A brief account of Fascism & fascist or fascistoid movements in Latin America in the 1920s and 1930s:
The question of Fascism in Latin America dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. Certain fascist-type movements emerged in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico, among others, while in Europe, Fascism was on the rise amidst an atmosphere of intellectual and political radicalism.
There was even a relatively small number of Italians in Latin America who were members of the "Italian Fascist Party", but this will be researched in another future monthly issue.
However it is noteworthy to pinpoint that the important fascist Giuseppe Bastianini in 1922 was appointed head of the "Fasci Italiani all'Estero", a movement aimed at co-ordinating the activities of Italian fascists not currently living in Italy. He called on members to seek to diffuse proper Italian fascist ideals wherever they were living. This group gained a considerable following amongst Italian expatriates in the mid-1920s, mainly in South America. Indeed, in 1925 he submitted a report to the Fascist Grand Council claiming to have groups in 40 countries worldwide, most of them in Latin America.
López de la Torre places the main deep origin of fascist roots in Latin America at the end of the 19th century, amid the consolidation of nation-states. According to him, the elites of the time developed inclusive discourses that in practice were quite the opposite, establishing mechanisms of exclusion and discrimination aimed at maintaining hegemony.
Another factor behind the development of forms of Italian Fascism in Latin America was the huge emigration of Italians in the region. Countries like Argentina had half of its population made of Italians and their descendants in the first half of the XX century.
We will now briefly review these movements in Latin America:
Argentina fascists in 1939: the "Fascio" of Buenos Aires had more than 4000 members. After the WW2 disappearance of Fascism, nearly all of them become fanatical supporters of Peronism
Argentina
In 1919, the "Argentine Patriotic League" emerged in Argentina during the presidency of Hipólito Irigoyen. This event coincided with the rise of Fascism in Italy. The Patriotic League had a nationalist program that combined right-wing politics and liberalism in economics. It enjoyed broad support from the government, the military, the Catholic Church, and the upper class, and formed civilian paramilitary squads called "White Guards" (similar to Mussolini's "Black Shirts") to suppress strikers, anarchists, Jews, and Catalans.
Vittorio Valdani, vice president of the Argentine Industrial Association, was charged by the Italian Fascist Party with organizing and directing Italian fascist groups in Argentina, creating in 1930 the main fascist press organ in South America, the newspaper "Il Mattino d'Italia", which was published in Italian language until October 1944.
"In order to disseminate the Fascist ideology abroad, different organizations were built up by Mussolini, most importantly the "Fasci italiani all’estero", which operated in many countries and had 8 million members worldwide. The local Fascio in Buenos Aires was the first to be founded on Latin American soil, even before the March on Rome in October 1922 and in the continental comparison also remained the most important. Further Fasci in other Argentine cities followed. Claiming the interpretative monopoly of italianità, which under fascism coincided with the Fascist ideology, the Fasci in Argentina tried to instigate patriotic sentiments and resuscitate emotional connections towards the former homeland among the otherwise ideologically heterogeneous Italian community in Argentina. Therefore, the Fasci engaged in the social, cultural and educational sphere, rivaling among others with the various traditional associations of Italian immigrants in Argentina, mostly of charitable, social or cultural nature. Katharina Schembs"
There were other fascist-type movements in the 1920s, such as the "Argentine Social League", whose objective was to fight modernism and tendencies they considered subversive. From 1930 to 1943 (the "infamous decade"), several dictatorships followed one another: Uriburo, Justo, Ortíz, and Castillo. In 1930, the coup-monger General Uriburo attempted to create a fascist regime, but failed due to opposition from broad sectors, including conservatives linked to the USA.
Between 1943 and 1946, the so-called United Officers Group ("GOU") took power and imposed a dictatorship. Its main leaders included high-ranking officers Farrell, Ávalos, Vernengo, and Colonel Juan Domingo Perón. Before Perón prevailed over this group of officers, who at one point conspired, imprisoned him, and forced his retirement, masses of mostly workers demanded his release on October 17, 1945, and later prevailed in the 1946 elections.
It's important to note that Peron publicly admired Mussolini. His support for Mussolini is well documented, and during a trip to Europe in 1938 he said:
"Italian Fascism made people's organizations participate more on the country's political stage. Before Mussolini's rise to power, the state was separated from the workers, and the former had no involvement in the latter."
Payne emphasizes the fascist characteristics of Peronism, especially the years Perón spent in power between 1946 and 1955, but not the subsequent history of the "Peronist Party" as a mass labor union movement. Several scholars of the early stages of the Peronist movement argue that it shared many characteristics of Italian Fascism.
Although Perón's goal was to found a single party, it was never achieved in practice. Peronism enjoyed strong support from the Union sector and was based on a limited authoritarianism that tolerated pluralism. Germani defined Peronism as a "national populism," adding a populist approach to the discussion. Lipset, on the other hand, classified it as "left-wing Fascism," highlighting that its largely union-based social base could shift from right to left.
Brazil
In Brazil, between 1932 and 1938, a movement with fascist influences emerged, the "Ação Integralista Brasileira" (Brazilian Integralist Action, AIB), founded by the writer Plinio Salgado. The AIB was inspired by an anti-parliamentary, traditionalist, and monarchist Portuguese movement, known as "Lusitanian Integralism". It was an important mass political movement that at one point had more than 500,000 members and met virtually all the conditions of a fascist organization. However, the ruler Getulio Vargas, after flirting with the movement, finally demobilized and banned it under US influence during WW2.
In Integralism, the attitude and production of its ideologues, its publications and propaganda, and its rigorously hierarchical structure tend to demonstrate its eminently fascist character, obviously in a different historical context. Integralism possesses characteristics of European fascist movements with certain indigenous elements, without being a simple replica of those movements.
Regarding Vargas's government from 1930 to 1937, it fluctuated between the anti-oligarchic "dictatorship" (1930 to 1934) and the constitutional-liberal government from 1934 to 1937; in the next stage, before the election of his successor, he carried out a coup d'état with the support of the Armed Forces and imposed an authoritarian and repressive system ("Estado Novo", 1937 to 1945); finally, Vargas was elected President of the Republic by universal suffrage in 1950 through the Brazilian Labor Party.
Under his successor, he carried out a coup d'état with the support of the armed forces and imposed an authoritarian and repressive system (Estado Novo, 1937 to 1945). Finally, Vargas was elected President of the Republic in 1950 by universal suffrage through the Brazilian Labor Party.
Chile
In 1932, in Chile, a movement emerged that aspired to adopt the principles of Nazism. The National Socialist Movement of Chile, or Nazi Party (MNS), was created. The MNS was configured with a hierarchical command structure, which was completed in 1933 with the "Nacist Assault Troops." In 1938, before the elections, it organized a demonstration called "The Victory March." The following day, a group from the MNS took over the Workers' Insurance Fund and the University of Chile's main campus to launch a coup against President Arturo Alessandri Palma and impose General Ibáñez on power. The coup failed, and the government ordered the execution of the insurgents.
In 1939, the MNS was renamed the Popular Socialist Vanguard (VPS), adopting a leftist stance, which caused most of its members to abandon the party, which dissolved in 1942.
Mexico
In Mexico, especially after the economic crisis of 1929, groups of ultranationalists, xenophobes, or racists emerged, among whom one was anti-Semitic and another anti-Chinese.
The National Synarchist Union defended the values of Catholicism and anti-communism. It was inspired by the National Catholicism of the Spanish Falangist movement.
The Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx also emerged, gaining the support of Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas, who facilitated the integration of Spanish Republican exiles into Mexico.
Peru
In Peru, the Revolutionary Union was created in 1931. In 1933, it was led by Luis A. Flores Medina and became an openly fascist party that opposed liberalism and communism, and in particular the APRA party. They promoted xenophobia against Japanese and Chinese immigrants. They proposed a corporatist and totalitarian society similar to the model European fascist movement of the interwar period. Beginning in 1933, the Revolutionary Union propagated a resoundingly fascist discourse similar to that used in Italy. At the end of 1933, the Blackshirt Legion was created, comprised of youth, following the authoritarian line.
Uruguay
In Uruguay, a group of far-right intellectuals and politicians took advantage of the 1929 depression and began to criticize the executive branch for its poor handling of the economic situation. The Uruguayan economic elite founded the Vigilance Committee with the intention of promoting a change in economic policies. Elected President Gabriel Terra, who had already expressed fascist ideas, led a coup d'état and dissolved Parliament and the National Administrative Council in 1933. The "March on Montevideo" (similar to the March on Rome led by Mussolini) was called in support of him in April 1933.
Gabriel Terra's followers became known as Marzists due to their adherence to the "March Revolution," the official name of the coup. Elections were called for the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1934 Constitution. The constitution, founded on corporatist principles, formally recognized the human rights to education, health care, and work, as well as freedom of assembly and association. Terra broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR and the Second Spanish Republic, recognizing Franco's Spain.
The March regime developed anti-immigration policies, such as controlling Jewish immigration and establishing a minimum of 80% Uruguayan labor in public works. Despite holding favorable opinions about the system, the 1934 Constituent Assembly rejected the full implementation of corporatism in Uruguay, considering it too radical.
Venezuela
Dictator Gomez until 1935 ruled Venezuela with a "colonial" dictatorship that had only a few fascist characteristics, mostly related to Germany's racism. He favored the "Blanqueamiento" (whitening) of the Venezuelan population, blocking the immigration of Chinese, Asian & African people into oil-rich Venezuela and promoting the creation of the Nazi party of Venezuela.
The renowned writer and key figure of the literary "Magical Realism" movement of Venezuela, Arturo Uslar Pietri, held pro-Axis and anti-US sentiments, attempting to sway President Medina Angarita towards aligning with Germany and Italy during the beginning of WW2. Subsequently, Pietri went on to serve as a senator and establish the Nationalist party known as the National Democratic Front (Frente Nacional Democrático).
A noteworthy detail of fascist Venezuelans is that Ettore Chimeri, recognized as the first Venezuelan to compete in Formula 1, was a member of Squadron 73 in the Royal Italian Aeronautics during World War II, serving in the African campaign.
Conclusions:
In short, there is no doubt that during the 1920s and 1930s, fascist models emerged in Latin America that mimicked Italian, German, or Spanish Fascism, in some cases a minority, such as "Nacism" in Chile, or broad and well-rooted movements such as "Integralism" in Brazil or "Marzism" in Uruguay, clearly founded on European interwar Fascism.
However, in no case were these truly consolidated fascist regimes. The case of Peronism presents native complexities as it is a populist movement with fascist features, based on Trade Unions, which has a broad mass base, and which brings it closer to a left-wing Fascism, but accepting pluralism at first to a greater extent and then to a lesser extent, as it shifted toward repression in its final stage.
The Second World War sealed, in a certain sense, the fate of the Fascism overseas in Latin America. Patriotic pride of Italy was followed by the humiliation of defeat. But the fascists did not disappear, nor did they lose prestige. Nor did the corporatist ideology, anti-Americanism, distrust of democracy, and the cult of the leader that these Italians and their descendants had professed disappear, and which merged with other ideologies in the rhetoric and practice of subsequent populisms (like Peronism in Argentina).
Latin America and fascism until 1970.
Certain dictatorships sparked a widespread debate about whether or not they constituted fascist regimes after WW2
In this group, we include the coups d'état in Brazil (1964), Uruguay (1973), Chile (1973), and Argentina (1976). Many scholars questioned how similar or different they were to the dictatorships of historical interwar fascism.
In Venezuela the dictatorship of Perez Jimenez (that had some characteristics of a moderate Fascism) lasted until 1958.
According to Tzeiman, the 1960s, following the impetus of the Cuban Revolution, witnessed a growing intensification of class struggle in various parts of Latin America, whether through national-popular or socialist political movements. This climate of radicalization spread throughout the early 1970s. The military coup that took place in Chile in 1973 initiated a wave of dictatorships that would spread to other Latin American nations.
Thus, by the end of the 1970s, the southern cone of Latin America was invaded by military dictatorships whose establishment acted as a brake on the aforementioned popular advance. Cueva paints a bleak picture of the 1970s. Brazil's military dictatorship seemed fully consolidated after twelve years. In Bolivia, the Banzer dictatorship seemed to have imposed a stable pro-imperialist order. Uruguay and Chile were suffering the effects of the fascist regimes established since 1973; while in Argentina, the government of Mrs.Estela Martínez de Perón was dying, giving way to the dictatorship of General Videla. And in Uruguay, the Stroessner tyranny had remained unshaken in power since 1954.
In 1971, Nicos Poulantzas, who studied the processes of fascistization, examined these processes, concluding that, amidst the imperialist phase and class struggle, Fascism arose from a political and ideological crisis of the ruling group that generated a new hegemony of monopoly and financial capital. It is a political reaction to reinvent itself as a hegemonic power.
In other words, this bourgeoisie, in the midst of a crisis, "changes its clothes" and presents itself to the masses as the "solution," which includes elements such as order, corporatism, nationalism, and stability. Its displacement culminates in the obliteration of the opposition and the emergence of a fascist police state.
According to O'Donell, some of the inherited characteristics of historical Fascisms are: hierarchical social organization, political exclusion, repression of the popular sector, suppression of citizenship and participation, reconsideration of the nation, violent elimination of dissent, patriotic and militarized discourse, and sympathy for European fascisms.
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