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Peronism

Chapter · January 2013

DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbespm366

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Peronism the charismatic bond built between Perón and
the popular sectors allowed for the replace-
FEDERICO M. ROSSI
ment of much of the previous labor movement
Peronism is one of the main social and political arrangements by ideologically transforming the
movements of contemporary Argentina. popular sectors (James 1988; Plotkin 2003).
Peronism owes its name to its founder Juan The combination of these elements built
Domingo Perón – three times president of a populist multiclass coalition that worked
Argentina (1946–1952, 1952–1955, and until the 1955 coup against Perón (Di Tella
1973–1974). Peronism is a national-populist 1990). However, from 1955 to 1973 the Per-
movement related to the first incorporation onist movement gradually added a youth left-
of laborers into Argentina’s political arena. wing sector and increased the role of unions
The movement since then has evolved and while detaching the industrialists and right-
diversified. wing elites. In this period the Peronist move-
ment was proscribed and entered into a phase
of state persecution that increased the move-
ORIGIN ment’s radicalization, leading to the creation of
Peronist guerrilla organizations.
The origin of Peronism is a highly contested
issue. The core of the debate is related to the
characterization of Peronism as a rupture or IDEOLOGY
a continuity with the past development of the
struggles of popular sectors (the poor and/or Justicialismo – a blending of the Spanish terms
marginalized strata) for incorporation in and for social justice – is the ideology proclaimed
transformation of the political regime. by Peronism. The scholarship on the Pero-
There are a number of factors that together nist movement has produced a rich debate
explain the origin of Peronism. The massive about its ideology, due to Perón’s changing dis-
internal migration of politically inexperienced course and scholars’ use of European analytic
poor people to the large urban areas dur- categories to explain a Latin American phe-
ing the 1930s produced a huge demographic nomenon. Justicialismo is founded on Social
change and the alienation of politically inex- Christian values and has three basic principles:
perienced new migrants (Germani 1973; Di social justice, political sovereignty, and eco-
Tella 1990). Simultaneously, there was an accu- nomic independence. In pursuit of these three
mulation of Communist and Socialist union principles, Perón elaborated two key notions.
struggles that produced a disparity between the The first is related to the location of Peronism
material expectations of redistribution and the as a movement in a third position “equidistant
few actual or perceived achievements obtained, from both idealism and materialism and, in
which led old and new union leaders to support terms of socio-economic models, counterposed
Perón for pragmatic and ideological purposes itself equally to capitalism and communism”
(Murmis & Portantiero 1971; Torre 1990). A (Gillespie 1982: 18). The second is related to
group of politically unrepresented elites also the societal model to achieve social welfare. The
found an opportunity to access power. Pero- organized community idea is one of direct state
nism included the emergent national industri- intervention to assure harmony between labor-
alists as well as politically marginal civil and ers and employers (Perón 1951). The Peronist
military right-wing and Social Christian intel- economic model could be considered as an
lectuals (Di Tella 1990; Brennan 1998). Last, emulation of the Scandinavian welfare states
The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements,
Edited by David A. Snow, Donatella della Porta, Bert Klandermans, and Doug McAdam.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbespm366
2 peroni s m

in a mixed economy with a central role for parties since the 1990s, such as the right-wing
unions in corporatist arrangements. In com- Movimiento por la Dignidad y la Independen-
parative terms, Peronism is the equivalent for cia and the center-left Frente Grande.
Argentina to the US New Deal, and Getúlio In brief, Peronism can be studied as a move-
Vargas’ Trabalhismo in Brazil. ment because it is composed of a network of
union, party, and social organizations that are
interrelated through grassroots branches and
PERONISM AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT informal gatherings, making use of contentious
and routine strategies for electoral and other
The great internal diversity of the Peronist political purposes. The Peronist movement has
movement has produced some confusion transcended any specific protest with periods of
among scholars due to equating the electoral latency and underground resistance networks
Partido Justicialista (PJ) with Peronism as during the 1955–1973 and 1976–1983 peri-
such. As the Sozialdemokratische Partei ods. Finally, as has happened with equivalent
Deutschlands is not the German labor move- labor-based movements elsewhere, Peronism
ment, the PJ is not the Peronist movement, developed a popular political culture that uni-
just the most important of a series of Peronist fies multiple actors and individuals, providing
parties. Even Perón asserted that Peronism them with an identity that does not require
was not a party but a movement (Perón membership.
1951), which was composed of four branches
during the 1946–1976 period: (1) political,
the electoral and patronage instrument based POLITICAL POPULAR CULTURE
on the PJ; (2) female, created by Evita Perón
after the enfranchisement of women and later Historically Peronism was the movement that
underdeveloped; (3) labor, by far the most first incorporated workers into the nation’s
developed and structured sector, based on the politics. For this reason, the formation of the
Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT); dominant laborers’ tradition in Argentina is
and (4) youth, incorporated in 1971–1974 intimately related to the Peronist movement.
through the creation of a Peronist student Peronism has an emblem, hymn, intellectuals,
movement and left-wing guerrilla organiza- and is the hegemonic political popular culture
tions such as the Montoneros (Gillespie 1982; of the poor people. Among the varied elements
McGuire 1997). From 1955 the industrialists of the Peronist popular culture, Evita is the best-
were gradually marginalized, through being known figure, sometimes even worshiped as a
represented in the weak Confederación saint comparable to the Virgin Mary (Karush
General Económica. & Chamosa 2010).
Redemocratization in 1983 and neoliberal The Peronist popular culture is the most
reforms from 1976 undermined the unions’ resilient element of the movement, resisting
power as the PJ mutated into a patronage- multiple persecutions and twists on elites’
machine party (Levitsky 2003). This new con- discourses and practices. The neoliberal
text produced a decline of the CGT influence policies of Carlos Menem’s (PJ) presidency
inside the PJ during the 1990s. At the same (1989–1995, 1995–1999) put into crisis some
time, the Peronist movement diversified, with of the Peronist national-populist principles,
the creation of the new union Central de Traba- while it showed the movement’s resilience.
jadores de la Argentina (CTA) in 1992, and the Martucelli and Svampa (1997) identified
piqueteros movement that mobilizes unem- union, revolutionary, and party pragmatic
ployed laborers in 1996. The PJ has been quite types of Peronist militants during the 1990s.
dominant but has been weakened by disputes Auyero (2000) provided a detailed analysis
within its constituency by alternative Peronist of the clientelistic grassroots logics of the
 peroni s m 3

PJ and the redefinition of the Peronist internal migrants). Desarrollo Económico 13(51),
anti-establishment mythical origins. 435–488.
In a new turn of Peronism, Néstor Kirch- Gillespie, R. (1982) Soldiers of Perón: Argentina’s
ner’s (2003–2007) and Cristina Fernández de Montoneros. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
James, D. (1988) Resistance and Integration: Pero-
Kirchner’s (from 2007) center-left Peronist
nism and the Argentine Working Class, 1946–1976.
presidencies have promoted a redevelopment
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
of some of the first incorporation and left-wing Karush, M., and Chamosa, O. (eds) (2010) The New
Peronist symbols and rhetoric while includ- Cultural History of Peronism: Power and Iden-
ing part of the piqueteros and unions in the tity in Mid-Twentieth-Century Argentina. Duke
government coalition. University Press, Durham, NC.
Levitsky, S. (2003) Transforming Labor-based Parties
SEE ALSO: Alienation and social movements; in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Com-
Charisma; Guerrilla movements; Ideology; parative Perspective. Cambridge University Press,
Labor movement in Latin America; Leadership; Cambridge.
Piqueteros (workers/unemployment movement Martuccelli, D., and Svampa, M. (1997) La plaza
in Argentina); Poor people’s movements; vacı́a. Las transformaciones del peronismo (The
Populism/populist movements. empty square. The transformations of Peronism).
Losada, Buenos Aires.
McGuire, J. (1997) Peronism without Perón: Unions,
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS Parties and Democracy in Argentina. Stanford Uni-
versity Press, Stanford, CA.
Auyero, J. (2000) Poor People’s Politics: Peronist
Murmis, M., and Portantiero, J.C. (1971) Estudios
Survival Networks and the Legacy of Evita. Duke
sobre los origenes del peronismo (Studies on the
University Press, Durham, NC.
origins of Peronism). Siglo XXI, Buenos Aires.
Brennan, J. (1998) Industrialists and bolicheros.
Perón, J.D. (1951) Habla Perón (Perón speaks).
Business and the Peronist populist alliance,
Subsecretarı́a de Comunicaciones, Presidencia de
1943–1976. In: Brennan, J. (ed.), Peronism and
la Nación, Buenos Aires.
Argentina. SR Books, Wilmington, NC, pp.
Plotkin, M. (2003) Mañana es San Perón: A Cultural
79–123.
History of Perón’s Argentina. SR Books, Wilming-
Di Tella, T. (1990) Latin American Politics: A The-
ton, NC.
oretical Framework. University of Texas Press,
Torre, J.C. (1990) Perón y la vieja guardia sindical. Los
Austin.
orı́genes del peronismo (Perón and the Old Guard
Germani, G. (1973) El surgimiento del peronismo: el
unions. The origins of Peronism). Sudamericana,
rol de los obreros y de los migrantes internos (The
Buenos Aires.
emergence of Peronism: the role of workers and

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