Nacionalismo (Argentine Political Movement)

''Nacionalismo'' was a far-right Argentine nationalist movement that around 1910 grew out of the "traditionalist" position, which was based on nostalgia for feudal economic relations and a more "organic" social order. It became a significant force in Argentine politics beginning in the 1930s. ''Nacionalismo'' was typically centred upon the support of order, hierarchy, a corporative society, militant Catholicism, and the landed estates (latifundia), combined with the hatred of liberalism, leftism, Freemasonry, feminism, Jews and foreigners. It denounced liberalism and democracy as the prelude to communism. The movement was also irredentist, declaring intentions to annex Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and some southern and eastern parts of Bolivia and even the British-held territory of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and its dependencies.

''Nacionalismo'' was strongly influenced by Maurassisme and Spanish clericalism as well as by Italian fascism and Nazism. After the 1930 Argentine coup d'etat, ''Nacionalistas'' firmly supported the entrenchment of an authoritarian corporatist state led by a military leader. ''Nacionalistas'' often refused to participate in elections because of their opposition to elections as a derivative of liberalism. Its advocates were writers, journalists, a few politicians, colonels, and other junior military officers; the latter supported the Nationalists largely because, for most of their existence, they saw in the military the only potential political saviour of the country.

Ideology

''Nacionalismo'' supported a "return to tradition, to the past, to sentiments authentically Argentine, ... othe reintegration of the nation with these essential values"; these essential values included Roman Catholicism, claiming that to the Church "the Nation should be linked as the body to the soul".David Rock. ''Authoritarian Argentina: The Nationalist Movement, Its History and Its Impact''. Berkeley, California, USA: University of California Press, 1993. Pp. 100. ''Nacionalismo'' opposed secular education, accusing it of being "Masonic laicism", and supported clerical control of education.

''Nacionalismo'' based its twin policy of opposition to liberalism and socialism, which it combined with its promotion of social justice, on the papal encyclicals of 1891 (''Rerum novarum'') and 1931 (''Quadragesimo anno''). ''Nacionalismo'' supported improving relations between the social classes to achieve the Catholic ideal of an organic, "harmonious" society.

History

Beginning in the mid-1930s, ''Nacionalistas'' declared their concern for the working classes and support for social reform, with the newspaper ''La Voz Nacionalista'' declaring "The lack of equity, of welfare, of social justice, of humanity, has made the proletariat a beast of burden ... unable to enjoy life or the advances of civilization". By the late 1930s, with industrial development increasing in the country, ''Nacionalistas'' promoted a policy of progressive income redistribution to allow more money to remain with wage-earners, thus allowing them to invest in and widen the economy, and increase industrial growth.

In the 1940s, the ''Nacionalistas'' rose from a fringe group to a substantial political force in Argentina.Leslie Bethell. ''The Cambridge History of Latin America: 1930 to Present''. Volume VIII. Cambridge, England, UK; New York, New York, USA; Oakleigh, Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. 47. In the 1940s, the ''Nacionalistas'' emphasized the need for economic sovereignty, requiring greater industrialization and the take-over of foreign companies. By the 1940s, the ''Nacionalistas'' was effectively run by the military clique known as the Grupo de Oficiales Unidos (GOU). The GOU was highly suspicious of the threat of communism and the ''Nacionalistas'' supported the revolution of 1943.

''Nacionalistas'' took control of President Pedro Pablo Ramírez's junta in October 1943, changing Argentina's foreign policy by refusing to permit any further discussion with the United States on the issue of breaking Argentina's relations with the Axis powers. The United States government responded by freezing the assets of Argentine banks in their country. In power, the ''Nacionalistas'' pursued a policy of social justice by supporting the appointment of Juan Perón (who later became the President of Argentina) as the head of the department of labour on 28 October 1943. Perón declared that the ''Nacionalista'' government was committed to a "revolution" that would keep national wealth in Argentina, give workers their dues, improve living standards without provoking class conflict, and attack both communism and international capitalism.

Facing pressure from the United States for Argentina to dissolve relations with the Axis powers, President Ramírez yielded on 26 January 1944. This was followed by ''Nacionalistas'' protesting this action and Ramírez banning all ''Nacionalista'' organizations in February. ''Nacionalista'' cabinet ministers resigned in protest, and the ''Nacionalistas'' subsequently overthrew Ramírez, retaining their hold on power of the government.Leslie Bethell. ''The Cambridge History of Latin America: 1930 to Present''. Volume VIII. Cambridge, England, UK; New York, New York, USA; Oakleigh, Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. 61.

As an ideology, ''Nacionalismo'' was militaristic, authoritarian, and sympathetic to the rule of a modern caudillo, who the Nationalists were frequently either hoping for or reinterpreting history to locate in the past. Along these lines, a significant part of the intellectual work of Nacionalismo was the creation of historical revisionism as an academic movement in Argentina. Nationalist historians published several works challenging the work of the liberal historians who had forged the dominant historical narrative of Argentina and presented 19th-century dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas as the kind of benevolent authoritarian leader that the country still needed.

While the nationalists themselves never really managed to maintain political power despite participating in a handful of successful coups throughout the 20th century (see, for example, José Félix Uriburu). Their lasting legacy, however, is twofold: first, their enormous influence over the political discourse of contemporary Argentina, where right, left, and centre have all been heavily influenced by their discourse, in part through second-hand clerical and military influences and in part through Perón's adoption of some of their ideas and language.

Second, the most recent military coup in Argentina was largely directed and conducted by Nationalists in the Argentine armed forces and most certainly dictated by their ideological legacy. The Montoneros who were their targets were also heavily influenced by ''Nacionalismo'', though their political convictions were very different from those of the military officers.

References

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Anti-Chilean sentiment
Anti-immigration politics in South America
Anti-Masonry
Antisemitism in Argentina
Argentine nationalism
Criticism of feminism
Fascism in Argentina
Fascist movements