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Peronism (Spanish: Peronismo), or Justicialism (Justicialismo), is an Argentina political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Domingo Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón. Perón's party, the Partido Justicialista derived its name from the Spanish words for "Social Justice" (Justicia Social).
The definition of Peronism has been debated throughout the history of the twentieth century in Argentina and elsewhere, not finding a single definition within or outside of this movement, either because they live in different expressions, or because it takes different characteristics in each historical period. The best way to understand it is to see what points his supporters and his opponents believe that summary.
From the opposition side, Peronism is seen as a vertical and authoritarian movement, he was often associated with fascism regimes and contemptuously defined as populism (in the sense of demagoguery). It is also criticized his self-proclamation as the embodiment of nationality while the rest would be the anti-country, and little attachment to the institutions and rules. In this sense it is criticized by the left because it´s corporatist conception, for demagoguery and to maintain a status-quo in capitalism, from the conservative for the social raising mobility and the constant social convulsion, and from progressive-democrats for his authoritarian style.
From the defenders could be classified also as a populist movement (but in the sense that it embodies and defends the interests of the people, defining people as the poor sectors and workers). It is proposed as a new ideology that goes beyond the extremes of capitalism and socialism (raised as a third position), for that it considers him anti-imperialist and was part of the Non-Aligned Movement countries It considers that there are "three flags" both synthesis and program: Social justice, Economic Independence and Political Sovereignty. For the Peronism is necessary to articulate the interests of a national-bourgeoisie with the workers, while the state as mediator. Main branch is recognized as the workers movement and their unions. Peronism exceeds a political party, is more a cultural manifestation with different expressions and contradictions that are expressed in game, for that it is called movement.
Since its dawn in 1945, Peronism has won 8 out of the 10 presidential elections it was not banned from participating in, and Perón himself remains the only Argentine to be elected president three times.
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Perón's ideas were initially widely embraced by a variety of different groups in Argentina across the political spectrum. Perón's personal views would eventually become a burden on the ideology; for example, his anti-clericalism did not strike a sympathetic chord amongst upper-class Argentinians.
Perón's public speeches were consistently nationalist and populist. It would be difficult to separate Peronism from corporate nationalism, for Perón nationalized Argentina's large corporations, blurring distinctions between corporations and government. At the same time, the labor unions became corporate, relinquishing the right to strike in agreements with Perón as Secretary of Welfare in the military government from 1943-45. In exchange, the state was to assume the role of negotiator between conflicting interests.
Overthrown in a coup that started a dictatorship in 1955 (the Revolución Libertadora), led by General Aramburu, Perón spent 18 years in exile, mostly in Francisco Franco's Spain. Though his feelings for Franco were mixed, Perón never disguised his admiration for Benito Mussolini's fascist domestic policies.
Perón and his administration never resorted to systematically organized violence or dictatorial rule. To a large extent what stifled his opposition was the resounding electoral victory which put him and his party in power. Perón showed contempt for any opponents, and regularly characterized them as traitors and agents of foreign powers. Perón maintained the institutions of democratic rule, but subverted freedoms through such actions as nationalizing the broadcasting system, centralizing the unions under his control, and monopolizing the supply of newspaper print. At times, Perón also resorted to heavy-handed tactics such as illegally imprisoning opposition politicians and journalists, including UCR leader Ricardo Balbin, and shutting down opposition papers, such as La Prensa.
Peronism also lacked a strong interest in matters of foreign policy other than the belief that the political and economic influences of other nations should be kept out of Argentina; he was somewhat isolationist. Early in his presidency, Perón envisioned Argentina's role as a model for other countries in Latin America and beyond. Such ideas were ultimately abandoned. Despite his oppositional rhetoric, Perón frequently sought cooperation with the U.S. government on various issues.
Perón's fascism was economic and political in character and did not delve into the racism of Nazi Germany, though he was sympathetic to the Nazi government. He personally made arrangements for many Nazi war criminals and collaborators to be smuggled to Argentina under false passports after the Second World War. Among them were Joseph Mengele, Adolf Eichmann, and Erich Priebke.
Before Perón came to power in Argentina, Argentina had the largest Jewish population in Latin America. After becoming president, he invited members of the Jewish community to participate in his government. One of his advisors was José Ber Gelbard, a Jewish man from Poland. Peronism did not have anti-Semitic or other racial bias.[1] The Jewish Virtual Library writes that while Juan Perón had sympathized with the Axis powers, "Perón also expressed sympathy for Jewish rights and established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1949. Since then, more than 45,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel from Argentina." [2] In the book Inside Argentina from Perón to Menem author Laurence Levine, former president of the US-Argentine Chamber of Commerce, writes: "although anti-Semitism existed in Argentina, Perón's own views and his political associations were not anti-Semitic....[3] While Perón allowed many Nazi criminals to take refuge in Argentina, he also attracted many Jewish immigrants. Argentina has a Jewish population of over 200,000 citizens, the largest in Latin America and one of the largest in the world.[4]
Perón's admiration for Mussolini is well documented.[5] Many scholars categorize Peronism as a fascist ideology.[6] Carlos Fayt believes that Peronism was just "an Argentine implementation of Italian fascism".[6] Hayes reaches the conclusion that "the Peronist movement produced a form of fascism that was distinctively Latin American".[6]
One of the most vocal critics of Peronism was the noted Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. After the Perón ascended to the presidency in 1946, Borges spoke before the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE), saying
"Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of caudillos, prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies, mere discipline usurping the place of clear thinking... Fighting these sad monotonies is one of the duties of a writer. Need I remind readers of Martín Fierro or Don Segundo that individualism is an old Argentine virtue."[7]
The absence of Perón, who lived for 20 years in exile in Francoist Spain, is an important key to understanding Peronism. After he went into exile, he could be invoked by a variety of Argentine sectors opposed to the current state of affairs. The personality cult of Eva Perón, in particular, was conserved by supporters, while despised by the "national bourgeoisie". In the 1960s, John William Cooke's writings became an important source of left-wing revolutionary Peronism. Left-wing Peronism was represented by many organizations, from the Montoneros and the Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas to the Peronist Youth, the Frente Revolucionario Peronista and the Revolutionary Peronist Youth, passing by Peronismo en Lucha or Peronismo de Base, which supported a Marxist viewpoint. On the other hand, older Peronists formed the base of the orthodox bureaucracy, represented by the Unión Obrera Metalúrgica (Augusto Vandor, famous for his 1965 slogan "For a Peronism without Perón," and declaring as well: "to save Perón, one has to be against Perón", or José Ignacio Rucci). Another current was formed by the 62 Organizaciones "De pie junto a Perón", led by José Alonso and opposed to the right-wing Peronist unionist movement. In the early 1970s, left-wing Peronism rejected liberal democracy and political pluralism as the mask of bourgeois domination. The anti-communist right-wing Peronism also rejected it, in the name of corporatism, claiming to return to a "Christian and humanist, popular, national socialism".[8]
By 1970, many groups from opposite sides of the political spectrum had come to support Perón, from the left-wing and Catholic Montoneros to the fascist-leaning and strongly anti-Semitic Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara, one of Argentina's first guerrilla movements. In March 1973, Héctor José Cámpora, who had been named as Perón's personal delegate, was elected President of Argentina. A few months after Perón's return and the subsequent Ezeiza massacre, during which the Peronist Left and Right violently clashed, new elections were held in September. José Cámpora, a left-wing Peronist, was replaced by interim President Raúl Alberto Lastiri, while Perón chose to openly support the Peronist right. On October 1, 1973, senator Humberto Martiarena, who was the national secretary of the Superior Council of the National Justicialist Movement, publicized a document giving directives to confront "subversives, terrorist and Marxist groups" which had allegedly initiated a "war" inside the Peronist organizations.[8] From then on, the Superior Council took a firm grip on the Peronist organizations to expel the Left from it.[8] On that same day, a meeting took place among President Raúl Lastiri, Interior Minister Benito Llambí, Social Welfare Minister José López Rega, general secretary of the Presidency José Humberto Martiarena and various provincial governors, which has been alleged to have been the foundational act of the Alianza Anticomunista Argentina death-squad.[9]
The official Peronist party is the Justicialist Party (PJ), which was the only Peronist party for a long time. During the government of Carlos Menem a group of legislators led by Carlos Álvarez, known as the "Group of 8", left the party, claiming that the government was not following Peronist doctrines. They created a new party, the "Frente Grande" (Broad Front). A short time later, José Octavio Bordón left the PJ as well, fearing that he might lose a primary election against Menem, so he created his own party to take part in the 1995 elections, and allied with Álvarez' Broad Front in the Frepaso coalition. Similar breakaway movements followed frequently after that, creating many small parties which were led by single politicians claiming to be the authentic inheritors of Peronism.
The PJ did not participate as such during the 2003 elections. The party allowed all three precandidates to run for the general elections, using small parties created for that purpose. Néstor Kirchner won the elections running on a Front for Victory ticket. As he did not disband his party after the election, Kirchnerism relies on both the PJ and the Front for Victory.
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