The Crisis of Peronismo:
GHIOLDI, AMERICO
Economic troubles have made the regime less popular THE CRISIS OF PERONISMO By Americo Ghioldi FOR ALMOST a year now, uncer?tainty has been the dominant note in Peron's Argentina. The re?gime has...
...The Socialist party held a meeting to proclaim its abstention from the vote...
...Since the labor move?ment is controlled by the police, Argentine workers can do little about their rapidly deteriorating living conditions...
...The regime thereupon prohibited all further So?cialist meetings...
...2. The growing economic crisis...
...The elections, of course, were a sham, conducted as they were under martial law with sharp curbs on the opposition parties and maximum Government aid to peronista candi?dates...
...The re?gime has passed from deliberate inflation to attempts to curb infla?tion, from nationalization of basic industries to "encouraging foreign capital," from a limitless "pro-labor" demagogy to restricting workers' demands...
...At the same time, the dwindling of popular enthusiasm has compelled Peron to intensify his dictatorship...
...But, as both the regime and the nation grow more uncertain, dis?content mounts??not only among the people but even in the ranks of the Government...
...In its hasty, thoughtless nationalism, the regime created a jerry-built industry while disorganizing agriculture and grazing...
...It was quite a surprise last spring when the regime decreed national elections for the Vice Presidency, an office that had been vacant for two years, and for the Congress, although the members' terms did not expire until next year...
...The result is that Peron has had to tell the workers that there will be no further wage increases, even though there have been considerable price rises...
...Despite claims of progress with atomic energy, there is a serious power crisis, plus an annual deficit of 5-6 million tons of petroleum...
...Economically, Argentina is pass?ing through difficult times...
...When these mechanisms fail, the regime resorts to outbursts of terror, as in 1951 and again last year...
...it was attended by 25,000 people, who, according to La Nacion, were profoundly impressed by the speech of 82-year-old Nicolas Repetto, the party leader...
...3. The intensification of police repression...
...and (2) the "strategic commandos" and "tacti?cal commandos" which the regime has planted in the official parties, unions, courts and provincial gov?ernments...
...Peron thus quickly forestalled the designs of other military aspirants...
...Two means of repression deserve special note: (1) the well-paid, privi?leged corps of "labor" leaders, who transmit orders from the state to the trade-union masses...
...AMERICO GHIOLDI, an Argentine Socialist now in exile in Uruguay, edited the party newspaper La Vanguardia...
...The uncertainty has been high?lighted by three important develop?ments in the past year: 1. The circumstances surrounding last April's elections...
...On the same day that elections were decreed, the official parties nominated Admiral Tessaire for the Vice Presidency...
Vol. 37 • December 1954 • No. 52
