Peron and Peronism

Introduction

Peronism is an Argentine political phenomenon born on 17 October 1945. Its name comes from an army colonel named Juan Perón, a key figure of the military dictatorship established in 1943. Three periods can be identified in the history of Peronism: 1943–1955, 1955–1976, and 1976–present. During the first period, Perón was elected president twice, and his wife, Eva, acquired star status. Intensive social policies were carried out by the government at the expense of society, and there was an increasing political polarization. Following a clash with the Catholic Church, Perón was ousted by the army generals in September 1955. The Peronist Party was banned, and Peronism was thought to disappear—but it did not. Political instability characterized the second period. The dilemma was how integrate Peronism into the democratic fold. When a solution was found after eighteen years, it implied Perón’s return to Argentina and to the presidency. By then, Peronism had turned into a labor-based party. Once in office again, Perón had to confront rising political violence. When he died, Isabel Perón failed to follow in his footsteps. The armed forces removed her, and a new period began for Peronism and Argentina. During the third period, Peronism changed again. After losing the 1983 presidential election that put an end to the last military dictatorship, Labor lost influence vis-à-vis the newly elected governors and mayors. At this point, Peronism turned into a political force based upon extended clientelistic networks. The literature on the first period is overwhelming and still growing. The literature on the second period focuses mainly on what were the main Peronist actors while Perón was in exile—trade unions and guerrillas and their peripheral organizations. The literature on the third period is much thinner, because, with Peronism’s merging into mainstream politics, there was less need for specific studies.

General Overviews

All general overviews on Peronism deal with the 1943–1955 period, but there is none covering its whole history to the present. Gambini 2008 comes close to completing this task but stops in 1983. The author leaves out, consequently, the history of Peronism since the restoration of constitutional rule, a period that has undergone significant changes. Gambini 1999, Gambini 2001, and Luna 1984–1986 are good narrative introductions, but they focus almost exclusively on political events. Torre 2002 offers the greatest coverage of the subject, with many chapters written by scholars who have whole books on the same issues. Waldmann 1974 provides deep, still valuable insights into the Perón regime. Zanatta 2009 is the best introduction to the subject for readers who have no previous exposure to it because the author takes into account early 21st-century scholarship and addresses all relevant issues.

Gambini, Hugo. Historia del peronismo. Vol. 1, El poder total, 1943–1951. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Planeta, 1999.
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The author was a member of the Primera Plana team that prepared, back in the mid-1960s, the first journalistic history of Peronism, characterized by heavy reliance on the actors’ accounts. He takes advantage of that experience to write a narrative history underlining the nondemocratic traits of the Perón regime.
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Gambini, Hugo. Historia del peronismo. Vol. 2, La obsecuencia, 1952–1955. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Planeta, 2001.
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A sequel to Gambini 1999, this volume covers from Perón’s re-election as president to his fall. As in the first volume, much information can be found, but not a systematic, academic approach.
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Gambini, Hugo. Historia del peronismo. Vol. 3, La violencia, 1956–1983. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Planeta, 2008.
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By choosing violence as the standpoint to render the history of Peronism after Perón’s downfall, the author leaves to one side the slow process leading to its full integration into the democratic realm. Keener on narrative fluency than on political analysis, he retains in this volume the journalistic flavor characteristic of the previous ones.
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Luna, Félix. Perón y su tiempo. 3 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1984–1986.
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The author was an opposition activist who was imprisoned and tortured during the Perón regime. But, he opposed Perón, the man, rather than his policies. Four decades later, when he published this book, he was a well-known historian who had made his name in the field of popular rather than academic history. This book addresses mainly the general public, but scholars cannot ignore it.
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Torre, Juan Carlos, ed. Nueva historia argentina. Vol. 8, Los años peronistas, 1943–1955. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 2002.
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Specialists in every field are brought together to summarize their own book-length contributions on different aspects of the Perón regime. Consequently, there are chapters by Potash, on the army; Navarro, on Eva Perón; Caimari, on the Catholic Church; and so on. Torre’s own contributions are first-rate studies. Anyone interested in the Perón regime should read this book after Zanatta 2009.
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Waldmann, Peter. Der Peronismus, 1943–1955. Kritische Wissenschaft. Hamburg, West Germany: Hoffmann und Campe, 1974.
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Its 1981 Spanish translation became an instant classic in Argentina. Today, readers may find less interesting its theoretical framework, drawn from what was then-current social science of the 1970s, than its superb analysis of the main traits of Perón’s regime.
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Zanatta, Loris. Breve historia del peronismo clásico. Translated by Carlos Catroppi. Nudos do la historia Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 2009.
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A brief book, certainly, but in no way insignificant. It offers a balanced narrative of the Perón regime, referred to, in the early 21st century, as classic Peronism to tell it apart from its later history. As other distinguished non-Argentine scholars have done, the author has turned distance from the scene into an asset to study Peronism free from the weight of past and present political pressures and ephemeral, fashionable opinions.
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Reference Works

The most important reference works on Peronism are Horvath 1988 and Horvath 1993, which include practically all works on Peronism until the time of publication. Some works, although not concerned with Peronism itself, supply important information for anyone reading about it. Such is the case of Molinelli, et al. 1999, which supplies institutional information that covers the Peronist administrations, among others, and Graham-Yooll 2006, which provides a fifty-year chronology also covering Peronism. Gerchunoff and Llach 2003 allows readers to set Peronist economic policies in a long-term perspective. Germani 1955 and Torrado 1992 supply background information on the social structure of Argentina during and after the Perón regime. Cisneros and Escudé 1998–2003 is the best introduction to the study of Argentine foreign relations, and several volumes cover the Peronist administrations of the 1940s–1950s, 1970s, and 1990s.

Cisneros, Andrés, and Carlos Escudé, eds. Historia general de las relaciones exteriores de la República Argentina. 15 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Grupo Editor Latinoamericano, 1998–2003.
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A general history of Argentina’s foreign relations, the Perón regime is covered by Volume 11, dealing with economic relations, 1943–1989; and Volume 13, with political relations, 1943–1966. The foreign political relations of the 1970s Peronist administrations are dealt with in Volume 14, and those of the 1990s, in Volume 15. Volume 12 is devoted to a single issue—the Falklands-Malvinas diplomacy, 1945–1989.
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Gerchunoff, Pablo, and Lucas Llach. El ciclo de la ilusión y el desencanto: Un siglo de políticas económicas argentinas. Rev. ed. Ariel sociedad económica. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 2003.
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One century of Argentine economic policies serves as framework for those of the Peronist administrations. A balanced, jargon-free narrative that can be easily understood by general readers.
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Germani, Gino. Estructura social de la Argentina: Análisis estadístico. Biblioteca Manuel Belgrano de estudios económicos. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Raigal, 1955.
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Based mainly upon the 1947 national population census, this book was a turning point in Argentine sociological studies. Although it does not deal directly with Peronism, it discusses the demographic and socioeconomic structure of the Argentine population at the beginning of the Perón regime.
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Graham-Yooll, Andrew. Tiempo de tragedias y esperanzas: Cronología histórica, 1955–2005: De Perón a Kirchner. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Lumiere, 2006.
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An uneven but very useful chronology. The periods 1955–1977 and 2000–2005 are much better covered than the intervening years. However, anyone studying those fifty years of Argentine history should have this work at hand.
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Horvath, Laszlo. Peronism and the Three Perons: A Checklist of Material on Peronism and on Juan Domingo, Eva and Isabel Peron, and Their Writings, in the Hoover Institution Library and Archives and in the Stanford University Libraries. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 1988.
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The Hoover Institution library and archives probably hold the best collection of books and documents on Peronism in the world. For sure, there should be many more books on the subject there than there were at the time of this publication, but as the only access to that collection is through the Stanford Library catalog, this checklist still is a valuable research tool.
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Horvath, Laszlo. A Half Century of Peronism, 1943–1993: An International Bibliography. Hoover Press Bibliography. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 1993.
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At a time when online searches where not that easy, Horvath put together a bibliography on Peronism that even today cannot be ignored by scholars.
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Molinelli, N. Guillermo, M. Valeria Palanza, and Gisela Sin. Congreso, presidencia y justicia en Argentina: Materiales para su estudio. Colección política y sociedad. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Temas Grupo Editorial, 1999.
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Institutional information on congress, the presidency, and the judiciary system in Argentina from 1862 to 1998. No narrative, just data.
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Torrado, Susana. Estructura social de la Argentina, 1945–1983. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor, 1992.
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Following Germani’s footsteps, the author updates his views with evidence taken from four Argentine national population censuses, from 1947 to 1980. Torrado’s book is a sociological study concerned with the social structure. Students of Peronism may find it useful as a background for understanding political events and social policies.
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Juan Perón and Eva Perón

Juan Perón and Eva Perón occupied center stage for a whole decade in 1940s–1950s Argentina. For that reason, they have been the subject of widespread attention in the many years since. Once in a while, their names show up in the international press, usually associated with colorful people and situations. Perón delivered countless speeches and published several books. During his exile, he wrote many letters as well, which were not included in his complete works. Their lives have also been subject of fictions and films.

Writings

Perón wrote several books, some of them while president, others while in exile. All of them, plus countless speeches and interviews, are now in Perón 1997–2006. Eva Perón’s writings are limited to a single work, La razón de mi vida (Perón 1951), published shortly before her death in 1952.

Perón, Eva. La razón de mi vida. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Peuser, 1951.
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In December 1951, terminally ill, Eva Perón published this book explaining her fight against injustice and her devotion to Perón. Hundreds of thousands of copies were circulated, and it was made compulsory reading for children at school. This ghost-written, platitude-ridden book was the cornerstone of the quasireligious cult of Eva that emerged soon after her death on 26 July 1952.
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Perón, Juan Domingo. Obras completas. 2d ed. 28 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Fundación pro Universidad de la Producción y del Trabajo, 1997–2006.
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Its presentation is poor. Sources are not identified. A scholarly apparatus is missing. However, there is no other way to take a look at Perón’s printed words from the beginning to the end of his political career. A useful tool, but it should be used carefully. There is a 1984–1989 first edition with a different volume count. Scholars would prefer to work with the original sources.
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Correspondence

During his eighteen-year exile, Perón wrote letters by the thousands and perhaps received them in equal measure. His archives, unfortunately, are lost. Thanks to the efforts of individuals and institutions, some of those letters have been preserved. Perón 1983–1985 is Pavón Pereyra’s random collection of letters from many different dates and correspondents. Perón 1991 has the Perón letters then held by the Hoover Institution. Perón and Cooke 1972 is a collection of letters exchanged between the two correspondents, mainly from mid-1957 to early 1959.

Perón, Juan Domingo. Correspondencia. 3 vols. Edited by Enrique Pavón Pereyra. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Corregidor, 1983–1985.
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The outcome of a nonacademic endeavor made by Enrique Pavón Pereyra, the author of Perón’s first biography, this disparate set of letters is no doubt useful, as Perón’s personal archive is lost. Their time span is wide, and the correspondents are too numerous. A key tool despite this, for students of Peronism.
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Perón, Juan Domingo. Cartas del exilio. Edited by Samuel Amaral and William E. Ratliff. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Legasa, 1991.
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These letters, held by the Hoover Institution archives, were sent by Perón mainly between late 1955 and late 1957 to María de la Cruz, a Chilean admirer; to Hipólito Paz, a former foreign relations secretary and ambassador to the United States; and to Ronald Hilton, a Stanford University professor. A list of all the Perón letters published by 1990 is included as well as the key to the encryptions in Perón and Cooke 1972.
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Perón, Juan Domingo, and John William Cooke. Correspondencia Perón-Cooke. 2 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Papiro, 1972.
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In late 1956, Perón appointed Cooke as his political heir. For two years there was an intense exchange between them. Afterward, Cooke was cast aside. Not all letters have been included by the anonymous editor (probably Alicia Eguren, Cooke’s widow), and the originals are lost. However, Perón’s peculiar epistolary style allows for a careful use of these volumes.
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Memoirs

Perón did not publish his memoirs. The closest approach to them are Luca de Tena, et al. 1976 and Martínez 1996. Both books are based upon interviews with Perón, taped while he was in exile in Madrid. Although the origin of the latter is clearly established, that of the former is not. However, Perón’s voice can be heard in both of them. Pavón Pereyra meant to Perón what Eckermann did to Goethe. The outcome of Pavón Pereyra’s efforts are displayed in several books, but Pavón Pereyra 1993 is the most elaborated of them.

Luca de Tena, Torcuato, Luis Calvo, and Esteban Peicovich. Yo, Juan Domingo Perón: Relato autobiográfico. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, 1976.
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In Madrid, before the end of his exile, Perón decided to tape his memoirs. A woman close to his family gave the tapes to a publishing house. Three journalists were hired to turn that testimony into a book. Until those tapes show up, this book cannot be taken as Perón’s word unless confirmed by other sources.
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Martínez, Tomás Eloy. Las memorias del general. Espejo de la Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Planeta, 1996.
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Perón wrote his memoirs, his secretary read them, and Martínez taped him and his occasional comments. The outcome was published in an Argentine news magazine in 1970. Later, prompted by Martínez to update it, Perón refused. The author, then, looked for other sources to complement them.
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Pavón Pereyra, Enrique. Yo, Perón. 2d ed. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Milsa, 1993.
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The first-person voice used in this book pretends to be Perón’s. Perhaps it is. The author’s method was to have daily interviews with Perón while he was in exile in Madrid and then go back to the author’s hotel to write down whatever Perón had said. The author had already published two books of his conversations with Perón, but this one is more elaborated.
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Biographies and Fiction

Juan Perón and Eva Perón are the subject of many books, but two biographies stand out—Page 1983, on him, and Navarro 2005, on her. A turning point in the studies on Eva Perón was Borroni and Vacca 1970. First-class political fiction can be found in Martínez 1999 and Martínez 1996. More or less fictional accounts of Eva’s life are offered by such creative writers as the authors of Posse 1995 and Dujovne Ortiz 1995.

Borroni, Otelo, and Roberto Vacca. La vida de Eva Perón. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Galerna, 1970.
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Two seasoned journalists looked for witnesses. This book was a turning point when it was published. For the first time, Eva Perón’s life was examined in depth and far from clichés.
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Dujovne Ortiz, Alicia. Eva Perón. Paris: B. Grasset, 1995.
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A novelistic, French-language account of Eva Perón’s life, also available in English and Spanish. Halfway between fiction and history, it is based upon a sound research of the literature and on interviews.
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Martínez, Tomás Eloy. Santa Evita. Translated by Helen Lane. New York: Knopf, 1996.
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This is fiction, but based again upon careful research. Eva Perón’s life is the subject of this novel that covers the story of her embalmed corpse as well. Abducted after Perón’s downfall in 1955, its whereabouts were unknown until it was returned to him in 1971. Then, he placed it in the attic of his Madrid home. Another best seller.
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Martínez, Tomás Eloy. The Perón Novel. Translated by Helen Lane. New York: Vintage International, 1999.
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Research for this book began when the author interviewed Perón in the mid-1960s. As it is fiction, the author can delve into the characters’ minds in a way forbidden to historians. Spinning around Perón’s return to Argentina in 1973, after his protracted exile, the narrative goes back and forth in time, covering most of Perón’s life. The author, a seasoned journalist, turned Perón’s story into a best seller.
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Navarro, Marysa. Evita. Rev. ed. Biografía. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Edhasa, 2005.
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The standard Eva Perón biography. A previous version, coauthored with Nicholas Fraser, is available in English. Those who can read the language should prefer the last Spanish edition.
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Page, Joseph A. Perón: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1983.
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The standard Juan Perón biography. A highly readable book that provides balanced information on all aspects of Perón’s life.
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Posse, Abel. La pasión según Eva. 2d ed. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Emecé Editores, 1995.
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Another rendering of Eva’s life by a well-known novelist. More than halfway fiction; the author uses the third person but also the first to account for Eva’s thoughts and even her corpse’s musings.
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Essays

Juan Perón and Eva Perón have been the subjects of essays exploring their significance for Argentina’s politics and history. Sebreli 1971 was a turning point in the approaches to Eva Perón’s life. Alexander 1979 summarizes the author’s long acquaintance with Perón. Taylor 1979 is an attempt at the deconstruction of a myth.

Alexander, Robert J. Juan Domingo Perón: A History. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1979.
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More an interpretation than a biography; the author takes advantage of his lifelong concern about Argentina and Perón, on whose regime he published one of the earlier studies, in 1951. An appendix includes the notes taken by the author of his interview with Perón in Madrid, in late 1960.
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Sebreli, Juan José. Eva Perón: ¿Aventura o militante? 4th ed. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial La Pléyade, 1971.
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An enlarged edition of the 1966 original, this book offers an approach to the Eva Perón phenomenon inspired by Sartre’s existentialism and de Beauvoir’s feminism. It was a turning point in the interpretations of Eva Perón’s life.
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Taylor, J. M. Eva Perón: The Myths of a Woman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.
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An anthropological study of Eva Perón’s life and myth. An exploration of her role as a feminine and revolutionary icon.
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Films

Eva Perón appeared in a few films and was the star in a couple of them. Those films are poor and do not add anything to her political significance. Perón was not the star in any film, but Grupo Cine Liberación 1971 and Favio 1999 bring his image into life.

Favio, Leonardo, dir. Perón: Sinfonía del sentimiento. Buenos Aires, Argentina: 101 Producciones, 1999.
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An almost six-hour account of the role Perón and Peronism in Argentine history. A semidocumentary, this film uses images with more aesthetic than historical accuracy. An avowed Peronist, the director aims at an emotional and political impact on the viewers.
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Grupo Cine Liberación, dir. Perón: La revolución justicialista. 1971.
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Perón was interviewed in his Spanish exile, between June and October 1971, by a group of Argentine filmmakers close to then-operating guerrilla organizations. A testimony of the 1970s radical youths’ views, this film also carries his words, later transcribed in a tract under the title “Actualización política y doctrinaria para la toma del poder.” The film is available, whole or segmented, on many Internet sites.
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Ideas and Ideological Background

The sudden emergence of Peronism on the political scene conceals that it expressed ideas that had long been current. Authoritarian ideas had worldwide currency in the 1930s and early 1940s. Their influence on the Argentine political and intellectual environment is traced by Halperin Donghi 2003. Nationalism was one the most powerful political forces at that time both in Argentina and in Europe. Buchrucker 1987 and Piñeiro 1997 study those nationalist ideas and their influence on the Perón regime. The ideas being debated in Argentina from the 1940s to the 1970s are examined by Altamirano 2001 and Sarlo 2001. The former focuses upon the ideas prevailing in the Argentine society at large, whereas the latter does so in the more restricted but no less influential intellectual field. None of these books deals with Peronism as such, but all of them are necessary for understanding why Perón’s actions and proposals had an immediate and long-lasting impact on Argentine politics.

Altamirano, Carlos, ed. Bajo el signo de las masas (1943–1973). Biblioteca del pensamiento argentino. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 2001.
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A selection of passages from a wide range of authors—writers, politicians, army and navy officers, economists, industrialists, revolutionaries—dealing with the integration of “the masses” into the political order. Rather than a research tool, this is useful as a first approach to ideas on that issue over three decades. The editor’s introduction is extremely helpful for that purpose.
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Buchrucker, Cristián. Nacionalismo y peronismo: La Argentina en la crisis ideológica mundial (1927–1955). Colección historia y cultura. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1987.
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The aim of this book is to set the so-called Peronist Doctrine in the context of the ideological battles of the 1930s through the 1950s. Only its last third is devoted to the study of that doctrine, but the previous two-thirds allow us to understand its background and linkages with Argentine and European nationalisms.
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Halperin Donghi, Tulio. Argentina y la tormenta del mundo: Ideas e ideologías entre 1930 y 1945. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo XX Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 2003.
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Authoritarian ideas proliferated in the 1930s, in the world at large as much as in Argentina. This book does not deal with Peronism, but it is the best introduction to the ideas that helped bring it about.
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Piñeiro, Elena. La tradición nacionalista ante el peronismo. Buenos Aires, Argentina: A-Z Editora, 1997.
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Nationalism was an intellectually strong, but politically weak, force in Argentina in the 1930s and 1940s. Perón thought the nationalists were not helpful at all as political allies, but their ideas were certainly influential during his terms in office. The author examines a wide range of nationalist periodicals to evaluate their influence on Peronism.
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Sarlo, Beatriz. La batalla de las ideas (1943–1973). Biblioteca del pensamiento argentino. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 2001.
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A companion to Altamirano 2001. Both books share the same characteristics. In this case, the passages selected are from intellectuals. The editor’s introduction is extremely helpful as well for setting into the proper context the confrontation of ideas that took place over three decades.
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The Emergence of Peronism

The emergence of Peronism surprised everybody. In early October 1945, expectations for the survival of the military dictatorship informally led by Perón were quite low. Fascism had just been defeated in Europe and Japan, so democracy had to come back to Argentina. But then, 17 October came. Torre 1995, Senén González and Lerman 2005, and Plotkin 2007 explain what happened that day and its consequences, whereas Luna 1969 focuses upon the whole year rather than on a single day. The masses, it seemed, had rescued Perón from oblivion and were supporting his bid for the presidency. From then on, the question was why had they done so. Why did the workers support Perón rather than class parties? Germani 1956 was an answer to that question—recent migrants, new workers, were politically organized by Perón rather than by traditional political parties. Murmis and Portantiero 1968 challenged that view. For the authors of this book, “old workers” did support Peronism as well. Political isolation had prevented them from reaping the benefits of economic growth through redistribution in the previous decade, and Perón was carrying it out. Torre 2006 has focused upon the “old trade union guard” to account for its crucial role in the emergence of Peronism and its later subordination by Perón. Perhaps the “old workers” cast their votes for Perón, perhaps the new workers did so, but in the 1946 presidential election there was a landslide for Perón even in provinces with neither old nor new workers. Who voted for Perón in those provinces? Macor and Tcach 2003 was the first contribution to show what happened there—traditional provincial political machines supported Perón, disregarding the opposition of national party leaders. The debate on the origins of Peronism has shifted away from class analysis into provincial politics.

Germani, Gino. “La integración de las masas a la vida política y el totalitarismo.” Cursos y Conferencias 48.273 (1956): 153–176.
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The debate on the origins of Peronism began with this article, later included in the author’s Política y sociedad en una época de transición, de la sociedad tradicional a la sociedad de masas (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Paidós, 1962). Migrants from the traditional society had moved into the industrial one. Perón took advantage of that available, uprooted mass. This article says much more about Peronism, but critics only paid attention to that issue.
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Luna, Félix. El 45: Crónica de un año decisivo. Los argentinos. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Jorge Alvarez, 1969.
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A prolific, versatile author, Luna combines in this book his writing skills with sound research to account for the emergence of Peronism. The forces at play in that crucial year are deployed with literary mastery, emphasizing the actors’ unawareness of future developments. A masterpiece.
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Macor, Darío, and César Tcach, eds. La invención del peronismo en el interior del país. Santa Fe, Argentina: Universidad Nacional del Litoral, 2003.
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This valuable book contributes to a new understanding of the emergence of Peronism by studying provincial politics rather than the national scene. The outcome of a new trend of studies that emerged in the late 1990s, it is a turning point in the literature.
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Murmis, Miguel, and Juan Carlos Portantiero. Estudios sobre los orígenes del peronismo. Vol. 1, Crecimiento industrial y alianza de clases en la Argentina (1930–1940): El movimiento obero en los orígenes del peronismo. Sociología y política. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Vientiuno Argentina Editores, 1968.
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An influential study on the emergence of Peronism inspired by the authors’ reading of Gramsci. Subsequent studies have undermined its main argument—that the working class reacted to Perón’s 1943–1945 actions in a rational way because they had undergone a decade of political isolation and of economic growth without redistribution. However, students should pay attention to this contribution because much of the subsequent literature is related to it.
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Plotkin, Mariano Ben. El día que se inventó el peronismo: La construcción del 17 de octubre. Nudos de la historia argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 2007.
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A brief but detailed account of the emergence of Peronism on 17 October 1945. It covers as well the subsequent celebrations of Loyalty Day, as known in Peronist lore. This book aims at the general public, but academic readers cannot ignore it.
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Senén González, Santiago, and Gabriel D. Lerman, eds. El 17 de octubre de 1945: Antes, durante y después. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Lumiere, 2005.
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Multifarious approach to the day when Peronism emerged. Chapters by Senén González and Troncoso supply new information that helps to put those events in a perspective different from that based upon the myth created during the Perón regime.
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Torre, Juan Carlos. La vieja guardia sindical y Perón: Sobre los orígenes del peronismo. 2d ed. Caseros, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, 2006.
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A key contribution to the origins of the Peronism debate. Torre traces the path followed by trade union leaders, from their lukewarm support of Colonel Perón before 17 October 1945 to the 1946 electoral victory and subsequent loss of their political autonomy. In an appendix the historical narrative is complemented by sociological analysis from an article the author published one year before the first edition of this book (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1990).
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Torre, Juan Carlos, ed. El 17 de octubre de 1945. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 1995.
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Different academic approaches to 17 October 1945. Chapters by Plotkin on the changes undergone by Loyalty Day celebrations, De Ipola on Perón’s 17 October address to the masses, Neiburg on the 17 October myth, and James on local episodes that open up new ways of interpreting the day Peronism was born.
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The Armed Forces

Perón was an unknown army colonel in early 1943; perhaps only the members of Grupo de Oficiales Unidos (GOU), a military lodge, knew him. Robert Potash published the secret papers of that lodge (Potash 1984). After the 4 June military coup, Perón made his way through the ranks of the administration, rising from second-in-command to the secretary of war, to secretary of labor, to vice president, just in one year and one month. His comrades saw him as an articulate representative of their views. In early October 1945, owing to mounting opposition, some influential officers thought his magic was not working. After 17 October, however, they recovered their faith and supported his run for the presidency. On the whole, the army remained loyal to him up until late 1954. Perón’s clash with the Catholic Church led many officers to withdraw their support quietly. Potash 1969–1996 offers a magisterial historical analysis of the relationship between the military and the Perón regime. When the navy staged an uprising in September 1955, with the help of a few army units, the generals thought it was enough and accepted Perón’s resignation—an illegal but quite practical procedure. Ruiz Moreno 1994 gives a fully detailed account of that process. From then on, after several purges, the army took a staunch anti-Peronist stance. For the following eighteen years this would be the main obstacle to Perón’s return from exile. Those years were plagued by internal strife within the services because of changing views on Perón, triggered by the Cuban Revolution and the spread of guerrillas throughout Latin America. Potash 1969–1996 studies those conflicts and the process that finally led to Perón’s comeback. Rouquié 1978, from a different perspective, complements Potash’s analysis.

Potash, Robert A. The Army and Politics in Argentina. 3 vols. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1969–1996.
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The standard work on the political involvement of the army in Argentine politics from 1930 to 1973. Refined political analysis is the key to the long-lasting success of Potash’s volumes. He weighs the evidence, considers different motivations, and advances his explanation—and all that clearly written and with a keen sense of narrative development. History at its best.
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Potash, Robert A. Perón y el GOU: Los documentos de una logia secreta. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1984.
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Decades of mystery surrounding the actual meaning and purposes of GOU, the secret lodge that helped Perón in his first political steps, are unveiled by Potash. These documents show the army officers’ concern about the Communist threat and to what extent the Catholic Church’s ideas regarding a new, nondemocratic political order (see Zanatta 1999, cited under The Catholic Church) were seen as a solution to that problem in early 1943.
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Rouquié, Alain. Pouvoir militaire et société politique en République argentine. Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1978.
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This books covers roughly the same time period as Potash 1969–1996. Readers may find its language too 1970s. However, its sociological approach makes it still worthwhile reading and complementary to Potash’s historical account.
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Ruiz Moreno, Isidoro J. La revolución del 55. 2 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Emecé Editores, 1994.
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An extremely detailed Lapierre-and-Collins-inspired (according to the author, whose pantheon includes Ryan, Moorehead, and Toland as well) account of the military uprising that put an end to Perón’s rule. The actions of all actors, even minor ones, are accounted for. Sound history that can be read as fiction.
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The Catholic Church

During the 1930s the Catholic Church grew nervous with Communism—as did most army officers. The June 1943 military coup was to achieve the church’s and army’s common goals by setting up an authoritarian, Catholic-inspired military regime similar to those of Franco and Salazar, as Zanatta 1999 shows. As World War II came to an end, authoritarian regimes were dismissed by the Pope as an answer to Communism, but the Catholic Church paid a price for its earlier success; Perón was the unexpected, unwanted consequence of those previous schemes. Unlike pious Franco, he was sharing the roof with an upstart radio play actress who would soon become his second wife (he was then a widower). As president, Perón went on implementing social policies inspired by the social doctrine of the church. Yet although influential, as shown by Caimari 1995 and Bianchi 2001, the Catholic Church was not directly involved with the Perón regime. (The church’s influence, however, was strong in education, at all levels.) The dynamics of the Perón regime led to a confrontation with the church in late 1954, a conflict covered by Caimari 1995, Bianchi 2001, and Di Stefano and Zanatta 2000. Perón might have been also planning to establish a national church, as suggested by Bosca 1997. After playing a key role in Perón’s downfall, the Catholic Church looked for ways to mend relations, as shown by Di Stefano and Zanatta 2000. In later years, influenced by the Second Vatican Council, its lower ranks adopted liberation theology. As soon as they sided with the poor, they discovered Peronism. Carlos Mugica was the symbol of Peronist priests. The Movement of Priests for the Third World was not directly involved with Perón but was extremely influential among the members of a new generation that claimed to be Peronist and that practiced urban guerrilla warfare. There are a few monographs on the subject, but the best introduction remains Di Stefano and Zanatta 2000.

Bianchi, Susana. Catolicismo y peronismo: Religión y política en la Argentina, 1943–1955. Colección Saguna. Tandil, Argentina: Instituto de Estudios Histórico Sociales “Prof. Juan Carlos Grosso,” 2001.
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Although it overlaps with subjects previously treated by Caimari 1995, Bosca 1997, and Zanatta 1999, this book, in some of its aspects, goes beyond them. The task to relate it to the previous literature is largely left to the reader, but as sources have been exhaustively explored, it is a worthwhile read.
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Bosca, Roberto. La Iglesia nacional peronista: Factor religioso y poder político. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1997.
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Perón aimed at establishing a national church subordinated to his regime; that is the author’s thesis. He studies the religious elements in Peronism and its religious policies. The 1954 clash between Perón and the Catholic Church is not seen, however, from a perspective radically different from those of Caimari 1995 and Bianchi 2001.
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Caimari, Lila M. Perón y la Iglesia Católica: Religión, estado y sociedad en la Argentina, 1943–1955. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 1995.
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Two chapters on the history of the Catholic Church in Argentina and on its reaction vis-à-vis the emergence of Peronism have been superseded by further scholarship. The remaining eight chapters are still valid. The 1954–1955 clash is explained as a consequence of inner dynamics of the Perón regime.
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Di Stefano, Roberto, and Loris Zanatta. Historia de la iglesia argentina: Desde la conquista hasta fines del siglo XX. Colección historia Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Grijalbo Mondadori, 2000.
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An overview of the history of the Catholic Church in Argentina, but there is no better coverage for its history during Peronist years and beyond, until the end of the 20th century. The authors’ approach is political, rather than religious or institutional.
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Zanatta, Loris. Perón y el mito de la nación católica: Iglesia y Ejército en los orígenes del peronismo (1943–1946). Translated by Luciana Daelli. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1999.
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The Catholic Church had invested heavily to have a new Franco in Argentina, but a year after the 1943 military coup a colorful Perón was leading the pack. Out of that mess, Zanatta wrote a masterpiece. It shows, once more, not only that no human endeavors end as previously thought, but also that the traces of strange projects linger on.
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The Trade Unions

Perón courted the trade unions even before he was appointed president of the Departamento Nacional de Trabajo (a fourth-rank agency in the Argentine administration) on 27 October 1943, his first appointment outside the military realm. Years later, he would say that his stay in Italy in the late 1930s had convinced him that there was a revolution in the making and that social changes should be introduced, therefore, to prevent a “Red” one. The June 1943 military coup allowed him to implement his views, which were shared to a large extent by fellow officers. The outcome of his efforts is accounted for by Campo 1983. The unions were thought to have been isolated and under pressure in the 1930s, so their reaction to Perón’s advances was considered natural. Further scholarship by Gaudio and Pilone, in Torre 1988, and Horowitz 1990 show they had been quite successful in solving industrial conflicts during the 1930s; their positive reaction toward Perón’s efforts was the continuation of a relationship already developed with government agencies. The difference with the past was that Perón, as an official of a military dictatorship, was not encumbered by democratic niceties. Not all trade unionists, however, were ready to support Perón. Their doubts proved true once he was president: first the Labor Party and then the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), the trade union confederation, were subordinated, as argued by Torre 2006. Di Tella 2003 does not agree with that view, although this detailed study of the pre- and post-Perón union leadership does not provide a clear-cut answer to the continuity–discontinuity question. Doyon 2006 covers the history of trade unions during the Perón regime. After its fall, the trade unions became the backbone of Peronism. James 1988 devotes most of its study to the 1955–1973 period, and Torre 2006 looks at the trade unions’ behavior and influence during the 1973–1976 Peronist administrations.

Campo, Hugo del. Sindicalismo y peronismo: Los comienzos de un vínculo perdurable. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales, 1983.
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The first half of this book deals with the labor movement up to the early 1940s. The second half concerns Perón’s advances and the labor leaders’ reactions from late 1943 to the failure of the Labor Party. This book explains how and why the labor movement became Peronist. The narrative is very close to sources, so their voices can still be heard.
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Di Tella, Torcuato S. Perón y los sindicatos: El inicio de un relación conflictiva. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 2003.
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Trade unions of the pre-Perón era were not an autonomous actor that was first co-opted and then subordinated by Perón. Unlike Torre 2006, Di Tella supports the view that although some degree of continuity may be found, new trade union leaders emerged after Perón’s electoral victory. More important, Di Tella sees Peronism as emerging from a mass phenomenon in which the trade union leadership participated only to a limited extent.
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Doyon, Louise M. Perón y los trabajadores: Los orígenes del sindicalismo peronista, 1943–1955. Translated by Horacio Pons, Moira McKinnon, and Celina Suárez. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 2006.
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Research for this book was done in the mid-1970s, so it addresses the issues then prevailing in the origins of Peronism debate. Although further research by other scholars has gone beyond the text’s findings, in that respect, it is still a valid history of trade unions under the Perón regime.
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Horowitz, Joel. Argentine Unions, the State and the Rise of Perón, 1930–1945. Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, University of California, 1990.
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The institutional history of five trade unions is traced from the 1930s up until the emergence of Perón. The book shows the unions’ nondemocratic internal practices and their eagerness to develop a relationship with the federal government. In that way, it helps in understanding why trade unionists were ready to accept Colonel Perón’s advances from 1943 to 1945.
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James, Daniel. Resistance and Integration: Peronism and the Argentine Working Class, 1946–1976. Cambridge Latin American Studies. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
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From Perón’s downfall in 1955 up until the mid-1980s, trade unions were the backbone of Peronism. This book covers much of that period. By showing them to be neither bureaucracies nor revolutionary organizations, the author uses all colors in his palette to depict the trade unions and their activities at a time when the unions were still struggling to become a legitimate political actor. Peronism served as a political vehicle, but as an embodiment of their identity as well.
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Torre, Juan Carlos, ed. La formación del sindicalismo peronista. Ensayo crítico. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Legasa, 1988.
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The trade unions before and during the Perón regime are the subject of contributions to this book. The two chapters by Gaudio and Pilone, along with Horowitz 1990, have changed the prevailing views on the trade union–federal government relationship before Perón’s emergence. Chapters by Torre and Doyon are previews of Torre 2006 and Doyon 2006.
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Torre, Juan Carlos. La vieja guardia sindical y Perón: Sobre los orígenes del peronismo. 2d ed. Caseros, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, 2006.
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Torre traces the trade union leaders’ path, from their early contacts with Colonel Perón to the 1946 electoral victory. The labor movement, Torre argues, had an opportunity for autonomous political development, but Perón cut it off. However, it left a permanent imprint on Peronism. An appendix includes the sociological framework given by the author in an article published one year before the first edition of this book (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1990).
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Political Parties

It was thought that the Peronist Party did not exist, as such, being just a bureaucracy. Mackinnon 2002 shows that at least up until 1950, there was inner life in it, and Aelo 2010 points in the same direction. Over the years, however, internal political competition was put down by Perón. His model of a party would materialize in the Feminine Peronist Party, created by Eva Perón in 1949. As shown by Barry 2009, it aimed not only at mobilizing women, but also at preventing their competition for political positions; whatever anyone got, she should get it from above. García Sebastiani 2005 offers the only study of opposition parties under the Perón regime but, as the text stops at 1951, the final years are left aside. The evolution of Peronism as a political party (the Justicialista Party, its official name beginning in 1958) is dealt with by Levitsky 2003. The latter studies the transformation of Peronism from a labor-based party, as it was from Perón’s downfall until the early 1980s, into the clientelistic party built by governors and mayors after democracy was restored in 1983.

Aelo, Oscar H., ed. Las configuraciones provinciales del peronismo: Actores y prácticas políticas, 1945–1955. La Plata, Argentina: Instituto Cultural de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2010.
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Peronism was considered for a long time to be a nonparty. Early-21st-century research shows there was inner life in it. This book accounts for the emergence of Peronism and the history of the Peronist Party in about half of the Argentine provinces until 1955, revealing its peculiarities as a political party.
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Barry, Carolina. Evita capitana: El Partido Peronista Femenino, 1949–1955. Caseros, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, 2009.
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Eva Perón organized a women-only political party soon after the franchise was extended. This book studies the organization and practices of that party during its brief life, revealing both how the political participation of women was secured and how Perón took advantage of that. A key contribution to the study of Eva Perón’s political significance.
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García Sebastiani, Marcela. Los antiperonistas en la Argentina peronista: Radicales y socialistas en la política argentina entre 1943 y 1951. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Prometeo Libros, 2005.
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There is no other study on the opposition to Perón by the Radical and Socialist Parties. A key book, therefore, for understanding what was going on in non-Peronist Argentina. It does not cover, however, the conflictive final years of the Perón regime.
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Levitsky, Steven. Transforming Labor-based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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From 1947 to 1955 the Peronist Party was ruled from above. From 1955 to 1983, the Justicialist (Peronist) Party’s backbone were the trade unions. After the 1983 electoral defeat, the institutional organization of Peronism shifted away from the unions. The newly elected governors and mayors started building clientelistic networks that turned into the new backbone. This book accounts for this latter transformation.
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Mackinnon, Moira. Los años formativos del partido peronista, 1946–1950. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 2002.
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The Peronist Party was thought to be just a bureaucracy. Mackinnon accounts for the process that led to the creation of that party and its early life. Unfortunately, the final years of the Perón regime are not covered, sparing that previous image from a complete overturn.
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Electoral Performance

Peronism won eight of twelve presidential elections from 1946 to 2007. The Radical Party won the other four, including two while Peronism was banned. Perón himself won three elections—those of 1946, 1951, and September 1973. The other five elections were won by a stand-in in March 1973; by Carlos Menem in 1989 and 1995; and by Néstor Kirchner and his wife, Cristina, in 2003 and 2007. Peronism, as well as its leaders, changed along its sixty-five-year history, but its ability to win elections remained intact because of the support of “the popular classes.” Why they supported Peronism instead of leftist parties was a question looked at for the first time by Germani 1955. The electoral performance of Peronism from 1946 to 1975 is the subject of Mora y Araujo and Llorente 1980. Cantón 1973 studies the elections from 1916 to 1966, including, consequently, many elections with Peronist direct or indirect participation. Zalduendo 1958 covers the outcome of the first election after the ban on Peronism. Maronese, et al. 1985 and Cantón 1986 deal with the 1983 presidential election, the first loss by Peronism. For more recent times, Cheresky and Blanquer 2003 and Cheresky and Pousadela 2004 shed light on its performance in some provincial, county, and town elections.

Cantón, Darío. Elecciones y partidos políticos en la Argentina: Historia, interpretación y balance, 1910–1966. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 1973.
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A historical analysis of elections from 1910 to 1966, focusing upon the periods 1912–1930 and 1946–1955. The author’s interpretation sounds dated, as the book was written before the 1973 elections, but his analysis of the Peronist period elections is still interesting reading.
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Cantón, Darío. El pueblo legislador: Las elecciones de 1983. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Centro Editor de América Latina/Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Sociales, 1986.
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An analysis of the 1983 presidential election in the city of Buenos Aires and in La Matanza, one of the most populous districts in the province of Buenos Aires. It is based upon the electoral results, the opinion polls, and a comparison with the previous (1973) election. The book studies the socioeconomic characteristics of voters, their opinions on several issues, and the changes in political loyalties. Peronism unexpectedly lost that election.
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Cheresky, Isidoro, and Jean-Michel Blanquer, eds. De la ilusión reformista al descontento ciudadano: Las elecciones en Argentina, 1999-2001. Rosario, Argentina: Homo Sapiens Ediciones, 2003.
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A research program on electoral history led by Isidoro Cheresky is responsible for the chapters included in this book on the 1999 and 2001 elections. These chapters are concerned with provincial and local politics more than with the national scene, and not just with Peronism. In that way, Peronism can be seen as it really is and how it was doing beyond the limelight of the big stage.
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Cheresky, Isidoro, and Inés Pousadela, eds. El voto liberado: Elecciones 2003: Perspectiva histórica y estudio de casos. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Biblos, 2004.
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Another product of Cheresky’s research program. Chapters on several provinces, counties, and towns reveal how Peronism and other parties were doing at that level in the 2003 election. This book and Cheresky and Blanquer 2003 show how fluent the Peronist identity had become and the peculiarities of politics beyond the national scene.
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Germani, Gino. Estructura social de la Argentina: Análisis estadístico. Biblioteca Manuel Belgrano de estudios económicos. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Raigal, 1955.
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Based upon the 1947 national population census, this book was a turning point in Argentine sociological studies. Although it does not deal directly with Peronism, Chapter 16 poses a crucial question: Why did the workers support Perón rather than the (then) so-called class parties? This was the starting point of a fruitful, unending academic debate.
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Maronese, Leticia, Ana Cafiero de Nazar, and Víctor Waisman. El voto peronista ’83: Perfil electoral y causas de la derrota. Buenos Aires, Argentina: El Cid Editor, 1985.
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An analysis of the presidential election of 30 October 1983, which Peronism expected to win by a landslide but lost. The aim of the book is to determine changes in the character of Peronist voters and why Peronism was defeated. Its focus is the city and the province of Buenos Aires.
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Mora y Araujo, Manuel, and Ignacio Llorente, eds. El voto peronista: Ensayos de sociología electoral argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1980.
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Numbers are crunched to account for the electoral victories of Peronism from 1946 to 1975, but the chapters by Peter Smith, Gino Germani, Tulio Halperin Donghi, and Eldon Kenworthy (previously published in academic journals) deal with Germani’s internal migrants–new workers theory of the original electoral support for Peronism. Two chapters, by González Esteves and Llorente, were the first contributions to study that from a provincial perspective.
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Zalduendo, Eduardo. Geografia electoral de la Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Ancora, 1958.
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The election of 28 July 1957 served as “a corpuscle count,” as one politician put it then, allowing the other political parties to evaluate how they were doing without Peronism after a decade of Peronist hegemony. This is one of the best analyses ever published on a single election in Argentina.
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Provincial Politics

Perón’s towering figure in his party and in Argentine politics at large has concealed that there were provincial and local administrations and parties in which Peronists were active. The provincial and local history of Peronism is one of the fields of research that has been developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The outcome of this collective but spontaneous research program has changed the views on the emergence of Peronism and on the development of the Peronist Party, as shown by Macor and Tcach 2003, Melon Pirro and Quiroga 2006, and Aelo 2010. Tcach 2006, although restricted to one province, is a pioneering work in this field. Few attempts have been made so far to extend the research beyond Perón’s downfall, but Arias and García Heras 2004 and Arias 1998 have already made advances in that direction. The greatest subject coverage for any province or governor is Panella 2005–2007, on the Buenos Aires Province governor Domingo Mercante.

Aelo, Oscar H., ed. Las configuraciones provinciales del peronismo: Actores y prácticas políticas, 1945–1955. La Plata, Argentina: Instituto Cultural de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2010.
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Peronism was considered for a long time a homogeneous phenomenon playing just on the national stage. Research since the late 1990s shows there were provincial and local stages as well. A representative example of one of the most fruitful of the newer scholarly trends in the study of Peronism.
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Arias, María Fernanda. “From Rebellion to Rupture: Peronist Party Politics in Neuquén, 1961–1973.” In Peronism and Argentina. Edited by James P. Brennan, 57–77. Latin American Silhouettes. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1998.
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Splinter Peronist provincial parties bloomed in the 1960s. The ban on the Peronist Party convinced regional leaders to launch their own neo-Peronist parties. Most of those parties faded away by the time of Perón’s return, but one of them still is alive and well: the Neuquino Popular Movement. This chapter deals with the early history of that party, the winner of all elections in its province for fifty years.
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Arias, María Fernanda, and Raúl García Heras. “Carisma disperso y rebelión: Los partidos neoperonistas.” In Perón: Del exilio al poder. 2d ed. Edited by Samuel Amaral and Mariano Ben Plotkin, 81–121. Caseros, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, 2004.
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Provincial politics were not fashionable when the authors wrote this article on splinter Peronist provincial parties from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Based upon sound research in local and national newspapers and magazines as well as in oral history, this work provided what was perhaps the first glimpse into the new field of provincial Peronist politics.
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Macor, Darío, and César Tcach, eds. La invención del peronismo en el interior del país. Santa Fe, Argentina: Universidad Nacional del Litoral, 2003.
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This valuable book contributes to a new understanding of the emergence of Peronism by studying provincial politics rather than the national scene. The outcome of a trend in research that emerged in the late 1990s, it introduced an innovating perspective in the literature.
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Melon Pirro, Julio César, and Nicolás Quiroga, eds. El peronismo bonaerense: Partido y prácticas políticas, 1946–1955. Mar del Plata, Argentina: Ediciones Suárez, 2006.
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Four contributions to this book pay attention to the emergence and development of Peronism in some of the most important towns of Buenos Aires Province. Other than these chapters, only one article (authored by one of the editors) had been previously published on local Peronist politics. This book is a key contribution to one of the newer areas of research.
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Panella, Claudio, ed. El gobierno de Domingo A. Mercante en Buenos Aires, 1946–1952: Un caso de peronismo provincial. 3 vols. La Plata, Argentina: Asociación Amigos del Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2005–2007.
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Mercante was thought to be Perón’s political heir. He fell from grace in 1949 but was able to complete his term as governor of Buenos Aires Province. In this multivolume book the editor has gathered chapters on every single aspect of his tenure. This is a unique effort with no parallel for any other province or governor.
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Tcach, César. Sabattinismo y peronismo: Partidos políticos en Córdoba, 1943–1955. Colección historia y cultura. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Biblos, 2006.
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The only book-length study of politics in an Argentine province during the Perón administration. It focuses on the Radical Party politician Amadeo Sabattini, a former governor who led his party in the province of Córdoba throughout that period.
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Economic Performance, Policies, and Sectors

Perón’s economic policies were seen for many years as radically departing from the past. Early-21st-century scholarship, however, has found more continuities than ruptures. Campione 2007 shows that from the vantage point of interventionist bureaucratic elites and government agencies. Moreover, the interventionist policies that were supposed to characterize Peronism to a large extent survived for decades, until another Peronist president made an attempt, but not until the 1990s, to integrate the Argentine economy into the international mainstream. Di Tella and Dornbusch 1989 and Di Tella and Rodríguez Braun 1990 provide different economic perspectives on the Peronist administrations of the 1940s–1950s and 1970s as well as on non-Peronist ones. For readers acquainted with economics, Díaz Alejandro 1970 studies the performance of the Argentine economy before, during, and after the Perón regime. Lewis 1990 offers a long-term perspective of Peronist administrations up until the mid-1970s. Belini 2009 deals with the history of several industrial sectors during the Perón regime. The relationship of the Peronist administrations with business organizations is studied in Brennan and Rougier 2009 and Sidicaro 2002.

Belini, Claudio. La industria peronista: 1946–1955: Políticas públicas y cambio estructural. Temas de la Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Edhasa, 2009.
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Peronist policies aimed at increasing industrial production but, the author argues, were not a coordinated set of incentives. A new attitude regarding the industrial sector was introduced, but too much room was left to the bureaucracy. In this book, policies are considered from the vantage point of particular industrial sectors.
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Brennan, James P., and Marcelo Rougier. The Politics of National Capitalism: Peronism and the Argentine Bourgeoisie, 1946–1976. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009.
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This book deals with the history of one industrial sector, the metalworking industry, and three regional economies—one primarily industrial, Córdoba; another mostly agrarian, Chaco; and a third, Tucumán, sharing some features of both. Although spanning three decades, the book concentrates on the years of Peronist government, 1946–1955 and 1973–1976.
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Campione, Daniel. Orígenes estatales del peronismo. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Miño y Dávila Editores, 2007.
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How the 1943–1946 military dictatorship transformed the concept and practice of the state is the subject of this book. Perón, it shows, was the superficial expression of deep undercurrents. The expansion of bureaucracy went on under his administration, but the foundations are to be discovered in that earlier period.
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Díaz Alejandro, Carlos F. Essays on the Economic History of the Argentine Republic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970.
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Of seven essays, five deal with Peronism—not directly, because the author does not pay attention to politics, but in terms of the performance of economic sectors and variables. Despite its age, this book remains a classic not to be missed. Not easy reading for noneconomists, but it is worth the effort.
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Di Tella, Guido, and Rudiger Dornbusch, eds. The Political Economy of Argentina, 1946–83. Pitt Latin American series. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989.
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Distinguished contributors study different aspects of the Argentine economic performance, from the emergence or Peronism to the 1983 democratic restoration, allowing the reader to evaluate continuities and ruptures.
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Di Tella, Guido, and Carlos Rodríguez Braun, eds. Argentina, 1946–83: The economic ministers speak. New York: St. Martin’s, 1990.
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Policymakers explain their policies from the 1940s to the 1980s. Peronists and non-Peronists alike have an opportunity to account for what they did while in office. A companion book to Di Tella and Dornbusch 1989.
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Lewis, Paul H. The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
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The economic decline of Argentina from the 1930s onward has been the subject of many academic contributions. This book looks for an explanation by examining the business–government relationship before, during, and after the Peronist administrations up until the early 1980s.
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Sidicaro, Ricardo. Los tres peronismos: Estado y poder económico, 1946–1955, 1973–1976, 1989–1999. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 2002.
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The relationship between business organizations and three Peronist administrations is the main subject of this book, which is more concerned with social relations than with economic variables.
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Social Policies

Whether Perón got inspiration from the New Deal, as he said, or from fascism, as argued by his opponents, his social policies were a key factor for his success as president as well as for his enduring legacy. Those policies were necessary to achieve the “nationalization of the masses,” in order to prevent a “Red” revolution. Some pharaonic projects did not stand the test of time, but two consequences did: many of those policies survived after his downfall, and the trade unions have remained under Peronist control since the mid-1940s. There is no single book accounting for the whole range of social policies under the Perón regime, but Torre and Pastoriza 2002 is the best summary of what the authors call the democratization of welfare. Particular policies are the subject of valuable monographs: housing is dealt with by Aboy 2005; housing and urban planning, by Ballent 2005; migration policies, by Biernat 2007; family policies, by Cosse 2006; and health policies, by Ramacciotti 2009. Not all social policies were the result of Perón government action. The Eva Perón Foundation channeled federal, trade union, and private funds to help the poor and the president’s wife’s political prospects. Barry, et al. 2008 deals with the Eva Perón Foundation’s social effects for women, whereas Stawski 2009 studies its organization, its policies, and its dubious finances.

Aboy, Rosa. Viviendas para el pueblo: Espacio urbano y sociabilidad en el barrio Los Perales, 1946–1955. Sección de obras de historia. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2005.
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A case study of an early housing project, of the many that were built during the Perón regime. It serves to discuss housing policies as well as the patterns of sociability generated by that project.
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Ballent, Anahí. Las huellas de la política: Vivienda, ciudad, peronismo en Buenos Aires, 1943–1955. Colección las ciudades y las ideas. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 2005.
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The housing and urban planning policies of the Perón regime are accounted for within the framework of the ideas prevailing in those years. Although focusing upon Buenos Aires and its suburbs, this book is concerned with the relationship between the technical and political aspects in the definition of housing and urban public policies.
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Barry, Carolina, Karina Ramaccioti, and Adriana Valobra, eds. La Fundación Eva Perón y las Mujeres: Entre la provocación y la inclusión. Colección historia. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Biblos, 2008.
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Six chapters by the editors and other contributors set the Eva Perón Foundation policies in perspective and study their effects on women’s welfare.
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Biernat, Carolina. ¿Buenos o útiles? La política inmigratoria del peronismo. Colección la Argentina plural. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Biblos, 2007.
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Innovation, especially in the field of social policies, was a distinctive feature of Peronism. Migration policies, however, remained as they had been in the past. European migrants were preferred, as ever, at a time when their last wave arrived in the Argentine shores.
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Cosse, Isabella. Estigmas de nacimiento: Peronismo y orden familiar, 1946–1955. Sección de obras de historia. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2006.
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The Perón regime introduced changes in family legislation, especially in its last years, that updated the order inherited from traditional society. This book focuses upon the background and outcome of the regularization of illegitimate children.
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Ramacciotti, Karina. La política sanitaria del peronismo. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Biblos, 2009.
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The Perón regime was very active in the field of public health; hospitals were built, new health programs were implemented. The health secretary, Ramón Carrillo, led those efforts until his resignation in 1954.
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Stawski, Martín Esteban. Asistencia social y buenos negocios: Política de la Fundación Eva Perón, 1948–1955. Colección bitácora argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Imago Mundi, 2009.
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Social welfare and good deals—the Eva Perón Foundation was instrumental in achieving both aims. The bright and the dark sides of its activities are exposed in this brief but conclusive monograph.
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Torre, Juan Carlos, and Elisa Pastoriza. “La democratización del bienestar.” In Nueva historia argentina. Vol. 8, Los años peronistas, 1943–1955. Edited by Juan Carlos Torre, 257–312. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 2002.
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Social policies and social changes during the Perón regime are accounted for by this influential article. The best summary of a crucial aspect of Peronism.
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Foreign Relations

The foreign relations of Argentina during the Perón regime were affected by the legacy of previous administrations, most especially the 1943–1946 military dictatorship, of which Perón himself had turned into a key actor. Argentina was the sole Latin American country that refused to support the American position after Pearl Harbor; that only broke relations with Germany and Japan under pressure, in early 1944; and that only declared war on those countries six weeks before the end of World War II. Consequently, the Argentine military dictatorship, and Perón, as its spokesman, were not seen by the American government as favoring democracy. Spruille Braden, the American ambassador in Argentina from May to September 1945, became the informal leader of the democratic opposition to military rule and to Perón. After leaving for Washington, he made a last effort to block Perón’s path to the presidency—the 1946 Blue Book on Argentina, denouncing Perón’s ties to the Nazis. Perón countered by turning “Braden or Perón” into his most effective campaign slogan. Once president, that background did not help Perón. Argentina faced economic restrictions imposed by the United States during his first years in office, as shown by Escudé 1983, as well difficulties in several international organizations, as studied by Lanús 1984. To compensate, Perón tried to develop a close relationship with Franco’s Spain, as studied by Rein 1993, and with Chile, as shown by Machinandiarena de Devoto 2005. Perón had long been accused of giving shelter to Nazi refugees, but at the same time he was an early and staunch supporter of Israel. Meding 1992 puts the accusation in the right perspective, and Rein 2001 accounts for Perón relations with Israel and the Jewish-Argentine community. Perón’s first foreign relations secretary was Juan Atilio Bramuglia. His relevant international role in the United Nations was perhaps the reason for his demotion 1949. His biography, Rein 2008, sheds light on Argentina’s foreign relations in the late 1940s as much as on his political activities.

Blue Book on Argentina: Consultation among the American Republics with Respect to the Argentine Situation: Memorandum of the United States Government, Washington, DC, February 1946. New York: Greenberg, 1946.
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The Blue Book, revealing Perón’s supposed Nazi connections, was published a few days before election day in Argentina. It was a last attempt by the former ambassador and then top State Department official Spruille Braden to stop Perón. It backfired when used by Perón to denounce American interference. The slogan “Braden or Perón” turned into an effective electoral weapon.
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Escudé, Carlos. Gran Bretaña, Estados Unidos y la declinación argentina, 1942–1949. Colección conflictos y armonías en la historia argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial de Belgrano, 1983.
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Argentina declined after World War II, owing to the economic restrictions imposed by the United States and Great Britain. However, those restrictions, as the author explains, did not come out of the blue; they were the consequence of how Argentina had positioned itself in the previous decade and during the war years.
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Lanús, Juan Archibaldo. De Chapultepec al Beagle: Política exterior argentina, 1945–1980. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Emecé Editores, 1984.
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Not a chronological narrative; each main subject concerning Argentina’s foreign relations is treated separately. The world at the end of World War II, the Cold War, continental security, the Organization of American States, Brazil, and the United Nations are the subjects concerning the Perón regime dealt with by this book.
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Machinandiarena de Devoto, Leonor. Las relaciones con Chile durante el peronismo, 1946–1955. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Lumiere, 2005.
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Perón dreamed of a close alliance among Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. This book is an extremely detailed account of the difficulties he faced in achieving this with Chile.
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Meding, Holger M. Flucht vor Nürnberg?: Deutsche und Österreichische Einwanderung in Argentinien, 1945–1955. Cologne: Böhlau, 1992.
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Peronist Argentina has long been considered a safe shelter for fleeing Nazis. This book goes against that myth. After studying the German postwar migration to Argentina, the author concludes that of the 30,000 to 40,000 migrants, perhaps 50 qualified to face charges in the Allies’ courts. A Spanish translation was published in 1999.
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Rein, Raanan. The Franco-Perón Alliance: Relations between Spain and Argentina, 1946–1955. Translated by Martha Grenzeback. Pitt Latin American series. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993.
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The rosy picture of Franco-Perón relations is deflated by this book. Although the latter was crucial for the former at some brief stage, after securing American support for his survival, Franco took a colder view of Perón.
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Rein, Raanan. Argentina, Israel y los judíos: Encuentros y desencuentros, mitos y realidades. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Lumiere, 2001.
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The relationship among the Peron regime, Israel, and the Argentine Jewish community is the subject of more than half of this book. Perón’s consistent support for Israel did not win for him the overwhelming support of Jewish Argentines.
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Rein, Raanan. In the Shadow of Perón: Juan Atilio Bramuglia and the Second Line of Argentina’s Populist Movement. Translated by Martha Grenzeback. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008.
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This book is the only biography of a Peronist politician, apart from Juan and Eva Perón. The end of Bramuglia’s tenure as foreign relations secretary, in 1949, sheds light on the emergence of Peronism and on the inner workings of the Perón administration.
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Education and Popular Culture

The Perón regime was not revolutionary, according to the Communist Party, because there had not been a change in the ruling class. Although some fringe Marxists claimed that it was a “national revolution,” the academic community did not pay attention to the revolutionary aspects of Peronism until the 1980s, when the concept of revolution was freed from its rigid Marxist definition. Then, the academics started to study the deep changes in popular culture, education, political rituals, and propaganda that had taken place during the Perón administration. Ciria 1983 was the first approach to the alterations brought about by Peronism at the symbolic level. A turning point in the literature came with Plotkin 2006, a study of official propaganda, political rituals, and the political use of elementary education. Along the same lines, Gené 2005 studies how workers were depicted by the government propaganda. Education, from an institutional perspective, is the subject of Bernetti and Puiggrós 1993 and Rein 1998.

Bernetti, Jorge Luis, and Adriana Puiggrós. Peronismo:Cultura política y educación (1945–1955). Historia de la educación en la Argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Galerna, 1993.
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Part of a series on the history of education in Argentina, this volume deals with the Peronist regime. The first and last chapters were dated when the book was published. The other chapters study the educational ideas, the formation of teachers, and the changes in the educational system.
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Ciria, Alberto. Política y cultura popular: La Argentina peronista, 1946–1955. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor, 1983.
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Two of five chapters are devoted to education and popular culture and to communication, symbols, and myths. In that way, the author opened up a new, unexplored area. Other chapters deal with Perón’s ideas, with Congress, and with both Peronist parties.
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Gené, Marcela. Un mundo feliz: Imágenes de los trabajadores en el primer peronismo, 1946–1955. Sección de obras de historia. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2005.
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The image of workers and how it was built by government propaganda. An innovative perspective on a crucial aspect of the Perón regime.
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Plotkin, Mariano Ben. Mañana es San Perón: Propaganda, rituales políticos y educación en el régimen peronista (1946–1955). 2d ed. Caseros, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, 2006.
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A cornerstone in the literature on Peronism, this book (first edition, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel Historia Argentina, 1994) deals with government propaganda, political rituals, and education during the Perón regimen. This edition includes a new appendix.
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Rein, Mónica Esti. Politics and Education in Argentina, 1946–1962. Translated by Martha Grenzeback. Latin American Realities. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1998.
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The political uses of education during the Perón regime and after. Half of the book deals with the Peronization of the educational system; the other half, with its de-Peronization.
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Exile, Return, Collapse

Perón spent eighteen years in exile. He left Argentina in September 1955 and could not come back until November 1972. He remained for almost one month in Buenos Aires and then left for Spain again. After the Peronist victory in the March 1973 presidential election, he came back to Argentina for good, on 20 June 1973. He was elected president in September and died in office on 1 July 1974. His widow and vice president, Isabel Perón, should not have completed his term until May 1977 but was ousted by the armed forces in March 1976.

Politics

After Perón’s downfall in 1955, accounted for in Godio 1973, the integration of Peronism into the democratic order was the main political problem for the following eighteen years. Many ways were tried, until a solution was found: Peronism would not be integrated without Perón. The early manifestation of that problem is in Halperin Donghi 1995. How Perón overcame political obstacles on his way back to Argentina is studied by Amaral and Plotkin 2004. For a longer-term view, see Halperin Donghi 1994. Perón’s political aims at the time of his comeback and during his brief term as president are examined by Fernández Pardo and Frenkel 2004.

Amaral, Samuel, and Mariano Ben Plotkin, eds. Perón: Del exilio al poder. 2d ed. Caseros, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, 2004.
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After eighteen years in exile, Perón came back to Argentina to be elected president for a third time. This book explains how he regained legitimacy as a political actor by exploring his relations with other actors.
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Fernández Pardo, Carlos A., and Leopoldo Frenkel. Perón: La unidad nacional entre el conflicto y la reconstrucción, 1971–1974. Colección “la tierra y el mar” 2. Córdoba, Argentina: Ediciones del Copista, 2004.
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What were Perón’s political aims when he returned to Argentina? The authors examine Perón’s writings and speeches as well as his actions during his few months as president to answer those questions.
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Godio, Julio. La caída de Perón, de junio a setiembre de 1955. 2d ed. Colección nuestra América. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Granica, 1973.
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A detailed account of the political process leading to Perón’s downfall. Three turbulent months, from June to September 1955, put an end to his ten-year grip on Argentina.
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Halperin Donghi, Tulio. La larga agonía de la Argentina peronista. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 1994.
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A continuation of Halperin Donghi 1995. The narrative goes from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s. Despite all its conflicts and setbacks Peronism is still alive, and so the author may have been too optimistic. His account of that period is not to be missed.
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Halperin Donghi, Tulio. Argentina en el callejón. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ariel, 1995.
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The chapters of this book were written between 1955 and 1964. That was a period of extreme political instability, when, although banned, Peronism was one of the main political actors. The author anticipated what the French call histoire du temps présent by using his academic background and narrative skills to account for contemporary Argentine politics.
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Political Violence

Political violence affected Argentina from the mid-1950s to the late-1970s. First was the Peronist resistance. Isolated actions by unorganized groups, from late 1955 to early 1958, and again from early 1959 to mid-1960, were the expression of Peronist discontent. Melon Pirro 2009 studies the first of those two rounds. By the late 1960s guerrilla organizations emerged. Some were leftist, others were Peronist. Irrespective of identity, all were inspired by Cuban methods and fought for a socialist dictatorship. Montoneros became the most important guerrilla organization. When Perón returned, he succeeded in politically isolating it. Gillespie 1982 deals with Montoneros. Ollier 2005 studies the transition from military dictatorship to democracy in the early 1970s and the emergence of the culture of violence.

Gillespie, Richard. Soldiers of Perón: Argentina’s Montoneros. Oxford: Clarendon, 1982.
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Montoneros was an urban guerrilla organization that emerged in 1970, claiming to be Peronist. Although Perón accepted it at first, he disavowed it after his return to Argentina in 1973. Much scholarship has been done on the subject since this book was published. However, as there is, as of the early 21st century, no comprehensive study on that organization, this is still a useful introduction.
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Melon Pirro, Julio César. El peronismo después del peronismo: Resistencia, sindicalismo y política luego del 55. Historia y cultura: Serie el pasado presente. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 2009.
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Soon after Perón’s downfall in late 1955, and up until the 1958 presidential election, many Peronists, in an unorganized way, manifested their discontent by planting homemade bombs; printing leaflets and periodicals; and sabotaging factories, railroads, and buses. In Peronist lore, that was known as “the resistance.” This book is a detailed study of that period carried out from the vantage point of the Peronists themselves.
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Ollier, María Matilde. Golpe o revolución: La violencia legitimada, Argentina, 1966–1973. Colección de estudios de historia del peronismo. Caseros, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, 2005.
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This book comprises two short books published in the late 1980s—the first, on the transition from dictatorship to democracy in early-1970s Argentina, and the second, on political violence and political culture. Sheds light on the complex options faced by the actors and on the acceptance of violence by Argentine society.
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The Transition to Democracy

The restoration of democracy in the early 1970s meant Perón’s return to Argentina and Peronism’s return to power. These were the consequences of many failed experiments to integrate Peronism without Perón. A military dictatorship was installed in 1966 to gain time until Perón’s death, but its outcome was the emergence of guerrillas. To put down the political violence, some believed that democracy should be restored. General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse, the last military ruler of that regime, thought so; Lanusse 1977 is the general’s account of the transition from military rule to democracy. Riz 1981 deals with both the transition and the 1970s Peronist administrations, and Godio 1986 accounts for Perón’s last year, from his return to Argentina to his death as president.

Godio, Julio. Perón: regreso, soledad y muerte. Biblioteca argentina de historia y politica. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Hyspamérica, 1986.
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A revised version of Godio 1973 (cited under Politics), published in Venezuela in 1981, this book is a narrative account centered on Perón, from his return to Argentina in mid-1973 to his death a year later.
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Lanusse, Alejandro A. Mi testimonio. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Lasserre Editores, 1977.
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The author wrote three overlapping memoirs, all of them valuable. This book covers the 1966–1973 military regime. He was its last president, paving the way back to constitutional rule and to the election of a Peronist president. A remarkable feat for a diehard anti-Peronist who believed in democracy.
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Riz, Liliana de. Retorno y derrumbe. Colección América Latina. Mexico City: Folios Ediciones, 1981.
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A reconstruction of the dynamics of political, social, and economic conflicts that cut short the Peronist administration in 1976.
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The Economy

To his disadvantage, Perón did not think much about economic matters. But many Peronists did, and their minds were to a large extent fixed on the interventionist economic policies of the late 1940s, rather than on the more open ones of the early 1950s. The 1970s, however, posed its own challenges. Perón thought a so-called social pact between the unions and employers’ organizations would stabilize the Argentine economy. His political influence worked in that direction, but after his death economic instability contributed to bringing down the Isabel Perón administration. Di Tella 1983 and Rougier and Fiszbein 2006 study that failure from different perspectives.

Di Tella, Guido. Argentina under Perón, 1973–76: The nation’s experience with a labour-based government. New York: St. Martin’s, 1983.
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This book is a unique case because the author was involved in policymaking during the same years to which he later devoted this scholarly study. It is the standard work on the economic policies of the 1970s Peronist administrations. The technical language is not overwhelming, so general readers are welcome.
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Rougier, Marcelo, and Martín Fiszbein. La frustración de un proyecto económico: El gobierno peronista de 1973–1976. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Manantial, 2006.
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This book follows the ups and downs of the Argentine economy during the turbulent early 1970s, focusing upon the performance of key economic sectors and companies and the relationship between politics and public policies, rather than, as in Di Tella 1983, upon macroeconomic variables.
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The Trade Unions

The most long-lasting legacy of Peronism has been to turn the unions away from any leftist temptation, but at the price of making them into a considerable political actor. During the Perón regime they were controlled from above, but after Perón’s downfall they emerged as an autonomous actor, yet always claiming Peronist identity. When Perón returned in 1973, he looked for the support of the unions to counter the activism of Montoneros supporters. In those years, consequently, the unions played a key political role. McGuire 1997 studies the unions in the 1950s–1960s and then in the 1980s–1990s. Torre 2004 deals with the 1973–1976 period.

McGuire, James W. Peronism without Perón: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997.
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The position of trade unions within Peronism from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s and the challenge they posed to its institutionalization as a political party. Half of the book deals with the eleven years after 1955; the other half, with the remaining forty years. Special attention is given to the last decade of that period.
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Torre, Juan Carlos. El gigante invertebrado: Los sindicatos en el gobierno, Argentina, 1973–1976. Colección historia y política. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 2004.
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To counter the weight of guerrillas, Perón relied heavily on trade unionists in 1973–1974. Because of her weakness, Isabel Perón relied on them even more, at least from mid-1975 onward. Written in the late-1970s, this book is not free from the then-prevailing language. Despite that, it still sheds light on the role of trade unions in those years.
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Interpretations

Academic and political interpretations of Peronism are two different but overlapping subjects. At the time of its emergence, Peronism was thought to be a local expression of fascism. Academic interpreters started to depart from that view after Perón’s downfall. Political interpreters, nationalist and Marxist writers mainly, were quick to find new labels for that mass phenomenon. In both cases, there was a classist bent that did not fade away until the early 21st century.

Academic

Peronism has changed over time, and its interpretations have changed as well. The first effort to confront Peronist and anti-Peronist views is Fayt 1967. Plotkin 1998 and Neiburg 1998 detail the evolution of social scientists’ views on Peronism. Rein, et al. 2009 covers early-21st-century scholarship. Rozitchner 1998, Segovia 2005, and Sigal and Verón 1986 are interpretations of Perón’s writings and discourse.

Fayt, Carlos S. La naturaleza del peronismo. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Viracocha, 1967.
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The first attempt to bring together politicians, trade unionists, and academics, Peronists and anti-Peronists alike, to account for the meaning of Peronism at a time, the mid-1960s, when the memories of the Perón regime were still conflictive. Reprinted in 2007 (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Errepar).
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Neiburg, Federico. Los intelectuales y la invención del peronismo: Estudios de antropología social y cultural. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Alianza Editorial, 1998.
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A study of the political and academic interpretations of Peronism up until the mid-1960s. Includes chapters on Peronism as a national mythology, on a very active cultural society (Colegio Libre de Estudios Superiores) that served as a refuge for non-Peronist intellectuals, and on the de-Peronization process after Perón’s fall in 1955.
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Plotkin, Mariano. “The Changing Perceptions of Peronism: A Review Essay.” In Peronism and Argentina. Edited by James P. Brennan, 29–54. Latin American Silhouettes. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1998.
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The author reviews the evolution of academic interpretation of Peronism by sociologists, historians, and political scientists over four decades, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s.
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Rein, Raanan, Carolina Barry, Omar Acha, and Nicolás Quiroga. Los estudios sobre el primer peronismo: Aproximaciones desde el siglo XIX. La Plata, Argentina: Instituto Cultural de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2009.
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The three chapters of this small book help introduce order into the overwhelming early-21st-century academic production on the Perón regime.
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Rozitchner, León. Perón: Entre la sangre y el tiempo, lo inconsciente y la política. 2d ed. 2 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Catálogos, 1998.
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Freud and Clausewitz are invoked to account for the meaning of Perón. Not a historical narrative, the author warns his readers; rather, timeless philosophical musings based upon Perón’s writings. No changes are reported regarding the one-volume 1985 first edition.
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Segovia, Juan Fernando. La formación ideológica del peronismo: Perón y la legitimidad política, 1943–1955. Colección “la tierra y el mar” 3. Córdoba, Argentina: Ediciones del Copista, 2005.
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An interpretation of Perón’s ideology, rather than of Peronism. Accounts for Perón’s ideas on leadership, organization, and social justice up until his downfall in 1955. A good introduction to Perón’s early political views.
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Sigal, Silvia, and Eliseo Verón. Perón o muerte: Los fundamentos discursivos del fenómeno peronista. Ensayo critico. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Legasa, 1986.
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Half of this book focuses upon Perón’s discourse, from his emergence as a political actor to his death; the other half, upon that of the early-1970s guerrilla-supported Peronist Youth. Because of the authors’ concern with discourses, it is more important to them what was said than when it was said. Because of that particular approach, the book marked a turning point in the study of Peronism.
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Political

For Marxist politicians, Perón’s mass support inspired conflict and debate. For nationalists, his personalism and demagoguery ruined their attempt at building a hierarchical regime with social overtones. Amadeo 1956 and Irazusta 1956 expressed nationalist views and lamentations right after Perón’s downfall. Codovilla 1946 represents the earlier Communist Party views of Peronism as fascism, quickly modified after Perón’s triumph in the 1946 election. Some party members disagreed with that earlier view and were expelled, causing them to look for a new Marxist interpretation of Peronism. Astesano 1953 and Puiggrós 1965–1969 found inspiration in Mao Zedong and defined Peronism as a new democracy, or a national revolution. Jorge Abelardo Ramos, following some Trotskyite predecessors, defined it in Ramos 1965 as Bonapartism. But when the Perón regime fell, none of those interpretations could stand any longer. A new wave of interpretations dealt with the loyalty of workers as well as trade union bureaucrats to their leader despite his exile in the face of the regime’s demise. Hernández Arregui 1960 and Cooke 1971 provided the basis for a new generation to interpret Peronism as radically as they wished.

Amadeo, Mario. Ayer, hoy, mañana. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Gure, 1956.
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A distinguished Catholic and nationalist intellectual lamentation over a “lost opportunity” to create an integrist Catholic regime under Perón and after Perón’s downfall. Interesting testimony, as the author was foreign relations secretary after Perón’s downfall and later ambassador under the Frondizi administration.
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Astesano, Eduardo. Ensayo sobre el justicialismo a la luz del materialismo histórico. Rosario, Argentina: Edición del autor, 1953.
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Astesano and Puiggrós were expelled from the Communist Party because they thought that, because the masses supported Perón, the party should not oppose him. They saw Peronism as an “anti-imperialist” movement. But as the party adopted a mild view on Peronism, they felt forced to look for a different Marxist interpretation. Astesano found it in Mao’s writings on new democracy.
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Codovilla, Victorio. Batir al nazi-peronismo para abrir una era de libertad y progreso. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Anteo, 1946.
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The Communist Party views, still influenced by Soviet Union anti-fascist policies. After Perón’s victory, the party went back to the pre-1935 “anti-imperialist” stance. But its previous views were not due to shortsightedness, as implied by dissidents and Trotskyites. The Argentine Communist Party was a member of the Third International and acted as such even after its demise.
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Cooke, John William. La lucha por la liberación nacional: El retorno de Perón, la revolución y el peronismo. Colección política. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Papiro, 1971.
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Cooke died in 1968, but a few years later his widow published most of his political tracts as well as his correspondence with Perón. A new generation found in his blend of Peronism, Marxism, and focoism the right mix of ideas to close the gap between the traditional left and Peronism.
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Hernández Arregui, Juan José. La formación de la conciencia nacional, 1930–1960. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Hachea, 1960.
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A philosophy professor, the author reviews in densely Hegelian language 20th-century Argentine intellectual history. “The treason of the clerks” prevented the meeting of the masses with their theory—Marxism. Not a Leninist fan, the author argues that the presence of the masses was enough for Peronism to be revolutionary. In the early 1960s that was music to the ears of young revolutionaries disappointed with the traditional left.
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Irazusta, Julio. Perón y la crisis argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: La Voz del Plata, 1956.
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Another postmortem by another distinguished nationalist intellectual. Keener on economic issues than some of his colleagues, Irazusta reviews Perón’s economic policies from an “anti-imperialist” perspective: Perón was wrong for not breaking the “imperialist chains,” while pretending to do so. Another “lost opportunity” approach.
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Puiggrós, Rodolfo. Historia critica de los partidos políticos argentinos. 5 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Jorge Alvarez, 1965–1969.
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An earlier version published in 1956 ends its account with 1937. This series ends with 1945. The work covers just the emergence of Peronism, not its later history. Unlike Astesano, Puiggrós did not emphasize Mao’s influence; he saw the Peronist regime as a national revolution. He could never explain what Peronism was from a Marxist perspective after Perón’s downfall.
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Ramos, Jorge Abelardo. Revolución y contrarrevolución en la Argentina. 3d ed. 2 vols. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Plus Ultra, 1965.
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Two editions went unnoticed; the third was a best seller. A prolific and engaging writer, Ramos took advantage of an earlier Trotskyite definition of Peronism as Bonapartism. Unlike others, he turned that definition into a positive trait. But Bonapartism referred to the Peronist regime. He, too, failed to explain from a Marxist perspective what Peronism was after Perón’s downfall.
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Recent Research and Trends

In the early 21st century new subjects and new trends in the study of Peronism have emerged. Among the subjects, provincial and local politics should be stressed. Aelo 2010 is the best example of a research program that is yielding fruitful results. There are many people all over the country doing research on local issues. They have already changed the views on the emergence and organization of Peronism. New perspectives can be expected from that program. Auyero 2001 is a valuable ethnographic approach. It has opened up a new area in the study of Peronism, but it does not seem to have many followers. More popular seems to be the field of cultural studies, cultivated both by historians and literary critics. Karush and Chamosa 2010 and Soria, et al. 2010 point in that way.

Aelo, Oscar H., ed. Las configuraciones provinciales del peronismo: Actores y prácticas políticas, 1945–1955. La Plata, Argentina: Instituto Cultural de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2010.
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Peronism was considered a national stage phenomenon and a lifeless political party. Recent research shows there were provincial and local stages and internal life as well. A representative example of one of the most fruitful of the newer scholarly trends in the study of Peronism.
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Auyero, Javier. Poor People’s Politics: Peronist Survival Networks and the Legacy of Evita. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
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An ethnographer’s study of grassroots Peronism. Reveals the clientelistic networks that have become its main characteristic since the mid-1980s.
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Karush, Matthew B., and Oscar Chamosa, eds. The New Cultural History of Peronism: Power and Identity in Mid-Twentieth-Century Argentina. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010.
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All but one of the ten contributors are trained in history. Subjects include mass culture, stereotypes, images, folklore, kitsch, beauty queens, consumption, and political emotions. These seem to be the newer paths the study of Peronism is treading.
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Soria, Claudia, Paola Cortés Rocca, and Edgardo Dieleke, eds. Políticas del sentimiento: El peronismo y la construcción de la Argentina moderna. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Prometeo Libros, 2010.
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Two out of the sixteen contributors are trained in architecture and in art history, and all the rest, in literary criticism. Subjects range from humor, to theater, to fiction, to movies, to painting. Feelings and rhetoric, bodies and faces, intertextuality and class dislocation are some of the terms and concepts considered in these chapters. A new wave of scholars has landed on the Peronist shores.
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