La Prensa Socialista en El Fin de Siglo Argentino

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The Socialist Press in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina Author(s): Richard J. Walter Source: The Americas, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jul., 1980), pp. 1-24Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/981038Accessed: 21-02-2016 14:13 UTC

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THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY ARGENTINA

Socialism, as expressed by political parties professing that ideology, has had only minimal impact on Argentina's twentieth-century political history.' On the other hand socialist ideas, broadly

defined, have had considerable influence, although often in an indirect manner. In the political realm, for example, popular presidents Hip6lito Yrigoyen (1916-1922; 1928-1930) and Juan Per6n (1946-1955; 1973-1974) sought to pre-empt and co-opt socialism's appeal to the working class by proposing and implementing socialist-inspired reforms wrapped in nationalist rhetoric.2 Conversely, after the fall of Per6n in 1955 various military governments have based their intervention into national politics largely on the need to stem the flow of Marxist ideas, to prevent the growth of socialist organizations-especially those which would repeat the Cuban revolutionary experience on Argentine soil- and to protect the principles of free enterprise capitalism.3

The influence of socialism in Argentina is not surprising. Perhaps more than any other Latin American country, Argentina has been unusually receptive to European cultural and ideological influences, be they of the left or the right.4 This has been particularly true for the population of the capital city, Buenos Aires, itself largely of European immigrant origin, literate, sophisticated, and home to Latin America's main intellectual and publishing center for much of the twentieth century. Because of its orientation towards Europe, the Argentine

1See Robert J. Alexander, Communism in Latin America (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957), pp. 154-176 and Richard J. Walter, The Socialist Party of Argentina, 1890-1930 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977).

2Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 135-157 and 228. 3Marvin Goldwert, Democracy, Militarism, and Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-1966: An Interpretation

(Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1972), pp. 141-210. For more recent developments, see Juan E. Corradi, Eldon Kenworthy, and William Wipfler, "Argentina 1973-1976: The Background to Violence," Latin American Studies Association Newsletter, VII, 13 (September 1976), 3-28.

4For a summary of the impact of foreign ideas on Argentina, see Jose Luis Romero, A History of Argentine Political Thought (Introduction and Translation by Thomas F. McGann) (Stanford University Press, 1963).

1


2 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA

population has been keenly aware of and sensitive to external events. One of the most important for the flow of socialist ideas to the republic was the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which aroused much interest, stimulating and encouraging the left and shocking and instilling fear in the right.5 From the Revolution emerged not only Argentina's Com- munist party, but also a growing interest among an ever-wider circle of intellectuals and politicians in Marxist philosophy.

In the 1920's and 1930's interest in socialism and communism grew despite official attempts to thwart its spread. Men like the moderate socialist Alfredo L. Palacios and the more revolutionary Anibal Ponce held important teaching positions in these years, from which they transmitted socialist ideas to the youth of the country, albeit not without considerable difficulty.6 The major growth of Marxist ideas occurred, however, after World War II and especially after the fall of Per6n. Many opponents to Per6n, including journalists, writers, students, university professors, and politicians, returned to their homeland from exile in Europe or Latin America, imbued with ideas formed from their resis- tance and the growing emphasis on the study of social and economic factors which was coming to characterize Latin American scholarship in these years. As they came to assume or to reassume university, journalistic, and political positions, to write and to lecture, this generation contributed significantly to the spread of Marxist ideas. A visit to any Buenos Aires bookstore in the 1960's and 1970's (except during periods of repression and censorship) would attest to the widespread currency of their thought. Moreover, these same bookstores contained a wide range of works by other Latin American writers and translations of leading North American and European socialist theoreticians.7

5Former socialist Jose Ingenieros reflected the reaction of those who at first were favorably impressed by the Revolution and did much to inform Argentines of developments in the Soviet Union. In addition to his own observations, published in Los tiempos nuevos: Relexiones optimistas sobre la guerra y la revoluci6n (Madrid: Editorial America, 1921), he also included a number of articles on the Bolshevik experiment in the Revista defilosofia, a journal which he edited from 1915 to 1925.

6Palacios, elected in 1904 at the age of twenty-five to the Argentine Congress as Latin America's first socialist deputy, had a long and distinguished political and academic career. In the 1920's and 1930's he was professor and dean in the law schools of the Universities of Buenos Aires and La Plata.

Quien es quien en la Argentina: Biografias contemporaneas; adfo 1939 (Buenos Aires: Guillermo Kraft, Ltda., 1939), pp. 325-326. Ponce, a disciple of Ingenieros and also an editor of the Revista defilosofia, was removed from his teaching position in 1936 for his Marxist views. This removal became a subject for debate in the national Congress. See Reptiblica Argentina, Diario de sesiones de la Cdmara de Diputados, ado 1936 (Buenos Aires, 1937), IV, 817-821.

'For a review of recent Argentine social science literature much influenced by Marxist analysis, see Gilbert W. Merkx, "Argentine Social Science: The Contribution of CICSO [Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Sociales]," Latin American Research Review, XIV, 1 (1979), 228-233.


RICHARD J. WALTER 3 The introduction of socialist ideas into Argentina, however, is not

strictly a post-World War II or even post-1917 phenomenon. Such ideas were presented in systematic form as early as the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They appeared first in newspapers and magazines, which proved the most popular and effective media for their diffusion.s In this regard, the Argentine experience closely paralleled that of other Latin American countries.9 In Brazil socialist and anarchist publications emerged in major cities around the turn of the century and served to stimulate working-class organization and to lay the groundwork for the later development of the Brazilian Communist party.10 In Chile labor organizer Luis Emilio Recabarren almost single- handedly initiated a series of working-class periodicals between 1906 and 1924." In Mexico radical opposition newspapers, published both within and outside the country, helped undermine the regime of Porfirio Diaz and affect the course of the subsequent Revolution.12

The development of the socialist press in Argentina has been lightly sketched in a number of secondary works, but is deserving of a fuller treatment than it heretofore has received. In Argentina these publications, for the time, had greater dispersion and influence than in any other Latin American country-with the possible exception of Mexico. Not only did the press serve to introduce Marxist ideas into the republic, it also focused attention on neglected social issues and problems, served to rally opposition to the prevailing political system, and laid out for debate differing analyses and approaches to the interpretation of Argen- tine historical development, debates which continue to the present day. A close examination of these publications will serve to show in more detail how socialist ideas were presented and interpreted, the issues which they highlighted, and the role the press played in the development of socialist-influenced labor and political organizations.

'The major emphasis in this essay is upon the spread of socialist ideas through journalism. However, it should be noted that particularly in the post-World War II era many of socialism's main tenets were transmitted through fictional literature, the theater, films, and even music. Recent military governments have been very sensitive to the influence of these media and have tailored their censorship policies accordingly.

9For information on the spread of radical ideas in Latin America at this time, see Hobart A. Spalding, Jr., Organized Labor in Latin America: Historical Case Studies of Urban Workers in Dependent Societies (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), pp. 8-11.

1"John W. F. Dulles, Anarchists and Communists in Brazil, 1900-1935 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973), pp. 13-15 and Ronald H. Chilcote, The Brazilian Communist Party: Conflict and Integration, 1922-1972 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), pp. 18-21.

"Julio Cesar Jobet, Ensayo critico del desarrollo econ6mico-social de Chile (Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, S. A., 1955), p. 141.

12James D. Cockcroft, Intellectual Precursors of the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1913 (Austin: Univer- sity of Texas Press, 1968).



Because of the richness and extent of the socialist press in turn-of-the- century Argentina, only a relatively small number of examples can be considered here. However, those chosen represent the best-known, most widely distributed, and most influential of the scores produced. All to be considered in detail were published in Buenos Aires, although a number of publications appeared in other cities as well. The examples chosen are primarily socialist in orientation. It should be noted, however, that a substantial anarchist press also appeared in Argentina at this time and is also worthy of closer investigation.13

Before turning to an examination of specific publications, some brief description of the historical context in which they made their appearance is necessary. During the years between 1890 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, a period bracketed by two severe economic crises, the Argentine republic experienced rapid economic and demographic expansion. The export of livestock and cereal grains, foreign capital investment-mostly British-, and extensive infrastructure development spurred economic growth. Massive foreign immigration, primarily from Italy and Spain, contributed to demographic growth, which saw a doubling of the population, from about four million to eight million, between 1895 and 1914. Urbanization, a marked increase in literacy, and the beginnings of significant small-scale industrialization accompanied these changes. Politically, a tightly-knit oligarchy of wealthy landowners, and their urban commercial, financial, and professional allies dominated government through intimidation, fraud, patronage, and the strong centralization of authority.

Economic and demographic growth produced a sizable expansion of the middle and working classes. The middle classes, with leadership from dissident sectors of the elite, from 1890 onward began to demand greater participation in government and a larger share of the expanding pie of prosperity. The Uni6n Civica, and later the Uni6n Civica Radical (UCR, Radical party), articulated and mobilized middle class dissent and used alternating policies of confrontation and abstention to force a change in oligarchical political practices. Eventually, these tactics

13For a review of the anarchist impact on Argentina's working class, see Diego Abad de Santillan, La F.O.R.A.: Ideologiay trayectoria, 2nd ed. (Buenos Aires: Editorial Proyeccion, S.R.L., 1971). An extraordinary collection of anarchist and socialist periodicals is located at the Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. A listing of the items on file, numbering over 400 and mostly published before 1930, indicates the size and vitality of the radical press in Argentina. See Erick Gordon, Michael M. Hall and Hobart A. Spalding, Jr., "A Survey of Brazilian and Argentine Materials at the International Instituut Voor Sociale Geschiedenis in Amsterdam," Latin American Research Review, III, 3 (Fall 1973), 27-77.


RICHARD J. WALTER 5

proved successful when the oligarchy acceded to Radical demands and instituted electoral reforms in 1912, reforms which allowed a Radical, Hip61ito Yrigoyen, to be elected president in 1916.

Working-class dissent concentrated less on political concerns and more on social and economic issues. Greatly influenced by anarchism, labor groups commonly resorted to militant tactics such as the general strike to achieve their aims. The government, representing and protecting the interests of the property-owning classes, responded to such tactics with forceful repression.

In the early years of the century there were some official attempts at social reform, but these were sporadic, ineffective, and designed more to channel and control protest than to meet proletarian complaints. Indeed, many defenders of the status quo argued that working class grievances had no place in an Argentina they perceived as essentially prosperous and with unlimited possibilities for growth and social mobility. They believed that the concepts of class confrontation and conflict would not find fertile soil in Argentina and they blamed the introduction of such ideas and the development of working-class organization and agitation on "foreign trouble-makers," out of touch with the Argentine reality.14

To a certain extent the conservative critics had a point. The ideas which stimulated working-class action, and often the individuals who promoted them, did come from abroad. Radical ideologies frequently were brought to Argentina's shores by exiles from political persecution in Europe or Latin America who settled in the republic in the second half of the nineteenth century. Among the earliest to put their thoughts to paper were a Spaniard, Bartolomb Victory y Sudirez, two Frenchmen, Amadeo Jacques and Alejo Peyret, and the well-known Chileanpensador, Francisco Bilbao, who in 1863 collaborated to produce El Artesano, the first Argentine publication to address itself specifically to working-class concerns. 15

In the 1870's and 1880's a number of similar publications followed El Artesano. In 1872 several periodicals represented the views of Argentina's first labor organization, the Sociedad Tipogrdfica Bonaerense. In that same

"4For more information on these developments, see Ysabel Fisk Rennie, The Argentine Republic (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1945), pp. 152-206; David Rock, Politics in Argentina, 1890-1930: The Rise and Fall of Radicalism (Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. 1-94; James R. Scobie, Argentina, A City and a Nation, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 112-216; and, Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 3-133.

'5Dardo Ctineo, El primer periodismo obrero y socialista en la Argentina (Buenos Aires: La Vanguar- dia, 1945), pp. 13-23 and Jose Ratzer, Los marxistas argentinos del 90 (C6rdoba: Ediciones Pasado y Presente, 1969), pp. 33-37.



year El Trabajador became the country's first socialist publication. Other efforts of varying ideological persuasion, and reflecting the multi-lingual character of the early radical press, included Le Revolutionaire (1875), El Petroleo (1875), La Luz (1878), El Descamisado (1879), La Vanguardia (1879), El Perseguido (1880), La Lucha Obrera (1882), and Le Proletaire (1882).16 All of these were published in Buenos Aires. However, in the 1880's socialist publications also emerged in the interior cities of Pergamino, Salta, Rosario, and Tucumain.17

Most of these publications were short-lived. All experienced financial difficulties. Often they were edited, written, and printed by two or three individuals who kept the operation going out of their own pockets. Few contained advertising and distribution was limited. One journal with a somewhat more solid base was Vorwiirts, which appeared regularly in Buenos Aires from 1886 to 1901. Representing the views of the Club Aleman Vorwdrts, a group of German socialists organized in 1882, this newspaper sought to disseminate Marxist ideas, to urge labor and political organization, and to encourage immigrants to become Argentine citizens. The stated aim of Vorwdrts was "to cooperate in the realization of the principles and aims of socialism, in accord with the program of the Social Democrats of Germany.""1 Despite its durability, Vorwiirts, published in German, had little appeal or following beyond the confines of the immediate German immigrant community in Buenos Aires."1

The appearance of these publications paralleled a growing labor union organization in the republic. In 1890 representatives of various unions formed a Comite Internacional Obrero, which promoted the celebration of May 1, the presentation of a petition for social legislation to Congress, the creation of a central labor federation (Federaci6n de los Trabajadores de la Regi6n Argentina), and the establishment of a newspaper reflective of working-class concerns.20 The first issue of this paper appeared on December 12, 1890. It was entitled El Obrero and subtitled "Defender of the Interests of the Proletarian Class, Organ of the Federaci6n Obrera." At the top of the front page was the slogan "Workers of the World, Unite!"

El Obrero was the first publication to introduce and to apply Marxist ideas systematically to Argentine conditions. This contribution was due

8Ciineo, pp. 13-23. 17Ratzer, Los marxistas, pp. 51-52. 1"As quoted in ibid., p. 66. 19Jacinto Oddone, Historia del socialismo argentino (Buenos Aires: La Vanguardia, 1934), I, pp.

196-197. 20Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 16-17.


RICHARD J. WALTER 7

primarily to the efforts of the first editor, Germain Ave Lallemant, a German immigrant who arrived in Argentina in 1868. After spending some time in Buenos Aires, Ave Lallemant settled in the interior province of San Luis, where he soon embarked on a successful career as a mining engineer, typographer/cartographer, and surveyor. In the course of his professional activities he came to know intimately the plight of the rural poor, a situation to which he would address himself as a writer in the 1890's.21 Gradually he began to turn his attention from scientific to social and political concerns. In the 1880's Ave Lallemant, who was familiar with the works of Marx and Engels, began to contribute to Vorwiirts from San Luis.22 In mid-1890 he arrived in Buenos Aires and joined with other members of Argentina's fledgling socialist movement to found El Obrero.23

El Obrero appeared weekly from December 12, 1890 to September 24, 1892, when it ceased publication. Its demise corresponded with the decline of the Federaci6n Obrera. Although El Obrero, which was published in Buenos Aires and eventually had sales agents in at least sixteen other cities, appeared more regularly and probably enjoyed a wider circulation than most of its predecessors, it, too, suffered from a lack of funds. With regard to format, it was printed in four sheets, with each sheet containing four columns. The paper had no advertising or photographs and little in the way of news not devoted to political or social- economic matters. The front page carried editorials, usually by Germain Ave Lallemant. A special section was devoted to international items related to socialist-labor concerns. Another such section reported news of similar interest from the interior of the republic. Each issue sold for five centavos.

El Obrero, in its eighty-eight issues, covered a broad range of topics. Throughout, however, it attempted to place these within the analytical framework of Marxist theory. In particular, and undoubtedly reflecting

21A sample of some of Ave Lallemant's writings on agrarian questions can be found in La clase obrera y el nacimiento del marxismo en la Argentina: Seleccidn de articulos de German Ave Lallemant (Introduction by Leonardo Paso) (Buenos Aires: Editorial ANTEO, 1974), pp. 83-129.

22It is not clear just how Ave Lallemant became conversant with Marxist theory or how profound such knowledge was. Although his own writings display a considerable sophistication in dealing with Marxist concepts, it is not known, for example, if he ever read Das Kapital. He was, in the 1880's and 1890's, a correspondent for the German Social Democratic newspaper Die Neue Zeit, and it may well have been that through reading that journal he absorbed the ideas which he, in turn, would disseminate in his adopted land. Ratzer, Los marxistas, pp. 89-90.

23Biographical information on Ave' Lallemant is from La clase obrera, pp. 15-18; "Los que abrieron el surco," in Partido Socialista, Anuario Socialista: Aio primero, 1928 (Buenos Aires, 1928), 183-185; and, Ratzer, Los marxistas, pp. 79-91.


8 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA the influence of Ave Lallemant, it sought to analyze Argentine historical development through the lens of dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and the capitalist exploitation of the proletariat through the expro- priation of the surplus value produced by the workers' efforts. As the lead editorial in El Obrero's first issue put it, "We come to present ourselves in the republic's political arena as champions of the proletariat . . in order to form the nucleus of a new class, one inspired by the sublime doctrine of scientific socialism, whose fundamental theories are: the materialist conception of history and the revelation of the mystery of capitalist production by means of surplus value-the great discoveries of our immortal teacher, Karl Marx .

. ."24 The editorial went on to describe the evolution in Argentina of two antagonistic classes: the capitalist minority, supported and protected by the government and living in ostentatious luxury; and the proletarian majority, exploited by the capitalists, ignored by the government, and subjected to living and working conditions more fit for animals than for human beings. The process of class division in Argentina was explained in the following terms: "The capitalist, at the same time he pays for the labor-force of the worker with the real value that he [the worker], as merchandise, has in the market, nevertheless extracts much more than that which he [the capitalist] has given in the form of salary in order to acquire merchandise, and this surplus value constitutes the sum of values from whence is derived the always growing mass of capital accumulated in the hands of the property-owning classes."25

This first editorial clearly stated that El Obrero's main purpose was to represent the interests of the growing, exploited, and ignored proletariat and to use its pages to develop the consciousness of that class. In the words of a later statement, "The object of our efforts is to make the proletariat conscious of the part it should play in the class struggle ... and to show it the road by which it will arrive, without fail, to ultimate triumph."26 To this end, and to counter conservative criticism that a "social problem" did not exist in Argentina, El Obrero described in great detail the harsh experiences and living and working conditions of the republic's lower classes, both in urban and rural areas. These often included personal letters from affected workers.27 Also, the paper played

24"Nuestro Programa," El Obrero (Buenos Aires: December 12, 1890), p. 1. 25Ibid. 28"La guerra de clases," El Obrero (February 6, 1892), p. 1. 2"See in particular the excerpts from El Obrero printed in Hobart Spalding, La clase trabajadora

argentina (Documentos para su historia-1890/1912) (Buenos Aires: Editorial Galerna, 1970), pp. 132-152 and 193-215.


RICHARD J. WALTER 9

a major role in publicizing, supporting, and promoting the activities of the Federacidn Obrera and seconded the federation's main goals: "1) the possession of political power by the proletarian class; and, 2) the transformation of individual or corporate property as the means of production into collective, social, or common property.'"28

Although the ends of the federation were well-defined, the means to achieve them were not so clear. In the early 1890's there was no recognized political party which spoke to working-class concerns. El Obrero's editors placed little faith in either the Uni6n Civica or the Uni6n Civica Radical, which they correctly analyzed as movements of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie with scant interest in the plight of the working class. While the specifics were never sketched out, El Obrero clearly advocated the formation of an organization similar to that which would emerge shortly as Argentina's Socialist party. Such a party would articulate the needs of the working class and work within the political process to push for passage of the social legislation promoted by the Federaci6n Obrera. 29

Their emphasis on political organization and activity placed the socialists of El Obrero and the Federaci6n Obrera in complete opposition to the other prevailing alternative to achieve working-class goals, namely anarchism. Calling scientific socialism "progressive revolution" and labeling anarchism as "essentially reactionary" and a philosophy no intelligent man could accept, El Obrero drew clear lines of distinction between the two philosophies: "In no way can socialists and anarchists march in accord, because the committed anarchist, according to his fundamental theory, cannot admit of any organization, any rule. On the other hand we socialists not only form the organized association of the Federaci6n Obrera but also demand strict discipline and obedience to rules and regulations, especially each comrade's fulfillment of his duties as a man and a socialist . . ." The socialists also rejected the anarchists' favorite weapon, the general strike, which, they contended, only led to repression and more capitalist exploitation: "The strike as a mere expres- sion of force is a stupidity! The class struggle can only be decided and resolved by means of political action.'"31

28"Programa de la Federaci6n Obrera Argentina: Proyecto presentado al Primer Congreso Obrero Argentino de 1891," El Obrero (July 25, 1891), p. 1.

29"La cuesti6n social," El Obrero (February 21, 1981), p. 1. 30"El socialismo cientifico y el anarquismo," El Obrero (January 17, 1891), p. 1. In this article the

editors forecast the strong emphasis the leaders of Argentina's Socialist party would place on organization and discipline.

31"La huelga universal," El Obrero (February 13, 1892), p. 1.



At the same time the socialists took on the anarchists, they also leveled heavy barrages against the Argentine ruling class. The existing government, as El Obrero saw it, represented only the interests of the rich. One article took special aim at the widely-admired Carlos Pellegrini, who had assumed the presidency following the crisis of 1890 and had done much to restore financial and political stability. According to El Obrero, Pellegrini, whom the socialists compared with the Russian Czar, had undertaken fiscal policies which had benefited the wealthy and injured everyone else. In its words, "These measures [of Pellegrini], which consist of increasing tariff duties on articles of prime necessity, in creating new taxes and indirect contributions, fall heavily on the interests of the petty bourgeoisie, the small capitalists, and the proletariat, and free most of the upper class of great landowners from contributing to the expenses of the state."32

Finally, the editors of El Obrero were among the first to criticize the preponderant role that British capital played in Argentina, the connec- tion between foreign investment and the oligarchy, and the deleterious effects of the country's economic dependence upon Great Britain. In its first editorial the paper laid much of the blame for the economic crisis of 1890 at the feet of "international capital," headquartered in London, and its endless search for new markets.33 The socialists were also among the first to perceive the United States as a new rival and threat to England in the struggle for Latin American markets. In an 1891 article entitled "El Panamericanismo," El Obrero noted that the Diaz government in Mexico already was in a state of "absolute economic dependence" on its powerful northern neighbor. The article predicted that U. S. economic influence would move ever southward, producing increased competition and conflict with Great Britain. In the long run, the socialists argued, the proletariat could benefit from this conflict as it would accelerate ". . . the rapid reduction of markets, the enormous concentration of capital, the growing misery of the people, and . . . [ultimately] the end of the capitalist order . . .34

In retrospect there is much to criticize in El Obrero's approach to Argentine history and society. As Alfredo L. Palacios later noted, although El Obrero and Ave Lallemant presented stimulating hypotheses, their analysis of Argentine development, based on a rigid application of

32"Federaci6n Obrera: Presentaci6n dirigida al Exm. Sr. Presidente de la Repiblica-Carlos Pellegrini," El Obrero (January 24, 1891), p. 1.

33"Nuestro Programa," op. cit. 34"E1 Panamericanismo," El Obrero (October 3, 1891), p. 2.


RICHARD J. WALTER 11

Marxist theory, often distorted or obscured national history.35 Also, as with many of their comrades in the Third World, they failed to address themselves satisfactorily to the problem of achieving socialism according to the Marxist prescription in a country which was still basically at a pre-industrial stage of development.

On the other hand, El Obrero made important contributions. It served as a stimulating critic of established ways of thinking and of acting. In opposition to the conservative argument that the bases for class struggle did not exist in an essentially prosperous Argentina, El Obrero printed detailed and convincing evidence to the contrary. In contrast to historical analyses which stressed men and ideas, El Obrero focused on social and economic forces. With its analysis of the effects of foreign capital on Argentina, El Obrero antedated not only Hobson and Lenin but also the postwar dependista writers. In tone, style, and content, El Oberero was a valuable forerunner for subsequent socialist publications.

Following the close of El Obrero several of the men associated with it edited a similar journal in 1893, the short-lived (six issues) El Socialista. At the same time French and Italian socialist groups began to publish periodicals in the language of their countrymen. In 1893 the directors of the newly-formed (1892) Agrupaci6n Socialista, including again several who had been connected with El Obrero, met in a Buenos Aires caf6 to found a new journal for the Spanish-reading socialist public. The result appeared first on April 7, 1894. It was entitled La Vanguardia and subtitled "Scientific Socialist Periodical, Defender of the Working Class." It would prove to be Argentina's most enduring and influential socialist publication.36

Paralleling the growth of Argentina's Socialist party, for which it was the official organ, La Vanguardia expanded dramatically in format and distribution during the period between 1894 and 1914. Beginning much like El Obrero, La Vanguardia published first as a four-page, four-column weekly (appearing on Saturdays) selling for ten centavos a copy with monthly subscriptions at 40 centavos. Within a few years the price for a single issue fell to five centavos. Like El Obrero, the new paper featured front-page editorials by local socialists, international socialist-labor news, reports from the interior provinces, and reprints of articles by noted socialist thinkers. Unlike most of its forerunners, by 1896 La Vanguardia included a special section of advertisements, a section which

35Alfredo L. Palacios, Lajusticia social (Buenos Aires: Editorial Claridad, 1954), pp. 114-116. 36Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 17-21.



grew steadily during these years to cover almost the entire back page. Professional notices, listing the names, addresses, and office hours of dentists, doctors, and lawyers, usually socialists, shared space with notices for food stores, pharmacies, and clothing establishments which sought to attract a working-class clientele. Various brands of beer and cigarettes advertised in La Vanguardia, despite the Socialist party's opposition to alcohol and the askance with which some members viewed smoking. By 1897 and thereafter political caricatures and cartoons, many of them masterpieces of political art, lampooned the bourgeoisie and the political opposition. By 1914 the paper featured front-page photographs of Socialist party candidates and campaign rallies.

Between 1894 and 1905 La Vanguardia remained a weekly, although there was a brief experiment at bi-weekly publication (Wednesday and Saturday) in 1897-1898. From 1900 plans were made to convert the newspaper into a morning daily, plans which were realized on Sep- tember 1, 1905. Published six times a week (except Mondays), the paper still numbered four pages but now contained six columns a page. The price of a single issue was five centavos; monthly subscriptions sold for $1.25 pesos. With daily publication the paper expanded its format to include general national and international wire-service news, indicating a shift from strictly a party organ to one which might attract a larger readership. On July 1, 1913 La Vanguardia grew to eight pages, although the cost of a single issue remained five centavos. In addition to regular publication, the editors also produced large special editions to celebrate May 1 as the day of the worker. These were sometimes printed on red paper and usually included literary and artistic contributions as well as political articles. On occasion a larger than normal January 1 edition summarized events of the past year.

Although figures on distribution are scattered and imprecise, circulation reportedly grew from 1,500 issues in 1896 to 75,000 in 1912. By 1912 La Vanguardia had 100 sales agents throughout the country and in neighboring Chile and Uruguay.37 Beginning with a handful of editors and printers in 1894, La Vanguardia had a staff of 55 (nineteen editors and writers, thirty six administrators and printers) by 1914.38

The paper's growth was steady and impressive, but it was far from easy. Like its predecessors, the paper experienced continuous financial difficulties. Its first editions were printed on a press purchased through

37Spalding, La clase trabajadora, p. 71. 38Repdiblica Argentina, Tercer Censo Nacional, Levantado el 1P de Junio de 1914 (Buenos Aires:

Talleres Grificos de L. J. Rosso y Cia, 1917), IX, pp. 288-289.


RICHARD J. WALTER 13 personal sacrifices and contributions and placed in the basement of one of its founders. Between 1894 and 1914 the location of the presses and editorial offices changed at least nine times. Basic funding depended upon subscriptions and street sales. Advertising was at first difficult to attract. Pricing was also a problem. Initially and mainly aimed at the working class, at least in theory, La Vanguardia had to sell at a reasonable price and still meet expenses. Even five or ten centavos might be too much for the average worker. In the early years the editors recognized this problem and urged subscribers to lend or give their copies, once read, to friends and co-workers. Eventually, with the election of Socialist deputies after 1904, men who contributed a large portion of their legislative salaries to meet the costs of publication, La Vanguardia achieved a firmer financial base. By 1914 a growing circulation, regular subscription drives, and increased advertising allowed the party organ not only to balance its own books but also to contribute to other socialist activities.39

In addition to financial stringencies, La Vanguardia suffered from the political repression of the period, particularly during the first decade of the twentieth century. Responding to the militant labor agitation of these years, and the revolutionary tactics of the UCR, Argentine governments often enacted states of siege which temporarily suspended constitutional guarantees. As a consequence, freedoms of speech and press were restricted and the socialist La Vanguardia, although not at the forefront of this anti-government activity, nevertheless paid much of the price. States of siege forced the suspension of La Vanguardia for varying periods in 1902, 1905, 1909, and 1910, although the editors often circumvented these restrictions and published clandestine special bulle- tins. The worst interruption occurred in 1910, during the so-called "Strike of the Centennial" (referring to the centennial celebration of Argentina's declaration of independence from Spain), when a group of right-wing vigilantes ransacked the newspaper's offices and destroyed its presses. After a three-month interruption the presses were restored and publication resumed.40

In its first twenty years La Vanguardia had over twenty different editors.41 The first and most influential, however, was Juan B. Justo,

3"La Vanguardia: Ndmero del cincuentenario de su fundaci6n; 7 de abril de 1894--7 de abril de 1944 (Buenos Aires, 1944), pp. 98-141.

40These events are detailed in La Vanguardia for September 30, 1910, the day the state of siege was lifted. See also, Oddone, Historia del socialismo, II, pp. 75-81.

"These are listed by name in La Vanguardia: Ndmero del cincuentenario, p. 98.



principal founder of the paper and the acknowledged leader of the Socialist party until his death in 1928. Justo served as editor in 1894, from 1905 to 1910, and from 1914 to 1916. Even when he was not actually editor his ideas permeated the paper. Like Ave Lallemant, Justo was well-grounded in Marxist theory, having made the first Spanish translation of Das Kapital. As the translator of Marx, and as a careful student of European socialism, Justo, for his time, was one of the few in Argentina to be fully conversant with Marxist philosophy. Much of the diffusion of Marxism in the republic between the 1890's and World War I was through Justo's political and journalistic activities.

The Marxism of Juan B. Justo was eclectic and flexible. Although he employed such concepts as dialectical materialism and the theory of class struggle, Justo attempted to avoid the rigid theorizing which had characterized El Obrero and mold Marxist analysis to his perception of the Argentine reality. He disagreed with Marx on several matters of interpretation and emphasis and found much inspiration from such decided non-Marxists as Herbert Spencer. Justo identified himself, La Vanguardia, and the Socialist party closely with the evolutionary socialism of Eduard Bernstein and Jean Jaures and sought to mold the Argentine party along the successful lines of the pragmatic German Social Democrats.42

Argentine political historian Jose Ratzer has argued that Justo represented a clear break between the more revolutionary editors of El Obrero and the more reformist tendencies of the Socialist party.43 Nevertheless, there were many continuities in style, content, and approach between La Vanguardia and its predecessor, particularly in the early years. La Vanguardia's first editorial, for example, written by Justo, underscored the evolution of class confrontation and struggle in the republic. Tracing Argentina's recent economic growth, Justo noted that "All, then, con- tributes so that here two classes already have formed, from whose antagonism social progress must result. Already on one side of the capital we have the Avenida Alvear [principal location of oligarchical mansions] and on the other side an immense barrio of conventillos [tenements] . . . On one side a rich and indolent class, whose only occupation is to vary and display its insolent luxury, contrasted with a

42For more on Justo's Marxism, see Dardo Cuineo, Juan B. Justo y las lucbas sociales en la Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1956); Anierico Ghioldi,Juan B. Justo: Sus ideas bistdricas; Sur ideas socialistas; Sus ideas filosficas (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Monserrat, 1964); and, Luis Pan, Justo y Marx: El socialismo en la Argentina (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Monserrat, 1964), pp. 24-25.

43Ratzer, Los marxistas, pp. 167-175.



working class, which, after a lifetime of labor, has only the prospect of more misery." La Vanguardia promised to be on the side of the poor and to struggle for improvements in their conditions: "We appear to combat all privileges, all laws made by the rich to their own advantage, [which] are no more than means to exploit the workers . . ." And, reflecting the philosophic eclecticism of Justo, "We appear to spread the economic doctrines created by Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Marx, and to prepare ourselves for the coming great social transformation."44

Like El Obrero, La Vanguardia encouraged labor union organization and sought to represent the interests of the working class. To counter the conservative argument that social problems were more fabricated than real, the paper regularly printed the specific details of on-the-job work- related accidents, including the name of the injured worker, the extent of his or her injuries, and the employer at fault. Although the socialists often objected to many of the strike actions of these years, arguing that they were poorly prepared and often worsened rather than bettered existing conditions, they nevertheless gave full coverage to these and wrote strong editorials condemning police-government repression. The paper also detailed and supported union organization, especially organization under socialist influence.

While the main focus was on the urban worker, La Vanguardia also described the living and working conditions of the rural poor. In the 1890's La Vanguardia led a campaign against the "conchavo" system, whereby workers, principally on the sugar and yerba mate plantations of the North, signed contracts which placed them in perpetual indebted- ness. This campaign eventually led to the alleviation of some of the more flagrant abuses of this system.45 In mid-1912 La Vanguardia gave extensive coverage and backing to a two-month strike of small tenant farmers in the province of Santa Fe.46

The editors of La Vanguardia, like those of El Obrero, saw the formation of a political party and political action as the most efficacious means to improve the lot of Argentina's working class. Early editions consistently advocated the establishment of such an organization, which was ac- complished in 1895 with the founding of Argentina's Socialist party.

""Nuestro Programa," La Vanguardia (Buenos Aires: April 7, 1894), p. 1. 45"Los siervos de las provincias del norte," La Vanguardia (June 2, 1894), p. 1; "La esclavitud en el

norte de la Reptiblica," La Vanguardia (July 28, 1894), p. 1; and Oddone, Historia del socialismo, I, pp. 183-184.

46See issues of June, July, and August 1912. See also Carl E. Solberg, "Rural Unrest and Agrarian Policy in Argentina, 1912-1930,"Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, XIII, 1 (January 1971), 23-25.



From this date forward La Vanguardia reported every step of the party's progress. Each issue carried the party's statutes, principles, and program. Party congresses, which frequently featured lively, impassioned, and sometimes bitter debates, were usually covered in full. The titles of affiliated groups were printed regularly. Notices of special events, ranging from picnics and concerts to serious lectures, appeared in every issue. For most of this period La Vanguardia also published in full the Socialist party's monthly accounts, detailing the sources of income and expenditures.

As the Socialist party grew, La Vanguardia became an important tool by which to attract new members. During the early years the paper listed the names and addresses of private homes where interested individuals could join the party. Potential recruits often first became aware of both socialism and the Socialist party by reading a copy of La Vanguardia. Many of the party's leading figures progressed from readers to contributors to editors.47

Increasingly, the most important activity of the Socialist party was participation in elections, particularly elections to the national Congress. La Vanguardia played a key part in this process. From 1896 the paper announced when and where candidates were to be selected, detailed the conditions necessary both to be a candidate and an elector, and then described the process of selection. These candidates usually were chosen several weeks before election day. In the interval La Vanguardia devoted itself almost totally to the campaign, pushing other items, including labor news, to the inside or back pages. These issues featured information on the candidates and their qualifications, repeatedly printed the particular planks of the party's platform (it was the only party during this period to run on a specific program), and carried lengthy articles analyzing these planks and their applicability to current circumstances. The paper also repeatedly printed relevant sections of election laws and sought to provide thorough and detailed information on just how the voter should proceed to cast his ballot, a useful service at a time when the dominant political machine made voting not only difficult but also often hazardous. La Vanguardia coordinated campaign activity, publicized political lectures, listed the name and amount of individuals who made campaign contributions, and covered in great detail the mass rallies which concluded pre-election efforts.

After elections, the paper followed closely the counting of the ballots,

47Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 35, 60-63.



usually featuring the tally on the front page. When socialists were elected from Buenos Aires to the Chamber of Deputies in 1904, 1912, 1913 and 1914 and to the Senate in 1913, La Vanguardia gave prominent play to their activities in the Congress. Frequently the paper reprinted lengthy excerpts from the Diario de sesiones (Congressional Record) in which socialist legislators were featured.

In conjunction with a concentration on campaigns, La Vanguardia throughout the year focused on issues related to politics and elections. Of particular concern was the need to convince foreigners, who made up the bulk of the working class and potentially the electorate, to become naturalized citizens and hence eligible to vote. As an early article put it, "It is now time for European workers established here to recognize that to become citizens is the surest means to influence the progress of the country and to better the situation of the working class. We ought not to leave a means of struggle as powerful as political rights for the exclusive use of bourgeois foreigners . . ."48 Despite La Vanguardia's persistent efforts in this direction, few foreigners actually became citizens in these years.49

La Vanguardia also sought to educate the proletariat on the major political issues of the day. These often involved complex economic matters, which the paper tried to explain in clear and straightforward language. An article in the first edition, for example, analyzed the rising cost of gold in Argentina and the resulting inflationary pressures on real wages.50 Another article detailed the effects of tax and tariff policies on the ever-higher cost of basic necessities.51

Like El Obrero, La Vanguardia concentrated heavy journalistic fire on competing movements and groups. Various articles and editorials attacked anarchism as reactionary, utopian, and counter-productive.52 The socialists were equally critical of the Uni6n Civica Radical. An 1894 article called the members of the UCR "capitalist revolutionaries" of the "petty bourgeoisie" who lacked any program other than the institution of "bourgeois democracy."53 In 1905 the socialists urged the working class to abstain from participation in a Radical revolt of that year. The uprising, they argued, was primarily a struggle for political power

48"Nacionalizaci6n de extranjeros," La Vanguardia (April 24, 1894), pp. 3-4. 49Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 30-3 1. 50"Por que sube el oro: Para hacer bajar los salarios," La Vanguardia (April 7, 1894), p. 2. 51"Contra los impuestos indirectos," La Vanguardia (November 3, 1894), p. 1. 52For example, "Los socialistas en la politica argentina," La Vanguardia (May 26, 1894), p. 1. 53"La situaci6n actual: Crisis; radicalismo y democracia," La Vanguardia (July 21, 1894), p. 1.



among two sectors of the bourgeoisie little concerned with the social- economic position of the proletariat.54

La Vanguardia saved its heaviest and most persistent criticism, however, for the conservative governments of the period, which, the socialists charged, represented solely the interests of the country's bourgeoisie. For La Vanguardia, the bourgeoisie in preindustrial Argen- tina meant the wealthy land-owning classes: Those ". . . 1,120 great landowners [who] presently possess 950 million pesos of the 1,423 million which represents the sum of private national wealth, and [who] govern, legislate for, and command absolutely the four million inhabi- tants of the country in the manner most convenient to their own interests."55 The socialists viewed each president of this period as either directly of this class or subservient to its interests and subjected each to scathing comment. For example, President Jose Figueroa Alcorta (1906-1910) was described as one who carried out a militaristic foreign policy, introduced laws which violated the Constitution, unduly sup- pressed the labor movement, and perpetuated political fraud.56

The socialists also underscored the relationship between foreign capital and the Argentine bourgeoisie. One article claimed that government ministers were often ". . . more representative of the foreign-owned railroads than of the opinion of the Argentine people."" 57Their overall attitude towards foreign investment, however, was somewhat more moderate and ambiguous than that of El Obrero. A 1910 article on "Pan Americanism," printed almost two decades after El Obrero's piece on the same subject, noted the enormous economic expansion of the United States in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America. On the whole, however, La Vanguardia viewed this penetration with only mild alarm and indeed seemed to regard the spread of U. S. influence benignly, pointing to the future economic benefits of the Panama Canal.58

At the same time La Vanguardia lambasted the opposition it also laid out for all to see the many tensions, dissensions, and disagreements within the ranks of the Socialist party itself. In 1899 the paper presented all the gory details of an embarrassing incident wherein the party expelled its recently-elected secretary-general, Honorio Pineau

54"La politica criolla y el motin militar," La Vanguardia (February 11, 1905), p. 1. 55"Sobre el origen del capital y del proletariado argentino," La Vanguardia (April 14, 1894), p. 1. 56"El ocaso de una mediocridad," La Vanguardia (August 26, 1910), p. 1. 57"Al pueblo de la repdblica," La Vanguardia (February 26, 1914), p. 1. 58"Pan-americanismo," La Vanguardia (September 1, 1910), p. 1. For more on the socialists'

attitude toward foreign capital, see Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 165-168.



Aparicio, because he had failed to substantiate public charges that a fellow socialist was a thief. 59 Also in the 1890's two young firebrands, later among Latin America's most renowned literary and intellectual figures, Leopoldo Lugones and Jose Ingenieros, drifted away from the party in disagreement with what they considered its moderate approach.60 In 1906 a faction attracted to syndicalism left the party. In 1913 Manuel Ugarte, who had been an important contributor to La Vanguardia and the party's 1912 candidate for senator from the federal capital, also left the socialist ranks.61 All of these incidents, and others, La Vanguardia reported fully, albeit more from the viewpoint of those who remained rather than from that of those who left or were expelled.

In 1897 Ingenieros and Lugones, reflecting their disagreements with those who controlled the party and La Vanguardia, published their own journal entitled La Montaia which enjoyed considerable notoriety. Its main feature and claim to fame was a relentless and sometimes ruthless attack on the Argentine national leadership. Rarely had the country's bourgeoisie been subjected to such imaginative critical language. In La Montafla's first issue Lugones began a series on "The Politicians of this Country," in which he focused on Carlos Pellegrini, ". . . the most complete bourgeois personification . . . [in whom] is discovered only one revealing thing: the fury to spend, to spit out money . . . who desires the presidency [for a second term] with undisguised ambition, but fears it at the same time, like an adolescent in heat before the open thighs of a prostitute. He doubts his virility in full erection, a phenomenon experienced only by those inferior in heart and mind."62 Ingenieros followed these observations in the second issue, where he began a column on "Los reptiles burgueses." These "reptiles," he pointed out, "already parade through the administration, commerce, charitable societies, the Church, the parliament" and their "immorality ought to be displayed to the people .. ."63

The mayor of Buenos Aires, however, did not agree. Soon after the first issues appeared he initiated judicial proceedings to halt La Montaiia's

59"En defensa de la moralidad y de la armonia," La Vanguardia (January 21, 1899), p. 1. 60See Sergio Bagti, Vida ejemplar de Jose Ingenieros: Juventud y plenitud (Buenos Aires: Colecci6n Claridad, 1936) and Mario Bravo, "Leopoldo Lugones en el movimiento socialista (1896-1897),"

Nosotros, 2, nos. 26-28 (May-July 1938), 27-47. 61For a thorough biography of Ugarte, including information on his difficulties with the Socialist

party, see Norberto Galasso, Manuel Ugarte (Buenos Aires: EUDEBA, 1973), two volumes. 62Leopoldo Lugones, "Los politicos de este pais," La Montafia (Buenos Aires: April 1, 1897), 5. 63Jose Ingenieros, "Los reptiles burgueses," La Montafia (April 15, 1897), 5.



publication as "offensive to morality" and "dangerous to the present social order," which was, of course, exactly what its editors intended. Despite facing a possible 300 peso fine and five-months imprisonment, the two young socialists continued to caricature the oligarchy unmerci- fully. Lugones added the portrait of the incumbent President Jose E. Uriburu to his gallery of political leaders, noting that Uriburu was "a politician without biography, or perhaps a biography without personage

"..64 Ingenieros exercised his fertile imagination to compare

bourgeois intellectuals with pigs who should be cremated, too disease- ridden even to be barbecued.65

La Montafia's attacks upon the bourgeoisie were obviously intended to arouse attention through outrageous language and blunt statements. Ingenieros and Lugones clearly enjoyed taking apart the oligarchical leadership which they saw as egotistical, unimaginative, materialistic, and completely blind to the needs of the working classes. But La Montafia had another purpose-to try to move the Socialist party to a more radical, even revolutionary position. Ingenieros wrote in La Montafia that socialism and revolution were inextricably linked. Socialism was characterized, he argued, by " . . . the socialization of all the means of production and the elimination of social class distinctions; the logical result of this process is the withering away of the state and of false bourgeois morality." The achievement of these goals, he claimed, represented profound revolutionary change, and he castigated those socialists who sought to play down the revolutionary consequences of their action simply to attract petty bourgeois elements to their ranks. He warned that this perception implied " . . . a fundamental error whose outcome will some day weaken the socialist movement." "Socialist and revolutionary are two inseparable qualities," Ingenieros concluded, "and real socialists are those who accept revolution .. ."66

Two years later Juan B. Justo produced his own publication, El Diario del Pueblo, which also attacked the national leadership. The tone of these attacks, however, was considerably more measured than that of La Montafia.67 In addition, Justo's emphasis, as was to be expected, was on the achievement of socialist goals through non-revolutionary means.

"4Leopoldo Lugones, "Los politicos de este pais," La Montadia (May 15, 1897), 5. e5Jos Ingenieros, "Los reptiles burgueses, IV: Los padres de la patria," La Montafia (August 15,

1897), 5. 6eJos Ingenieros, "Socialismo y revoluci6n," La Montaia (July 1, 1897), 5. 67For example, "El predominio del PAN [Partido Autonomista Nacional, the dominant party of the

oligarchy]," El Diaro del Pueblo (Buenos Aires: November 12, 1899), p. 1.



Appearing as a four-page morning daily selling for five centavos, El Diario, for the few months it appeared, was virtually a carbon copy of La Vanguardia in format and content. In it Justo repeated many of the themes and issues he already had delineated in the party organ and provided an example and stimulus for La Vanguardia's eventual daily publication.

In addition to these independent efforts, other sectors of the Socialist party also produced publications aimed to disseminate the socialist message. As the party grew it established centros (centers) in each of the twenty electoral districts (circunscripciones) into which the federal capital was divided. In the early 1900's the largest and most active centros, either individually or in conjunction with another group in another section, published their own newspapers. These were intended to supplement La Vanguardia. They appeared more irregularly than the party organ, usually on a monthly basis. They were also smaller in size and scope of coverage. Although they printed news of general party concern, and, like the larger journal, usually published the party's program and declaration of principles, their major attention centered on local matters. They might describe a strike in circunscipci6n four (which elected Alfredo L. Palacios to the Congress in 1904), a party and concert in sections fourteen and twenty, or an electoral campaign in the eighth circunscripci6n. They also aimed to spread socialist ideas and to recruit working-class adherents to the party.68

All of the publications examined so far, with the exception of La Montatia, could be classified generally as newspapers. In the period between the turn of the century and World War I a number of socialist magazines also emerged. One was Vida Nueva: Revista Socialista, which was not a party organ per se, but which sought to describe in particular the social problems of the working class.69 Most ambitious, in terms of format, was Nueva Era: Revista Socialista Ilustrada, a bi-monthly which produced its first issue on May 1, 1914. Firmly connected with the party, the editors of Nueva Era featured extensive coverage and analysis of the socialist delegation in the Congress. Most striking, however, was its concentration on graphics, including photographs, caricatures, and

68Some centro newspapers, consulted in the Biblioteca Obrera "Juan B. Justo" in Buenos Aires, included La Luz: PeriodicoSocialista, (1901-1905), located in circunscripcid6n four; ElSocialista: Organo del Centro Socialista Juventud Obrera; Circunscr*pci6n Ha (1903-1904); La Antorcha: Organo del Centro Socialista de la Circunscripci6n 2a (1903); El Alba: Organo Socialista de la Circunscrci6n 20a (1904); and, Adelante: Organo de la Circunscripi6n 10a (1904-1911).

"6Vida Nueva appeared twice monthly between January 1906 and February 1907.



cartoons. In terms of layout and presentation, Nueva Era was the most sophisticated and attractive socialist publication of the period.70

The best-known and most influential of the socialist magazines was the monthly Revista Socialista Internacional, which appeared regularly between 1908 and 1915.71 The Revista's directors and contributors were mostly those associated with La Vanguardia and the party. The first editor and guiding force was Enrique Del Valle Iberlucea, who would be elected senator from Buenos Aires in 1913 and later leave the party in disagreement over the socialists' failure to support the Bolshevik Revo- lution and join the Third International.72 Del Valle Iberlucea forecast these disagreements in his first Revista editorial, in which he attacked Bernsteinian reformism and urged that the socialist movement be one of "criticism and action," criticism not only of capitalism but also of the movement itself. He promised to use "scientific socialism" to explain the economic development of the republic and to make the new periodical ". ..

a living archive where the actions of the world-wide working-class movement would be recorded."73

True to his word, Del Valle Iberlucea included in the pages of the Revista many articles, from home and abroad, which discussed the application of Marxism to historical conditions in Europe and America. The magazine also repeated many of the functions of La Vanguardia. It reported the details of party congresses and chronicled strike actions and resultant repression. However, the Revista tended more to analytical "think pieces" and to allowing contributions by critics, both within and outside the party, than did the official socialist newspaper. In 1909, for example, the Revista published in full the responses of those socialists who opposed the party's attempt to accommodate itself to growing nationalist sentiment in the republic and in the process, so the critics charged, abandoned the Marxist concept of an an international socialist revolution.74 A prominent feature of the Revista's early years were articles by Martin Casaretto, a member of the local printers' union, who charged the Socialist party with moving too far away from working-class

70The complete run for 1914 was examined in the Biblioteca Obrera "Juan B. Justo." 71 In 1910 the title was changed to Humanidad Nueva: Revista Socialista Internacional. 72For biographical information, see Benito Marianetti, Enrique Del Valle Iberlucea: Una bonrada

conductafrente a la revolucidn rusa (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Silaba, 1972), pp. 7-11. 73Enrique Del Valle Iberlucea, "Critica y acci6n: Nuestro programa," Revista Socialista Interna-

cional, I, 1 (Buenos Aires: December 15, 1908), 1-7. 74For more details, see Walter, The Socialist Party, pp. 67-70.



organization and too close to an exclusive electoral-political concentration.75

Del Valle Iberlucea himself participated in critical debate at this time, usually in defense of the party. In 1908, when visiting Italian socialist congressman Enrico Ferri made a strong attack on the socialist movement in Argentina, Del Valle Iberlucea joined Juan B. Justo in a firm response. Ferri argued, essentially, that the appearance of a socialist movement in Argentina was premature since the republic's economic development was based on agriculture, not industry. The Revista published Ferri's comments and Justo's rejoinder in full. Then, in a series of articles of his own, Del Valle Iberlucea, in a sophisticated and convincing manner, traced the significant growth of an industrial proletariat in the republic.76 Other articles by the editor sought to counter the advantages conservatives saw in Ferri's analysis and their attempts to portray socialism as an "exotic plant" in Argentina.77

In sum, by the outbreak of World War I a substantial socialist press was firmly established in Argentina. The most influential publications of this period were El Obrero and La Vanguardia. Through their pages theories and analyses based on Marxist interpretations were diffused throughout the republic. The main interpreters were Germain Ave Lallemant and Juan B. Justo, both students of Marx and other European socialists. Particularly with Justo the emphasis was on a moderate and reformist socialism. The press itself, however, reflected the tensions within the socialist movement over how best to proceed; whether to focus strictly on working-class organization or on political action; whether to take a reformist or a revolutionary road to the achievement of socialist goals.

The contributions of these publications were many. For the first time in the history of the republic newspapers and magazines devoted to the cause of the majority of the population, the working classes, attempted to inform the general public of the actual working and living conditions in Argentina. The socialist press also played a crucial role in rallying the working class to protest and to organize to improve these conditions.

75For example, Martin Casaretto, "El movimiento sindical en la republica: Refleciones sobre el movimiento obrero," Humanidad Nueva, III, 5 (May 1, 1910), 246-252.

76These appeared in the editions of February 15 (195-199), March 15 (272-273), and April 15 (336-353) of 1909.

"For example, Enrique Del Valle Iberlucea, "Notas Editoriales: De la revoluci6n al centenario," HumanidadNueva, III, 5 (May 1, 1910), 233-236.



Moreover, by introducing analyses which criticized capitalist economic development from a Marxist perspective and approached the study of history and politics with an emphasis on economic factors and the class struggle, the socialist press helped to enrich subsequent Argentine thought. These publications posed new and alternative ways of looking at Argentine society, ways with which many might disagree but few could ignore.

RICHARD J. WALTER Washington University St. Louis, Missouri


Article Contentsp. 1p. 2p. 3p. 4p. 5p. 6p. 7p. 8p. 9p. 10p. 11p. 12p. 13p. 14p. 15p. 16p. 17p. 18p. 19p. 20p. 21p. 22p. 23p. 24

Issue Table of ContentsThe Americas, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jul., 1980), pp. 1-138Front MatterThe Socialist Press in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina [pp. 1-24]Samar in the Late Eighteenth Century [pp. 25-52]Women and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920 [pp. 53-82]Las Damas de la Havana, el Precursor, and Francisco de Saavedra: A Note on Spanish Participation in the Battle of Yorktown [pp. 83-99]Inter-American Notes [pp. 101-118]Book ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 119-120]Review: untitled [pp. 120-121]Review: untitled [pp. 121-122]Review: untitled [pp. 123-124]Review: untitled [pp. 124-125]Review: untitled [p. 126]Review: untitled [pp. 127-128]Review: untitled [pp. 128-129]Review: untitled [pp. 129-131]Review: untitled [pp. 131-132]Review: untitled [pp. 132-133]Review: untitled [pp. 133-135]Review: untitled [pp. 135-137]

Back Matter

La Prensa Socialista en El Fin de Siglo Argentino

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