Political Toys: Perón’s gifts for children, 1946-55 BENDESKY, Mora / MA / Royal College of Art / United Kingdom
Argentina / Peronism / Children / Toys artifacts in the material culture of childhood, ‘represent a medium for symbolic communication between adults and children, and With the intention of attracting Argentinean children, the Peronist among children as they negotiate status and identity within their government gave away 36 million toys during its nine years in peer groups’ (Wilkie 2000: 106). Looking both at the objects given power. Looking both at the objects given away, and at the system away, and the system of distribution, the aim is to assess the of distribution, this paper makes a historical reconstruction of a political intentions carried on those objects as well as the reper- series of events that were instrumental for the creation of a Per- cussion they had on a generation of Argentinean children. Ramón onist mythology and the consequent gaining of political support. was surely pleased with the white wood plane he got from Perón, yet what was the impact of this object in his everyday life and his future political identity? 1. The only privileged ones One morning in December 1950, a postman knocked on the door In order to find out, this paper draws in oral testimonies from peo- of Ramón’s house in a remote provincial town in Argentina. Ramón, ple who received toys from Perón as well as people who worked six years old, lived with his seven brothers and his mother, an il- on their distribution.1 This original material, together with docu- literate factory worker. The postman gave Ramón a card illustrated ments, press articles and Peronist literature from the period, was with the faces of Perón and Evita, and explained that some days employed to historically reconstruct the distribution of toys, both later he would be able to exchange the card for a gift at the local from the perspective of the government, the giver, and the chil- post office, courtesy of theFundación Eva Perón. A few days later, dren, the receiver. Ramón ran to the post office and found a long queue of children waiting their turn, card in hand. Excited, he joined them. Fifty-eight years later, Ramón told me: 2. Every day is Christmas day Mundo Peronista (‘Peronist World’), a partisan magazine, once I got a plane made of wood. It was white, of some twenty inches of length (…) The national flag was painted on the wings, with a sun in stated that being a child in Perón’s Argentina was ‘like living in a the middle. It was my first toy ever. country where every day is Christmas.’2 As pompous as this state- ment sounds, the following story suggests that it was rather ac- The supply of material resources for the poor and underprivileged curate: was one of the mechanisms employed by the government of Juan One day in 1953, I was sat in the entrance of my house (…) when Domingo Perón (1946-1955) as part of its ambitious scheme of a truck full of bicycles stopped in the corner. Two men descended provision of social welfare and redistribution of wealth. The regime from the truck and started unloading bikes. A few minutes later, gave away an enormous amount of goods amongst the deprived dozens of children surrounded the truck: they just had to extend their hands to receive a brand new bicycle. population, including clothes, shoes, sewing machines and food. For the children, there were toys: dolls, tea sets, trains, bicycles, Even more theatrical was the distribution of toys that Evita used to footballs – a total of 36 million toys were given away in the nine carry out herself, traveling around the country on a train decorat- years that Perón was in power. ed with images of the leaders. With the intention to reach remote towns and isolated rural areas, the train passed slowly by each Children were of great importance to Perón. His emblematic slo- station so that Eva could hand in toys, clothes and other objects. gan, ‘In Perón’s Argentina, children are the only privileged ones’ Evita’s train soon became part of the Peronist mythology as this shows the significant place the youngest occupied within his pri- testimony shows: orities. The regime established a series of mechanisms for the at- One of my most precious memories is having seen her, beautiful traction and mobilisation of children, such as the politisation of the like an angel, smiling in the last carriage of a train that moved educational system, the organization of sport competitions, and slowly, and giving me a rag doll with a porcelain head (…) Many the production of children publications with a strong propagandis- times I thought it was not a memory but a dream or a hallucination. tic content. Although this political approach to the younger genera- tions has started to be examined by scholars, they have mostly The mystical connotations of this story are in tune with the image overlooked Perón’s giving of toys – it has always been considered that the regime devised for the Fundación Eva Perón (FEP), the a minor phenomenon in the wider scheme of the regime’s social institution in charge of the distribution of toys. The FEP, created assistance policies. by Perón in 1946 to provide social assistance to those outside
This paper sets to examine the giving of toys as one of Perón’s key 1 Testimonies were gathered between 2007 and 2008. Most of them will remain mechanisms to appeal to children – as toys, the most significant anonymous. 2 Mundo Peronista, January 1952, Issue 13, Year 1, p.50.
BENDESKY, Mora 2012. Political Toys: Perón’s gifts for children, 1946-55. In Farias, Priscila Lena; Calvera, Anna; Braga, Marcos da Costa & Schincariol, Zuleica (Eds.). Design frontiers: territories, concepts, technologies [=ICDHS 2012 - 8th Conference of the International Committee for Design History & Design Studies]. São Paulo: Blucher, 2012. ISBN 978-85-212-0692-7. DOI 10.5151/design-icdhs-032 Political Toys: Perón’s gifts for children, 1946-55
the scope of the welfare apparatus, was presented as a sort of children went to the post office to get a gift (…) they were all cheer- semi-magical institution capable of immediately solving the prob- ing Perón and Eva’.3 As Alberto remembers, ‘it was a social event’. lems of those in need – with Eva, called the ‘fairy of the poor’, as the leader of the organisation. Yet the toy distribution must be Yet it was more than that. By giving away toys at the post offices, examined as a carefully planned, ambitious affair – there was no Perón was mobilizing children out of their houses and into the magic there. public sphere, simultaneously and all around the nation, to par- ticipate in what can be considered a political rally for children. In Under Perón’s principle that there should not be a child without this way, the regime appropriated the religious celebration of the a Christmas gift in Argentina, the FEP put together a nation-wide Day of the Magi and progressively transformed it into a Peronist system by which all children would get a toy. To ensure physical tradition. By 1955 the Magi where virtually replaced, at least ac- presence in the entire territory, the Foundation employed the in- cording to the regime’s discourse: ‘This is the miracle of the an- frastructure and staff of the General Bureau of Mail and Telecom- cient saddlebags transformed into the trucks of the Fundación munications (DGCT) – the FEP would send toys to post offices, Eva Perón (…) Perón and Eva are the Magi of the New Argentina.’4 from where children would pick them up. The first distribution of toys took place in Christmas 1946 and it became an annual tra- The device of this event was crucial in the relationship that Perón dition that, growing in size every year, went on until 1955 when established with the Argentinean children. Mirroring the employ- Perón was removed from power. ment of rituals of communion between Perón and the people to regularly legitimate his leadership – such as the celebration of the Loyalty Day (Plotkin 2002) – the now public and politically 3. Displacing the Magi charged gift giving ritual of the Day of the Magi operated as the In 1940s Argentina, children used to receive their Christmas annual renovation of the bond between Perón and the children. gifts on the occasion of the Day of the Magi. Celebrated every 6th Toys were the materialization of that bond. of January, this Christian tradition commemorates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem, bringing presents for baby Jesus. Just like Christmas day of present times, the gift giving ritual on the 4. Peronist Toys Day of the Magi was a private, family affair that took place in the Sociologist Beatriz Sarlo has recalled her frustrating experience domestic realm. with the Peronist toys, as she was forbidden to accept them by her anti-Peronist parents. At that time, she remembers, she would Following this tradition, 6th of January was the day in which the have preferred to get one of the ‘splendid dolls’ that her friends regime’s toys were given away at the post offices. Waiting their got in the post office instead of the books, watercolour sets, or turn on the streets, children formed queues that, according to magic games she used to receive from her middle class, ‘full of Alberto, a post officer at the time, would sometimes last for the teachers’ family. Later on, Sarlo tells, she understood the toys she entire day (figure 1). One testimony have described the scenes: was given were ‘supported by an educational ideology that [her family] considered rational and progressive’ (Sarlo 2005). There was a huge expectation until the Day of the Magi, I couldn’t even sleep the previous days (…) To pick up the toy from the post office had for me a level of emotion unequalled to anything Indeed, toys ‘represent attempts, made by adults, to suggest to this day (…) There were queues of 200 to 300 metres, but our and enforce certain norms of behaviour for children based upon happiness exceeded any obstacles – nobody had ever imagined that a president would give things to the poor. That experience their gender, age, socio-economic class and even socio-cultural deeply marked two or three generations. ideals of beauty’ (Wilkie 2000: 101). The toys the FEP distributed must be therefore examined as objects that embodied a Peronist The national press covered the events – in 1948 a newspaper ideological package. But what kind of toys was the regime giving reported: ‘scenes of deep emotion were seen when thousands of away and in which way these objects represented the ideals of Peronism?
Toys distributed by the FEP were manufactured in Argentina, but were not commissioned or designed by the regime. Instead, the Foundation regularly purchased from various suppliers a great amount and variety of toys: only in 1955, 6.5 million toys were given away, including 1.8 million wood toys, half a million board games, 800,000 dolls, and thousands of bicycles, tea sets, foot- balls and skateboards, amongst many other items.5
3 La Razón, 6 January 1948, p.5. 4 Democracia, 6 January 1955, p.5. 5 El Mundo, 5 January 1955, p.3. Perón’s policies of import substitution had already boosted the Argentinean toy industry, but the impact of the FEP’s ever- Figure 1. Queues in front of a post office, , 6th January 1951 El Mundo increasing demand made this period ‘the golden years’ of the national toy industry (Lascano and Sudalsky 2005: 18)
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 180 BENDESKY, Mora
Although these were conventional toys available at most toy- There were so many toys into the bag, I thought the man wanted me to take one and return the bag… I remember him saying: ‘No, shops, their distinctive quality was their monetary value: the Per- girl, all the bag is for you’… I thought I was going to die… I had never onist toys were expensive items, some of them, such as bicycles, seen so many toys all together before, and they were all for me! pedal-driven cars and large articulated dolls, even luxurious. As one testimony observed, ‘that was the period when the toys of the poor where better than the toys of the rich’. Likewise, toys like tea By the time each child received its gift, the conventionality of sets and Caucasian-featured dolls referred to traditions and char- the object was replaced for uniqueness by way of the stamp the acteristics of the upper strands of society that were far from rep- FEP applied on all Peronist toys (figures 4 and 5). Reading ‘gift resenting the realities of the children that were to play with them for our dear descamisaditos’ and illustrated with the ubiquitous (figure 2). portraits of Perón and Eva – the cult of personality was one of the central components of the Peronist imagery – this small, Both the conventionality and the expensiveness of the toys had subtle piece of branding was intended to be seen first by the political connotations. Architecture historian Anahí Ballent ob- new owner of the toy.6 The stamp completed a process by which served that within the FEP’s architecture production there was no regular objects were transformed into unique, incomparable interest in aesthetic innovation – instead the Foundation appropri- gifts – and hence into Peronist toys. ated pre-existent styles associated to the middle and upper class- es, and utilized them on buildings destined to the lower sectors. By doing so, the FEP was symbolically mirroring Perón’s policies 5. Your gift of redistribution of wealth (Ballent 2005: 155). This analysis can In the story at the beginning of this paper, Ramón is grateful for be extrapolated to the giving of toys, where instead of designing a he receives a toy from the FEP that his parents would have never new Peronist toy, the Foundation took the most expensive items been able to give him. But considering that every gift implies a on the market and made them available to working class children. counter-gift, what exactly did Perón want in return?
This double page from a Peronist textbook seems to offer an an- swer (figure 6). It features a verse calledTu Obsequio (‘Your Gift’) and an illustration that stands out due to its open reference to the consequent connection between gifts and votes. This illustration summarises the main argument of this paper: that by giving away toys to the children, Perón was intending to gather political support.
However, this image suggests two interpretations. In the first one, the girl on the left is receiving a gift from the FEP while simulta- neously her mother is voting for Perón. This relates to a possible short-term intention in Perón’s political approach to children, in which children were seen as ‘domestic missionaries’ – a means for the introduction of Peronism into the Argentinean home (Plot- kin 2002). In the second interpretation, the image on the left takes
Figure 2. Mundo Peronista, January 1952, Figure 3. Day of the Magi at the Post Office,Democracia, 6th place in the present, the girl receives a doll from the regime, but the Issue 12, Year 1 January 1949 image on the right depicts the future, the girl has become a wom- an and is voting for Perón. This mirrors a long-term motivation in Those articulated dolls and bicycles were objects recognizable Perón’s appeal to children, in which they were seen as the continua- as upper class, luxury items, and functioned within the Peronist tion of the regime, guarantors of the Peronist future (Cosse 2006). material culture as the embodiment of ideals, not just of class as- piration, but of reivindication of the poor from decades of humili- ation and injustice – as Eva once stated, she wanted ‘the poor to get used to live like the rich’ (Perón 1952). Hence luxury was a sort of ‘trade mark’ of the Foundation, and it was displayed not only through the expensiveness of the toys, but also by way of the disproportionate amount of toys given away. Images of end- less rows of toy prams, and mountains of dollhouse furniture sets were a regular feature on the press coverage of the Day of the Magi, showing the FEP as a sort of ‘cornucopia of luxury available to the poor’ (Ballent 2005: 167) (figure 3). The impact this mate- rial excessiveness had on children is illustrated by the following Figures 4 and 5. Stamp and dollhouse furniture set, both from a private collection. testimony: 6 The Descamisado (literally ‘the shirtless one’) was the mythical figure of the Peronist man. Descamisadito can be translated as ‘the little Peronist’.
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 181 Political Toys: Perón’s gifts for children, 1946-55
Buenos Aires, 1943-1955, Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes / Prometeo
Cosse, I. 2006. Estigmas de Nacimiento: Peronismo y Orden Familiar, 1946- 1955, Buenos Aires: Universidad San Andrés / Fondo de Cultura Económica
Lascano, D. M. And Sudalsky D. 2005. Matarazzo: Juguetes de Hojalata Argentinos, Buenos Aires: Pictoria Books
Perón, E. 1952. La Razón de Mi Vida, Buenos Aires: Peuser
Plotkin, M. B. 2002. Mañana es San Perón, A Cultural History of Perón’s Argentina, Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources
Figure 6. Page from La Argentina de Perón, 1954 Sarlo, B. 2005. Regalos de Reyes
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