Argentina posts: what's next

I had intended to post a lengthy article on Juan Perón next in my series on
Argentina's collapse, but while reading Juan Eugenio Corradi's chapter on
Argentina in Chilcote-Edelstein's "Latin America: the Struggle with
Dependency and Beyond", I became convinced that is crucial to fill in the
period from roughly the end of the 19th century to Peron's rise to power.
These are the country's supposedly halcyon days, when capitalism worked.
Among other questions, Corradi tries to explain how Argentina's "golden
age" was built on rotten foundations.

I will focus in on this period in my next post. As well as recapitulating
some of Corradi's insights, which are very strongly influenced by
dependista theory, I will include material from the following:

--Jeremy Adelman, "The Social Bases of Technical Change: Mechanization of
the Wheatlands in Argentina and Canada, 1890-1914", Comparative Studies in
Society and History April 1992

--Herman Schwartz, "Foreign Creditors and the Politics of Development in
Australia and Argentina, 1880-1913"

Most importantly, I will draw from the aptly titled collection "Prologue to
Perón: Argentina in Depression and War, 1930-1943", edited by Mark Falcoff
and Ronald Dolkart. In their introduction, they write:

"The Argentine dilemma finds its roots, we believe, in the abrupt
disappearance of the conditions that made possible the emergence of the
modern republic in the late nineteenth century. Those conditions were the
existence of the British Empire as a principal market for foodstuffs, the
international division of labor, and the relatively free movement of goods
and services across national boundaries. For most underdeveloped countries
those props were perceptibly weakening as early as 1914, but for
Argentina--thanks to a peculiar constellation of circumstances--they lasted
until 1930. Then, under the combined impact of the world depression and the
Second World War, they collapsed. The failure of Argentina's leadership to
respond adequately to the double crisis explains, we hold, the Revolution
of 1943 and the subsequent emergence of Colonel Juan Perón."

Marxmail links of interest:

1. Comments by Carlos on original post:
http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism%40lists.panix.com/msg32687.html

2. Reply to Carlos by Nestor G.
http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg32738.html

3. Carlos answers Nestor G.
http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg32747.html

4. Excerpt from Corradi article:
http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg32820.html

5. Comments by Carlos on Corradi:
http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg32823.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg32826.html



Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org