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THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN
TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY ARGENTINA
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2 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
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 Lostiemposnuevos:Relexionesoptimistassobre
la guerray la revoluci6n(Madrid: Editorial America, 1921), he also included a number of articles on
the Bolshevik experiment in the Revistadefilosofia,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'she was professor and dean in the law schools of the Universities of Buenos Aires and La Plata.
Quien es quien en la Argentina:Biografiascontemporaneas; adfo1939 (Buenos Aires: Guillermo Kraft,
Ltda., 1939), pp. 325-326. Ponce, a disciple of Ingenieros and also an editor of the Revistadefilosofia,
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, Diariodesesionesdela Cdmarade
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 AmericanResearch Review, XIV, 1 (1979), 228-233.
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RICHARDJ. WALTER 3
The introductionof socialist ideas into Argentina, however, is not
strictlya post-WorldWarII or even post-1917phenomenon.Such ideas
were presentedin systematicform as early as the late nineteenthand
early twentieth centuries. They appeared first in newspapers and
magazines,which provedthe most popularandeffectivemediafor their
diffusion.s In this regard, the Argentineexperienceclosely paralleled
thatof other LatinAmericancountries.9In Brazilsocialistand anarchist
publicationsemergedin majorcities aroundthe turn of the centuryand
served to stimulate working-class organization and to lay the
groundworkfor the later development of the BrazilianCommunist
party.10In Chile labororganizerLuis EmilioRecabarrenalmostsingle-
handedlyinitiateda seriesof working-classperiodicalsbetween1906and
1924." In Mexicoradicaloppositionnewspapers,publishedbothwithin
and outside the country, helped underminethe regimeof PorfirioDiaz
and affectthe courseof the subsequentRevolution.12
The developmentof the socialistpress in Argentinahas been lightly
sketchedin a numberof secondaryworks, but is deservingof a fuller
treatmentthan it heretoforehas received. In Argentina these pub-
lications,for the time, had greaterdispersionand influencethan in any
other Latin Americancountry-with the possibleexceptionof Mexico.
Not only did the pressserveto introduceMarxistideasinto the republic,
it also focusedattentionon neglectedsocialissues and problems,served
to rally oppositionto the prevailingpoliticalsystem, and laid out for
debatedifferinganalysesand approachesto the interpretationof Argen-
tine historicaldevelopment,debateswhich continueto the presentday.
A close examinationof these publicationswill serve to show in more
detail how socialist ideas were presentedand interpreted,the issues
whichthey highlighted,andthe rolethe pressplayedin the development
of socialist-influenced
laborand politicalorganizations.
'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., OrganizedLaborin Latin America:HistoricalCaseStudiesof Urban Workersin Dependent
Societies(New York: Harper & Row, 1977), pp. 8-11.
1"JohnW. F. Dulles, Anarchistsand Communistsin Brazil, 1900-1935 (Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1973), pp. 13-15 and Ronald H. Chilcote, The Brazilian CommunistParty: Conflictand
Integration,1922-1972 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), pp. 18-21.
"Julio Cesar Jobet, Ensayo critico del desarrolloecon6mico-social de Chile (Santiago: Editorial
Universitaria, S. A., 1955), p. 141.
12JamesD. Cockcroft, IntellectualPrecursorsof the MexicanRevolution,1900-1913 (Austin: Univer-
sity of Texas Press, 1968).
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4 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
13Fora review of the anarchist impact on Argentina's working class, see Diego Abad de Santillan,
La F.O.R.A.: Ideologiaytrayectoria,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 AmericanResearch
Review, III, 3 (Fall 1973), 27-77.
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RICHARD J. WALTER 5
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6 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
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RICHARD J. WALTER 7
21A sample of some of Ave Lallemant's writings on agrarianquestions can be found in La clase
obreray el nacimientodel marxismoen la Argentina: Seleccidnde articulosde GermanAve Lallemant
(Introduction by Leonardo Paso) (Buenos Aires: Editorial ANTEO, 1974), pp. 83-129.
22Itis 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 NeueZeit, 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, Losmarxistas,pp. 89-90.
23Biographicalinformation on Ave' Lallemant is from La claseobrera,pp. 15-18; "Los que abrieron
el surco," in Partido Socialista, AnuarioSocialista:Aio primero,1928 (Buenos Aires, 1928), 183-185;
and, Ratzer, Losmarxistas,pp. 79-91.
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8 THE SOCIALIST
PRESSIN ARGENTINA
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RICHARD J. WALTER 9
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10 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
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RICHARD
J. WALTER 11
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12 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
grew steadily during these years to cover almostthe entire back page.
Professionalnotices, listing the names, addresses,and office hours of
dentists, doctors, and lawyers, usually socialists, shared space with
noticesfor food stores, pharmacies,and clothingestablishmentswhich
sought to attracta working-classclientele. Variousbrandsof beer and
cigarettes advertised in La Vanguardia,despite the Socialist party's
oppositionto alcoholandthe askancewith which some membersviewed
smoking.By 1897andthereafterpoliticalcaricaturesandcartoons,many
of them masterpiecesof politicalart, lampoonedthe bourgeoisieand the
politicalopposition.By 1914the paperfeaturedfront-pagephotographs
of Socialistpartycandidatesand campaignrallies.
Between 1894 and 1905La Vanguardia remaineda weekly, although
there was a brief experimentat bi-weeklypublication(Wednesdayand
Saturday)in 1897-1898.From 1900 plans were made to convert the
newspaperinto a morningdaily, plans which were realizedon Sep-
tember1, 1905. Publishedsix times a week(exceptMondays),the paper
still numberedfour pages but now containedsix columns a page. The
price of a single issue was five centavos;monthlysubscriptionssold for
$1.25 pesos. With daily publicationthe paperexpandedits formatto
includegeneralnationalandinternationalwire-servicenews, indicatinga
shift from strictly a party organ to one which might attracta larger
readership.On July 1, 1913La Vanguardia grew to eight pages,although
the cost of a single issue remainedfive centavos.In additionto regular
publication,the editorsalso producedlargespecialeditionsto celebrate
May 1 as the day of the worker.These were sometimesprintedon red
paperand usually includedliteraryand artisticcontributionsas well as
political articles. On occasion a largerthan normalJanuary 1 edition
summarizedeventsof the past year.
Althoughfigureson distributionare scatteredand imprecise,circula-
tion reportedlygrew from 1,500 issues in 1896 to 75,000 in 1912. By
1912La Vanguardia had 100 sales agentsthroughoutthe countryand in
neighboringChile and Uruguay.37Beginningwith a handfulof editors
and printersin 1894, La Vanguardia had a staff of 55 (nineteeneditors
and writers,thirty six administratorsand printers)by 1914.38
The paper'sgrowth was steady and impressive,but it was far from
easy. Like its predecessors,the paperexperiencedcontinuousfinancial
difficulties.Its first editionswere printedon a press purchasedthrough
37Spalding,Laclasetrabajadora,
p. 71.
38Repdiblica Argentina,TercerCensoNacional,Levantado el 1P deJuniode 1914 (BuenosAires:
TalleresGrificosde L. J. Rossoy Cia, 1917),IX, pp. 288-289.
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J. WALTER
RICHARD 13
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14 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
42For more on Justo's Marxism, see Dardo Cuineo,Juan B. Justoy las lucbassocialesen la Argentina
(Buenos Aires, 1956); Anierico Ghioldi,Juan B. Justo: Sus ideasbistdricas;Sur ideassocialistas;Sus ideas
filosficas (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Monserrat, 1964); and, Luis Pan,Justoy Marx: El socialismoen la
Argentina(Buenos Aires: Ediciones Monserrat, 1964), pp. 24-25.
43Ratzer,Losmarxistas,pp. 167-175.
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RICHARDJ. WALTER 15
working class, which, after a lifetime of labor, has only the prospect of
more misery." La Vanguardiapromised 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 Vanguardiaencouraged labor union organizationand
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 organi-
zation under socialist influence.
While the main focus was on the urban worker, La Vanguardiaalso
described the living and working conditions of the rural poor. In the
1890's La Vanguardialed 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 Vanguardiagave exten-
sive 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.
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16 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
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RICHARDJ. WALTER 17
usually featuring the tally on the front page. When socialists were
elected from Buenos Aires to the Chamberof Deputies in 1904, 1912,
1913and 1914and to the Senatein 1913,La Vanguardia gave prominent
play to their activitiesin the Congress.Frequentlythe paperreprinted
lengthy excerpts from the Diariode sesiones(CongressionalRecord)in
which socialistlegislatorswere featured.
In conjunctionwith a concentrationon campaigns,La Vanguardia
throughoutthe year focusedon issues relatedto politics and elections.
Of particularconcernwas the need to convinceforeigners,who madeup
the bulk of the workingclass and potentiallythe electorate,to become
naturalizedcitizensand henceeligibleto vote. As an early articleput it,
"It is now time for Europeanworkersestablishedhere to recognizethat
to becomecitizens is the surest meansto influencethe progressof the
countryand to betterthe situationof the workingclass. We ought not to
leavea meansof struggleas powerfulas politicalrightsfor 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 Vanguardiaalso 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 Vanguardiaconcentrated heavy journalistic fire on
competing movements and groups. Various articles and editorials at-
tacked anarchism as reactionary, utopian, and counter-productive.52
The socialists were equally critical of the Uni6n CivicaRadical.An 1894
article called the members of the UCR "capitalistrevolutionaries"of the
"petty bourgeoisie" who lacked any program other than the institution of
"bourgeois democracy."53In 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
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18 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
among two sectors of the bourgeoisie little concerned with the social-
economic position of the proletariat.54
La Vanguardiasaved its heaviest and most persistent criticism, how-
ever, 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."55The 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 capi-
tal 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'spiece 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 Vanguardiaviewed 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 Vanguardialambasted 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
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RICHARDJ. WALTER 19
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20 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
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J. WALTER
RICHARD 21
68Some centronewspapers, consulted in the Biblioteca Obrera "Juan B. Justo" in Buenos Aires,
included La Luz: PeriodicoSocialista,
(1901-1905), located in circunscripcid6n
four;ElSocialista:Organodel
Centro SocialistaJuventud Obrera;Circunscr*pci6n Ha (1903-1904); La Antorcha: Organodel Centro
Socialistade la Circunscripci6n
2a (1903);El Alba: OrganoSocialistade la
Circunscrci6n 20a (1904); and,
Adelante:Organode la Circunscripi6n10a (1904-1911).
"6VidaNueva appeared twice monthly between January 1906 and February 1907.
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22 THE SOCIALIST PRESS IN ARGENTINA
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 SocialistaInternacional,which appeared regularly
between 1908 and 1915.71 The Revista'sdirectors and contributors were
mostly those associated with La Vanguardiaand 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."
71In 1910 the title was changed to HumanidadNueva:RevistaSocialistaInternacional.
72For biographical information, see Benito Marianetti, EnriqueDel Valle Iberlucea:Una bonrada
conductafrente a la revolucidnrusa (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Silaba, 1972), pp. 7-11.
73Enrique Del Valle Iberlucea, "Critica y acci6n: Nuestro programa,"RevistaSocialistaInterna-
cional, I, 1 (Buenos Aires: December 15, 1908), 1-7.
74Formore details, see Walter, TheSocialistParty, pp. 67-70.
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J. WALTER
RICHARD 23
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24 THE SOCIALISTPRESS IN ARGENTINA
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