Notes on the press of the resistance (s): Peronists and Peronism do majority (III)

We have made two deliveries about Majority. In the first we stopped at the promoters and the presentation of the weekly. The second work focused on the reconstruction of the features of the publication, considering the risks it ran and its particular course. There we outline a periodization attentive to its editorial lines in the period that opened with the elections for conventional constituents in July 1957 until its closure in the time of Frondizi at the beginning of the year 1960.

This is, therefore, a complex and conflictive period in Argentine history, conditioned by the existence, without representation, of a multitudinous political actor. Beyond the initial attempts to set it aside, reality data, interaction with other actors, and commercial needs led to a growing consideration of the processes that Peronism was going through.

In this perspective, this text is oriented to analyze three associated issues. In the first place, we will point, in general, to the growing attention that Majority was weaving on that movement.

Secondly, we will focus on the treatment it gives to issues that crucially cross the proscribed movement, contributing to its installation in the Peronist imaginary and discourse. In this field we have to mention the claim by the political and union prisoners, the complaints and requests for the repeal of Decree-Law 4161, the recovery of June 9 and its martyrs or the claim of events and programs developed in the union struggles.

Thirdly, we will focus on the presence of collaborators of the publication who, from their interventions, acquire an almost mythical stature in this new section of national history and who identify with Peronism. Thus appears what we can recognize as the figure of "national-popular" writers with authors such as José María Rosa, Fermín Chávez, Atilio García Mellid, Luis M. Soler Cañas, José Gobello or the most notorious and established with his controversial books. and press outlets, Arturo Jauretche.

Peronism through the eyes of the Majority

In the pages of the weekly Majoría, what happens in the Peronist sphere has preferential treatment. Whether due to its persistence in the trade union sphere, its relevance on the political scene or the contributions of writers of that sign, many of them originating in the nationalist field that corresponds to the media's guides, Peronism is present in the publication.

The trade union issue in a specific section

Although Majority does not begin with a specific section dedicated to the coverage of trade union news (Mayoría, 1, 8-4-1957) the subject does not take long to appear. The editorial line of the second issue, in which the director considers the constitutional reform as "an unhappy way to waste time" leads to an advertisement, on the cover, about the "looting of unions." On the other hand, Roberto Juárez stamps his signature in the union section, who will henceforth be in charge of accounting for the union's future. The note that develops the cover ad is titled: "Before, disappointed - today, looted." The author notes: “When the provisional government ordered the intervention of the General Confederation of Labor and all the unions attached to that labor union, it based the measure on the need to reintegrate the union organizations into their specific functions, punish the leaders who had delinquent and clean up the finances of the trade union entities, presumably, and sometimes really deranged by the action of those who were in charge of the leadership of the different unions of the country. It's been 17 months since military and civilian interveners took over the union bodies and the outlook for 'normalisation' is far from rosy. While some organizations have recovered their institutional normality (very few, as the intervention of the CGT acknowledges), others are still preparing the registers, several have been summoned and some have not even announced the elections. But in all (or almost all) there is a problem whose solution will be very difficult for the workers: the disappearance of union funds”. Then he details the situations of the union of variety artists, newspaper vendors, construction, railway union and meat and related, press, textiles, oil. The verification in each case of defrauding union funds leads him to raise the need to "accelerate the delivery of trade union organizations to their affiliates" (Mayoría, 1, 8-4-1957: 10-11). The note includes photos of the UOCRA headquarters in Rawson "the most fleeced by the auditors" attaching exorbitant receipts for gasoline expenses and the facade of the Railway Union in which "32,000,000 m/n vanished."

In another note, he describes the hardships of “380 households” of “the unemployed from the municipal refrigerator” who “wait”. The chronicler describes the neighborhood that "stands in solidarity with them", the workers whose "opinion doesn't count for much now" and includes a photo of the Borro family with the caption: "someone is missing from the group: the father of the family Sebastián Borro, Deputy Secretary of the union, he purges his loyalty to the union in the South” (Majoría, 3, 4-22-1957: 12-13).

By the end of April, he addresses the problem of the Swift and Wilson refrigerators and echoes the proposals of his interviewees in the union: "Cooperatives, the principle of solution to the tangled problem of meat." Together with the specific issue of the industry, he questions the leaders arrested. In the development of the interviews that he conducts with the leaders of the intervened union (Fiasco, Gulden, Bazet) he highlights some of their characteristics: “men of strong physical presence, who reveal will, decision and serenity. One guesses in them the born union leaders. His mastery of trade union issues is truly remarkable and his knowledge of the legal structure of work is complete”. It includes photos of the interviewees and a plan of a workers' meeting in which, for the chronicler, “we seem to be in the Athenian agora” (Mayoría, 4, 4-29-1957: 20-21).

These approximations cannot fail to be linked to what the weekly views with sympathy: the call for a “popular nationalist reunion” resulting from the movements headed by Azul and Blanco and the leaders who encourage it: Sánchez Sorondo, Amadeo, Goyeneche (Majority, 5, 5-6-1957: 4-5). In this wake, they take care of giving space to an extensive interview with Cerrutti Costa so that he can denounce that: "Maying fraud in 6 or 7 of the largest unions, it is easy to take over the CGT" (Majority, 6, 5-13-1957: 8-9) and to reaffirm that "the strong national fiber of Argentine trade unionism rejects Marxist interference."[1] The person in charge of the union section is in charge of detailing the development of the act as well as emphasizing that when the orientation of the speakers was shown, the attendees left it empty. It then resumes the deliberations of the plenary of the inter-union meeting on May 4, 1957, where the “political-ideological” character that the act of workers' day had assumed was brought to the surface. On that occasion Juan José Taccone of Luz y Fuerza marked differences with the speakers, he pointed out that the contents of the speeches must be agreed, that ideological issues must be discussed within the inter-union commission, that they had overcome the intimidation of the " civil commandos” to attend the event and criticized the fact that some of the imprisoned leaders (Rubens Iscaro) and not all of them had claimed in the interventions. This intervention was supported by the delegates of the tire workers, footwear workers, auto mechanics, perfumers, soap makers, chemists, wood workers, pastry chefs, oil workers, shipbuilders, press, and construction (Avellaneda). The criticism focused on the implicit “distortion” of political-ideological considerations (of communist orientation) instead of privileging the unity of the demands of workers organized in unions.[2] In that same installment he deals with the "odyssey of 33 unemployed" and interviews dismissed from the automotive industry, including photos of them talking with the Mayoría chronicler. Added to the dismissal situation is the denunciation of arrests by the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires, raids and threats suffered in those days (Mayoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 14-15).

In the line of criticizing and discrediting organizations of an internationalist nature, he asks "Why did Luis Alberto Monge come to Argentina?", showing the trajectory of the Central American leader until he reached his link with Serafino Romualdi, describing the installation of the ORIT in Mexico as part of the turn of the pro-capitalist organizations in the post-war world and pointing out the effective link with the socialist leader Pérez Leirós in the country. This network is critically and generically called “free trade unionism” (Mayoría, 7, 5-20-1957: 13).

We can see, then, that shortly after it hit the streets, the weekly Majoría, like almost all the media opposed to the liberating revolution, had a section dedicated exclusively to coverage of the trade union issue that, as it progresses, in their denunciations and positioning, it becomes more relevant. This means that, in issue number 8, busy denouncing "the prolonged strike of the naval workers", the editors of the magazine introduce a photo of the columnist visiting a union adding the following text: "The chronicler takes note. Every week he fills pages and pages exposing the various problems of his compatriot workers. A question arises: when will he be able to write about his joys? (Majority, 8, 5-27-1957: 21).

In the delivery of June 3, he denounced that "the restitution of La Prensa to its former owners left more than 1,000 people without work" (Mayoría, 9, 6-3-1957: 20-21). In the following issues, you should add to your denunciations the crisis in the sugar industry that "is on the brink of closure with 60,000 unemployed" (Mayoría, 10, 10-6-1957: 22-23) and the situation generated as a result of the intervention in the construction union (Mayoría, 11, 6-17-1957: 22-23).

Since the weekly covers the events related to the reorganization of the Peronist union movement, its pages have preserved the movements of the different union groups in those times when the CGT was intervened, the union leaders disqualified, strikes prohibited and the manifestation of the majority force, penalized through a Decree-Law.

Majoría constitutes, therefore, an invaluable source for the reconstruction of union life at that time. Not only because of the information, the coverage of the meetings and the interpretations that it provides, but also because of the graphs of the demonstrations that include photographs of the leaders, frequently attached to reports, which allow us to see first-hand the positions of figures who appeared at the union firmament.

In this framework, the June 1957 edition favors a title “the inter-union union in one stage” (Mayoría, 12, 6-24-1957: 12-14). In an internal note they point out that "The union leaders of a national position decidedly take the inter-union direction", a legal way of referring to a growing influence of Peronist trade unionism. They include photos of the plenary session and its board of directors. From then on, it does not stop showing the active claim of the “national” leaders, the conflicts they are leading and the fight for reorganization. "We demand the surrender of the regional delegation of the CGT", says the delegate from Santiago Hugo Espeche, while soap makers, perfumers and graphic designers go on strike and the Luz y Fuerza workers prepare their congress (Mayoría, 13, 7-1-1957: 10-11). It details organizational preparations and complaints from the Inter-union Commission and continues with the coverage of various situations, such as the complaints by Madereros and Sanidad for the continuity of the arrests and the triumph in the UOM elections (Mayoría, 14, 8-7- 1957: 16).

In a very short time, then, the problems and the organization of the workers consolidate a permanent place in the information, and in the interpellation of meaning, that the weekly formulates for its public.

In a full-page unsigned note they state “Only unity can save us”, referring to this need in the labor sphere and stimulating the next steps of the union movement. In a box, they denounce the situation experienced by Mrs. José Alonso before the intimidating visit of "civil commandos" to her home and give an account of the clandestine situation of her husband (Majoría, 15, 7-15-1957: 2. 3).

On July 12, the strike called by the Intersindical takes place. In the following installment, they point out its success, underlining the high percentages of compliance despite the intimidation. In light of this strike movement and to account for the hostile climate of the government, it reproduces the statements of a leader: "We can no longer trust the Ministry of Labor", involved in what the weekly calls "anti-union offensive" (Majority , 16, 7-22-1957: 14-15). In the following installment, he details the development of the national plenary of the inter-union union (Mayoría, 17, 5-29-1957: 15). When resuming the departure of Majority, the chronicler reports localized conflicts in some unions, such as the port workers (Mayoría, 19, 8-14-1957: 7).

The Normalizing Congress and the emergence of the “62 organizations”

To Majoría we owe an impeccable chronicle of the process prior to the important, and in several senses foundational, normalizing congress of the CGT, in which it is warned about the intention of the authorities appointed by the military government and of the "gorilism to the assault of the CGT”. Through the person in charge of the trade union section, readers were able to find out that the key to the congress lay in the attitude of 60 delegates "whose location, due to various factors, is not known for sure, in addition to the fact that there are representatives of some organizations named almost randomly, in various entities covered by machine guns, whose reaction to stark reality, when the curtain of the farce rises, is unknown. Therein lay the possibility of breaking the “formidable bureaucratic-military structure” of the intervention and its “yellow” allies (Mayoría, 21, 8-26-1957: 15). In the following installment they put on the cover that "the authentic representatives of the national trade unionism denounce the fraud in the CGT" and detail the questions to the "government and its representatives" (Mayoría, 22, 9-2-1957: 13).

In the same way, we have the chronicle of what happened in the normalizing congress itself, which, called by the military controller of the “Revolución Libertadora”, the captain of the ship Patrón Laplacette[3], bet on forcing the formation of a majority of anti-Peronist delegates and ended up being taken over by opposition unions, a situation that, as we know, later resulted in the emergence of the “62 Peronist Organizations”.

We owe a good part of that production to journalist Roberto Juárez from Majoría, as well as the publicity of the denomination of the blocs in conflict: “los libres”, “gorillas”, or “gubernistas”, that is, those who They associate their strategy with the military government and those of "national tendency", linked to Peronism. In his notes there are complaints about the presence of figures outside the trade union world: "Counterbalancing the absence of the bar, tumultuous and witty, the so-called 'civilian commandos' refrained from entering the premises, remaining at both entrances (the outer and the of the living room) with an air of forgiving, leaning against the wall and holding, half hidden in their clothes, the already everlasting portable submachine guns”. It details the strategies of the opposition trade unionists to silence the “free” when they made critical references to the Perón government: “The national delegates humorously retaliated for the absence of the bar, a powerful factor of encouragement, getting up from their benches every time they Some of the 'gorilla' speakers would leave the subject under debate to dedicate themselves to criticizing the CGT prior to September 16, 1955, and placing themselves in the free space between the benches and the bar area, they would burst into thunderous applause at every word of the speaker. 'free' speaker. This is how they managed to get the government congressmen to stick to the issue under discussion.” In his notes appear the complaints about the presence of figures outside the trade union world: "Counterbalancing the absence of the bar, tumultuous and witty, the so-called 'civilian commandos' refrained from entering the premises, remaining at both entrances (the outer and the one in the living room) with an air of life-forgiveness, leaning against the wall and holding, semi-concealed in their clothes, the now everlasting portable submachine guns” (Mayoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 12).

The Majority cover celebrates the “great triumph” of the “national forces” in the “Workers Congress” and in an inside note they denounce “violence and arbitrariness” in the development of the conclave. The imprint of the story emphasizes the struggle that at a disadvantage is assumed by "national leaders" whose prominence is underlined in the sequence of photos of the central figures of the day. He denounces, in turn, that the press officer of the intervened power station, Captain Alemán, is investigating and asking for the dismissal of journalists, among whom is "the author of these notes" (Mayoría, 23, 9-9-1957: 13). .

In the chronicle, he details the strategies of the opposition trade unionists to silence the “free” when they made critical references to the Perón government: “The national delegates humorously retaliated for the absence of the bar, a powerful factor of encouragement, getting up from their benches every time one of the 'gorilla' speakers left the subject under debate to dedicate themselves to criticizing the CGT prior to September 16, 1955, and placing themselves in the free space between the benches and the place of the bar, they burst into thunderous cheers at every word of the 'free' speaker. This is how they managed to get the government congressmen to stick to the issue under discussion” (Mayoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 12).

Apart from the color details and the substantive information about what happened, the weekly's advantage in analyzing these processes did not lie in its ability to perceive the consequences, but, on the contrary, in having presented from the beginning a realistic analysis of the dispute in the making. With a large part of the union organizations intervened and considering the legislation that still inhibited the participation of many Peronists, Majority had previously reported that such an Extraordinary Congress of the CGT to normalize the organization was a commitment by the government that started from two conditions. The main pro-government asset lay in the dominant position that the socialists and other anti-Peronist trade unionists had in commerce employees, bank workers and public employees, in addition to graphic workers, where they had won elections in 1956, and in various sections of the Railway Union, one of the most numerous transport guilds.

There was also, the medium specified, the will of the intervention to overrepresent them. 358 delegates were then assigned to 10 organizations and 311 to 87. Of the first 10 unions, 6 were anti-Peronists (Mayoría, 12, 6-24-1957: 10). As is well known, the procedure failed, the anti-Peronists found themselves in a minority in the powers commission in charge of verifying the credentials of the delegates, and before the delegates abandoned the congress, the Peronist unions plus some communists who remained in it, in A total of sixty-two union organizations began to act separately and under that name[4].

Given the impasse suffered by that Congress because the "officials" are in a minority, the head of the trade union section took the opportunity to make a note including 7 reports on trade union leaders of the "national trend": Adolfo Quesada (Leather and related), Jorge Granel (Sec. Union of the National University of Tucumán), Daniel Alvarez (UTA-Rosario), Héctor Gurisatti (food), Alfredo Meza (oil workers), Ives Orellano (Union Obreros Molinera Argentina) and Raúl Orequi (Health -Rosary beads). On the occasion, he consults about the risk of unity of the labor movement with the interruption of the development of the Congress, the best method to overcome the situation of suspension of the Congress, the idea of ​​constituting provisional authorities of the CGT and the regulations dictated by the "Revolución Libertadora ” about the strikes (Majority, 25, 9-23-1957: 11-12).

Consolidated the division between the "62 organizations" and the "32 democratic unions", the event implied a turning point in the policy of the military government towards the labor movement and a true milestone in the history of Peronist unionism.

The Peronist trade unions launched a strike with high regard on September 27. In October, after meeting with General Aramburu, the newspaper includes photos of Carullas from Unión Tranviarios, Conde Magdaleno and Alberto Lema from Luz y Fuerza and headlines: "The unions demonstrated that without popular government there is no economic solution" (Mayoría, 29, 10-21-1957: 7). Later another strike movement takes place that conditions the actions of the government and aligns the unions with Peronism.

Even under these conditions, the military government continues to impose its economic conceptions through decrees that implement “incentivized work” in the maritime and port sector, in addition to changing jurisdiction from the civil and union sphere to the sphere of the National Maritime Prefecture and other agencies dependent on this department or the Ministry of the Navy (Mayoría, 32, 11-11-1957: 11).

At the end of October a National Plenary is held with the participation of 30 Regional Delegations of the CGT. From this conclave, a Coordinating Commission made up of 5 members (one for each area of ​​the country) was formed. Majority interviews and posts photos of the five leaders: Miguel Azpitía (assistant secretary of the Córdoba Regional Delegation), Antonio Milewski (general secretary of the La Plata Delegation), Cayetano De Paolo (general secretary of the Mar del Plata Regional), Tomás Rubén Ovelar (Formosa Regional Delegate) and Agustín Cuevaz (Mendoza Regional Delegation) (Majority, 31, 11-4-1957: 8-9).

Juárez gives an account of the movements that seek the unity of the sectors of the “62” and the “32” from the development of meetings. In one of them, developed on November 12, at the request of the regional mediating commission that emerged from the Córdoba Plenary Meeting at the end of October, he meticulously describes its development. It details the conceptions and the reality in puja. He points out as the axis of unification the existence of the commission that emerged from the Plenary of Regional Delegations. It marks the mutual concessions and shows the agreements to reach the recovery by the workers with the convocation of a Congress in the period of 90 to 120 days. The title: "The principle of agreement between the two union sectors is the gorilla defeat" (Mayoría, 33, 11-18-1957, Contratapa). In the next installment, it should headline "The yellows are faithful to their origin: anything before the workers", showing the resistance of some referents of the "32" to unification despite the "prudent" efforts of the regional mediating commission (Majority, 34, 11-25-1957: 12-13). The criticism of the person in charge of the "unions" increases and in a box he titles "Neither majoritarian nor democratic", discussing the representativeness of the sector. It presents a table totaling a figure of 1,043,076 workers against the 1,600,000 they claim to represent. In this reconstruction, he gives a detailed account of the unions that adhere to this position: railway workers, commercial employees, graphics, municipal, gastronomic, La Fraternidad, Turf, paper, textile and forestry. He closes the note predicting that an organic representation of the Central Obrera will come out of the next meeting in Córdoba: “the Majority will be there to gather the desires of national workers and the concerns of their authentic representatives.”

In this context, Juárez points out a paradox: “the pressure of the oligarchic forces has yielded somewhat in other aspects of national life, loosening circumstantially, to adjust the 'machine' with which it intends to subdue the Argentine people; but in the trade union sphere, the only concrete possibility that the country has to oppose and defeat colonialism and privilege, the destructive and intimidating measures increase in intensity, number and complexity”. It goes over the causes: "It is not, of course, a coincidence nor is it solely due to 'revanchism' the policy of union persecution, dismantling of social legislation and establishment of an economic system where workers are nothing more than the arms of production, without any kind of rights, except those that, as a graceful concession, the economically powerful sector wants to grant them, which does not reach 1% of the country's population” (Mayoría, 35, 12-2-1957: 14).

At all times the section “Gremiales” of Majority reflects the positions of the “national tendency” in the confrontation with the “32”. This is how it reproduces the letter that Azpitía, delegate of the CGT Córdoba regional and member of the Mediating Commission, sends to the Directive Commission of the other sector denying affirmations and calling them to prudence in favor of the unity of the labor movement (Mayoría, 35, 12-2-1957: 15). In another installment, it puts on the cover: "The corrupt 'free trade unionism' that the government wants to import through the Casa del Pueblo" (Mayoría, 39, 12-30-1957). In the inside note they give an account of a union mission of the sector of the "32" to the United States at the request of the AFL-Ciosl.

The Skirt

In this framework, of worker resistance and political struggle of Peronism against the proscriptions, movements tending to search for unity of the trade union movement take place. At the end of October, a National Plenary is held with the participation of 30 Regional Delegations of the CGT. From this conclave, a Coordinating Commission made up of 5 members (one for each area of ​​the country) was formed. Majority interviews and posts photos of the five leaders: Miguel Azpitía (assistant secretary of the Córdoba Regional Delegation), Antonio Milewski (general secretary of the La Plata Delegation), Cayetano De Paolo (general secretary of the Mar del Plata Regional), Tomás Rubén Ovelar (Formosa Regional Delegate) and Agustín Cuevaz (Mendoza Regional Delegation) (Majority, 31, 11-4-1957: 8-9).

The CGT of Córdoba convenes a National Plenary of Regional Delegations of the CGT and the 62 Organizations in that province. The meeting takes place in the Holiday Colony of the Food Workers Union in the town of La Falda, province of Córdoba, in the month of December. It is convened under the name of the Second National Plenary of Normalized Regional Delegations of the General Confederation of Labor.

Majority headlines on the cover: "Argentine workers unite in Córdoba and proclaim their decision to fight for the national cause against the colonialist oligarchy." Inside, the journalist Roberto Juárez offers a detailed report of the meeting, but not before noting the previous campaign of the “yellows” against him[5]. Regarding the development of the meeting, he summarizes the positions of the different congressmen and points out that "Almost without debate, except for procedural issues, the resolutions supporting the 62 organizations were approved and constituting the National Coordinating Commission with 5 representatives of the Regional Delegations , together with the 62. Likewise, the approved papers –declaration of support for national oil, workers' struggle program and organization project– were approved and turned over for further consideration by the created body. The presentation of Córdoba, 'national program of struggle', expresses the desires of the national proletariat and includes:

“Economic Aspect. State control of foreign trade; liquidation of import and export monopolies; planning of the economic process based on the needs of the country and control of the producers of the commercial process, defending the national income; expansion and diversification of foreign markets; denunciation of all the harmful pacts of our economic independence concluded by the provisional government; economic integration with the peoples of Latin America; policy of high internal consumption, increase in heavy industry and development of light industry; nationalization of natural energy sources and their rational exploitation for the benefit of the country; nationalization of public services; centralized credit control; agrarian program, with national mechanization, expropriation of the latifundio and extension of agrarian cooperatives.

“Socially. Workers' control of production, through the effective participation of workers in the economic process, through union organizations; minimum and mobile minimum living wage; comprehensive social security; streamlining procedures and eliminating bureaucratic bodies; labor law reforms; absolute stability of jobs and trade union immunity.

“Political. Recognition of the trade union movement as a fundamental force, through its hegemonic participation in the preparation and direction of the national political plan; destruction of the oligarchic sectors and strengthening of the Popular National State; comprehensive understanding and with the sister nations of Latin America; freedom to choose and be chosen, without disqualifications; solidarity with the national liberation struggles of the oppressed peoples and independent international politics” (Mayoría, 36, 12-9-1957: 12-13).

Over time, these guidelines would constitute the so-called La Falda Program (Baschetti, 1988: 66-69). The photos included show the "provisional table" and the moment in which a minute of silence is observed "for those who fell in the fight."

Demonstrations

In this area they also announce or give an account of various manifestations. An important one is the one that corresponds to December 10 with a central act in Luna Park and aftershocks in all the provinces. The objective: to publicize the reasons for the fight plans and the situation the workers are going through (Mayoría, 36, 12-9-1957: 13). Before the organization of the Luna Park act, the Ministry of Labor, at the request of the "32" does not fail to point out the chronicler Juárez, "intervenes" directly or with observers to the most unstable meat unions, UOM, AOT and Health (Majority, 38, 12-23-1957: 11). He then points out that "union interventions have specific anti-national purposes" and denounces that "the captains left and the criminals arrived" referring to the civil representatives in the unions (Mayoría, 42, 1-20-1958: 10-11).

Strikes

Juárez used to ironize about issues sensitive to trade unionism such as the strike and the regulations issued by the military government. In a note titled “Good Conduct Strikes” he wrote: “The decree law on strikes, its process and obligation that the parties (read workers) must comply with, is a juicy model of the government criteria of the people and their rights. This decree, one of the most curious and arbitrary in the already long series that the "provisional" has produced, makes it impossible, from a legal point of view, for the workers to carry out movements of force. They had been demanding, for a few years, the annulment of the famous resolution 16/1945, which established the legality or illegality of strikes, but the promulgation of this new decree will make the workers yearn for that 'repealed' resolution. To begin with, strikes "that affect public services" (railways, transport in general, energy, gas, communications, etc.) may not be held, a provision that covers approximately 35% of workers. Nor are strikes allowed that "attack the safety or health of the population" (food in general, health services, etc.) or that "have as their object the deprivation of a basic necessity", in addition to "disregarding an arbitration award '. All the country's workers are included in this last classification, since the agreements have been replaced by arbitration awards. Let us note that the expression "attempts against the security of the population" is nebulosity studied, because who rules on such a difficult qualification? The same authority that declares the 'legality' of a strike. The same is true of the prescription that strikes 'must pursue union objectives'. It is enough for the authority to decide that they are not union objectives for the strike to be illegal. And as regards the obligation that strikes must be declared by 'the majority and by secret ballot', announcing 3 days in advance to the employers that it is going to be carried out, it is simply ridiculous. A strike is not a soiree, not a Kennel Club meeting, not an exchange of formal greetings at an international meeting; it is the supreme resource of the workers when they no longer have another solution, a circumstance in which the business intransigence always places them. Are they going to call their colleagues to vote when the bosses fire their leaders? Or when one of these is arbitrarily detained? Or when they are surprised by a very frequent decision by employers regarding work systems, payment conditions, schedules, etc.? where they cannot accept even a minute of delay so as not to create precedents? In short: this decree intends to institute 'good conduct strikes', something absurd and unnatural, and that, because it is so, will not be able to resist the push of union rights” (Mayoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 10-12 ).

In the face of the strike by the telephone and telegraph operators, the military government applies these regulations. The chronicler notes: "the government took hold of the well-known expedients that have earned it so much popularity among the workers and put them into practice withering" (Mayoría, 25, 9-23-1957: 12).

On September 27, 1957, forty recovered unions called for a national strike that enjoyed significant support. Majority headlines in the trade union section: “Breaking official propaganda, 5 million workers were laid off” (Mayoría, 27, 10-7-1957: 12-13). "There were no movies or newspapers on the 27th either. Less lies for the poor public." It includes diverse and contrasting photos: on the one hand, the delegates who voted for the strike and the enthusiastic bar that supports the measure and on the other hand images of the militarization of transportation, the control of subway entrances. In the "echoes of the strike" they point out that it was more important in the interior than in the metropolitan area and that there were bases that disobeyed the leaders: paper, railway workers, graphics, clothing, tobacco and others.

After the strike on October 22 and 23, the issue went up to the editorial: “A government that does not understand the country or the workers,” writes the director, who has been persecuted by the military dictatorship, “since a place of the Republic”. In the union section, important coverage is given to the strike: “Military force against the workers. Interventions, mobilizations, union occupations and raids”. It details the sequence with the declaration of the strike, the adhesions, the arrests in the Health union of 37 leaders. He points out that in the Province of Buenos Aires the police forces shoot to kill. The photos show the "virtual secretariat of the CGT" that declared the strike on October 14, the militarization of transport, the imprisoned union leaders (Gaetani, from oil companies, Vitale, from ATE, Airala, from ACA, Spinelli, from SUPE , García del Caucho, Pezzimenti and Carulias, from UTA, empty scenes of large businesses contrasting with a photo of March decreeing the strike against government forecasts.In a box titled “unemployment summary” they give the eloquent figures of the interior (Tucumán 80 %, Rosario 95%) point out that Clarín affirms the “failure” of the strike, but that it cost the country one thousand one hundred million and ironically concludes: “What would have been if the strike had not 'failed'!” (Majority, 30 , 10-28-1957: 3).

Arrests

Juárez gives an account of the frequent procedures for the arrest of leaders: “in the early hours of Friday the 4th, the mixed patrols, police-marine infantry, spread out through the Greater Buenos Aires beltway and several neighborhoods of the Federal Capital, in one more operation of the many carried out in these two anguishing years for Argentine workers. His mission was the sadly well-known one of once again imprisoning the union leaders, whose periodic entry into the country's prisons is already a norm for the provisional authorities” (Mayoría, 28, 10-14-1957: 12). The places of detention are referred to simply as “Las Heras”, “Olmos” and “Caseros”, assuming public knowledge about the location of the prisons.

Details internal conflicts in different guilds. For example, in the field of the garment union in which a "strike committee" is set up. In other cases, it deals with the fight against the interventions that are deployed in the unions of streetcar and oil workers (Mayoría, 32, 11-11-1957: 10). It includes claims from the "La Prensa layoffs commission" (Mayoría, 39, 12-30-1957, Contratapa) and denunciations of torture in the province of Buenos Aires, including photos in the story (Mayoría, 32, 1-27- 1958: 8).

Juárez gives spaces to the voices of the protagonists. He conducts interviews with leaders from the interior: Atilio López de Córdoba, Damián Martínez de Rosario, Manuel Isauro Molina from Tucumán are interviewed to learn about the reality of those provinces (Mayoría, 38, 12-23-1957: 10).

Balance for the year 1957

Some time later, when making a balance of the union activity of 1957, the weekly evoked the recent, but already historic event of the Normalizing Congress with a realism not exempt from biases. It ratifies, on the one hand, rigorously, as “despite the fraudulent 'majority', the national leaders, battling with tenacity, intelligence and coordinated action, disrupted the 'machine' once again, defeating the yellows in a historic vote ( 298 against 291 votes), which determined that the yellows, in complicity with Patrón Laplacette… withdrew from Congress” (Majority, 40, 1-6-1958: 11).

The analysis is biased, since it ignores, on the other hand, that the key to “coordinated action” included the collaboration of the communist leaders, thanks to a negotiation that, as we know, involved the union delegates, but also to the highest party hierarchies[6].

The pondered point of observation, despite all the attention that was given to it, was not that of the labor movement, but that of politics, since in the situation that was opening up, the Majority was willing to play politically at a level still higher. She had suffered restrictions and had strongly attacked Aramburu and Rojas. He had denounced the government's responsibility in the executions and paid tribute to its "heroes". He had developed, then, public actions to gather the means limited by the military government and consequently he was empowered to intervene, henceforth, in nothing less than the presidential elections.

Majority in the political process

At the end of 1957 and the beginning of 1958, the political press intervened, informing, presupposing or postulating, in the internal life of a still banned movement, but the center of everyone's attention. The majority, by then increasingly read as a non-anti-Peronist milieu, understood that the split that Peronism was going through was the one that divided “competitors” and “abstentionists”, although they expected the balance to begin to tilt in favor of the former.

The media remained attentive, then, to everything that happened in Peronism, both outside and inside the country. Even though there were already versions that a "plenary" would be held in exile, to avoid electoral concurrence and tip the balance in favor of a blank vote, the option adopted by the publication was that the various neo-Peronist groups already known - Unión Popular, Partido Populista, Partido de los Trabajadores, Partido del Pueblo, Partido Laborista and their offshoots – join the White Party, already popularized by Alejandro Olmos and supported, now also, by Dr. San Millán, one of Leloir's seconds , for everyone to be able to draw up a common list of candidates with a view to the February elections.

The title of the note published on December 16, 1957 announced “Germenes de descomposición within the Intransigencia pro-government” (referring, of course, to Peronism). Although he declared himself aware of the reports about the imminent holding of the Peronist plenary "somewhere in America", which would bring together the former president with leaders and special envoys, the author of the note considered that the directive that arose from said meeting could "determine the volume or the importance of the concurrence, but it will not be able to avoid it”[7].

Throughout this process, Majority will therefore be an interested informant and, when reality belies his forecasts, a discursive contender for it. Shortly after, in the imminence of the definitions regarding the February 1958 elections, Majority insisted that the balance of the movement had begun to tip in favor of the contestants. For the media, given that the last president of the Party, Alejandro Leloir, decided to turn to "all the parties that make up the current structure of the banned movement" his own "unity and concurrence" directives, this began to tempt the "most recalcitrant abstentionists ”(Majority, 40, 1-6-1958: 4).

It should be noted that it was not only about the direction of the information, but also about its quality. No medium was oblivious, of course, to the performative dimension that what they published could have on politics, but it is no less true that the information bases themselves used to be, not only interested, but decidedly weak or confusing.

At the same time, the anti-Peronist La Nación quoted “a source close to the group of exiles”, according to which supporters of the former president were preparing to support “a coalition of the Unión Popular with the Populist and Blanco parties”. For the rest, it reported that a group that had met with Perón in Caracas – Cooke, Kelly, Borlenghi, Méndez San Martín and Antonio – had witnessed and been the protagonist of “a marked split in the Peronist high command, since while some are at in favor of continuing the sabotage, others oppose it”[8].

What both media outlets agreed on was the growth of the possibilities that the intransigent Peronists –saboteurs or abstentionists, depending on the source– should yield, albeit reluctantly, to the participatory trend. This information, the many reports and the reappearance of the names of Bramuglia, Albrieu and Leloir, in the pages of the press seems to contradict the observation of the one who –knowing the importance of the vetoes that ended up being imposed from outside and from within then and Subsequently, he understands that said alternative could hardly have materialized. The opposition of the "hardcore" members of the armed forces played, as we know, a decisive role in obscuring the contours of the expected prize, that is, the concrete possibility that, should justice allow it, the arbiters of the incipient game politically tolerate, if not a presidential victory, Peronist participation in the government of the nation or of the most important provinces.

The majority, still a spokesperson for “participationism”, echoed both the memorandum that Admiral Rojas presented on behalf of the navy before the provisional government opposing the presentation of neo-Peronists and the surprising defection of Leloir –until now presented as the unifying factor– which two weeks later went on to support electoral abstention as the best option for Peronism (Mayoría, 42, 1-20-1958).

Obviously, Perón's veto, not yet public, in a situation that would soon lead to the knowledge of the “pact”, was once again decisive. Before, he had gambled on his hopes and program with a rare clarity: “the concurrence has acquired in recent days the characteristic of a great mobilization of masses sure of their numerical strength and the value of their flags uselessly denigrated by official propaganda. Caracas, whose final decision is still awaited by some, will find itself at the moment of giving its opinion before an irreversible fait accompli” (Mayoría, 40, 1-6-1958: 5).

The government and “Caracas” had been, in the search for a path, the objects of their disputes, but soon they would be little more than pretexts to protest a failure. Before moving, as the proscripts did conjuncturally, towards the stores of the frondicismo where they remained for a long time, Majority proceeded to an explanation of the abortion of his own project while giving a last voice to his champions. Now he understood – and thus he titled it on the front page – that “at the time of the election, internal and external confusion factors push the proscribed force into chaos” (Mayoría, 42, 1-20-1958). Regarding the former, and after ruling out the multiple sectors that put pressure on Leloir as determinants, there was much speculation at the time about a kind of "moral fatigue" to which the recently released prisoner would have been subject from the moment of his imprisonment. , which would have strengthened –they argued– its “hesitant” character[9]. The figure of Leloir was, since the fall of Peronism, one of the most battered regarding the decisions that he "had" to make or that were expected of him and Majority seemed to feel the unease that the last minute change of attitude had caused him. that he was the last acting president of the Peronist Party. In this context in which the leading circles of the Popular Union and the Populist, White and Workers parties also did not hide the impact, the following week they again rescued the figure of Bramuglia, president of the Popular Union.

In the requiem of that attempt that had associated him with the perspective supported by Jacovella, who at the time had celebrated that "abstention" was "for the comfortable... perhaps for the cowards and sometimes also for the traitors" , and justifying his failed exit to the streets to defend the concurrence "with special and particular knowledge of the one who was president of the deposed party", Bramuglia affirmed that "we have not betrayed anyone" and that "we have followed the ideas of our movement" to the time he prophesied, almost in a ceremony of resigned assumption that, moreover, "the movements continue despite men" (Mayoría, 43, 1-27-1958: 5).

The resounding electoral success of 1958 and the verification that the negotiations to obtain Perón's support for the UCRI had begun much earlier, have obscured the fact that the possibility of participating with their own lists through any of the expressions Neo-Peronists who had achieved or were in the process of obtaining legal status would be handled until very late. The "project" of Majority in the conjuncture, then, had been based on the presumption of the definitive distancing of Perón and that the former party authorities, whose liberation was celebrated by the specter opposed to the "Revolución Libertadora", would come to occupy the a place of pivots for a coordination of the Peronist forces capable of supporting an extra-party force or, as then began to be speculated, “come with their own lists”.

They had the redeemed prestige that derived from having spent a long time in prison, with a probable ascendancy that Cooke's animosity or Perón's distrust towards them ultimately recognized and, above all, with the favor of a press that, as a Majority, it had demanded the freedom of the political prisoners and that it now presented them to public opinion as the most genuine expression of the proscribed Peronism[10].

In this scenario, there was an opportunity for Majority nationalism and even, as we have pointed out in the first installment (Pulfer and Melon Pirro, 2019b), to recover the edge of an almost forgotten “lonardismo” from the first hour of liberation . It is not an exaggeration to present the Jacovella weekly, then, as the main spokesperson for participationism.

Here we can clearly observe the contrast between the nationalist press, oscillating between promoting its own candidates although without losing sight of Peronism, as is the case of Azul y Blanco, with Mario Amadeo – Lonardi's former chancellor and who, as you recall a famous poster, who “shaked hands” with Perón when he passed to the Paraguayan gunboat–, Majority, who stars in the desire and frustration of the “neo-Peronist” participation –the promotion of Bramuglia and in the last hour, of Leloir was very significant in its pages–, and those of the “orthodox” Peronist press, essentially made up of Línea Dura, which would lean towards “the pact” after sustaining intransigence, and Norte, an explicit denier of participationist expectations and denouncer of the Majority preaching[11].

As we have already seen, the option and the triumph of the formula supported by Peronism that had allowed the ousted president to revalidate his titles against any alternative within the Peronist movement was a fact that Majority had begun to pay for in the month prior to the presidential election. Coincident in the situation with Perón to the point of editing an emergency number when the "order" to vote for Frondizi was known, they kept their distance during the time when they were evident participants in the frigerista "integration" but they did not stop being attentive, never , to everything that happened in a Peronism to which they had tried to participate in their own way and to which, in the nationalist wake, they secretly dreamed of conquering.

Perón, in the prolongation of a situation that, we know, would last many years to come, played his cards accepting that the “old hierarchies” should occupy a significant place in leading a movement that could not renounce its leadership but that , both in terms of the union sector and the political branch, was not insensitive to the negotiation with the state and the possibilities of achieving a certain degree of electoral participation, a complex dynamic, by the way (Melon Pirro, 2017). .

The majority, powerless perhaps in the face of the “chaos” that prevailed in a banned movement, but expecting legalization, published a significant commentary in November 1958. The Coordinating Council had just limited Cooke's power and, incidentally, curtailed the entry of the leaders of the "62", considered too "soft" with the Frondist government. By then, unlike what happened with the coverage of the CGT's Normalizing Congress, the informative tenor yielded from the outset to the edition of a piece of news in which a frustration was translated. The note referred to the "peronist attitudes" linked to the continuous changes of command. According to her, “when four or more Peronists meet, loyalty to the leader translates into a unanimous “Life for Perón!” expressed with fierce determination; when the assembled Peronists reach only three, Perón's "genius" is pondered with some enthusiasm; when two Peronists speak, without witnesses, the exciting topic is the criticism of Perón's leadership”. The magazine considers that the story, which it presents as "collected in the very kidney of Peronist orthodoxy", is worth a treatise on the evolution and current state of Peronism and comes to ratify the success of a definition that the former president would have made, Some time ago, one of the highest party hierarchies: 'Perón is the most unpopular man among the Peronist leaders” (Mayoría, 82, 11-6-1958: 20). The fact that said room for maneuver did not exist or, rather, that history has denied such a possibility, does not mean that the actors in the fray have not believed in the chance that the space of legality would expand. With an ear set on Peronism, but for a long time betting on its moderation and, in fact, accompanying the Frondizi government in substantive initiatives such as the battle that it promised to achieve, thanks to foreign investment, self-sufficiency in oil or education Free, certainly more akin to the nationalist tradition, Majority continued to be an actor and a point of observation of the first order.

The “ear” we are talking about tried to refine itself regarding the hierarchies of Peronism. It is thus that Majority became, for contemporaries, a privileged information channel that, moreover, enjoyed better circulation than the Peronist press itself, in the same way that it means, for the historian, a reserve of important information. The ear, or eye, in the middle stopped at the position of John William Cooke after Frondizi's inauguration.

We know that by June 1958, Cooke was being dented, at least, by two events, among the many that crossed her figure as sole representative of Perón, since December 1957 accompanied by a Tactical Command representative of the branches and sectors of territorial Peronism and that he would soon see his power liquefied in Peronism and against Perón. Having been the main architect and builder of the Pact, he began to be visualized as a politician who put more patience than pressure when it came to controlling its compliance by the government, an argument very unsympathetic to his boss. In addition, there was the problem of concerns generated by the organization of a party, something that, in the perspective of legalization, increased apprehensions and internal jealousy and that had blossomed into a strong protest by women in the movement, susceptible to the role role played by Alicia Eguren, Cooke's partner, in the reorganization of the women's party (Melon Pirro and Pulfer, 2019a).

Among many other exchanges (some anthology on how to deal with this tidal wave of expectations), Perón recommended that he measure himself regarding the times and forms of such party reorganization and limit himself instead to a "strategic direction" that only the himself –and certainly to a limited and delicate extent– was in a position to exercise[12]. On the same date, Cooke was still publicly considered by Majority as "General Perón's lieutenant" and the only one besides the latter in a position to speak officially for the outlawed movement (Mayoría, 63, 6-23-1958: 18-24 ).

In his response, Cooke referred to the emergence of a group made up of “the best leaders, the most revolutionary, capable and agile”. Not otherwise, he told Perón, could his strategic plans be fulfilled, and he did not hesitate to conclude that, in this way, "when you have died, your survival will not be purely emotional" (Cooke to Perón, 6-25-1958 , in Perón and Cooke, 2008:74-81).

In the days when Chief and representative exchanged these concepts and in which Perón attacked his delegate for what he considered non-compliance on the part of Cooke – not having claimed for his situation, for the corpse of Eva Perón and for the lack of of life – on June 23, 1958, the journalist Osiris Troiani published in the pages of Majority, already geared towards supporting the Frondizi government, what is probably the most extensive report ever made on Cooke. The note had an attractive title: "Melee with John William Cooke" and was promoted on the cover with a photo of the interviewee sitting next to General Perón, and on the inside pages, with images taken at the place of the interview, the Uruguayan coast. at the height of Montevideo. Accompanied by Alicia Eguren and her secretary Santiago Sarrabayrouse, Cooke answered the Mayoría envoy – a prestigious journalist who had stood out in Qué – in three sets of questions. The first was entitled "report for the 'gorillas'"; the second, “report for the Peronists”, and the third, significantly, “the return to the national line”. There he expressed his reluctance to accept a statute for Political Parties that would inhibit those with personal names, declared that it was the Superior Command (Perón) who would decide whether to run for elections and that the Tactical Command would direct the party reorganization "according to the directives issued by the Superior Command”. Cooke affirmed that he had to ensure that the masses express themselves freely and democratically, so that the cadres that emerge are the full expression of the movement", but when asked about it, he did not admit the possibility of recognizing internal sectors "that are always transformed... into conglomerates of sharecropping interests”. If Cooke's idea of ​​the future party was that of a centralist organization, he responded during the second part of the interview to the criticisms made by those who accused him of digitizing authorities: "Now there was no other possible system than the designation of a Command National tactician and provincial commandos, who are in formation. They are organizations that represent the Superior Command, presided over by General Perón and whose authority no one disputes…”. He avoided ruling on an eventual amnesty for Leloir or Saadi, and on the possibility of Colonel Mercante or Father Benítez joining the new party. He denied knowing a demand from the workers' organizations in the sense of occupying 70% of the party representations, but he assured that "the workers will have a fundamental role in the direction of Peronism." In the last part, he was asked from a place that expresses the position of the journalist: "Would Peronism accept a process of national integration that does not mean its absorption by Frondicismo?", something that was answered from the point of view that "the Peronist movement is, by itself, a national and popular front”. The interview conducted on the Pocitos beach was illustrated with a series of photos in which Alicia Eguren invariably appears, whom the journalist found "still somewhat sectarian." That Cooke considered the interview a true political document is expressed by the fact that two copies of his transcription were signed, prior to its publication, and that Majority had the note speaks, above all, of the recognized place and circulation of this weekly (Majority, 63, 6-23-1958).

In addition to all this, the note is, more than because of its content because of where it is published and who interviews it, a document of Cooke's difficult position, which at that moment began to experience his displacement of the centrality of decisions of the Peronist movement (Melon Pirro and Pulfer, 2018).

In the course of 1958, if one of the main points of observation of Majority was Peronism and its way of intervening in the national reality, specifically it was focused on trusting what was printed and published, it did not stop be attentive to the means that expressed more genuinely, although also more ephemerally – due to censorship, but also changes in directions – to the proscribed movement.

In the Majority reading, “the right wing of Peronism” had two weeklies, Norte and Voz Peronista, “which would be the first of a chain of publications, all of them organized in support of the men who make up the Coordinating Council, in whose constitution it is affirmed that Alberto Campos, director of Norte, had a decisive influence”[13]. As for Voz Peronista, the outlet notes, "it has been placed under the direction of swimming champion Antonio Abertondo" but it is estimated that, as in the North, the well-known journalist José Gobello is the main figure"[14].

In the same reading, the loss of influence of what he called the "centrist wing" of Peronism, which had been interpreted or represented by the National Delegation and expressed by Línea Dura, led by María Granata, something that manifested itself in the resignation of the condition of “official organ of the movement”, a decision taken “by virtue of said change in the party commands” (Mayoría, 80, 10-23-1958).

The editions that follow the aforementioned one show how Peronism is leading the opposition to Frondizi, after a prolonged truce of six months. In number 81 it begins with a series of notes: Change of commands and attitudes in Peronism.

As we have said, already at this time, the orientation of the Majority was one of growing sympathy with the Frondizi government. In this way, the confrontation over the "non-compliance" with the pact, and sensitive issues such as the question of the policy favorable to the exploitation of oil through foreign investment - the latter, habitual revulsives for the nationalist press - were reported on the side of those who “rationally” they expected moderation and patience from Peronism and from those who understood the advantages of self-supply of hydrocarbons. This continues to distance them from the Peronist "intransigence" and, particularly, from the new delegates and organizations appointed by Perón to act in the country.

The attitude of the authorities of the Coordinating and Supervisory Council –the collegiate body whose function, let us remember, replaced Cooke's role– had been from the beginning to repudiate the agreements, one more way of differentiating themselves from the previous Delegation to the that it was blamed for inefficiency in relation to compliance with some of the terms of the agreement, such as the non-return of legal status to the Peronist party and what were considered delays in the union restructuring process.

However, once the strike was unleashed in Mendoza and, after the unionists' reluctance to extend the conflict became known, the organization hesitated to express its support for the measure of force, which motivated Perón's initiative tending to influence, at the same time, the Council and the Peronist union representatives. The weekly newspaper did not miss this circumstance and recorded it in the form of an unconfirmed species: according to what was stated, "the version of an alleged telegram from the former president ordering them to join the strike was circulated among the Peronist delegates of the oil union" (Majoría , 83, 11-13-1958: 5). The implementation of the state of siege by the government was, then, both a response aimed at controlling the spread of the trade union conflict, and an operation against Peronism as a whole.

At the moment the visible head of the Coordinating and Supervisory Council of Peronism, Albrieu avoided a trip by Manuel Campos, director of Norte who in turn became Perón's interlocutor and sent a letter by mail to Ciudad Trujillo in which, judging Due to the response that is known, he expressed his distrust and reluctance to work with the Peronist trade unionists, as well as the difficulties to intervene in the complex situation that Peronism was going through in the capital, after the dissolution of the Tactical Command in favor of the Coordinating Council.

The former president, author of the movement that through the creation of said Council had displaced Cooke and warned unionists to the point of not granting them representation in the new body, answered him in a less paternal tone than he used in his extensive correspondence with the youngest and most effusive delegate, but ultimately proposing a new correction to the course that Albrieu, excuse the false redundancy, had come to rectify. Accepting the argument that "union preponderance would lead us to a class-based party, obviously inadequate in the current circumstances" he also warned in the sense that "the intolerance of the political leadership could cause us to alienate union leaders", especially in a time when the labor movement seemed to be in the process of capitalizing on autonomous bargaining power against a government that was courting the same leadership (Melon Pirro, 2017).

Some time later, there had been numerous arrests of political leaders on the occasion of the celebration of October 17 and after the establishment of the state of siege, a circumstance that contrasted with the relative tranquility that union leaders had enjoyed, which it had not gone unnoticed by a weekly that was then operating in favor of the government. On November 13, Majority had headlined "Frondizi accepts Perón's challenge", questioning himself about "the approximate volume of the total Peronist that will be willing to follow Perón's opposition slogans, with all the risks and troubles that this implies and which part will prefer win their place under the sun of the new regime, which will certainly try to offer the best possible conditions to the Peronists who are willing to opt for legality” (Mayoría, 83, 11-13-1958: 5).

We can observe that if ambiguity and contradiction, even conjuncturally moderation, were the attitude of the CCyS and of the former president himself, the attitude of Majority was in political terms similar to the one it had in 1957-1958 when it had encouraged a Peronism without Perón, and now, placed in a situation of sympathy with the government, to push for the separation of Peronist unionism with leadership from exile.

That the attitude of the media was considered by it, it is enough to cite the advice that Perón enunciated shortly after, who, far from proposing and forcing a risky conflict on trade unionism –as Jacovella's weekly had disseminated–, responded conditionally and in the more pragmatic terms: “In order for the Majority's comments to cease to have reality, we must act in close union with the union leaders of 'las 62' and the 'Authentic CGT', avoiding by all means the possibility of a separation... I don't know Worry you because they ask Frondizi for one thing or another. Instead, worry that before doing so they have agreed with you in the Council the conduct to follow ”. In order to respond to the equation of forces, the exile even modified the initial tactic, consisting of excluding trade union representatives from the organization on the grounds that unionism had its own. He therefore called to "absorb the trade union representation within the Council with the presence of some of its delegates" and warned: "Make no mistake, their representation must be that indicated by the organizations ('62' and 'Authentic CGT') and not those that the Council wants”. In a style similar to the one that he used more than once with Cooke, he advised: "He who commands must never pretend to do everything he wants, but settle for doing half of his will, so that others do half of theirs." , as long as you have the ability to choose, in the fifty percent that corresponds to you, the fundamental things” (Perón to Albrieu, 12-10-1958).

Perón played his cards accepting that the “old hierarchies” had to occupy a significant place in the leadership of a movement that could not renounce its leadership but that, both in terms of the union sector and the political branch , was not insensitive to the negotiation with the state and the possibilities of achieving a certain degree of electoral participation.

Before the takeover of the "Lisandro de la Torre" refrigerator, Majority affirms that "its occupation by the workers served as a pretext to attack both the government and the national syndicalist line" (Mayoría, 93, 1-29-1959) .

Mayoría, a first-rate source for reconstructing everything that happened in Peronism and in the trade union world, could not hide, not only its desideratum regarding the political “ought to be”, but also its ideological convictions regarding the “duty to be” ser” of the labor movement, referring to the political dimension and the CGT Congress, for example.

This kind of –except for the distances– “ball game oath”, which for trade unionism meant the CGT Normalizing Congress and which for Peronism led to the constitution of an organization, “Las 62”, which ended later resolving itself in a form of public presentation of Peronist trade unionism, it was celebrated and accompanied in what was meritorious about the triumph of the "national" leaders against the "yellows", but ignored the "reds", a term that we put in quotation marks but that does not appear in the magazine.

In the political sphere, and in particular, in what refers to the first electoral outcome of the "Revolución Libertadora", the coverage was wide, or at least, abundant, and as far as Peronism was concerned, it was decidedly aimed at recognize or promote the participation of those who faced the will of the "saboteurs" or "abstentionists" and their ability to impose on them the need to yield, albeit reluctantly, to the participatory trend.

Here we have emphasized the participation, and therefore the point of observation, of the magazine, but if it is about history, it is much more pertinent to contextualize, on the occasion of the dispute between “attendance” or “abstention”, the absence of real incentives for the participation of the Peronists, since they continued to occupy a marginal and illegal position, -and few could trust a good electoral performance as the key to get out of such a situation when they distrusted that someone was really willing to respect the election results.

It must be taken into account that, despite the amnesty that had resulted in the release of many of the political detainees of Peronist origin, as was the case of Alejandro Leloir, the problem of the disqualifications ordered in 1956 remained. that prohibited people who had held political positions of any type and level and supporters “up to the rank of General Secretary of the Basic Unit” from applying for public or party candidacies (Decree-Law 4258/56). Although Decree-Law 4258, in force since 1956, prohibited not only those who had in fact been formally dissolved parties from serving as leaders, there were those who were concerned with overcoming the sieve, but also those who, no less attentive, put it into practice. beyond the letter of the legislation emanating from the de facto government.

Moreover, since Majority, as we have seen, it was not a mere "manipulation" of information, but rather a bet that, like others of the time, was made in an indeterminate setting and on the basis of information that was often flimsy.

The announcement that he made, late in December 1957, in the sense of almost assuring the concurrence in elections of “majority force”, the reappearance of renowned figures in the weekly and even the relative confidence that said instance could convince even to the remiss and even to subdue Perón himself contradicts less to that present than to history.

We mean, it could circulate like good currency among contemporaries, although we know, today, that the opposition of the “hardcore” of the armed forces concealed the possibility of the expected prize, that is, the concrete possibility that in the In the event that justice allowed it, the arbiters of the incipient political game would tolerate, if not a presidential victory, Peronist participation in the government of the nation or of the most important provinces.

The frustration of the desideratum of the participacionistas and the editorial line of Majority. By means of a requiem, he gave way to an attitude of support for the government elected in February and here, once again, the paths of the media and Peronism came together again.

Perón's decisions turned out, contrary to what the Majority presupposed, as we know to be decisive, and taken –we are talking about “El Pacto”– contrary to the sentiments of a good part of his bases. As regards his vocation to launch trade unionism into confrontation with Frondizi, as we have seen, also independently of his will and in new contrast to the glove that was quick to pick up the weekly, pragmatism and recognition of the complexity of the situation of what was then, and for many years would be, the most organized sector of banned Peronism.

There would still be time for a new distance from the government, and even a new approach to Peronism. It was there when, at the last moment of the publication, they gave press and even tacit propaganda to the “uturunco” movement, something that appeared to be a Peronist rural guerrilla, in post-Peronist Argentina.

Peronist motives in Majority

There are multiple reasons that originate in the unfolding of the life of the Peronism of that time that will be appropriated and given new meaning by the nationalist press. We are not talking here only about Majority, but we include Azul y Blanco, Palabra Argentina and Revolución Nacional. Due to its presence in the market, Mayoría is one of those that acts as a mechanism for the amplification and diffusion of these reasons, reaching a significant impact.

The effect of construction of identity or feeding of the "structure of feelings" of Peronism is a pending task for historians. The truth is that the installation of these themes in the discourse and practice of various actors, as well as the use of images and texts that are used for the first time in this medium, give it a privileged position in the dissemination device of these issues in the Peronist political imaginary in particular and in Argentina in general.

In what follows we will try to give an account of these movements and, albeit briefly, we will refer to the treatment of the executions of June 1956, the demand for the freedom of the political prisoners and trade unions and the demands for freedom press release that includes the challenge of decree 4161.

The executions

The vindication of the cause of June 1956 in terms of the contents of the proclamation that they insist on linking to the Lonar heritage, on the one hand, and on the other, the recovery as heroes of those executed will be a constant preaching of the Majority to the commemoration dates approaching.

This line of appropriation will be reinforced by the set of articles displayed by the writer of nationalist origin Rodolfo H. Walsh. In number 8 of May 27, 1957 begins the series of notes on the "massacre operation" written by Walsh and publicized with the greatest prominence by Majority. On the cover they put: “The massacre operation begins in this edition. Vivid and complete story of the innocent victims of the massacre of José León Suárez and of those who miraculously saved his life” (Mayoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 8-11). Said series continues until number 15 of July 15 of the same year and will have two appendices in numbers 17 of July 31 and 39 of December 30, 1957.

Along with this, in number 9 of June 3, close to the first anniversary of his execution, Juan José Valle appears on the cover and inside a note with photos of the victims and their families, even reproducing the proclamation complete survey of the uprising of June 1956 (Majority, 9, 3-6-1957).

The highlight on the cover is also on this occasion, forceful and unequivocal: "The process for the cruel and blind repression of June 1956 opens before history." Perhaps it is also the first reproduction in the mass press of the text of the proclamation whose authorship, for obvious reasons, they choose not to disclose[15]. In keeping with this, the director's editorial is titled, bluntly, “Homage to the Fallen in June” and expresses in sharp outlines the most recent and dramatic caesura in national history. “The June killings left the country in suspense, frozen with terror, almost numb. Now the people manage to come out of their stupor and their alienation. Now he recovers and comes to himself. Upon rediscovering himself and the tragic reality, we incite him, not to sterile revenge, not to miserable revenge, not even to hate murderers, but to contemplate with greatness of soul the distinguished example of renunciation of his sacrificed champions. Look the people to the future, not to the past. Only in this way the great pain of Argentina in these last two bloody years can become the birth of a new era of peace, in which we can all enjoy a just, free and sovereign homeland” (Mayoría, 9, 6-3-1957 : 3). In an inside note, they include photos of the victims and their relatives –wife and young children– giving the narrative greater drama. The reproduction of photos of the leader of the uprising, Juan J. Valle, through this means help to install him in the local political imagination and will be used in the future to account for the tragic events.

In the next installment, along with Walsh's notes, they add a detail about Oscar Cogorno's career. Once again, images of relatives and those of the soldier in life appear, highlighting the chivalrous treatment given to the prisoners after the capture of the Seventh Infantry in La Plata and contrasting it with his tragic execution. In a box, they detail that his house was searched after the firing squad without finding the family who, alerted, fled the house (Mayoría, 10, 10-6-1957: 14-15). This saga is completed with the inclusion on the back cover of Gobello's verses called “The President sleeps” in that same installment and those of Helvio “Poroto” Botana entitled “Prayer for those shot in June. The pulcinella and the wounds of Christ”.

In addition to these notes, they give an account of the “march of silence” organized by the weekly Palabra Argentina, by Alejandro Olmos: “Gases, cavalry charges and armed civilians was the police response to the tribute. The official veto made 'the march of silence' noisy” (Mayoría, 11, 6-17-1957: 15).

Let us remember that the first weekly that published information about the investigation carried out by Walsh was the para-communist organ Propósitos, directed by Leónidas Barletta. He then began to publish a series of installments in the Cerrutti Costa-oriented weekly called Revolución Nacional, in a press campaign that began on December 23, 1956 and culminated at the end of March 1957 (Pulfer and Melon Pirro, 2019a). .

Walsh, was constrained by the post and was not happy with the outputs. For this reason, at the beginning of May, he approached Bruno Jacovella, the deputy editor of the weekly Mayoría, whom he had known for a long time: he had been a jury member for the Prize awarded to Walsh in 1953 and had done some minor collaboration for the magazine Esto Es .

Most would publish a report on Walsh some time later. The presentation, made by Juan Bautista Brun, sought to give a random air to the account of the events that had led to the collaboration that was now public: "In mid-1957, a person [Bruno Jacovella] received a phone call from a colleague of letters: 'Rodolfo wants to talk about something very important'. This Rodolfo had published a book of detective stories four or five years before, Variations in red, and that person, despite the little credit he assigned to the detective genre, had no choice but to surrender to the unique literary quality of the book and vote in favor of him for one of the literature prizes of the Municipality of Buenos Aires. The next day Rodolfo appeared. Rather short in stature, thin, pale, elusive, Walsh speaks softly and laughs a short laugh. Under his arm he carries a thick package. ‘I bring something that may be interesting. I know that you have close ties to the Majority director and I want to offer you this. 'This' was a series of articles, with some photographs, under the common heading of Operation Massacre. The ex-juror was engrossed. "Tell the director," Walsh continued, "that this is the true story of the Livraga case." The former jury had read something about a young man with that last name who appeared before a judge in La Plata saying that he had escaped a firing squad on the night of June 9-10. But he was ignorant of the details. Naturally, everyone was ignorant of them, except for Livraga, a few other people—about ten or twelve, all dumb as stones—and Walsh. The great informative press did not believe it was appropriate to report on the event” (Mayoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 8).

At that time, it is hard to believe that Tulio Jacovella, the magazine's director, could gauge what Walsh was creating with his writings in the field of literature. What interested him was the complaint to the military government with which he was litigating on various levels. He also had to know, from Cerrutti Costa's direct knowledge, of Walsh's audacity and of the risks he had to take when publishing materials that exposed him to official persecution through the application of Decree Law 4,161.

When announcing the series of collaborations, the magazine would do so with great journalistic expectation: “The author of the long story that we began to publish in this issue, and that will continue for several more, explains in the introduction how he conceived the idea, or rather, how he felt the need to investigate, first, the facts considered in the Livraga case, and then publish the results of his investigations. The first thing he could do; despite everything, the police were unable to prevent it. The second no. The book, product of his investigations, did not find who edited it. And so he subtitled it A book that does not find an editor. The reader will wonder: is what is said here serious? That amounts to asking: is the author serious? And, are the facts that are narrated true? As for the author, Rodolfo J. Walsh is unanimously considered one of the best writers of detective stories in our language. His book Variations in Red, published in Buenos Aires by Hachette, won the Buenos Aires Municipality Literature Award in 1953. […] Are the facts that are narrated true? Let the reader himself judge through the irrefutable proof attached to the story. For our part, we have so few doubts that we venture to record a formal prediction: at the end of this publication, if very serious events do not occur beforehand, more than one high-ranking personage of the current governmental cast will have to render an account of their actions in the night of June 9-10, 1956 behind prison bars. We say it weighing very well our responsibility as free journalists” (Mayoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 8).

Most of them were giving increasing importance to the subject, which is reflected in the covers. He urged his readers to insert themselves into "the irresistible magic of the pen that, in a cinematographic rhythm, presents each other" (Mayoría, 9, 6-3-1957: 9). In this way, Walsh's denunciations appeared in installments in the magazine Mayoría, from May 2717 to July 15, and then an obligatory appendix would be published on the 31st of the same month, in response to statements by police chief Fernández Suárez.

Regarding the effects of the complaint, different records appear. According to Díaz (2017: 25), the regular readers of Mayoría do not seem to have been too moved by the stories, even when it was a magazine that aimed at an audience close to Peronism. He attributes it to the fact that in those days society was focused on the election of Constituents, to be held on July 28. It was different what happened with the authorities and families and those involved in the events. The dictatorial government would arbitrate all kinds of negative communication policies to counter such a complaint, among which stood out the excessive increase in the price of newsprint, which forced the medium to buy it on the "black market" at a higher price, and one of whose direct consequences It was the decrease in the number of pages that, not by chance, occurred when the publication of “Operación Masacre. A book that can't find a publisher.

In the second installment, the weekly must insert a box at Walsh's request to make rectifications: “The author of Operación Masacre clarifies that in the article published on May 27 an addition to the original text has been introduced. This addition –probably the result of a “style correction”– makes the “directors” of political weeklies appear to be rejecting the chronicle of the Livraga case. Except on one occasion, the author did not communicate with the newspaper editors, but rather with people close to them. In response to a specific query, he is pleased to point out that he did not allude to Azul y Blanco, which on at least two occasions dealt with the case, nor to Resistencia Popular, which dealt with it with its own information. In addition, where it said "I am not a supporter of the Liberating Revolution either", it should read "I am not a supporter either", etc. Lastly, the following line was omitted: "And meanwhile, the person responsible for this massacre continues in his post" (Mayoría, 9, 3-6-1957: 15).

It is quite clear how the author followed the publication of his investigation with great interest and how he maintains his double status: journalist and anti-Peronist, which on the other hand had been made very well explicit in the introduction of May 27. There he said in a long paragraph: “Most of us journalists and writers came to consider Peronism as a personal enemy in the last decade. And with good reason. But we should have warned something: you cannot defeat an enemy without first understanding it. More than anything I fear the moment when humiliated and offended begin to be right. Doctrinal reason, in addition to the sentimental or human reason that already assists them, and that ultimately is the basis of that. And that moment is near and it will come fatally, if the foolish revenge policy that has been directed above all against the working class sectors is insisted on. The repression of Peronism, as it has been faced, does nothing more than justify it a posteriori. And this is not only unfortunate: it is idiotic” (Majoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 8).

In this context, a statement appears that the journalists union sends to the weekly, leaving Walsh's initial anti-Peronism aside and rescuing his indispensable professional work. In a box entitled "Congratulations from the journalistic union" it reads "The extraordinary general assembly of the Argentine press union, held on Friday, June 7, resolved at the proposal of one of the affiliates, to immediately support the following by several assembly members: 1- Condemn the treacherous murder perpetrated in the shadows and from behind, of Argentine workers, a crime committed by the oligarchy against the people on June 9 and 10, 1956. 2- Send a message of congratulations to the writer and journalist Rodolfo J. Walsh for having saved the integrity and ethics of the union, risking his life, to denounce those reprehensible crimes. This resolution was adopted by acclamation and unanimity by all the assembly members” (Majoría, 12, 6-24-1957: 17).

In the seventh installment, Walsh denounces: “Returning to the thread of the narration, in the previous issue we listed the evidence that Judge Dr. Belisario Hueyo had before him on January 20, 1957 and by virtue of which he was about to order the prosecution of the police chief of the province of Buenos Aires, when the file, surprisingly, was requested with the utmost urgency by a military court” (Mayoría, 14, 7-8-1957: 17).

In the latest installment, Walsh analyzes the discussions taking place in the advisory board of the province and demonstrates, once again, that they do not want to imprison Fernández Suárez, even if there is plenty of evidence. Likewise, he offers a lapidary observation: "At this point in Argentine history, only the blind, the hypocrites or those who have immediate political interests pretend to ignore that each of the three armed forces of the country is a State within the State", accusing Without hindrance, the executions were neither more nor less than the application of violence from above, in other words: State terrorism; to culminate by stating in the "Provisional Epilogue" that "there will always be new uprisings, and new waves of senseless revenge - even if they later have the opposite meaning - as long as men like the current police chief remain at the head of the repressive state agencies from the province of Buenos Aires, Lieutenant Colonel Desiderio Fernández Suárez” (Majoría, 15, 7-15-1957: 17-18).

Later you will need to add two “required appendices”. The first is published on July 31 (Majoría, 17, 7-31-1957). The second is attached to the delivery corresponding to December 30, 1957 (Mayoría, 39, 12-30-1957: 8-9). The recovery of the theme continues even after Walsh's notes on this subject have been completed. Thus, on the second anniversary of the Valle uprising, they publish this cover (Mayoría, 61, 6-9-1958):

In the following installment they keep the theme on the cover and refer to the “popular tribute to those shot” and in an extensive note inside they titled “the victims of Liberty were remembered” (Mayoría, 62, 6-16-1958 : 16-18). Shortly after, they covered the homage paid in Mendoza to those shot (Mayoría, 63, 6-23-1958: 25).

When Frondizi took office, they disseminated the denunciations of Lieutenant General Ángel Solari before Congress for the executions of June 1956, announcing them on the cover (Mayoría, 56, 5-5-1958) and presenting a summary of the actions of the new General Juan José Historical Institute Valley (Majority, 59, 5-26-1958: 14). For the anniversary of the year 1959 they continue to call for commemorative acts and ceremonies (Mayoría, 111, 6-4-1958: Contratapa).

The constitutional reform and article 40

In the framework of the call for elections of conventional constituents, the Majority will align itself with the demands of the political form that elitist nationalism assumes at that time. From the Federal Union they claim for "the rule of law, Constitution of 1949" that the weekly endorses on the cover (Mayoría, 7, 5-20-1957).

Like other media at the time, Majority criticized the call for the Constituent Convention and on the one hand endorsed the argument of nationalist currents that the true objective of that initiative was to end article 40 of the 1949 Constitution. This gave rise to the constant claim to avoid its repeal, announced on several occasions on the cover of the weekly (Mayoría, 28, 8-14-1957).

While the convention is being developed, they realize that the UCR-P will uphold article 40 and that it is probable that it will further expand its scope (Mayoría, 29, 10-21-1957: 10). In the next issue they announce that the government suspends the convention to avoid the “reissue of Article 40” (Mayoría, 30, 10-28-1957: 4). In an issue from the month of July, they published a defense of the constitutional reform tested by Peronism in a note under the title "The 1949 Constitution was well sanctioned and absolutely lacks totalitarian clauses" (Mayoría, 15, 7-15-1957 : 14).

Detained, tortured, interdicted, disabled, exiled

The claim for the freedom of political and union prisoners constitutes another of the axes that somehow link Majority with Peronism in defeat. This preaching will focus on two lines: on the one hand, on that of the legislators-writers –such as Gobello and Ramella– and on the other, on those figures who represent the political line with which the medium is temporarily identified: the neo-Peronism represented by Leloir. In that direction they reproduce on the cover a handwritten text by Leloir "last president of the banned party, sent from jail, where he is serving an unjust prison with haughtiness and dignity" (Mayoría, 16, 7-22-1957).

The cover of issue number 10 has the image of the Caseros prison “Bastilla de la patria”. There they insert a box with the following text: “As the days go by without the dictatorship listening to the cries of the oppressed country, the Argentine prisons are becoming burning symbols of an overwhelming rebellion and desire for justice, which they beat in vain against the bars raised by the hatred of the 'winners' who betrayed their word of honor. The Caseros prison, for being the one that houses the largest number of Argentines imprisoned for political reasons in the country, is already known as the Bastille of the Homeland. May the people one day free their brothers and redeem the Republic from their oppressors” (Mayoría, 10, 10-6-1957).

In addition to the denunciation of the torture of the union leaders that appears in the corresponding section, a delivery of the weekly includes a column in which, not without irony, it calls for "a rest for the torturers", with a photo of the people who suffered torments: Ana María S. de Viggiani, Domingo V. Viggiani, Julio Troxler (Majority, 43, 1-27-1958: 9).

El Semanario wonders “How long will the bans and disqualifications last?”, and along with an inquisitive text they include the photo of José Ber Gelbard, former head of the intervened General Economic Confederation. In that delivery they echo a declaration of the Popular Union on the full page of the back cover, titled: "Political disqualifications constitute a legal monstrosity" (Mayoría, 11, 6-17-1957). In the next one they include a box in which they affirm that "The absurd economic interdictions must be lifted without further ado" and subtitled "The national economy, the international prestige of the country and the long-awaited national reconciliation demand it" (Mayoría, 12, 24-6 -1957: 7). Upon leaving prison, Alicia Eguren takes the path of exile to Uruguay. Most include a note with the title "The banishment of Alicia Eguren" with photos of the former detainee and statements such as "The truth is that my imprisonment was only due to my profession of faith in the Argentine people" or "I will only think about returning." . In the article they do not mention the sentimental and political link with Perón's delegate, John William Cooke (Mayoría, 12, 6-24-1957: 14-15). The claim about the arbitrariness of the arrests of figures from the political or union world makes the cover of number 35 bear the title: "Former legislators regain their freedom." The inside note reproduces photos of the prisoners' release. Notable among them is that of "our colleague José Gobello" who "jubilantly receives the greetings of young and old alike" (Mayoría, 35, 12-2-1957: 8-9).

There are other minor but significant records of the attention given by Majority to the existence of Peronist sentiment among its reading public. For the anniversary of the birth of Eva Perón, having assumed Frondizi, sectors of Peronism seek to carry out a commemorative act. This generates police repression. Majority includes it on the cover and develops a broad "graphic note on the demonstrations in the streets of Buenos Aires as a result of the anniversary of the birth of Eva Perón" (Mayoría, 57, 5-12-1958: 15). Since Frondizi took office, in a new environment of freedoms, they began to advertise the sale of oil portraits of Perón and Evita (Mayoría, 58, 5-19-1958: 11). With a report they vindicate the conduct of Franklin Lucero (Majoría, 59, 5-26-1958: cover and 8-9) and recall the death of Nicolini "another shame of revenge", produced according to Majority by his imprisonment and "the persecution politics taken to the unbelievable” (Majoría, 63, 6-23-1958: 9). The note entitled La esquina de la resistencia deserves special mention. When the street became the town's parliament, to refer to the "center of discussions and lightning acts, which stood out for its openly anti-government tone" at the intersection of Corrientes and Esmeralda (Mayoría, 63, 6-23-1958: 29). In a delivery they organize the “national-popular line” including cover photos of Rosas-Yrigoyen and Perón (Mayoría, 64, 6-30-1958), stating that “they led the People against the Colonialist Oligarchy”. In another installment, in a five-page note signed by Raúl Jassen and with profuse images, they denounce that "the desecrated remains of Eva Perón cry out for a Christian burial" and affirm that "the oligarchy will never forgive her for her love for the country and the people ”(Majority, 67, 7-21-1958: 15-19). In the same direction they protest against the prohibition of the authorities to carry out an act in commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the death of Eva Perón: "they lacked troops to preserve order during the act but there were plenty to attack journalists and protesters" ( Majority, 69, 4-8-1958: 9). A year later they once again placed the image on the cover with these words "seven years after the death of Eva Perón, her figure haloed by the legend continues to be an enigma and a flag."[16] They give favorable judicial news to figures of Peronism: "The former deputy Eduardo Colom has been definitively dismissed."

Peronist collaborators

As we have underlined elsewhere, the press of the “resistance(s)” will act as a platform for the emergence of new intellectual figures: “nationalists”, “national-popular” and “national left” (Melon Pirro and Pulfer, 2019b). In what matters here we will stop at the "national-popular" linked to the weekly that we are analyzing.

At the start of their deliveries, Majority has the pen of Fermín Chávez (Manson, 2011). In the final part of the weekly they include critical notes on current publications. The author, due to his status as a Peronist and at times a clandestine militant, writes under the alias Juan Cruz Romero. He is in charge of commenting on the historical books that proliferate at that political moment. This is how Rodolfo Puiggrós (Mayoría, 1, 8-4-1957: 29) comments on the Critical history of political parties, marking the author's emphasis on the "internal cause" as a criticism of previous approaches that emphasized almost exclusively the "external cause", the shift in the author's understanding of Rosas and objects that due to his "materialistic intellectual formation" he slips into a "radical devaluation of the religious phenomenon". Despite "this prejudice that exposes it to falsifying the entire perspective, it is above all a sharp political weapon, as it contributes to clarifying the thought about our political, social and institutional history, still locked, despite the devastating revisionist offensives, in the schemes of end-of-the-century liberalism, already surpassed intellectually and politically throughout the world, but still in force here as an official canon, in public education and the daily press”. The comment is accompanied by a photo of Puiggrós and an image of the book. In the second installment, he comments on the reissue of El difícil tiempo nuevo by Deodoro Roca (Mayoría, 2, 4-15-1957: 29), pointing out the outdatedness of the collected writings – “they sound to us like distant provincial victrolas” -, the paradox of the Christian death of the reformist leader and linking the past-present, that is, the "infamous decade" with the "liberating" one, suggests that if he lived in the year 1957 he would find himself in similar conditions in which he produced most of the texts included in the volume by the Lautaro publishing house. In another installment (Mayoría, 5, 5-6-1957: 29) he deals with the radical writer Arturo Capdevila, emphasizing the “nonsense” of comparing Rosas with Fernando VII. Another of the materials analyzed is Los profetas del odio, by Jauretche, pointing out the method used by the author –selection of representative figures of the intelligentsia–, the criticisms made of Martínez Estrada, Borges and Irazusta and the contribution it means for the new generations emphasizing that in a "language very his, language of the people" he transmits "truths of law" (Mayoría, 10, 10-6-1957: 29). Another approach receives, Revolution and counterrevolution in Argentina by Jorge A. Ramos, not without critical remarks –secularism, positions in relation to Peronism– or Free enterprise or nationalization of the meat industry by Puiggrós (Mayoría, 19, 14-8 -1957: 13) which is fully praised. The book Proceso al liberalismo argentino by Atilio García Mellid is considered one of "the richest and most fruitful contributions of recent years to the history of our people, as well as the indicator of the true path to be followed by young scholars." of our history” (Majority, 22, 9-2-1957: 15). The book Imperialism and culture by Juan José Hernández Arregui (Mayoría, 41, 13-1-1958: 14) falls under his analysis, which is praised, consigning: “when the best books published in the course of this year are counted , Imperialism and culture should figure in the front row along with other valuable essays that are giving us the exact dimension of this elemental homeland that is being lived by the man of the people and also by the intellectuals”. Faithful to his ideas and loyalties, he presents Perón as a writer, reviewing La Fuerza es el derecho de las bestias and Los vendepatria, realizing with cover images of the clandestine and legal editions of those materials (Mayoría, 69, 8-4-1958 :27). Chávez deals with interviews with related figures: “Half an hour with Leonardo Castellani” has as its title an extensive report on the former Jesuit (Mayoría, 15, 7-15-1957: 15). Under his usual pseudonym, Chávez published a series of notes entitled People and Oligarchy in River Plate Politics[17] and later, others on pedagogy highlighting the figure of the reformist Saúl Taborda (Mayoría, 77, 10-9-1958: 26; 78, 10-16-1958: 26; 82, 11-6-1958: 24). In the same medium he works as a journalist-chronicler of Stroessner's Paraguay[18] and to the death of Scalabrini Ortiz he dedicates the note entitled “A solitary and stubborn worker” (Mayoría, 113, 6-18-1959: 13). He also writes and publishes about the Entre Ríos revolution of 1998 (Mayoría, 120, 8-13-1959: 19).

Luis M. Soler Cañas, another of the writers who had adhered to Peronism, is in charge of the “Books” section that begins to be published from the third number (Mayoría, 3, 4-22-1957: 28- 29). The columnist had worked in the Ministry of Education where he kept an exhaustive file on Argentine writers that was moved to a basement and then disappeared during the administration of Julio Caillet Bois (Mayoría, 107, 5-7-1959: 20 -twenty-one). In the section created "books" a recovery of materials of the moment is developed. A common note of this work of underlining for readers is the inclination towards authors of a "national-popular" nature. Laterally, books close to that register enter, such as those of the Argentine Past series published by Hachette at the request of Gregorio Weinberg –Vicente Rossi (Mayoría, 103, 4-9-1959: 27), Antonio Zinny, the Rosas Correspondence , Quiroga y López compiled and commented on by Enrique Barba (Mayoría, 120, 8-13-1959: 25), etc. – and which receive varied judgments. The author uses various pseudonyms, including those of Daniel Estrella or Patricio Finnegan. Under the first, he reviews the book Argentina and the United States by Arthur Whitaker (Mayoría, 3, 4-22-1957: 28), comments favorably on the “militant and social literature” of La mestiza, by Antonio Nella Castro and in another installment he considers "A refutation of the Sarmiento formula and an examination of Argentine liberalism" to the book by Fermín Chávez entitled Civilization and barbarism in the history of Argentine culture. [19] Under the same pseudonym, he analyzes La opción del 28 de julio, by the elitist nationalist leader Mario Amadeo (Mayoría, 13, 1-7-1957: 20), Cuentos con ladrones, by José Gobello (Mayoría, 22, 2-9 -1957: 15), the reissue of El hombre de la vaca, by Omar Viñole (Majoría, 23, 9-9-1957: 15), Juan sin ropa, by Osvaldo Guglielmino (Majoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 14), The religious tradition of the Argentine school, by Fr. Furlong (Mayoría, 32, 11-11-1957: 12), Lugones. The writer and his language, by Arturo Cambours Ocampo (Majoría, 34, 11-25-1957: 14), Life of López Jordán, by F. Chávez (Majoría, 44, 2-3-1958: 14), Theory of Araña, by the poet Héctor Villanueva (Majoría, 47, 2-27-1958: 14), The country, money, men, by Mario Martínez Casas (Majoría, 50, 3-24-1958: 14-15), Yrigoyen , Ignored aspects of a personality, by Ricardo Caballero (Mayoría, 54, 4-21-1958: 14), Poems with a suburb, by Jorge Melazza Muttoni (Mayoría, 58, 5-19-1958: 14). He praises the reissue of Carnaval del diablo, by Juan O. Ponferrada (Mayoría, 69, 8-4-1958: 29) and ironises Luis Franco: “he prosecutes the 'pen gendarmerie', but continues to collaborate in La Prensa” ( Majority, 45, 2-10-1958: 15). He signs with the acronym "SC" the commentary to the complete edition of the History of the Argentine railways, by Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz (Mayoría, 27, 10-7-1957: 15) and with the less decipherable "SMP" the commentary of El Gospel of Jesus Christ, by P. Castellani (Mayoría, 33, 11-18-1957: 14), the review of Operación Masacre (Mayoría, 43, 1-27-1958: 14) or the critical commentary on Politics as conscience, by Carlos Cossio (Majority, 45, 2-10-1958: 14). Upon the normalization of the institutional situation with the assumption of Frondizi, the head of the section signs with his name and surname. This is how he covers various books: Leopoldo Lugones, by Guillermo Ara and Fichero sauteado, by Eduardo Suárez Danero (Mayoría, 74, 9-8-1958: 20); Breviary of Contemporary Argentine Literature, by Juan Pinto (Mayoría, 80, 10-23-1958: 30), El pronunciamiento de Mayo, by Roberto Marfany (Mayoría, 88, 12-18-1958: 30); Lost in his night, by Manuel Gálvez (Mayoría, 90, 1-1-1959: 22); Nicolás Olivari, unicaule poet, by Bernardo E. Koremblit (Majoría, 120, 1-29-1959: 29). Of authors who are in his “line” he exhumes El Paso de los libres, by Jauretche, with an extensive note that includes a photo and praise of the author (Mayoría, 104, 4-16-1959: 24-25), celebrates Three poems, by Alfonso Sola González (Mayoría, 108, 5-14-1959: 25), review Theory of the Argentine, by Arturo López Peña (Mayoría, 114, 6-25-1959: 19), favorably comments on two books by the poet Francisco Dibella ( Mayoría, 117, 7-23-1959: 25), highlights Leonardo Castellani with “an Argentine police literature” for the release of El enigma del fantasma en coche (Mayoría, 118, 7-30-1959: 25), and praises the poetic work Orbe, by Pablo Ramella (Mayoría, 119, 8-6-1959: 22).

Unsigned, there are some critical notes on materials of the time, such as the comment made by the newspaper El Día, from La Plata, under the intervention of Antonio Zamora, on the book by Santander entitled I accused the dictatorship (Majoría , 7, 5-20-1957: 29) or the “unmasking” of Daniel Faleroni exhibiting his Peronist past (Mayoría, 14, 7-8-1957: 22). With his signature, he conducts interviews with authors. One that stands out is the one he makes to Horacio Velázquez on the occasion of the publication of his book on General Pedernera[20] and gives him the opportunity to reply to the criticisms made of him from the newspaper La Nación: "I have been deceived for many years by an artificial and mystified story and I am not going to deceive others”. In addition to consigning these statements by the author, he later underlines the value of this "large contribution to our historical bibliography" (Mayoría, 122, 8-27-1959: 24-28). Likewise, it gives rise to writers of other trends, such as when he greets In the shadow of beloved neighborhoods, the book by Raúl González Tuñón (Mayoría, 123, 9-3-1959: 30).

From the first issue there appears a column associated with the literary criticism sector, titled "Weekly Chronicle". It has different uses. On the one hand, it makes brief and ironic comments on figures from the "liberal" intellectual field. Following the paths of production –they deal with Martínez Estrada (Mayoría, 7, 5-20-1957: 29), César Rosales (Mayoría, 12, 6-24-1957: 19), etc.– or situations produced in the field of SADE: they denounce that they do nothing in the face of the arrest of Leónidas Barletta, Raúl Larra and Gudiño Kramer, they ridicule interventions by the interim president of the association Horacio Esteban Ratti (Mayoría, 12, 6-24-1957: 19), of the literary critic Juan Carlos Ghiano or the writer Manuel Mújica Láinez. Different treatment is given to writers with nationalist roots –Manuel Gálvez (Mayoría, 3, 4-23-1957: 28), Federico Ibarguren (Majoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 29), Máximo Etchecopar (Majoría, 10, 10-6 -1957: 29), Julio Meinvielle (Majoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 14) for example– or of Peronist affiliation –Osvaldo Guglielmino with Juan sin ropa (Majoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 14); the books Civilization and barbarism... and Life of López Jordán, by Fermín Chávez (Mayoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 14); Proceso al liberalismo argentino, by Atilio García Mellid and La tierra y el vagabundo by Vicente Trípoli (Mayoría, 7, 20-5-1957: 29). From there they announce the forthcoming publication of periodicals or books: Ramos is about to publish, they say, a weekly that will have the name of Batalla and a book that will raise “wheals” (Mayoría, 10, 10-6-1957: 29). They also announce the appearance of a “nationalist” publication with the title Revista del País which, as far as we know, will never come to light. Another of the uses is the one that corresponds to the obituaries of the figures of the "national-popular" field in which they pay tribute and their work and omissions in the main newspapers of the Capital are highlighted. This is how they parade: Arturo Cancela (Majority, 5, 5-6-1957: 29), José Gabriel (Majority, 12, 6-24-1957: 19), Horacio Rega Molina, Juan Alfonso Carrizo (Majority, 39, 30 -12-1957: 12), Arturo Vázquez Rey, Ernesto Mario Barreda, González Carbalho, Joaquín Linares (Majority, 63, 6-23-1958: 28), Enrique Stieben (Majority, 86, 12-4-1958: 30) . In this regard, he fired Corvalán Mendilaharsu, “revisionists before the word revisionism became popular” and the historian José Luis Busaniche (Mayoría, 110, 5-28-1959: 27).

From these pages he pays homage to “Scalabrini Ortiz: teacher and guide”[21] whom Mayoría had greeted when assuming the direction of Qué (Mayoría, 114, 6-25-1959: 31) although he did not collaborate directly with the half. In this direction, when the tribute volume organized by the Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz Foundation with the name Ser Nacional came out, Soler Cañas provided coverage (Edición de emergencia, 3, 11-15-1959: 29). The unjust and incomprehensible death of Miguel Ángel Gómez, one of the founders of Canto, causes an authentic shock, “irreparable loss for our letters” (Pulfer, 2019a).

In times of the military government, the section did not stop complaining about imprisoned writer-journalists, as it does with Ramón Prieto (Mayoría, 15, 7-15-1957: 21).

In the “Letters” section, they begin a series of “controversies”: “Was 'obsequiousness necessary as the main and only merit' to be awarded before 1955?”, a rhetorical question since they add the photos of Petit de Murat , Estrella Gutiérrez, Pedro M. Obligado, Ferreyra Basso and Mallea, winners of awards during the “deposed regime”. They add the photo of Jorge L. Borges "although he was not awarded, he also presented himself." The discussion is organized in mirror to the “censorship” in the municipal awards to Castellani, Tiempo and José L. Muñoz Azpiri, denounced in the same delivery (Mayoría, 38, 12-23-1957: 14-15). They reproduce a protest note from Edelmiro Lofeu for a reference made by the columnist Osiris Troiani to the “1500 feathered pens” of the Undersecretary of Press in the time of Perón (Mayoría, 63, 6-23-1958: 29). As a result of a casual intervention (Edición de emergencia, 82, 11-6-1958: 38) on the controversy surrounding the censorship of Lolita by Nabokov in Russia, a debate broke out in the media (Pulfer, 2019b). “Calling a literary colleague a pig is a cheap insult… in Russia. In Argentina, no” and Finnegan (alias of Soler Cañas) brandishes the anonymous Pax with its disqualifying verses of writers related to deposed Peronism. From there began a long polemic on "Arts and Letters in the time of Perón" (Mayoría, 8, 11-20-1957: 21), fueled by letters from "anti-Peronist" writers such as Fernández Latour (Mayoría, 88, 12-18- 1958: 19; 91, 1-8-1959: 18; 93, 1-29-1959: 11) and Enrique de Gandía (Mayoría, 105, 4-23-1959: 24-25) or “pro-Peronists” as Gobello (Majority, 89, 12-25-1958: 24) or Norberto Folino (Majority, 93, 1-29-1959: 21).

Another collaborator is Atilio García Mellid (Pulfer, 2019c), a former forger and diplomatic official of Peronism, dedicated to the study of history, who will join revisionism and collaborate in multiple media such as Majority as well as NORTE. His reappearance in the written press allowed him to concentrate on writing and publish one of the most requested books of the year 1957: Proceso al liberalismo argentino. It comes out of the Theoria publishing house by Jorge Orus, a nascent venture that will successfully travel the strip of restorative nationalism. In issue number 15, he writes "Doctors and warlords in our constitutional history." The aforementioned book enjoys the support of critics[22] and publicity in various media.[23]

In another installment, as part of the repudiation of the constituent convention, he states that “The port oligarchy always despised the Constitution” (Mayoría, 16, 7-22-1957: 7). Associated with the memory of October 17, 1945, he writes “October and the restoration revolution” including a profile of Doña Encarnación Ezcurra” (Mayoría, 29, 10-21-1957: 10). Given an omission of paragraphs from the article in question, they add it to the back cover of the next edition under the title "October and the Liberating Revolution." The note concludes: “October has always been propitious to peoples who struggle to reestablish the primary truths of their existence and the fidelity due to their endearing love: why, then, not declare it the month of the people and loyalty? ” (Majority, 30, 10-28-1957: back cover). El Semanario highlights the presence of García Mellid in the Faculty of Law: "Rosas, the restorer of laws, in the university recovered by the oligarchy" (Mayoría, 34, 11-25-1957: 10).

In issue number 69, he published the note titled Miter street is narrowing (Mayoría, 69, 8-4-1958: 29). Coupling with the historical notes of Garcia Mellid and Chávez, over time appears the pen of José María Rosa (Manson, 2012; Hernández, 1978), with thematic series strung together in various installments. The beginnings are indirect, since while in exile Rosa writes We the representatives of the people, a mocking parody of the vicissitudes of the constituent assembly of 1853 that enters into dialogue with the "constituent farce" of 1957 that Majority publicizes, in a box payment by the publishing house Theoria, with the following ad: “Heaving topicality!” (Majority, 15, 7-15-1957: 17). In his Madrid exile, he received "Carlos Falces Aguinaga" for a full-page report in which he recounted his academic and political career ("I did not act in the Peronist government"), the reasons for his arrest and subsequent exile, and the announcement of a new book titled Caseros.[24]

It is from Madrid that Rosa sends notes to Mayoría and NORTE. In the weekly that concerns us, she begins with a note referring to Caseros, on a new anniversary of the battle. The note is entitled "The end of the adventure" (Mayoría, 44, 2-3-1958: 15). From there, he made requests for the dissemination of his book Caída de Rosas,[25] which will receive extensive coverage from the media.[26] On one occasion Rosa acts as a correspondent in Spain with a note on “the Spanish press and the Argentine elections” (Mayoría, 49, 3-17-1958: 14-15). Later, Majority placed on the cover the notice of an article titled José Mármol was paid by the Brazilian empire (Mayoría, 58, 5-19-1958: 12). The series titled “The fall of Rosas and Itamaraty's reserved documents” begins with number 59, which continues until September 74, 1958 (Mayoría, 74, 9-8-1958: 30-31). The figure of the columnist is associated with the reopening of the Juan Manuel de Rosas Institute, placing a photo of Rosa giving a conference in the assembly hall (Mayoría, 75, 9-15-1958: 27) and highlighting the presence of Soler Cañas, García Mellid, Contreras, Mondragón, Vignale, F. Ibarguren, etc. The illustrator Alfredo Bettanin makes an extensive report that includes a profile of Rosa and in the same installment they include news with a photo of the historian's presence in Paraná where he was entertained by local organizers with the presence of writers Fermín Chávez, Carlos Abregú Virreira and others (Majority, 78, 10-6-1958: 26-27 and 30). At the end of the series on the fall of Rosas, the author begins the delivery of a new set of articles now referring to the Paraguayan War.[27] Interspersed with the historical notes Rosa becomes a chronicler of Luis Alberto Herrera in his triumphant hour, after the electoral triumph of the whites (Mayoría, 88, 12-18-1958: 8-9) and in the following installment he resumes the pseudonym Martín Pincen to write With the whites in the hour of their triumph (Mayoría, 90, 1-1-1959: 23). Upon Herrera's death, it will be the same author with his signature who dismisses him in the weekly (Mayoría, 104, 4-16-1959: 16-17).

While the notes on the Paraguayan War unfold and occasional notes on the Uruguayan political present are delivered, the editors order the creation of a new section that denotes the growing volume of the subject in the publication and a certain notoriety of the author: Historical Mail, by José María Rosa (Majoría, 92, 15-1-1959: 31), committing himself to answer weekly “the questions formulated to this magazine”. The section is interrupted in issue number 115 (7-9-1959) and the editors find it necessary to introduce a box to clarify that it "will reappear permanently once the series of notes that currently publishes Majority on the Paraguayan war" and they point out that in this way "we thus satisfy the curiosity of an appreciable number of readers who have sent their queries to said section, which will be promptly evacuated by Dr. Rosa (h)" (Majoría, 121, 8-20-1959: 29). At that time, the twenty-first anniversary of the founding of the Juan M. de Rosas Institute is celebrated and a tribute is organized to the figure of its president José M. Rosa, which Mayoría covers with solicitude: “The banquet in honor of Dr. Rosa (h)”, adds photos and points out that there were more than a thousand diners (Mayoría, 126, 9-24-1959: 20). The historical mail returns with the Emergency Edition of October 19, 1959.

Other revisionist historians intervene in the weekly, such as Marcos Rivas[28], Pedro de Paoli (Mayoría, 58, 5-19-1958: 14), Osvaldo Guglielmino,[29] Elías Giménez Vega (Mayoría, 69, 8-4-1958: 28) and Roberto Tamagno.[30]

It is common to see in the pages of the weekly the publicity of the lectures at the Juan Manuel de Rosas Historical Research Institute given many times by these same columnists, as well as boxes with book recommendations by publishers close to the historical revisionism of the period as Theoria and Huemul at first and the collection of La Siringa, animated by Peña Lillo later (Edición de emergencia, 6, 7-12-1959: 12).

Jauretche (Galasso, 1997) began his collaborations with the weekly in number 11 (6-17-1957: 8-9) with the delivery of the article entitled “National and other parties”, delving into the differences between the realities of Brazil and Argentina. The note is highlighted on the cover with the legend: "Arturo Jauretche writes" and inside includes a photo of the author noting that "From exile, Jauretche elucidates serious problems of our America."

In number 14 (7-8-1957: 12), a new article by Jauretche: “By discrediting the previous regime, the Argentine representation only discredits our country”. An editorial echoes another note by the same author, entitled: "Our diplomatic service in America is subordinated to a factional policy" (Mayoría, 15, 7-15-1957: 10). On the eve of the elections to constituent conventions, he titled a note: "All the national classes must give soldiers here to fight against the oligarchy" (Mayoría, 16, 7-22-1957: 9). When visiting Uruguay, the weekly made a note that included photos with Herrera and Haedo, titled that "the act of brotherhood in the River Plate was the demonstration of the Orientals to Jauretche" (Mayoría, 63, 6-23-1958: 27). When Jauretche traveled to Europe, motivated by his disagreements with the direction taken by the Frondizi government, he received a farewell from Majority that included a photo.[31] Majority reproduces a letter that "friendly hands have sent us", addressed by Jauretche to a "compatriot UNESCO official", in which, from Bilbao, he deploys arguments on historical revisionism (Mayoría, 101, 3-26-1959 : 13-14). Shortly after, Mayoría echoed a reaction aroused in Brazilian journalism as a result of “a geopolitical work by Arturo Jauretche” (Mayoría, 114, 7-2-1959: 11), perhaps a way of announcing a return to its pages. Thus it turns out that in the following installment Jauretche writes about What an army does and not a gendarmerie is the concept of its national function, which supposes a policy and a strategy towards the outside and forward (Mayoría, 115, 7-9-1959: 14-15). In issue 123 (3-9-1959: 17) they introduce a new article by the author entitled “The productivity of workers and that of others”. His interventions take on a different color when on the cover of number 126 (9-24-1959) it is announced with its own section entitled “This page is mine” and inside it displays a note about The two floods and Vacarezza's theater.[32] In the following installment, the note is El aluvión zoo and the nose by Reinaldo Pastor (Mayoría, 127, 10-1-1959: 10-12). It is at that moment that they begin to reproduce the so-called “Cuentos del forty-five”, referring to the stories inserted in the closed newspaper 45, directed by Jauretche. On the occasion they include “The election of Frondizi and the Justicialistas. Jewish tale”. In the emergency edition of October 19, the author displays the article “The technique of the ostrich and the ostriches of the technique” (Emergency Edition, 1, 10-19-1959: 8-9). In the second emergency edition (10-26-1959: 16-17) it includes "The 'fat ladies', the ladies and the Monsignor". On the back cover they add another Cuento del forty-five, entitled “The leader and the bug”. Announced on the cover appears the note "Klapenbach vs Orgaz: The judge and the Court in the same well." The story is titled “The fish that drowned in the water” and corresponds to the El 45 series published clandestinely from Montevideo (Emergency Edition, 3, 11-15-1959). "The tilingos in the economy" is the title of another shipment. This time the Cuento del forty-five is "Waste and austerity" (Emergency Edition, 4, 11-23-1959: 12-13). The editors feel the need to clarify, in a box entitled "Jauretche's article", that "For technical reasons, the usual article by our collaborator Mr. Arturo Jauretche, with whose incisive pen readers will meet again in the next issue of Edición de Emergencia” (5, 11-30-1959: 13), which would account for the growing place it occupies in the communication device of the weekly. In the next issue, as promised, he returns with "This page is mine" and the title "The aseptic boyfriends of the revolution" (Emergency Edition, 6, 7-12-1959: 12-13). This time the story is titled "The Elephants and the Horses." In the emergency edition number 7 (12-14-1959: 12-13) appears “The left in the National?, an auspicious symptom”. Within the framework of the diffusion of the columnists themselves, they interviewed him on the occasion of the publication of a new book: National Policy and Historical Revisionism (Mayoría, 136, 12-28-1959: 7). “Argentina, once again without a national policy and condemned to a golden historical mediocrity”, is the title of number 137 (1-4-1960: 11).

Jauretche's intervention in this medium makes Soler Cañas praisefully recover the poem Paso de los libres (Mayoría, 104, 4-16-1959: 24-25). Also that Rodolfo Puiggrós send a harsh attack on the author of Los profetas del odio (Mayoría, 20, 20-8-1957: 7) in the form of a request, protesting an article published by Armando Crigna in the magazine Qué on the election process of constituent conventions. The editors note, as an introduction, the following, which gives an idea of ​​the internal trends and currents in the opposition to the military government: "we have received, with a request for publication, a letter from Dr. Rodolfo Puiggrós, the salient paragraphs of which we reproduce, suppressing others in homage to the harmony and solidarity that we want to see reign among friends engaged in a tough fight against liberal self-righteousness and the oligarchy. The significance of Puiggrós' statements and the depth of his thought seem to us of the utmost importance and should not be confused with matters of a personal nature, which should no longer be promoted in the ranks of the National Front. Thus, we invite all friends to place internal passions in the legitimate game of common patriotic ideals, reserving all anger for the enemy of the country, grown again through fraud and armed violence. For his part, Puiggrós blamed Jauretche for his support for Frondizi and his political position as a national front and a vertical alliance of the classes for the purposes of national liberation.

Another writer of this type is Omar Viñole, “the man with the cow”, whose recent interventions are discussed and who is offered a column to develop the article on “Argentine writers banished from the heart of the people” (Mayoría, 69 , 4-8-1958: 26).

Final thoughts

What has been reviewed up to here corresponds to the reading that, from the nationalist-oriented publication, is carried out on that multifaceted and multifaceted actor that is Peronism at the time of the loss of state position, the dispersion and the struggle to recover positions in Different fields.

The journalistic and political vocation of Mayoría materialized clearly, in two informative and analytical aspects that filled its pages. In the first place, the news about the labor movement accompanied and celebrated the affirmation of the “national” leadership within that space and in the course of these years Peronism has regained an unavoidable role in the union sphere. Enthusiastic about the recovery of a CGT that had to remain as far away from the "liberating" attacks as from the dangers of communist and "yellow" activity.

The second field refers to monitoring political developments. In this he was no less attentive and, at the same time, his vocation to influence was greater, although the possibilities in this area were, in light of the results, much more limited. Thus they encouraged Peronist political competition, although they were slow to recognize the unavoidableness of Perón's leadership. Given the choice, they leaned towards “moderate” versions of Peronism at the time – preferring those leaders who, like Bramuglia, could sustain both Christian airs and distance from the great absentee, before moving on to a fairly “realism”. lasting regarding the administration of President Frondizi. Out of date with respect to a "lonardismo" that had cultivated its antecedent, Esto Es, they also did not stop accepting towards the end of 1958, less by vocation than by necessity, the unavoidable character of the figure of Perón.

Was there in the Majority or at least in its directors and team a "being" or a "nature" capable of being defined in the senses to which we are pointing? If such a thing existed and, above all, if it were pertinent to state it in such a way in our discipline, history, we would look in the trunk of nationalism, a nationalism, yes, crossed by the experience of the Peronist masses and by the surprises of post-Peronism. .

But if the family of nationalism is undoubtedly the starting point, or perhaps, better said, the point of observation of the environment, the evolution in which it participates conditions and explains, much more than its "preferences", its oscillations policies.

More persevering, and above all more enthusiastic than the Peronists themselves were in supporting the government that emerged from the pact. This was almost a novelty in the nationalist tradition and for some time the Majority, which along the way did not stop distancing itself from the "gorilla" spirit or warning about "communism", agreed with the ambitious economic perspective of what would come to be known as "developmental" management. They were not the only nationalists to sympathize with the directions of the Frondizi and Frigerio company, since Amadeo and his followers had joined the UCRI government, thereby earning positions and representations.

At the time the pact was unilaterally denounced by a Peronism that remained politically proscribed and Frondizi's reorientation towards an orthodox economic policy associated with a stabilization plan monitored by the IMF and led by Álvaro Alsogaray, they broke spears against government.

Thus, they returned to playing the opposition card, a tradition in the nationalist press, although following a path in which support for the worker sectors and the challenge to the leadership of the national administration ended up in the letter, by the way, radical , to empathize with the activity and demands of the "Uturuncos", the first Peronist guerrilla, whose voice they made reach for the first time on that scale.

Before, as we have seen, the pages of Mayoría were an expression of the investigation into Operation Massacre and became natural vindicators of a story that, since June 1956, had added martyrs to the cause of the broad nationalist field, be it in its elite or popular side.

In this last point as in the redefinition of the worker subject, even more than in the oscillating behavior of their political positions, Majority left an indelible mark on the political press.

Involuntarily, he also incorporated another element into the field of politics and public opinion. From the expansion of its circulation and its growing weight in political society, increased based on its denunciations or controversial surveys, its editions were the platform for the positioning, recognition and promotion of the figure of the "national-popular" intellectual. Added to the stable columns are the advertisement on the cover, the interviews, the broadcast of conferences, the publicity of the books, and the laudatory commentary in the literary criticism section. It is real and certain that it was not the only medium that acts in this sense, but it may have been the most powerful in the deployment of this phenomenon. Perhaps this is one of the main and most enduring points of originality and legacy of the history of ideas and contemporary political language of one of the most complex, hectic and creative periods of the Argentine evolution.

Bibliography

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[1] Lessons from May 1st. The strong national fiber of Argentine trade unionism rejects Marxist interference (Mayoría, 6, 5-13-1957: 10-11). The note is aimed at showing the low turnout and criticizing the content of the addresses of the speakers at the Plaza Miserere act (they clarify that the name of that square has not been officially changed, so it should not be called September 11).

[2] The "takeover" by the communists of the Inter-Union Commission seems to worry the editors of Majority, since in the Political Press Magazine section they echo the same concern expressed by Azul y Blanco (Mayoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 13).

[3] The columnist for Majoría, Roberto Juárez, insists on referring to him as “Captain Patron” (Mayoría, 24, 9-16-1957: 12-13).

[4] The anti-Peronist unions that withdrew from congress and began to act, in turn, as the “32 Democratic Organizations”.

[5] Majority, 36, 12-9-1957: 10-13. This is the longest note in the section, occupying three full pages.

[6] Actually, the first Commission of Powers had been won by the non-Peronists, but the successful motion to form a Commission to Verify the mandate of the delegations changed the relationship of votes after Peronists and communists negotiated in a fourth intermission and there were contacts between Manuel Carulias and John William Cooke, still interned in Chile but represented by his brother, Jorge, in the sense of enabling a negotiation with Victorio Codovilla, of the Communist Party (Panella and Gasparri, 2007).

[7] Majority, 37, 12-16-1957: 5. Note signed by Víctor Santos.

[8] La Nación, 1-5-1958, cover. According to the source, the last of those named was strictly opposed to continuing with the violent actions. Cooke had just managed to leave Chile, since the justice of that country finally did not allow the extradition requested by the Argentine government.

[9] This is precisely how Majoría, 42, 1-20-1958: 4 et seq.

[10] In this task, mainly Majority, partially Blue and White and, from another point of view, What happened in Seven Days stood out.

[11] “Attracted by that patriotic determination, those payments have returned to revive the pro-formation efforts of Parties called 'neo-Peronists' whose promoters try to confuse the masses by awarding themselves an inheritance that does not belong to them. They even go so far as to invoke the support of imprisoned leaders who, of course, have not been granted” (Norte, 692, 11-21-1957: 3).

[12] Perón specifically recommended stopping receiving people in Montevideo and avoiding “some of the living (who) are going around invoking their names” (Perón to Cooke, 6-18-1958, in Perón and Cooke, 2008: 69 ).

[13] Majority clipping, undated (Majority, 80, 10-23-1958).

[14] We must clarify that it was, in the case of Voz Peronista, a substitute that appeared when Norte was closed or faced other problems for its circulation. Conversation with Carlos Campos, August 3, 2019.

[15] José María Castiñeira de Dios was the editor, undergoing slight touch-ups by Enrique P. Olmedo.

[16] Majority, 117, 7-23-1959, Cover. To contextualize the actions related to this type of homage, see Ehrlich (2019: 313-328).

[17] Majority, 18, 8-7-1957, and continued until January 42, 1958, in 25 deliveries.

[18] Majority, 103, 9-4-1959 and the eight successive installments.

[19] Mayoría, 8, 5-27-1957: 29. In the conclusion he states: “Fermín Chávez's book, written with drive and with strict flavor – there are innumerable hours of archiving, searching, investigative zeal–, is a notable contribution to that task of clarifying that many Argentines are engaged in today”.

[20] Majority, 98, 3-5-1959: 27-28. Velázquez is a writer of worker origin who had written Carne de fábrica in the 1930s, Pobres habrá siempre in the 1940s and had served as director of the Commission of Popular Libraries of the Argentine Republic under Peronism (Korn, 2016). .

[21] Majority, 111, 6-4-1959: they put Scalabrini's photo on the cover and includes a note with the burial ceremony and an account of the speakers. In the next installment, Soler Cañas writes an extensive article (Mayoría, 112, 6-11-1959: 28-30). The weekly convenes and covers the acts of remembrance of RSO (Mayoría, 114, 6-25-1959: 15) with photos of Rosa, Eguren, Chávez, Trípoli, etc.

[22] Mayoría, 22, 9-2-1957: 15. Commentary by Juan Cruz Romero (Fermín Chávez) about the book, including a photo of the author.

[23] Majority, 33, 11-18-1957: 15. The publisher's ad calls it "The hit of the year!" and in the text they note: “A dramatic requisition against liberalism. Version of the past that exalts the people, vindicates its leaders and reestablishes the authentic bases of the nationality”.

[24] We can infer that it is a self-report.

[25] Letter from Eloy Arniches (José María Rosa) to Fermín Chávez (My dear Chávez). January 18, 1958.

[26] Majority, 46, 2-17-1958. In advertising for Theoria it is advertised as "The Book of the Year!" In number 48 (7-3-1958) there is a box made by the editors of the weekly in which it is familiarly referred to as "The book of Pepe Rosa". In number 48, the publication of the book in the Weekly Chronicle stands out. In number 52 they make a report. In number 61 they announce their return to the country. In 1963 they made a note with photos titled "Dr. Rosa (h) returned" noting that his exile lasted just two years. In number 98 they comment on the book with a photo of the author and an image of the book cover.

[27] From number 79 (10-16-1958: 30-31) to 127 (10-1-1959: 28-29). This material will be the basis of the book La guerra del Paraguay y las montoneras argentinas that will come out years later.

[28] He writes about “Sarmiento and education” (Mayoría, 89, 12-25-1958: 28-29; 93, 1-29-1959: 27-28; 96, 2-19-1959: 28 -29). The same author develops an interview with Ricardo Caballero in installments of Majority that begin in number 97 (26-2-1958: 8-9) and continue until 108 (14-5-1959) throughout twelve installments. . Then he writes a series on Los olvidados de nuestra historia, dedicated to Colonel Prudencio Arnold, beginning the deliveries in number 114 (6-25-1959: 28). Some time later he takes up the story from the other side: "Manuel Baigorria, cacique and colonel" (Mayoría, 124, 9-10-1959: 18-19).

[29] Mayoría, 65, 7-7-1958: 31. In Mayoría, 76 (9-22-1958: 35) he writes about José Hernández. In that same issue they spread “a revealing book”: Rafael Hernández (Martín Fierro's brother), available for purchase at the JM de Rosas Institute Bookstore.

[30] Write a note titled “How La Nación was founded. Was the supply of the army, from Caseros, a family asset? (Majority, 123, 9-3-1959: 21).

[31] Majority, 63, 6-23-1958. They announce that he will take advantage of the trip to gather background information for his next book La Patria Grande y la patria chica and to make contact with representatives of Afro-Asian countries in Europe.

[32] Vacarezza had recently died and in number 124 (9-10-1959: 24-25) Juan Oscar Ponferrada had dedicated an extensive note to him.