Labor Unions and Regime Transition in Argentina
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1988 Labor unions and regime transition in Argentina. Linda, Chen University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Chen, Linda,, "Labor unions and regime transition in Argentina." (1988). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1760. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1760 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. • "" " "" "'ii mil inn in MM inn mi mi 31E0bb01354flbb3 UNIONS AND REGIME TRANSITION IN ARGENTINA A Dissertation Presented by by LINDA CHEN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 1988 Department of Political Science @ Copyright by Linda Chen 1988 All Rights Reserved LABOR UNIONS AND REGIME TRANSITION IN ARGENTINA A Dissertation Presented by LINDA CHEN Approved as to style and content by: Howard J. Wiarda, Chai rpe rson *of Committee Gerard Braunthal, Member Sylvia Foreman, Member George sylzner, Department Head Political Science^Department To my parents, See Ying and Lan Jan Chen. They carved a life out of a foreign and at times, hostile land. Their strength and perseverance are my inspiration. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There have been many people who have aided me directly in the writing of this dissertation. At the University of Massachusetts, I would like to thank Howard Wiarda, my dissertation chairman. Without his advice and guidance, this dissertation would never have been written. Howard introduced me to the field of Latin American politics, and unraveling its complexities is now my life work. I owe much to Gerard Braunthal who through the years has been a friend as well as teacher. Gerry did much more than a second reader needed to and I thank him for his painstaking editing of my text. A special thanks to Sylvia Foreman for agreeing to be the third reader. I would like to express deep gratitude to Glen Gordon for his support and friendship. He is a true mentor and my life has been enriched by knowing him. Several people helped me while I was in Argentina. Wenceslao Bunge gave me valuable contacts and materials which helped my research immeasurably. Eduardo v Zimmermann and Ruben Zorrilla gave valuable insights on Argentine labor. The Caceres family introduced me to the ways of Argentines and I thank them for taking me into their home. I am indebted to Ciro Nanni for his friendship. His faith in me and my capabilities have sustained me for much of the past two years even though much space and time separates us. A special thanks to Carol-June Cassidy for editing the dissertation. At Rhodes College, I would like to thank my colleagues for providing a collegial and congenial environment in which to work. I thank my students for reaffirming my commitment to scholarship and teaching. Lastly, I thank the Chen clan for their patience. vi ABSTRACT LABOR UNIONS AND REGIME TRANSITION IN ARGENTINA SEPTEMBER 1988 LINDA CHEN, B.A., QUEENS COLLEGE, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS Directed by: Professor Howard J. Wiarda Current scholarship on regime transition in the Southern Cone has concentrated on the internal dynamics or structural contradictions of the authoritarian regime as being the fundamental reason leading to its demise. Undoubtedly, the exit of the military authoritarians in Argentina from power resulted from their own assessment that the costs of maintaining power were too high. However, it would be a mistake to solely emphasize the internal dynamics of the ruling elites without taking into consideration the role of popular civilian groups in destabilizing the authoritarian regime. This thesis argues that during the last military authoritarian era (1976-1983), the Argentine labor movement was one of the few civilian groups capable of opposing the regime. The Argentine labor movement has a long tradition of political activism dating back to the vi i days of Juan Peron. During the last military intervention, the military attempted an all-out assault on labor to de-Peronize and de-politicize it. The military was initially successful at repressing labor activism through the use of force and legal statutes. In the first three years of military rule, the labor movement was divided and weakened— its political power was effectively circumscribed, despite efforts by labor to redress the dire situation. Labor attempts to reconstitute its political pwoer base came toward the end of the most repressive period of military rule. Faced with the threat of institutional destruction, labor was able to mount a campaign against regime policy long before any other civilian group was able to do so. By relying on its ability to mobilize sectors of the population over bread and butter issues, its organized bureaucracy, and its tradition of political activism, labor was able to resist the regime, although throughout this period, much dissension existed within the movement. The ability to utilize issues of economic survival as forums for criticizing regime policies were constant problems for a regime whose raison d'etre rested on law and order, and the ability to ensure a docile labor force. They very inability of the military to contain labor activism was an important factor in the transition to democracy in Argentina in 1983. vii i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER I. THE POLITICS OF TRANSITION IN AN AUTHORITARIAN SETTING 1 Traditional Theories of Political Development 2 Corporat i sm n Authoritarianism 20 Political Change Under Bureaucratic- Authoritarianism 30 Transitions from Authoritarian Rule 35 Labor and Regime Transition 46 ENDNOTES . 49 II. ARGENTINA AND THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT 53 The Making of a Nation 55 The Peronist Revolution 67 The Liberating Revolution 77 The Radicals Return 78 Bureaucrat ic-Authori tar iani sm 8 3 The Resurrection of Per6n 88 Caudillos, Radicals, Populists, and the Military 91 ENDNOTES 97 III. ARGENTINE LABOR 1890-1976 101 The Birth of the Labor Movement 102 Peronism - Take I 108 Labor and the Liberating Revolution 118 Labor Under the Radicals , 120 Labor and the First Bureaucratic- Authoritarian Experiment 127 Juan Peron - Take II 131 Isabel Per6n and Jose Lopez Rega 134 Conclusion 137 ENDNOTES 144 IV. DIVISION AND DEFEAT - ARGENTINE LABOR 1976-1978 147 The Development of State Terrorism 147 The Economic Imperative 153 ix The Initial Blows - Repression and Intervention 157 The Weight of the Laws 1 59 The '. Preliminary Attempts at Labor Unity !l65 The Commission of 25 ' '.168 The National Commission of Labor (CNT) 172 The Importance of the International Labor Arena 174 Strike Activity 1976-78 1 79 An Assessment of the First Three Years 186 ENDNOTES '. ! 190 V. LABOR COMES OF AGE 1979-1983 193 The Political and Economic Setting 1979-83 .... 193 Labor Militancy Rekindled 200 The Continuing Importance of the International Labor Arena 206 A Failed Attempt at Unity 210 A CGT and Renewed Labor Militancy 215 Labor and the Malvinas 223 The System Unravels 227 Conclusion 236 ENDNOTES * 242 VI. THE FIRST FOUR AND A HALF YEARS OF CIVILIAN RULE 1983-1988 246 Conclusion 264 ENDNOTES 267 VII. CONCLUSION 269 BIBLIOGRAPHY 286 x CHAPTER I THE POLITICS OF TRANSITION IN AN AUTHORITARIAN SETTING The study of Latin American politics has undergone several transformations since the World War II era. From an emphasis on legal-formalism to contemporary theories of corporatism and dependency, as a field of analysis Latin American politics has attempted to manifest itself in the prevailing political reality of the area. Theory building concerning the whys and wherefores of political change has sought to describe and explain the essential characteristics of Latin American political life in the hope of greater 1 . understanding and predictability for the analyst. More often than not, new trends in theory building have been precipitated by unforeseen and therefore unexplained events in Latin America such as a rash of military coups or the emergence of paramilitary groups. New theory- building trends necessarily provoke a rethinking of old theories and models of analysis, leading to the rejection of some and the revision of others. it is within this tradition of theory building that an analysis of Latin American political change will be si tuated Traditional Theories of Political Development The point of departure for this study is the period after World War II for this was the beginning of the development of theories of modernization for Latin America and the rest of the Third World. In terms of political change, the world was seeing the demise of the British and French empires and the emergence of newly independent nations in Asia and Africa. Prior to the 1950s, it was the accepted wisdom that these nations would create democratic political systems along the same lines as the United States and the countries of Western Europe, and that this democratic development was the 2 standard in weighing the extent of a country's modernization. Studies—mainly historical and descriptive in nature — were made of executives, legislatures, and constitutions. While initially, many of the newly independent nations instituted some form of democratic government, the study of formal institutions did not seem to get at the crux of what these new nations were all about. For one thing, these nations were vastly different from the nations of Europe and the United States, both culturally and philosophically. In the interest of creating value- free and objective criteria for analyzing differing political systems, many comparative theorists embraced the field of behaviorism with its emphasis on systems and functions.