and
government--1943- , Social movements--
subject:
Argentina--History--20th century.
Page iii
Peronism and Argentina
Edited By
James P. Brennan
A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint
Wilmington. Delaware
Page iv
Ó 1998 by Scholarly Resources Inc. All rights reserved First
published 1998 Printed and bound in the United States of America
Scholarly Resources Inc.104 Greenhill Avenue Wilmington, DE
19805-1897
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peronism and Argentina / edited by James P. Brennan.
p. cm. - (Latin American silhouettes)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8420-2706-8 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Peronism-History. 2. Argentina-Politics and
government-1943- 3. Social movements-Argentina-
History-20th century. I. Brennan, James P., 1955-.
II. Series.
F2849.P492 1998
982.06-dc21 97-46486
CIP
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for permanence of paper for
printed library materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Page v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The genesis of this book was a conference held on Peronism that was
organized by Juan Carlos Torre and myself at Harvard University in
1990. The assistance and encouragement of several people allowed us
to make the long journey from conference papers to book a number of
years later. All the contributors would like to thank Richard M.
Hopper of Scholarly Resources for his support of the project. I would
personally like to extend my gratitude to Tulio Halperin Donghi for
reading the manuscript, offering useful criticisms, and encouraging
me to pursue publication. A final note of thanks goes to Gabriel
Ondetti for skillfully editing my English translations of the chapters
written in Spanish.
Page vii
CONTENTS
Introduction ix
I
The Intellectual Debate
1 3
Interpretations of Peronism: Old Frameworks and New
Perspectives
Cristián Buchrucker
2 29
The Changing Perceptions of Peronism: A Review Essay
Mariano Plotkin
II
Peronism and Argentine Society
3 57
From Rebellion to Rupture: Peronist Party Politics in
Neuquén, 1961-1973
María Fernanda Arias
4 79
Industrialists and Bolicheros: Business and the Peronist
Populist Alliance, 1943-1976
James P. Brennan
5 125
The Ambivalent Giant: The Peronist Labor Movement,
1945-1995
Juan Carlos Torre
III
The Metamorphosis of Peronism
6 141
The Origins of Menemismo
Vicente Palermo
7 177
Reviewing the Past and Inventing the Present: The
Steelworkers of Villa Constitución and Menemismo,
1989-1992
María Cecilia Cangiano
Page viii
8 203
The Transformations of Peronism
Torcuato Di Tella
Selected Bibliography 223
Index 225
About the Contributors 233
Page ix
INTRODUCTION
In 1943 a military government that would rule Argentina for nearly
the next three years seized power. One member of that government,
Col. Juan Domingo Perón, would eventually come to have a
preponderant influence among the country's new military leaders,
largely because of the close relationship that he established with the
country's working class and trade union movement. With the support
of those sectors and with his charismatic wife, Evita, for almost a
decade, from 1946 to 1955, Perón as president exercised the kind of
power that few twentieth-century Latin American political leaders
have ever known. He transformed Argentina's political culture and
made deep changes, not all of them beneficial, in the country's
economic structure, social relations, and politics. The Argentine
historian Tulio Halperin Donghi has spoken of a "Peronist
revolution," a statement that might appear historical hyperbole but
which, if seen from the perspective of the Argentines themselves,
gains a certain credibility.
1 Certainly, the movement that Perón created would occupy a central
place in Argentine national life for a half-century.
Peronism remains a controversial subject. It has generated a vast
literature, both polemical and scholarly, and considerable
disagreement remains about its ideological orientation, social base,
and compatibility with a pluralistic, democratic society. Perón's
movement emerged at a particular historical juncture, with
international fascism not yet defeated and liberal capitalism still
tarnished by the global depression. On the one hand, in its origins
Peronism contained some clear authoritarian and corporatist
tendencies, tendencies that continued to characterize it-and arguably
still do-long after such ideas fell from favor. On the other hand, like
its fellow populist movements in Latin America but even more so,
Peronism opened society to previously excluded groups and classes
and incorporated them both discursively and materially into the
national mainstream. Its claim to be the great democratizing force in
twentieth-century Argentine history cannot be dismissed as mere
bombast, containing as it does a considerable degree of truth.