Politics in Argentina, 1890-1930: The Rise and Fall of Radicalism

326 Pages·2009·3.92 MB·English

by  David Rock

CAMBRIDGE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
EDITORS
MALCOLM DEAS CLIFFORD T. SMITH JOHN STREET
19
POLITICS IN ARGENTINA
1890-1930
THE RISE AND FALL OF RADICALISM
THE SERIES
1 SIMON COLLIER. Ideas and Politics of Chilean Independence, 1808-1833
2 MICHAEL P. COSTELOE. Church Wealth inMexico:A Study of the Juzgado
de Capellanias in the Archbishopric of Mexico, 1800-1856
3 PETER CALVERT. The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1914: The Diplomacy
of Anglo-American Conflict
4 RICHARD GRAHAM. Britain and the Onset of Modernization in Brazil,
1850-1914
5 HERBERT S. KLEIN. Parties and Political Change in Bolivia, 1880-1952
6 LESLIE BETHELL. The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Britain,
Brazil and the Slave Trade Question, 1807—1869
7 DAVID BARKIN AND TIMOTHY KING. Regional Economic Development:
The River Basin Approach in Mexico
8 CELSO FURTADO. Economic Development of Latin America: A Survey from
Colonial Times to the Cuban Revolution
9 WILLIAM PAUL MCREEVEY . An Economic History of Colombia, 1845-
1930
10 D. A. BRADING. Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763—1810
11 JAN BAZA NT. Alienation of Church Wealth in Mexico: Social and Economic
Aspects of the Liberal Revolution, 1856-1875
12 BRIAN R. HAMNETT. Politics and Trade in Southern Mexico, 1750-1821
13 J. VALERIE FIFER. Bolivia: Land, Location and Politics since 182s
14 PETER GERHARD. A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain
15 P. J. BAKE WELL. Silver Mining and Society in Colonial Mexico, Zacatecas
1546-1700
16 KENNETH R. MAXWELL. Conflicts and Conspiracies: Brazil and Portugal
1750-1808
17 VERENA MARTINEZ-ALIER. Marriage, Class and Colour in Nineteenth-
century Cuba
18 TULIO HALPERIN-DONGHI. Politics, Economics and Society in Argen-
tina in the Revolutionary Period
19 DAVID ROCK. Politics in Argentina 1890-1930: The Rise and Fall of
Radicalism
POLITICS IN ARGENTINA
1890-1930
THE RISE AND FALL OF RADICALISM
DAVID ROCK
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521102322
© Cambridge University Press 1975
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1975
This digitally printed version 2009
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 74-12974
ISBN 978-0-521-20663-1 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-10232-2 paperback
CONTENTS
Preface page vii
1 The components of Argentine society, 1890—1914 1
2 The oligarchy and institutional reform, 1880-1916 25
3 The rise of Radicalism, 1891-1916 41
4 The workers and their politics in Buenos Aires,
1890-1916 67
5 The first Radical government, 1916-22 95
6 The strikes, 1916-18 125
7 The Semana Tragica 157
8 1919 180
9 Postscript to the first presidency, 1920-2 201
10 The Alvear interlude, 1922-8 218
11 Yrigoyen's second presidency, 1928-30 241
12 Perspectives 265
APPENDIXES
1 The occupational and class structure of the male
population of the city of Buenos Aires by nationality,
I9H 275
2 The rise of Radicalism - an historiographical note 279
3 The first Radical government and the Argentine Rural
Society 288
4 The working class vote for the Radical and yrigoyenista
parties in selected areas of Buenos Aires, 1912—30 299
Select bibliography 301 Index 309

PREFACE
The central theme of this book is the political inter-relationship between
different social classes in Argentina during the mature phase of the
primary export economy in the forty years up to 1930. I have adopted
for analysis four major groups: the landed and commercial elite of the
pampas region, foreign capital, as represented mainly by British interests,
the urban middle class and the urban working class, both mainly in the
city of Buenos Aires. Broadly I have attempted to explore the distribu-
tion of political power between them and the mechanics of their political
interactions with each other. I have also tried to show why attempts to
introduce a stable institutional relationship among them eventually
failed.
Secondly, the study analyses the development of the Argentine Radical
Party between its foundation in 1891 and the overthrow of the third
Radical government in the military coup of 1930. This is an attempt
to trace the development of Argentina's first major popular movement,
the specific social conditions which underlay its growth, the reasons why
the movement gained prominence during this period, and what it meant
in terms of the benefits and advantages to specific class and regional
groups. I was greatly tempted to employ the term 'populism' to describe
the structure and appeal of Radicalism. It would have been useful in
describing the integrative, polyclasist characters of the movement, its
tendency to maintain its unity by focussing attentions onto its leader,
Hipolito Yrigoyen, and its use of mass mobilisation techniques of a
kind which have become increasingly familiar in Latin American
politics. The difficulties with it, however, are well-known. It is easy to
point to some of its characteristics, but impossible to define it with any
degree of accuracy. Where the term does occur it has therefore been
used in a general sense with no attempt being made to give it any techni-
cal attributes.
I have also attempted to relate each of these items to the broad course
of Argentina's economic development, in terms of basic variables such
as the export trade cycle. The aim here has been to explore the extent
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Preface
to which the features of the primary export economy overlapped and
correlated in Argentina at the superstructural level of politics and
institutions.
The book is also a detailed historical study, which aims to utilise
a wide variety of material to create a personal picture of this period of
Argentina's development. In different parts of the book I have referred
to a large number of subsidiary subjects and issues and, where the
occasion appeared to demand it and in the modest hope of stimulating
further discussion, I have made critiques of the work of other authors
in various footnotes and appendixes. In addition to the fact that it deals
mainly with the city of Buenos Aires, there is one other important
qualification to be made about the book. It treats much more fully the
period between 1912 and 1930 than it does 1890 to 1912. Most of the
material for the early sections is based on published sources, and there
is here a great deal of scope for further research. These sections have
been included because they are necessary for the later argument.
The structure of the work is as follows: Chapter 1 contains a brief
summary of Argentina's development up to 1914 and introduces the
main subjects of discussion. Chapter 2 is an account of Argentine politics
before the introduction of representative government in 1912. Chapter
3 is a study of the early history of Radicalism, and Chapter 4 an assess-
ment of working class political development before 1916. The rest of the
book deals with the period between 1916 and 1930: the objectives and
performance of different Radical governments, the working class
problem during the First World War, and relations between the elite
and the urban middle class in Buenos Aires up to the Revolution of 1930.
The last chapter is an outline summary of conclusions, and an attempt
to fit the study into a wider framework of Argentina's history.
I wish to record my acknowledgements to the institutions which have
supported my studies. Between 1967 and 1970 I was awarded a Parry
Grant for Latin American Studies by the British Department of Educa-
tion and Science. This allowed me an eighteen-month period of field
work in Buenos Aires in 1968 and 1969. It also took me a long way
towards completing a doctoral dissertation in 1970, in which much
of the material in this book appeared in a raw state. I must also ack-
nowledge the later assistance I had from the Cambridge University
Centre of Latin American Studies. Only by virtue of my appointment
as research officer in the Centre, and because of the small demands it
made on my time, was it possible for me to complete my work. I also
had a further travel award from the Centre in 1972, which enabled me
to visit Argentina for a second time to complete my data collection.
viii
Preface
Without wishing to identify them with any of the errors I may have
made, I wish, too, to record my acknowledgements to a number of friends
and colleagues, who have helped me materially with my work. Among
them are Mr Alan Angell, Sr Osvaldo E. Baccino, Professor Samuel L.
Baily, Dr D. A. Brading, Mr Malcolm Deas, Ing. Torcuato S. Di Telia,
Dr Ezequiel Gallo, Professor Paul Goodwin, Lie. Leandro Gutierrez,
Professor Tulio Halperin Donghi, Mr Paul Joannides, the late Professor
D. M. Joslin, Dr Walter Little, Professor D. C. M. Platt, Dr John Street,
Sr. Juan Carlos Torre and Professor Joseph S. Tulchin.
The Twenty-Seven Foundation generously provided me with funds
for typing my final drafts, and Mrs Hilary Prior painstakingly typed the
final manuscript.
I have also benefited immeasurably from the time I have spent in the
Argentine Republic and from the many people I have had the opport-
unity of talking to personally.
I must, however, reserve my final and greatest acknowledgement
to my wife, Rosalind, without whose support I could not have completed
my work.
The translations from the Spanish and the various calculations which
appear in this book are mine unless acknowledged differently.
Cambridge D. R.
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