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C:\Documents and SetdngsVprockxVxcat SettingsNTemporary Internet Files\OLK8\Copyright - thesis (2).doc f Argentina’s Partisan Past: Nationalism, Peronism and Historiography, 1955-76 Thomas Michael Goebel A thesis submitted to the University of London in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the Department of History, University College London UMI Number: U592435 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592435 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract of thesis This PhD thesis is an inquiry into history as politics in Argentina from the overthrow of Peron to the military coup of 1976. Its main aim is to explain why and how a particular strand of nationalist historical writing (historical revisionism) conquered the public sphere in this period, so that by the 1970s its principal tenets had become almost common sense in the Argentines’ understanding of their national past. For this purpose, the thesis contextualises the revisionist discourse in relation to, firstly, the intellectual field and, secondly, political developments, arguing that only a combina­ tion of cultural and political history allows us to account for the success of revisionism in influencing the collective historical consciousness. The principal primary sources on which the thesis relies are the publications of revisionists (both books and periodicals), militant periodicals, daily newspapers and institutional sources, in particular related to public education. Special emphasis is given to the conditions that underpinned the production and the public success of revisionist symbolic goods. In six chapters the thesis analyses the historical development of the relationship between the liberal and the nationalist view of history (1); the connection between contemporary debates about Peronism and the revisionist version of the past (2); the influence of Marxism (3); the cultural and political networks of revisionism (4); the Peronist appropriation of revisionist imagery (5); and the relationship between nationalist intellectuals and the state (6). From these points, the thesis derives broader conclusions about the relationship between politics, national identity and historical narratives by singling out the factors that contributed to such a strong politicisation of historiography under nationalist signs. Particularly stressed is the mutually reinforcing interplay between a profound crisis of political legitimacy, a fragile intellectual field and an uneven institutionalisation of historio­ graphy. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 7 1. Argentina’s two pantheons: frommitrismo to revisionism 30 2. Intellectual debates and Peronism in the context of cultural modernisation 71 3. The heterogeneity of revisionism: between authoritarianism and Marxism ............................102 4. Networks of dissemination of revisionism: periodicals, publishers and political groups 131 5. The Peronist appropriation of revisionism ............................162 6. Revisionism and political power ............................186 Conclusion 220 Bibliography 238 3 A cknowledgements The research on which this doctoral thesis is based was funded through the following scholarships: a doctoral award from the Arts and Humanities Research Board/Council, a Research Fellowship from UCL Graduate School, a Marie Curie Fellowship for the Social History of Europe and the Mediterranean by the European Union and a Thomley Fellowship from the Institute of Historical Research London. The Graduate School and the History Department of UCL, the Royal Historical Society, the Argen­ tine Club Ltd. Educational Trust and the Freie Universitat Berlin funded field research and attendance of conferences, at which I presented parts of my research. For their generous support I would like to express my appreciation to all these bodies. Throughout the more than three years during which I researched and wrote this thesis, I have accumulated enormous personal debts. My first and foremost thanks go to my two supervisors, Nicola Miller and Christopher Abel, who were sympathetic and stimulating teachers, continuously supporting and encouraging me and showing a dedication to read drafts of my thesis and discuss them with me that went far beyond the expectable. At University College London, I owe gratitude to Catherine Hall and Axel Komer for their helpful comments after reading an early draft of one chapter of this thesis. I should also acknowledge Colin Lewis’ and Jens Andermann’s generous help with academic contacts in Argentina. This thesis would have been impossible without the support of many Argentine historians, who are familiar with its topic from their own professional and personal experience. During my two research trips to Argentina, several historians have helped me to conceptualise the main problems related to my topic. I would like to express my special gratitude to Luis Alberto Romero, Alejandro Cattaruzza and Alejandro Eujanian, who were all extraordinarily generous with their limited time, offering to discuss my ideas, concerns and uncertainties on repeated occasions, sometimes for several hours, as well as inviting me to seminars at the Universities of Buenos Aires and Rosario. Much of my initial orientation I owe to them. I would also like to thank Gerardo Aboy, Carlos Altamirano, Roberto Baschetti, Hilda Sabato, Ernesto Salas, Ricardo Sidicaro, Oscar Teran and Juan Carlos Torre for their readiness to discuss my project during its early stages, providing me with valuable contacts and suggestions for further research. I am furthermore indebted to four interviewees, Fermm Chavez, 4 Alejandro Olmos (son), Arturo Pena Lillo and Jorge Oscar Sule, for sharing their personal memories and opinions with me and clarifying many details that would have been difficult to verify in the labyrinthine world of Argentine archives. Being either related to or themselves the protagonists of this study, I was most impressed with their openness towards an unknown foreigner; an openness they never made dependent on whether I shared their views. I can only hope that such an association does not displease any of these interlocutors and that, at least partially, they recognise either their recommendations or their personal memories in this work. Whilst many of the ideas and interpretations expressed in this thesis are thus borrowings, all its possible errors or misjudgements are entirely my own. Parts of this thesis have been presented as papers at conferences or published as articles in journals. Both gave me the opportunity to receive helpful suggestions that hopefully sharpened some arguments. In this context, I would like to acknowledge the comments by Eduardo Hourcade and, again, Alejandro Eujanian as well as of the anonymous reviewers of the journalsprohistoria , Estudios Interdisciplinarios de Ame­ rica Latina y el Caribe and Histoire(s) de VAmerique latine. Friends and colleagues in Argentina, Britain and Germany have supported me during writing this thesis, fuelling my interest and discussing ideas, some also reading and commenting parts of this thesis. Among them, I am most indebted to my friend Christian Hochmuth, with whom I have