Peronism, Provenance and Identity, part one.

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The Argentine nation is not going through the best times, the current government led by Mauricio Macri has had to ask for a ransom from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the reality is that over the last few decades devaluations, inflation, the crisis and especially payment interruptions have been recurrent in the politics and economy of Argentina. While all this process has taken place, a very recognized political project that has had an almost absolute influence. Peronism has been maintained.      

In the 30's of the 20th century, Argentine nationalism lived a golden age, Argentina was undoubtedly the great power of South America, despite the crisis of 1929 it was still one of the ten richest countries in the world, with an immensely better salary than in Europe. In spite of all this, the crisis of 1929 had caused damage to the nation. In the midst of all the chaos caused by this crisis in 1930, the first military coup took place, a coup endorsed by many economic, political and social sectors, strongly supported by the conservative side. Under all this scenario of militarism, nationalism and authoritarianism it was usual that many officers of the Argentine army were sent to Germany and Italy to take advanced courses. One of the most outstanding officers on these trips was Juan Domingo Perón whose destination was Italy, a nation in which he was able to understand and study precisely what the organization of the government of Benito Mussolini was like, without knowing that shortly afterwards he would have the opportunity to put these learned concepts into practice.   

At the beginning of the forties, Argentina was under the control of a corrupt and quite authoritarian government, a government that had consummated an electoral fraud and that wanted to remain in power at all costs. In these circumstances, on June 4, 1943, a group of young officers of the Argentine army carried out a coup d'état, with a supposed objective of restoring a transparent electoral system. Among the officers was Perón, after the 1930 coup d'état this was the second that Argentina suffered, during the following 30 years the country suffered 4 more coups d'états. The 1930 coup was the one that opened the doors of politics and power to Lieutenant Colonel Juan Domingo Perón, one can practically say that from that moment the modern history of Argentina began.  

•   The moment of opportunity.  

During the two and a half years that the military government lasted, Perón's career was swift, and at first he had to occupy a few outstanding positions, such as head of the labor department, a position that was very bureaucratic at the time. Thanks to his outstanding political intelligence Perón managed to make this position a leap for his rise to power, from the first moment in politics Juan Domingo Perón applied all the knowledge obtained in Mussolini's Italy, highlighting as the first step to win the support of the unions; in this way every time the labor department had to participate in a dispute between the employers and the unions that supported Perón, almost always the first ones, the employers had all the to lose, after this the popularity of this military did not stop increasing. At the time Perón was appointed Minister of War and shortly after Vice President of the Republic, without leaving aside trade union and labor policy, and Perón knew that these policies were going to be of vital importance for his political escalation.   

In 1945, the military leadership asked him to distance himself from the government. Many actors already thought that Perón's career had come to an end, but nothing could be further from reality. Perón had learned in Europe the enormous and considered impact that the media had on people and decided to ask his superiors to say goodbye on a national radio station, in his farewell message he thanked the support that the working classes had given him and questioned the continuity of the social benefits that he had promoted, this was a clear example that his policies were based on a populist format. The effect was immediate, in the days to come the unions mobilized in favor of Perón, on October 17 several thousand workers took the plaza of May, the vital center of Argentine politics. The confused government, observing how events occurred, asked Perón to calm the masses, an action that he carried out only after agreeing with the top of the army that would be a candidate in the next elections and that he would have at his disposal with the extraordinary support of the public powers.   

•   The attack on the firmament. 

Once he was a candidate, all he had to do was win the elections, at that time Argentina was under the control of the military in such a way that in order to elaborate meetings it was necessary for the approval of the government and the electoral elections were not something foreign to this, however the campaigns of Perón's party were authorized. Their opponents did not suffer the same fate, for them the process was much slower, in addition, Perón had almost complete access to the most transcendental means of communication of the moment, the national radio station that was owned by the government. Likewise, the government at Perón's disposal approved the payment of vacations for all workers, with an additional salary at the end of the year, using this as an electoral weapon. He was able to take advantage of these actions.   

It stands out that the State Department of the United States acted in the campaigns in favor of the opponents to Perón, publishing a report known by the name of the "blue book", in which he was aware of Perón's activity, as well as that of his military allies in favor of Adolf Hitler's regime. In spite of this, Perón knew how to take advantage of this situation, giving it a connotation of struggle between him (according to him, he represented Argentine sovereignty) and the United States. With these plays Perón won the elections in Argentina, not with an overwhelming victory but he achieved his mission, to be president of the nation.   

•   Perón in power.  

When Perón came to power Argentina was among the ten richest countries, the country was an international creditor, a power like the United Kingdom owed him money, thanks to all this the new president had the resources to implement his political proposal. A political approach that had three fundamental bases: political sovereignty, economic independence and social justice. In practice what he did was to change the nation into a kind of army under the orders of a warlord, his leader. Perón decided to nationalize an infinite number of companies, especially those associated with public services, such as communications, transportation and energy, and he also placed the banking sector under the control of the government, approving innumerable limitations on foreign trade.   

In this way Perón achieved an important popular support, keeping the tariffs of public services even below their cost and employing a large number of workers for the government and for companies of people linked to the government, these measures generated a high public expense, the most precise way for this government but not the correct way to finance it, was the issuance of paper currency without any kind of support, more bills but without value. During the first years of all this process due to all the money that was injected into the economy things seemed to go successfully, the drawback is that it was not sustainable. While the government generated a great expense, competitiveness in the nation was increasingly precarious, in a few years the positive balance of trade balance had disappeared along with private sector investment; therefore some prices suffered a considerable rise.

By virtue of this, the government of Perón did not assume any type of responsibility but rather directed the responsibility for the problems to sectors labeled as speculators who were attacking the Argentine economy. The government opted for price regulation measures; absurd controls that at one time affected bread production, something quite serious in a country with a sufficiently large agricultural industry.   

A problem unrelated to Perón's crisis was the 1853 constitution, which did not allow a ruler to stay in power, preventing immediate ratification. A big problem for someone who wanted to hold power for a long time.     

•   Political reform 

In 1949, as the previous constitution represented an obstacle Perón decided to give life to a complete constitutional reform, the new constitution placed the state as the main and fundamental base of Argentine society. The representation of this project is expressly seen in the preamble of the constitution, where the three pillars of Juan Domingo Perón's political thesis were placed, denominated by him as a "constitution for all". The results of all these transformations were that the investment had disappeared, the macro data were deficient every time, the country was in crisis and the companies were in a state of virtual bankruptcy due to lack of investment and looting of resources. Perón's new model became a machine to elaborate poverty, of course, all this in a veneration of the leader and his wife, Eva de Perón.  

Due to all these factors, Argentine society was in crisis and in September 1955 another coup d'état took place, this time against the government of Perón, discovering in the government residence a great quantity of luxuries for a president who proposed a simple lifestyle without opulence. This coup did not put an end to the Peronist system of government; it has had a long life. Today, Peronism is found in Argentina with an important percentage of citizens supporting its ideas.   

In part two of this article we will talk about Peronist governments and their characteristics. I hope you like it! Kevin Origuen, Venezuela.