At our meeting on 22 October, Haringey & Hackney AWL branch discussed the myth of Peron, and working-class politics in Argentina. This was the third in our series of meetings about 'the politics behind the shows', following on from discussions on Vietnam (Miss Saigon) and the French revolution (Les Miserables).
Paul Hampton gave a talk about the issue: this is a summary of what he said.
Juan Peron is perhaps the most famous Argentinian (other than Diego Maradona!). Many people know of him through the musical and film, Evita.
The reality, though, is that he was populist, nationalist and pro-capitalist - what Marxists call a 'Bonapartist'. He destroyed independent working-class politics in Argentina for half a century.
Who was Peron? What are the myths and the reality? What is his legacy today?
A quick tour of Juan Peron's life:
1895: Born in a provincial town, into a middle-class family. Argentina was then the tenth richest country in the world, known as the 'world's granary'. Having won independence in the 1820s, it was still in effect part of the informal British empire, with a landed oligarchy.
1911: Joined the army at the age of 15.
1930: Captain Peron takes part in a coup which ousts nationalist leader Yrigoyen.
1938: Colonel Peron sees military service in Italy.
1943: Takes part in the coup by the United Officer Group. Peron becomes Secretary of Labour, then Minister of War, then Vice-President.
1945: Peron is briefly imprisoned, but released following big demonstrations in his support.
1946: Elected President with 52% of the vote.
1951: Re-elected President with 62% of the vote.
1952: Eva Peron dies.
1955: Peron is overthrown by a military coup, goes into exile for 18 years.
1973: Returns from exile, greeted by a million people at the airport. Re-elected President with 62% of the vote.
1974: Peron dies. His wife Isobel becomes President.
1976: Isobel Peron removed in a coup.
Myth and reality
The myth of Juan Peron is that he stopped US imperialism, liquidated British imperialism, and brought about economic independence, social justice and political sovereignty. That he was a friend of the working class, and a genuine nationalist and anti-imperialist. Chris Harman, in an article in Socialist Review, described Peron as representing "reformism in Argentinian conditions".
(a) A friend of the working class?
The case for this is that:
- Wages rose 50% between 1946 and 1949;
- Trade union membership rose from ½ million in 1946 to 2½ million in 1955;
- Peron brought in medical insurance, paid holidays, the aguinaldo (Christmas bonus) and a minimum wage.
But the case against is that:
- Wages fell between 1949 and 1955; and the number of strikes fell in the early 1950s too.
- The unions were purged of militants - Peron would typically allow a strike to drag on for some time, then concede some of its demands, then ensure that the strike's leaders were accused of being communists and sacked - for example, in the FOTIA sugar strike of 1948. This way, he could appear to be on the side of the workers, whilst at the same time ridding the workers' movement of its best organisers.
- Unions were recognised by the state, in a way which brought them under the wing of the state and strengthened their bureaucracy.
- Peron also set up an employers' organisation, the CGE.
Peron was anti-socialist. He banned socialist newspapers, and called socialism "a disease", "the worst sickness of the working masses". His aim was to "abolish struggle between classes, and get a just agreement between employers and employees" (May Day speech 1944). Peron told business leaders: "Do not be afraid of my trade unionism. I want to organise workers through the state - to neutralise the revolutionary currents that might place our capitalist society in danger."
(b) An anti-imperialist?
The case for this is that:
- Peron nationalised the railway industry in 1947, taking it away from its British owners;
- He built up Argentinian industry, and was the first Argentinian leader to promote industrialisation - such as the steel, auto, oil and airline industries;
- In the election his slogan was 'Peron vs Braden'. Braden was the interfering US ambassador, anxious to replace British hegemony with US influence.
However, the case against is:
- In nationalising the railway, Peron paid such high compensation to the British that, according to the Financial Times, the UK Parliament was too embarrassed to discuss it.
- He also signed the Foreign Investment Law 1953, and a deal with Standard Oil to develop the oil industry in Patagonia 1955 with the US.
It is also clear that Peron had sympathy with the Axis powers at least until 1942. He spent fifteen years of his exile in Franco's Spain - that is fascist Spain.
Peron's legacy
It is possible to test the argument that Peron destroyed independent working-class politics by looking at the state of the working-class movement since his time. Argentina's working class is ineffective, controlled by the trade union bureaucracy. The union leaders are militantly pro-Peronism, and hold the working class back. Trade unions are in decline, and - despite the political and economic crisis in Argentina - there is still no working-class party.
Both periods of Peron's rule were followed by military coups and dictatorship - both from 1955-73, and from 1976-82. Peronism was not able to prepare the working class to resist the military.
Argentina has since suffered under the neo-liberalism of Carlos Menem (1989-99), a Thatcherite who carried out "economic surgery without anaesthetic". He was able to do this because the Peronist trade union leaders held back strike action - for example, there was only one general strike during his period, compared with dozens before and after when the Radical Party held power.
So overall, Peronism was not a product of working class struggle, either by unions or for workers' political representation, but a top-down, state sponsored attempt to control the working class - as the best means to develop an independent Argentine capitalism.
