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We will continue from where we left off in the last article which was the beginning of Peronism in Argentina. This article will continue our examination of the history of fascism and corporate fascism in South America.








Peronism, Argentina, and Nationalism

Peronism is a nationalist-populist political movement based on the ideals and legacy of Juan Perón who rose to power as the minister of labor in 1943 in a military coup d'etat and then later was elected president in 1946. Perón would implement social programs, support unions, and involve the state in Argentinas economy. Juan Perón would help create the General Confederation of Labor a National Trade Union Federation of Argentina. He would turn Argentina into a Corporatist country where large interest groups would negotiate positions and resources. Under Juan Perón, Argentina developed the largest middle class in South America.



During the early years, Peronist economic policy included a strategy of import substitution industrialization with Bilateral trade, exchange control, and multiple exchange rates in response to Macroeconomic shocks. Perón would break his ties to the Catholic Nationalist movement which led to gradual state control over the economy. The result of this would be an increase in state-owned property, interventionism, and public inversion fueled by an inflationary tax.



This expensive policy which was an attempt to redistribute wealth and to finance increasingly expensive and populist policies would lead to inflation. This inflation along with other economic problems over a number of years would eventually lead the military in 1955 to begin the Revolución Libertadora. What had happened was the country had a slow growth rate in the 1950s during the Golden Age of Capitalism. Wage growth in 1950 increased prices while inflation grew resulting in real wages falling. A stabilization plan was put into place but before long the damage was done to the quality of life of the working class and soon the military stepped in. The Peronist party would be banned and it wasn’t until 1973 that they would return to the ballot in an open election. Through the decades the country would be under the control of several military dictators including, Juan Carlos Onganía after the “Argentine Revolution” who would implement widespread Neo-Liberal policy supported by many multi-national corporations. He was against Liberal-Democracy and Communism and would implement a wage freeze and a 40% devaluation a policy that favored foreign capital. He would also suspend collective labor conventions, the right to protest, and created new laws that would evict tenants who could not make rent.

(Addendum I was unable to find information on CIA involvement in the Revolución Libertadora but it would not surprise me as Peron had nationalized his countries railroads and many other industries so that Argentinas resources and infrastructure could be used and sold by Argentina and Argentinians. I was, however, able to find information on the CIA's 'Dirty War' which was waged from 1976 - 1983 as apart of Operation Condor. Operation Condor was the CIA's US backed State Terror and political repression program against many different governments in South America. It would entail the assassination, murder, disappearing, and detention of well over a hundred thousand people across the continent.)


-Suggestion Accredited to- Nikola Tesla


I could go on further into the history of Argentina but I would like to pivot now so that we can begin to get a fuller picture of what happened in other countries on the continent without leaving the central era to our story.








Brazil and Fascism

Fascism first arose in Brazil in 1922 along with the formation of Legião do Cruzeiro do Sul and in a decade had spawned Legião de Outubro, the Partido Nacional Sindicalista, the Partido Fascista Nacional, the Legião Cearense do Trabalho, the Partido Nacionalista of São Paulo, the Partido Nacional Regenerador, and the Partido Socialista Brasileiro. All of these groups espoused some form of Fascism. In 1932, Plínio Salgado, a literary figure, created the Fascist-Nationalist movement called Brazilian Integralism. It was heavily influenced by Italian Fascism but distanced itself from the Nazi Movement in Germany because Plínio Salgado didn’t support Racism. The movement would evolve into Brazilian Integralist Action which was a Fascist political party in Brazil. This party supported a revival of spiritualism and denounced liberalism, marxism, and materialism. It would be violently opposed by the Brazillian Communist Party and had to compete with the communists for the working-class vote.



The party, though officially opposed to racist and ethnic anti-sentiments would inevitably be the first to translate ‘The Protocols of the Elder Zion’ (an Anti-Semitic conspiracy theory used to promote fascist world-views and violence against Jewish people) this would lead to several divides in the party. President Getúlio Vargas would eventually co-opt the movement after defeating the left and rallying centrists. He would use the support from the movement to proclaim the establishment of his ‘Estado Novo’ the Integralist New State. By 1935 Brazil’s Integralist Party had grown and received widespread support from Italian-Brazilians and German-Brazilians alike and would result in the targeting of the Communist movement led by Luiz Carlos Prestes. The communities an the party would organize a mass conservative base that would fight communists in the streets. This was one of the most politically agitated periods in Brazilian history and would resemble the same kind of street brawling that plagued Berlin in 1932-1933. This severely endangered the Brazilian political system.



President Vargas would eventually establish full dictatorial power in 1937 under his Estado Novo. At this time he would betray the Brazilian Integralists and in a last-ditch effort to retain power they would attack the Guanabara Palace but police and the military arrived and in an ensuing gunfight 20 people were shot. This was known as the Integralist "Pajama Putsch".



After the attack, the Brazilian Integralist Party would in large part dissolve into other movements and parties but would surge back into power after the 1964 coup d'etat in the Fifth Brazilian Republic this government and the coup were supported by the United States State Department, Anti-communists, the Brazilian Military, and the Catholic Church. This dictatorship would last for 20 years and the government enacted a restricted constitution, repressed freedom of speech, and repressed political dissent. This government adopted a nationalistic and anti-communist national policy. It was most popular in the 1970s during the “Brazilian Miracle” (a period of exceptional economic growth in brazil), even at a time when the government censored the media and tortured political dissidents and leftists.



The government would ultimately pass amnesty laws for those involved with the political repressions against dissidents. During a period where Brazil’s economy began to crumble, inflation was on the rise, and other dictatorships were failing Brazil would be forced to enact an electoral process in 1982 and then in 1986. In 1988 Brazil passed a new constitution and would begin a new era as a democratic society.







Chile and Fascism

In 1932 the National Socialist party of Chile espoused positions similar to Adolf Hitler at the behest of Carlos Keller and Jorge González von Marées. They would attempt a coup in 1938 that would ultimately fail. They would then attempt a political rebranding as the Vanguardia Popular Socialista which would be disbanded in 1941. In 1940 some former members would found the Corporatist Party called Movimiento Nacionalista de Chile of which it’s members would wind up founding Fatherland and Liberty, a far-right paramilitary Nationalist Front that would fight against the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende.



This group would go on to help install fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet who would rule from 1974-1990. Pinochet became the dictator of a military junta after his successful coup against the government of Chile supported by the United States of which would result in the execution of 1,200 - 3,200 people, and the internment of approximately 80,000 people. Pinochet would implement sweeping privatization of industry and social security and banned trade unions.




To Be Continued...


I want to hear from my readers on this, what aspects of Fascism do you think should be covered in this series? Let me know!


~Chairman Max Planck~