The Visible and Invisible Liga Patritica Argentina, 1919-28: Gender Roles and the Right Wing

Author(s): Sandra F. McGee

Source: The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 64, No. 2 (May, 1984), pp. 233-258
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2514516
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Historical Revietv
Hispanic Amnericans
64 (2), 1984, 233-258

Copyright (C1984 by Duke University Press

The Visible and Invisible Liga Patri6tica

Argentina,

1919-28:

Gender Roles

and the Right Wing'

SANDRA F. MCGEE*

nationalist groups have long fascinated

scholars and observers of twentieth-century Argentina.
Yet the Liga Patriotica Argentina, once described as
"the most powerful political association in the country"between 1919 and
1922, has not received the attention that its size and influence warrant.2
The Liga's campaign against workers in the post-World War I years merits study not only because it weakened the labor movement, but also because it foreshadowed the antileftist tendencies of fuiture nationalistic
leaders, including Juan Domingo Peron. Another important reason for examining the Liga is that it does not fit the image of the Argentine right
that historians have created. According to most of the literature, the right
wing has consisted exclusively of men; and it has devoted itself to ideological formulations, political maneuvers, and, on occasion, violence. The
R

IGHT-WING

*Research was fuinidedby a Fulbriglbt-Havsgranitfrom the U.S. Office of Edlucationl

(1977) and a SumiiimerStipenid grant from the National Enidowmlientfor tbe Humil-anities
(1981). The auithorwouild like to tlanik Charles Bergquist, David Busbliell, and Kristinie
Joniesfor their comments on this work; they are niot responsible for anv of its deficienicies.
1. The year 1919 marked the founidinigof the Liga Patri6tica Argenltilna(beleillaftel,
Liga), anid 1928 was the last year for which proceedings of its aninualcongresses were available. Also, after 1928 the Liga's primary foe became the Yrigoveniregimiie,rather tlhanithe
labor ml-ovemiienit,
as discussed below. The Liga still exists.
2. David Rock, Politics in Argentitna,1890-1930: The Rise anldFall of Radicalismll(Camiibridge, 1975), p. 1i1. EniriquieZuleta Alvarez discussed the historiograplhyof the Argenitinie
right at lenigtb in El nacionalismo argentino, 2 vols. (BueniosAir-es,1975), II, 565-811. Aniother descriptioni of the literature is founidin Alistair Henniessv, "FascismiianidPopuilismlin
LatiniAml-erica,"in Walter Laquetir, ed., Fascismn:
A Readlers Giuide.Analyses, Interpretations, Bibliography (Berkeley, 1976), pp. 272-280. For informilationi
onithe workinigsof the
Liga, see SanidraE McGee, "The Social Originisof Counterrevolutioniin Argenitinia, 19001932" (Phl.D. Diss., Uniiversity of Flor-ida, 1979), pp. 1211-237; Rock, Politics in Argentiila,

pp. 180-202, passim; Osvaldo Bayer, "1921: La imiasacrede Jacinito Arauz," Todo Es Historia
(Buenios Aires), n1o.45 (Jan. 1971), 40-55; anid referenices in Bayer's Los vengadoares de la
Patagonia trdagica, 3vols. (BuienosAires, 1972-74). Works onithe right have genierallyemiiphasized the year-safter 1929, anidthus have not treated the Liga in detail.

234

HAHR

I MAY I SANDRA

F. MCGEE

Liga engaged in these activities, but it also recruited womien,whose membership broadened the focus of the organization. Scholars have ignored
this female component, riendering it invisible.
Although researchers have begun to look at womeni's rightist activity
in Latin Amer-ica,thus far they have not examiniedmale and female contributions to the same movements in a single coml-parative franlework.4

Yet this kind of study can yield fresh insights into the nature of riight-wing
organizations and the relationships among gender roles, class, and forms
of political participation. This approaclhcan also be valuable historiographically, for it would constitute a step toward a universal history incorporating both sexes.
In this article, I will use this approach in anialyzing the Liga's origins
and roles. Comparison of male and female Liguistas' social backgrounds,
motives for affiliations, r-ecruitment, methods of organization, and actions
rieveals that the participation of both sexes was vital for the fulfillml-ent of
the Liga's aims. It also demonistrates that the sexual division of labor
within the Liga resem-bled that which characterized the upper sectors of
the larger society, where women served as nurturers and housekeepers
while men were responsible for public activities.6 Ironically, despite their
domestic role and their future historical obscurity, Liga women gainied a
degree of public exposure, which male leaders encouraged for their own
ends. Thus, the female members of a politically and socially conservative
organization sometimes overstepped the boundaries of their usual sphere
of activity.

The Origins of the Liga

The roots of the Liga lay in the social tensions generated by the fuillscale integration of Argentina into the interniationial economy after 1870.
3. Ail exception, Bayer mentionied female brigades in Los vengadlores,I, 48.
4. Works on right-wing womiienincluide Michele Mattelart, "Chile: The Femininie Side
of the Coup or Wheni Bourgeois Women Take to the Streets," NACLA'sLatitn.Amterica&
EmnpireReport, 9 (Sept. 1975), 14-25; Maria de los Angeles Cruimmett, "El Podel Femenino: The Mobilizationiof Women against Socialism in Chile," Latin AmetricaniPerspectives,
4 (Fall 1977), 103-113; "Feminismo Balaguerista:A Strategy of the Right," NACLA'sLatin
America & Empire Report, 8 (Apr. 1974), 28-32; SanidraF. McGee, "Right-Wing Female
Activists in BuienosAir-es,1900-1932, in Bar-baraJ. Harr-isand Jo AnniK. McNamara, eds.,
Womenand the Social Strutcture.Papersfromnthe Fifth Berkshire Coniferenceon the IIistory
of Women (Durham, forthcoming). Jean A. Meyer, in The Cristeto Rebellion: The Mexican
People betweeni Chturch and State, 1926-1929,
trans. by Richard Soutlherni(Cambridge,
1976), discussed both men and women, but Meyer anidsome of the other stuclenitsof the
Cristeros do nlotconsider them right-wing.
5. Gerda Ler-nerdescribed this approachin The Majority Fitndsits Past: Placing Women
in History (New York, 1979), p. i8o.
6. In Womanhood in America. From Colonial Timllesto the Presetnt,2d ed. (New York,
1979), pp. ix, 77-8o, Mary P. Ryanidefined the female domestic sphere and the male puiblic
sphere.

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

1919-28

235

Between this date and World War I, Argentina became one of the world's
great exporters of corn, wheat, wool, and beef. The production of these
and other raw materials led to the creation of processing industries in the
capital and surrounding areas. The years 1895 to 1913 witnessed the doubling of industrial enterprises and a fivefold increase in capital investment
in Buenos Aires. Mass immigration from Europe helped stimulate economic development. Largely as a result of this influx, the national population tripled between 1870 and 1g1o. By 1914 foreigners composed almost
one-third of all inhabitants, two-thirds of the skilled and white-collar
workers in the capital, and more than 8o percent of the unskilled laborers
in that city.7
The immigrant labor movement posed a threat to the social hierarchy
presided over by the landowning elite. By the early 1920S, there were
unions of anarcho-communist, socialist, communist, and syndicalist persuasion, organized in several federations, as well as a Socialist party, which
was represented in Congress. Women, who composed 22 percent of the
national adult labor force in 1914, also participated in unions, strikes, and
the Socialist party, although rarely at leadership levels.8 Mostly of immigrant backgrounds, socialist women also formed the core of the Argentine
feminist movement, which advocated improvements in female labor conditions as well as civil and political equality.9These men and women con7. Republica Argentina, Direcci6n Nacional de Servicio Estadistico, Cuarto censo general de la naci6n, 3 vols. (Buenos Aires, 1947-52), I, lxii, 1; Adolfo Dorfinan, Historia de la
industria argentina, 2d ed. (Buenos Aires, 1970), p. 285; James R. Scobie, BulenosAires:
Plaza to Suburb, 1870-1910

(New York, 1974), p. 273. Also see Carl Solberg, Immigration

and Nationalism; Argentina and Chile, 1890-1914 (Austini,1970);Roberto Cortes Conide, El

progreso argentino, 1880-1914 (Buenos Aires, 1979); Carlos F. Diaz Alejandro, Essays on
the Economic History of the Argentine Republic (New Haven, 1970);James R. Scobie, Revolution on the Pampas. A Social History of Argentine Wheat, 1869-19zo (Austin, 1964).
8. Republica Argentina, Comisi6n Nacional del Censo, Tercer censo nacionial, 10 vols.
(Buenos Aires, 1916), I, 252. On womeni and the labor force, see DoninaJ. Guy, "Women,
Peonage, and Industrialization: Argenitina,i8io- 1914, Latin American Research Revietv,
16:3 (1981), 65-89.

Standard labor sources include Hobart A. Spalding, Jr., La clase trabajadora argentina
(documentos para su historia-189o11912)
(Buenos Aires, 1970); Sebastian Marotta, El
movimiento sindical argentino: Su genesis y desarrollo, 3vols. (Buenos Aires, 1960-61,
1970); Richard J. Walter, The Socialist Party of Argentina, 1890-1930 (Austin, 1977); Richard Alan Yoast, "The Development of Argentine Anarchism: A Socio-ideological Analysis"
(Ph.D. Diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1975); Ruben Iscaro, Origen y desarrollo
del inovimiento sindical argentino (Buenos Aires, 1958).
9. On feminism and women of the left, see Katharine S. Dreier, Five Months in the
Argentine from a Woman'sPoint of View. 1918 to 1919 (New York, 1920); Yoast, "Argentine
Anarchism," pp. 299-300; Maria del Carmen Feijo6, "Las luchas feministas," Todo Es Historia (Jan. 1978), 7-23; Nancy Caro Hollander, "Women in the Political Economy of Argentina" (Ph.D. Diss., U.C.L.A., 1974); CynthiaJeffress Little, "Education, Philanthropy, anid
Feminism: Components of Argentine Womanhood, 186o- 1926," in Asunci6n Lavrin, ed.,
Latin American

Women: Historical

Perspectives

(Westport,

Conn.,

1978), pp. 235-253;

MarifranCarlson, "Feminism and Reform: A History of the Argentine Feminist Movement

to 1926" (Ph.D. Diss., University of Chicago, 1983).

236

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I MAY I SANDRA

F. MCGEE

stituted the largest and most active labor movement in early twentiethcentury Latin America. In opposition to organized workers under the
sway of "imported" doctrines, the elite increasingly defined itself as "nationalist" and attempted to suppress labor radicalism.'0These attempts
would culminate in the Liga.
The labor movement and leftist ideologies were not the only threats to
the social hierarchy. One of the bases of the social structure was the family, and the right believed that demographic forces were besieging this
institution. Many more men than women had come from abroad; in 1914
there were i 15.5 men for every ioo women in Argentina, and the proportion was even more lopsided in Santa Fe and Buenos Aires Provinces and
in the capital. This imbalance was not typical of either exporting countries
or immigration centers." Of nineteen countries surveyed in 1914, including European nations, the United States, and Australia, Argentina had
the smallest percentage of legally married men and women in its adult
population, although this figure did not differ markedly from that for
Mexico.'2 About 22 percent of the children born in Argentina between
the years of 1914 and 1919 were brought into the world by single moth-

ers-again, not a high proportion by regional standards.13 Nevertheless,

these conditions disturbed many portefios, who preferred to compare
themselves with Europeans rather than with other Latin Americans. Possibly many of the legally unmarried adults had stable common-law relationships, and many "illegitimate" children were the offspring of these
unions. Nevertheless, the annual migration of harvest workers to and
from Europe, and widespread seasonal unemployment, must have contributed to the incidence of illegitimate births and the abandonment of
wives and children. Finally, the large supply of single men created a high
lo. Employers' associationis'tactics and other examples of repression are described in
Spalding, Clase trabajadora, pp. 354-362; Marotta, Movimiento sindical, II, 69-79;
(Buenos Aires, 1971),
Eduardo Gilim6n, Un anarquista en Buenos Aires (189o-191o)
pp. 99-107.
11. Comparable figures for the United States, another immigrant country, were 1o6
men for every 100 women, and for Mexico, a rapidly developing nation barely affected by
immigration, 98.5 men, in i0oo. Neither did the demographic imbalance of the littoral zone
characterize the Argentine interior. See Argentina, Tercer censo, I, 128, 130-131; Mexico,
Direcci6n General de Estadistica, Quinto censo de poblaci6n, 15 de mayo de 1930, 8 vols.
(Mexico City, 1932-36), VIII, Part32, xix.
12. Argentina, Tercer censo, I, 188. According to Mexico, Quinto censo, VIII, Part 32,
50, 48 percent of Mexican adult males and 44 percent of its adult females were legally married in 1900.

13. RepuiblicaArgentina, Direcci6n General de Estadistica, La poblaci6n y el movi(Buenos Aires, 1926), p. 29. The illegitimacy
miento demogrdfico en el periodo 1910-1925
rate in the interior was much higher than in the capital. According to Charles C. Cumberland, Mexico. The Struggle for Modernity (New York, 1968), p. 193, 45 percent of Mexican
children born in the early twentieth century were illegitimate, although some of these were
offspring of couples married in religious rather than civil ceremonies.

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

1919-28

237

demand for prostitutes, and Buenos Aires became a world center of the
white-slave trade.
It was the large numbers of homeless children and prostitutes and the
low percentage of married adults that observers perceived as evidence of
the decline of the family. Female participation in the labor force was also
seen as a divisive influence on the family, for taking the mother out of the
home lessened her moral influence and control over her children. The
weakness of the family as an institution, according to rightist spokesmen,
led to the decay of morality and authority, and thus to social disorder. The
future Liga president would blame discord on disorganized foreign households and on those who had families outside of matrimony.'4 Meanwhile,
upper-class women, together with the church, established a plethora of
charitable organizations to ameliorate the poverty and misery of broken
homes and, they hoped, to strengthen the existing order.'5
If the Liga's origins can be traced back to the effects of economic development and immigration, the immediate occasion of its founding was
the global crisis at the end of World War I. Europe was the scene of
massive strikes, widespread economic hardship, and leftist revolutions.
Linked through trade and culture to Europe, Argentina also experienced
economic difficulties and labor militancy. During the war the nation suffered a severe depression, worse than that of the 1930s. From 1914 to
1919 the cost of living in Buenos Aires climbed by about 6o percent, while
salaries fell i6 percent.'6 Protesting the decline in real wages, the labor
movement became increasingly active. News of radicalismabroad encouraged union activists and, more important, alarmed the upper classes. The
14. See Manuel Carles's speeches in Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Catecisino de la doctrina patria (Buenos Aires, 1921), p. 14; Discurso pronunciado por el Dr. Manuel Carles
ante la honorable Sociedad de Beneficencia el 26 de mayo de 1919 (Buenos Aires, 1919), p. 6.
Contemporary comments on these social problems can be founldin Dreier, Five Months,
pp. 18-20,
168; Revista Militar (Buenos Aires), 19 (Feb. 1919), 386; Manuel Galvez, La
trata de blancas (Buenos Aires, 1904); La Prensa, May 18, 1919; Enrique Ruiz Guifiazu,
"Las fuerzas perdidas en la economfa nacional," Instituto Popular de Conferencias, 3 (Aug.
10, 1917), 178.

15. On such organizations, see McGee, "Female Activists"; Little, "Components of Argentine Womanhood." The memberships of these groups overlapped. The tipper-class female philanthropic works differed from socialist and feminist projects for the poor in their
religious and class bias, amateurism, and sense of noblesse oblige. On these distinctions, see
the feminist medical doctor Cecilia Grierson's Decadencia del Consejo Nacional de Mujeres
de la Repusblica Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1910), pp. 3-32. Many of the well-known feminists, like Grierson, were professionals. Catholic social-welfare organizations, staffed by
men and women, would strongly influence the Liga. N6stor Tomas Auza described these
groups in Los cat6licos argentinos: Su experiencia politica y social (Buenos Aires, 1962).
i6. Vicente Vasquez-Presedo, Estadisticas hist6ricas argentinas (comparadas), 2 vols.
(Buenos Aires, 1976), II, Segunda parte 1914-1939, 46. On the depression, see Guido Di
Tella and Manuel Zymelman, Los ciclos econ6micos argentinos (Buenos Aires, 1973), pp.
129- 186; Joseph S. Tulchin, "The Argentine Economy during the First World War,"Review
of the River Plate (Buenos Aires), June 19 and 30, July 10, 1970.

238

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I MAY I SANDRA

F. MCGEE

incidence of strikes and the number of strikers in the federal capital,

which grew from8o and 24,231 in 1916 to 367 and 308,967 in 1919, respectively, seemed to confirm the danger of leftist revolution.'7 Moreover, for the first time in Argentina, landless peons were organizing unions
and affiliating with the anarcho-communistand syndicalist federations.'8
The Tragic Week (Semana Tragica)of January 19L9 took place in this
atmosphere of economic crisis, labor militancy, and upper-class fear. It
began with a paralyzing general strike in the capital, where workers left
their jobs and fought strikebreakers and police, and then it spread to the
provinces. Shortly after national troops arrived in Buenos Aires, the general strike and worker-led violence ceased. The disorganized week-long
conflict achieved few concrete ends for strikers, but its mobilization of
thousands terrorized the upper classes, who were convinced that a revolution had begun.'9
From the beginning of the general strike, many upper- and middleclass portefios believed that the government needed their assistance to
restore order. RearAdmiral Manuel Domecq Garciaand the Centro Naval,
a club for naval officers, coordinated efforts to gather, arm, and train
young civilian volunteers. At the same time that troops entered the capital, local security forces and armed vigilantes attacked working-class and
Jewish neighborhoods, destroying labor centers and beating and arresting
thousands, including innocent bystanders. Distinguished by white armbands, the vigilantes continued to patrol the streets after the general
strike ended. These self-styled civil guards were responsible for many of
the casualties of the TragicWeek, estimated at anywhere from 141 to 700
killed and between 8oo and 2,000 wounded.20
Meanwhile other organizationswere forming to help "maintainorder."
Civilians and military officers gathered in police precinct headquarters,
with official approval, to discuss means of protecting their neighborhoods
against future worker assaults. The Centro Naval eventually assumed control over these precinct self-defense groups as well as over the civil guards.
17. Vasquez-Presedo, Estadisticas, II, 47.
18. Carl Solberg, "Rural Unrest and Agrariani Policy in Argentina, 1912- 1930," Joutrnal
of Inter-Anmerican Stutdies and World Affairs, 13 (Jan. 1971), 30-36; Yoast, "Argentine Anarchism," pp. 208-210, 226-227.

19. Works on the Tragic Week include Nicholds Babini, "La Semana Tragica. Pesadilla
de una siesta de verano," Todo Es Historia (Sept. 1967), 8-20; Hugo del Campo, "La Semana Tragica,"Polemnica,No. 53 (1971), 63-84; Julio Godio, La SemnanaTrdgicade enero de
1919 (Buenios Aires, 1972); Jose R. Romariz, La Semiiana Trdgica. Relato de los hechos sanigrientos del anio 1919 (Buenos Aires, 1952).
20. HobairtA. Spalding, Jr., Organized Labor in Latin America. Historical Case Stud-

ies of Workers in Dependent Societies (New York, 1977), p. 87 n.8. Also see Victor A. Miielman, "The Semana Tragicaof 1919 and the Jews in Argentina,"Jewish Social Studies (New
York), 37 (Jan. 1975), 61-73. A longer description
"Counterrevolutioll," pp. 129-139.

of these evenlts is found in McGee,

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

1919-28

239

Domecq Garcia and fellow naval officers, vigilante leaders, and members
of the C(irculoMilitar, the army counterpart of the Centro Naval, decided
to integrate these forces into a new and larger group: a standing civil militia, with brigades throughout the capital. A committee headed by Domecq Garcia called for volunteers. At the same time, it invited prestigious figures and representatives from social clubs to join the directorate
of the new organization, named the Liga Patri6tica Argentina. One of
these clubs was female: the Asociacion de Damas Patricias. Founded in
1912, this primarily upper-class group awarded prizes to the best Argentine history teachers and otherwise encouraged patriotism.2'
Delegates to the first meeting, on January20, 1919, decided that the
purpose of the Liga would be to defend the Argentine nationality against
immigrant radicalism. It would teach foreigners to abide by the constitution, which permitted peaceful and constructive change within the given
order. The Liga would help the poorer classes, constantly elevating their
moral level and keeping tranquility within the home. When anarchism,
communism, or violent strikes threatened public peace, however, the Liga
would also be prepared to help authorities safeguard life and property.22
Thus the Liga would have two roles, one peaceful and one repressive.
Liga members claimed to oppose revolutionary ideologies on patriotic
and moral grounds. The left, they said, was evil and anti-Argentine because it pitted class against class, dividing the nation and undermining
authority. A natural hierarchy of intelligence, culture, and wealth existed
in every society. To destroy this hierarchy, as the left proposed, would be
disastrous for the nation, for it would lead to the rule of the ignorant over
the rest of society. The Liga would prevent the uneducated masses from
rebelling against their betters, and yet at the same time it would keep the
rich from exploiting the poor, thus removing the cause of revolution. Also
immoral and divisive was the left's intention to demolish other cornerstones of the social order, such as property, religion, and the Christian
family. As previously indicated, Liga members believed that other forces
also threatened the family: for example, the already mentioned women's
work outside the home; widespread immorality;and, to a much lesser extent, feminism. The Liga'sfirst elected president, Manuel Carles, defined
feminism simply as "the fight against men to masculinize women and feminize men."23 In comparison to the left, the ranks of feminists were so
21.
Revista Militar, 19 (Jan. 19L9), 198-202;
La Raz6n, Jan. 17, 1919; La Naci6n,
Jan. 12-13,
This and other upper-class female organizations are described in Adolfo
19L9.
Sciurano Castafieda, ed., Album de oro de la mujer argentina (Buenos Aires, 1930).
22. La Epoca, Jan. 20, 19L9; "La Semana Tragica," La Naci6n, Jan. 19, 1969.
23. Manuel Carl6s in Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Octavo Congreso Nacionalista (Buenos
Aires, 1927), p. 57. Liga speakers and publicists presented their views in the organization's

240

HAHR

I MAY I SANDRA F. MCGEE

sparse that the Liga did not view them as much of a danger. Nevertheless,
the threats to the family would have to be defused.
To the Liga, public tranquility depended on the strength of the home.
Thus, in its view, the issues of nationalism, order, morality, and family
were inextricably linked. In turn, the strength of the home rested on
motherhood. As one Liga member had previously observed, nationality
had its roots in the home, and the mother was the "queen bee-teacher"
of argentinidad.24 Mothers were the ones responsible for teaching children to love God and country, be obedient to authority, follow their moral
duty, and resist unreasonable passions. The educators of future generations of Argentines and the moralizers of society, women would have to be
enlisted in the Liga's cause.
That the male founders of the organization glorified home and motherhood was nothing unusual in Hispanic culture. Enlisting women, however, was a novel idea on several grounds. Of all Argentine political parties, only the Socialist had mobilized women. While not a formal party,
the Liga was the first permanent organization of the right, and therefore
the first such entity to recruit females-in Argentina and perhaps in Latin
America.25This role was not totally new for women; the Liga drew upon
the heritage of conservative female philanthropists. Nevertheless, the
threat of social dissolution and the dictates of its ideology pushed the Liga
into actions that no establishinent party had taken before. Yet the mobilization of women also seemed to contradict that ideology, which emphasized a domestic role for women as against a public role for men. Implicitly the Liga would evade this dilemma by calling itself a "moral"and
"patriotic" organization and denying political or partisan motives. Furthermore, its female members would assume "social housekeeping" duties, extensions of those they had traditionally performed in the home.
Unlike numerous social housekeepers elsewhere in the hemisphere, however, Liga women were indifferent to the struggle for women's rights.26
annual congresses and pamphlets. Examples of these views include Carles in Liga, Octavo
Congreso, pp. 52-53; Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Septirno Congreso Nacionalista (Buenos
Aires, 1926), pp. 6o-61; Liga, Catecismito;Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Discursos pronunciados en el acto inaugural y veredicto del Jurado de la TerceraExposici6n Nacional de Tejidos y Bordados (Buenos Aires, 1922), pp. 6-7. Also see M. J. Lagos in Liga Patri6tica Argentina, El prograrna de la Liga Patri6tica Argentina y la educacion por el ejemplo (como
una consagraci6n del concepto Patria) (Buenos Aires, 1923).
24. Estanislao Zeballos, "Discurso inaugural,"Instituto Popular de Conferencias (Buenos Aires), 1 (July8, 1915), p. 23.
25. Women belonged to the BrazilianiIntegralists, the Mexican Cristeros, and the
Chilean Conservative party, but only years after-women had begun to participate in the
Liga. More studies on rightist women are needed in order to deter-minewhether there wer-e
cases predating the Liga.
26. For examples of social housekeeper-swho wer-ealso feminists (such as Jane Addams),
see K. Lynn Stoner, "From the Houise to the Streets: The CtubanWoman's Movement for

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

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241

Recruitment and Organizational Patterns

In the months following its first meeting, the Liga concentrated its
organizing efforts on men, gradually broadening its base of operations
from metropolitan Buenos Aires to the entire republic. The precinct selfdefense units formed during the Tragic Week expanded into brigades,
numbered according to police precinct; the Liga began with brigades in
all but two of the forty-five precincts in the capital.27Civic and professional associations declared their adherence to Liga principles and organized themselves as brigades. During and after the Januarystrike, white
guards had arisen in other parts of the nation, particularly where labor
unions were active. They, too, joined as the brigades of their locality. Liga
authorities also entrusted friends in the interior with the task of raising
brigades, or sometimes local landowners or businessmen contacted the
Liga and volunteered their services. Feaiful of strikes by landless peons,
farmers in the pampas and Mesopotamian region (i.e., between the Parana and Uruguay Rivers) asked the Liga to help them organize brigades,
and often the Liga sent recruiters to rural areas of labor strife on its own
initiative. Occupational groups, such as teachers, doctors, pilots, and even
inventors, formed brigades based on profession. The Liga also claimed to
have brigades of "free laborers," not affiliated with unions: taxi-drivers,
bakers, stevedores, cigar-makers, telephone operators, peons, and others. Eventually, men's brigades were established in each province and national territory.
While brigades arose around the country, Liga officials perfected the
structure of the organization. Under statutes passed at the end of May,
the brigades enjoyed a large degree of autonomy but were ultimately responsible to the Junta Central, composed of delegates elected by the brigades, and to the Consejo Ejecutivo, chosen in turn by the Junta Central.
The Consejo formulated policy, appointed commissions, coordinated the
activities of the brigades, and supervised the organization'sfinances. The
wealthy and prominent men who constituted the Treasury Commission
(Comision de Hacienda) solicited funds from businessmen and employers'
Legal Change, 1898-1958" (Ph.D. Diss., Indiana University, 1983), p. 219; Cynthia Jeffress
Little, "Moral Reform and Feminism," Journal of Inter-AmnericanStudies and World Affairs, 17 (Nov. 1975), 386-397; Ryan, Womanhood in America, pp. 136-150. (I take the
term "social housekeeper" from Ryan.) Not all of the women discussed in these works opposed class conflict, however, and even those who did, such as Jane Addams, maintained
some sympathies for the labor movement, unlike female Liguistas.
27. Republica Argentina, Policia de la Capital, Orden del dia, 34 (1920), 832-834; Liga
Patri6tica Militar, Solemnnehomenaje de la Liga Patri6tica Militar de Chile a la Liga Patri6tica Argentina (Santiago, 1922), p. 16. Informationon brigade formation was taken firom
The national press described the
daily news items in La Prensa and La Fronda, 1919-21.
Liga's activities extensively, on a day-to-day basis, through the period under study.

242

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associations. The brigades corresponded with the central authorities, informing them of local activities and requesting funds, manpower, or intercession with the government. Periodically the brigade presidents met
with the Junta Central in Buenos Aires and, in turn, received its representatives sent on fact-finding missions to the provinces. In addition,
delegates from the brigades gathered at annual congresses to discuss policy, present papers on national problems, and hear reports from Junta
members and Liga commissions.28
A microcosm of the national level of the Liga, each brigade had its
own elected officers, commissions, and treasury. The most important of
these commissions was a paramilitaryforce, which in the cities was called
the "neighborhood defense commission"and in the countryside the "commission in defense of rural labor." The urban paramilitary groups were
organized hierarchically, under precinct, barrio, and block chiefs. Less
formally structured, the ruralcommissions consisted of peons led by landowners and foremen.29The free labor brigades were also organized for the
purpose of breaking strikes and repressing workers.
The person largely responsible for this impressive organization was
Manuel Carles, a former national deputy (1898-1912). Sympathetic to
electoral reform, he had ties to the Radicalparty, particularlywhat would
become its Anti-personalist wing, although he never joined it. Before the
Liga's first elections of April 19i9, Domecq Garcia announced his decision to vacate the presidency in favor of a civilian, and Carles was chosen.
Possessing considerable oratorical and administrative skills, as well as
wide-ranging contacts among politicians and military officers, Carles presided ably over the Liga until his death in 1946.30
Carles and other members had not overlooked the potential role of
women in the first few months of Liga activity. According to the statutes,
28. Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Estatutos (Buenos Aires,
Caretas,

May25,

1919),

pp. 23-29;

Caras y

1919.

29. La Fronda, Apr. 11, 1920; Liga Militar, Solemnne homenaje, pp. 33-34; Estatutos de
la Liga Patri6tica Argeintina,Gualeguaych6i,n.d., private papers, Julio Irazusta, Las Casuarinas, Gualeguaychu, Entre Rios, notebook 1. I thank Sefior Irazusta for letting me use his
papers. Also see Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Brigada 19, Libro de Actas, 1926-1930, Liga
Patri6tica Argentina office, Buenos Aires, for informationon the inner workings of brigades.
30. Information on Carl6s was found in Archivo de La Prensa, Buenos Aires, leg.
21037. Alain Rouquie stated in Poder militar y sociedad politica en la Argentina (Buenos
Aires, 1981), tranis.by Arturo Iglesias Echegaray, p. 145, that the civil guards and the Liga
had "undeniable links" to the Radical party. This is somewhat overstated. While Radicals
were active in the civil guards and Liga, conservatives vastly outnumbered them. As long as
these groups seemed to oppose only workers, the government accepted them. When the
Liga'sgrowing support among the upper sectors and the militar-yseemed to threaten the government, however, the Yrigoyen regime and the UCR began to oppose it. I discuss the relationship between the Radicalsand the Liga in more detail in The Argentine Patriotic League
and the Forces of Counterrevolution,
(in progress).
1900-1930

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

1919-28

243

Argentine citizens of both sexes were eligible for membership. Indeed,

the Asociacion Nacional Pro-Patriade Sefioritas, a patriotic organization
active for twenty years, announced its adherence to the Liga in May 1919,
and delegates from this and other women's groups attended Liga meetings. The Liga's independence-day parades on May 24 and July 9, 1919,
included participants from upper-class female charitable and civic groups
such as the Asociacion Nacional Pro-Patria, Asociacion de Damas Patricias, and Sociedad de Beneficencia. In fact, Carles and these women led
the May 24th parade.3'
The leadership demonstrated considerable acumen in its search for a
female constituency. Knowing that women were among the most devout of
parishioners, Carles and other Ligaoratorsdelivered speeches in churches.
Carles also addressed upper-class women's groups, urging them to spread
the message of God and fatherland.32
In June 1919 the Junta Central invited representatives of women's
charitable and civic groups in the capital to join the Liga. Believing that
women could not remain indifferent to the task of ending social convulsions, sixty-five matrons and twelve young women met to create a Liga
Patriotica de Sefioras (hereinafter, Sefioras). The organization would be
dedicated to nationalist and beneficent ends. At the end of July, a permanent Junta Ejecutiva was elected. The Sefioras' first president was Julia
Acevedo de Martinez de Hoz, an activist in many Catholic charitable organizations and the wife of a prominent rancher and Liga member. By
early October young women had split away from the Sefioras, forming
their own body, the Liga Patriotica de Sefioritas (hereinafter, Sefioritas).
More than one hundred attended the first meeting in early November
and elected their leaders.33
Women also established another branch of the Liga. In January 1920
an association (gremio) of female primary- and secondary-school teachers
founded the Liga Patriotica del Magisterio Argentino (hereinafter, Magisterio), which men later joined. The original proponent of the Magisterio, Maria Contreras Feliui, teacher and officer of the Asociacion de
Damas Patricias, was elected its president. Mostly composed of women,
31. Liga, Estatutos, p. 23; La Prensa, May 13-15, 1919; Caras y Caretas, Apr. 26 aild
July26, 1919. See Cynthia Jeffress Little, "The Society of Beneficence in Bueinos Aires,
1823- 1900" (Ph. D. Diss., Temple University, 1980), on this powerftulwomeni'sorganizationi.
32.
Critica, Oct. 25, 1946; La Protesta, Apr. 29, 1922 and Apr. 1i, 1923; La Vantguardia, Dec. 15, 1921; Bayer, Los vengadores, I, 49; and Brigada 19, Libro de Actas, Apr. 16,

1928, refer to speeches in churches and before female audiences. Also see Discur^sopronzunciado ante la Sociedad.
33. Caras y Caretas, July 12, 1919; El Pueblo, June 30, July 1, July 21-22,
1919; La
Naci6n, Sept. 2, 1919; La Fronda, Oct. 18 and Nov. 1, 1919; Jorgelina Cano in Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Tercer Congreso de Trabajadores(Buenos Aires, 1922), p. 327.

244

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F. MCGEE

the Comision Directiva was located in Buenos Aires, and it headed brigades of maestras and rnaestros organized by province. The aim of this
branch was to spread nationalist ideas in the schools, and the authors of
its first manifesto attributed this mission largely to women not surprisingly, considering their preponderance in the lower levels of education. Although women continued to serve as Magisterio presidents, the
branch's main spokesperson was Justo P. Correa, a high-school professor.
This delegation of tasks reflected traditional gender roles: men spoke in
public and women did not. The fact that the Magisterio was subordinate
to the male Junta Central may have frirtherlimited women's power within
it.34 At any rate, the branch never spread to all the provinces, and its educational mission was assumed by the other women's brigades.
Meanwhile, women had begun to join and constitute brigades, at first
affiliating themselves with male brigades. In one such case, that of the
city of Mendoza, the first and second vice-presidents and some of the
other officers were women.35Women formed only a handftulof free labor
brigades, in comparison to the many founded by men. Brigades of Sefioras and Sefioritas, based on locality and, of course, marital status, constituted the overwhelming majority of the women's affiliates. The first of
these were formed when the Junta Ejecutiva de Sefioras chose representatives to establish brigades in eighteen precincts of the capital. Other
brigades were formed on their members' own initiative. Catholic parish
groups and other existing organizations declared their adherence to the
Liga and transformed themselves into the brigades of their respective
precincts, or, in the interior, of their respective cities. In the 192os, small
groups of Sefioritas organized not only around localities but also around
their main charitable projects, sixteen of the factory schools they established for female workers. In other cases, male brigade leaders suggested
to women of the same precinct or town that they form sister organizations. Sometimes female officials in Buenos Aires urged male brigade
presidents to establish female auxiliaries in their localities.36 Liguistas
of both sexes, therefore, collaborated in the formation of the women's
brigades.
While the Magisterio branch and the female brigades of free laborers
were responsible to the male junta, the Sefioras and Senioritaseach were
governed by their own ruling bodies, in theory largely autonomous from
34. La Prensa, Jan. 12 and 31,
35. La Fronda, Aug. lo, 1920.

1920.

36. Information on brigade for-mationwas taken from the daily press. Examples iinelude
La Vo.zdel Interior- (C6rdoba), Oct. 23, 1919; Los Principios (C6rdoba), Apr. 29, 1919; El
La Prensa, Feb. 2 and 8, 1920; La
1919; La Fronda, Aug. 28, 1920;
Pueblo, Aug. 10-12,
Naci6n, Nov. 13, 1919 and May 19, 1921.

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

1919-28

245

the male: the Junta Ejecutiva de Sefioras and the Comision Central de
Sefioritas, respectively. Nevertheless, although the lines of command
were never explicitly outlined, women clearly were subordinate to the
Liga president. As if to underline this fact, Carles usually appeared at important women's meetings, elections, and public events. Female Liguistas
regularly elected their own brigade and national officers, just as their
male counterparts did. Ironically, Carles opposed women's suffrage in the
wider political arena, and he never, to my knowledge, explained why he
thought it permissible for women to vote within the Liga but not outside
it. The internal organization of the women's national authorities and brigades. also resembled that of the men, except that the women did not
have paramilitarycommissions.
There were many differences between the male and female brigades.
The most obvious was that the men, unlike the women, did not organize
themselves on the basis of marital status. This difference may simply
reflect the fact that married and single women were commonly distinguished from each other by nomenclature and role, and no comparable
distinction was made between married men and bachelors in society. Furthermore, while men formed over a dozen professional brigades, women
established only those of the Magisterio. Women as yet had barely penetrated professions other than primary and secondary education, and the
small number with university degrees preferred feminism and socialism
to the Liga. Also, since fewer women than men participated in the labor
movement, it is not surprising that male and female Liga authorities
found little reason to recruit "free laborers"among women. There were,
however, a few exceptions. For example, female department-store employees in Buenos Aires happened to strike in 1919, and, significantly,
a brigade for that group was established at the same time as the labor
37

conflict.38
Since the Liga rarely released membership statistics, the size of the
organization is difficult to judge. In May 1919 a United States diplomat
estimated that there were 52,000 members.39Three years later the Liga
announcedthat there were 1,527 brigades;by 1927 it claimed1,200 bri37. Carles, "El ferminismoen la Repu6blicaArgentina,"in Miguel J. Font, ed., La inujer.
Encuesta feminista argentina. Hacia la formaci6n de una liga ferninista sudamitericana
(Buenios Aires, 1921), p. 163.

38. El Puteblo,Aug. 15, 1919. The female Magisterio brigade in Mendoza also arose at
the time of a teacher's strike; see La Naci6n, Aug. 13, 1920.
39. Ambassador Frederick J. Stimsonito Secretar-yof State, BuenlosAir-es,May 8, 1919,
despatch no. 81o, U.S. Department of State, Records of the Departmenitof State Relatiingto
the Initernal Affairs of Argentina, 1g9o-1929,
National Archives Microfilm Copy M5i4,
835.00/171 (hereinafter, U.S. Dept. of State, File No.).

246

HAHR

I MAY I SANDRA

F. MCGEE

gades and 6oo,ooo registered members.4"Even if one takes inactive supporters into account, these figures are clearly exaggerated. A more accurate measure of Liga strength is the number of brigades regularly
mentioned in the press and represented in the annual congresses, along
with the officers elected by each. Not counting the groups of Sefioritas
organized around schools, 41 women's brigades and 550 men's brigades
fall into this category. Brigades elected anywhere from seven to forty-one
officers each. Assuming an average of twenty officersper brigade, one may
estimate that the Liga's core consisted of about 820 female and n ,ooo
male activists throughout its first decade of existence. That men vastly
outnumbered women is not surprising, given the novelty of mobilizing
women and another reason to be discussed below.
The Liga's rank and file, however, alternately expanded and shrank according to the perceived gravity of the threat from workers. When necessary, the militant core was prepared to draft additional persons for the
cause. This was particularly true of the male brigades. As one member
explained, there was a "visible" and an "invisible" Liga.4' The invisible
Liga appeared only during labor disturbances, sometimes creating new
brigades, which dissolved after quelling workers' militancy. In this manner, hundreds of men's units arose and then faded. The women's sector,
in contrast, was more stable, as the problems it tackled did not readily
disappear.
The male sector also differed from the female in regional strength.
Men's brigades were heavily concentrated in areas of bitter labor strife
essential to the export economy: the cereal zone, the littoral ports, the
northern lowlands and quebracho forests, and Patagonia. Considering its
share of the national population, the Andean region was underrepresented, especially Mendoza and Tucumarn,but here the workers were
not, in general, as active as elsewhere. Through debt peonage, police vigilance, and traditional paternalism, plantation and sugar-factoryowners in
Tucumainmanaged to control the labor force. The lack of employment op40. Liga Militar, Solemne homenaje, p. 18; Liga, Octavo Congreso, p. 409. Even the
did not state the number of brigade members. Its
Brigada 19, Libro de Actas, 1926-1930
entry for May 18, 1927, however, did list 15 officers. The C6rdoba brigades of men and of
Sefioras had 275 and 550 members, respectively, according to La Voz del Interior, Oct.
1919, but it is not clear whether these brigades were typical. Normally the press
23-26,
listed only brigade officers, not members. According to La Naci6n, May 9, 1921, there were
forty-five women's brigades, but I could confirm the existence of only forty-one. My estimates may be low; Bayer, in "JacintoArauz," p. 42, claimed that there were about i,ooo
brigades, but he did not indicate sources. Whether one accepts the estimate of almost
12,000 activists or the Liga's figure of hundreds of thousands, these numbers compare very
favorably to, for example, the Socialist party membership of 8,339 in 1921. See Walter, Socialist Party, p. 173.
41. Liga Militar, Solemne homenaje, pp. 19-20.

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

1919-28

247

portunities in the depressed northwest further limited unionization. The

prevalence of small- and medium-sized landholdings and possibilities for
upward mobility helped curb rural labor conflicts in Mendoza. Slightly
over half of the male brigades were rural, headquartered in ranches,
sugar and tannin mills, railroad junctions, and towns with fewer than
5,000 inhabitants. This reflected the fact that many of the postwar era's
major strikes took place in the countryside.42
In contrast, the female brigades were urban. Half were located in the
capital and another 17 percent in cities and towns of Buenos Aires Province. Aside from these areas, only the relatively urbanized provinces of
Mendoza and Cordoba had more than one brigade apiece, and only four
were located in rural areas. Like their male counterparts, female Liguistas were found where the need for their services was the greatest: cities
with large concentrations of male and female workers, where the upper
classes could not ignore the glaring problems of poverty and family instability. This was also where most female philanthropies already existed.
Although women had far fewer brigades than men, their location gave
them a greater visibility in the press than their numbers or gender might
have suggested. Generally the men preferred to keep their repressive activities "invisible," although this was not always possible.
Social Backgrounds and Motives
Men and women of the Liga differed somewhat in social background.
The entire Junta de Sefioras and 97 percent of the Comision Central de
Sefioritasfrom 1920 to 1928 belongedto the upperclass, in contrastto 70
percent of a sample of Junta Central and Consejo Ejecutivo members.43
Male leaders were of higher social standing than brigade members: only
i8 percent of male brigade delegates to the congresses belonged to the
42. I classified all brigades located in cabeceras as urbani.Some of these governmental
seats, however, had fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. Therefore, more brigades were located in
the countryside than the figure in the text suggests. On Mendoza anldTucuiia'n, see Donna
J. Guy, "The Rural Working Class in Nineteentlh-Century Argentina: Forced Planitation
Labor in Tucuman," Latin American Research Review, 13:1 (1978), 135-157; William J.
Fleming, "The Cultural Determinants of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: A
Case Study of Mendoza Province, Argentina, 1861-1914," Joutrnalof Economic History, 39
(Mar. 1979), 222.
43. I classified men as upper-class if they were listed in a prestigious social register or if
they belonged to one or more of the following: Jockey Club, Sociedad Rural Argentina or
local rural association, Circulo de Armas. The sample consisted of 217 Liguistas: 146 brigade
delegates to the annual congresses from 1920 to 1928, and 71 members of the Junta Central
and Consejo Ejecutivo for these years. I classified women as upper-class if they belonged to
a prestigious philanthropic group, were listed in a social register, or were the wives or
daughters of upper-class men. Forty-five women participated in the Junta de Sefioras and
seventy-one in the Comisi6n Central de Sefioritas during these years. I also checked my

248

HAHR I MAY I SANDRA F. MCGEE

TABLE I:

Male brigades, 1919-28

Location
(Province or
Territory)
Buenos Aires
Patagonia* *
Federal Capital
Santa Fe
Entre Rios
C6rdoba
Corrientes
La Pampa
Santiago del Estero
Chaco
Misiones
San Juan
San Luis
Mendoza
Catamarca
Salta
La Rioja
Tucuman
Jujuy
Formosa
Unclassifiable

Number of
Brigades

Percentage
of Total
Brigades

Provincial
Population as
Percentage of
National
Population, 1920*

165
75
61
55
51
40
17
14
10
7
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
1
1

30.0
13.6
11.1
10.0
9.3
7.3
3.1
2.5
1.8
1.3
0.9
0.9
0.9
0.7
0.7
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.2
0.2

26.8
1.6
19.4
11.6
5.3
9.3
4.1
1.4
3.1
1.1
0.8
1.5
1.4
3.6
1.2
1.7
0.9
3.9
1.0
0.3

22

4.0

550

99.9

99.6

* Source: Vazquez-Presedo, Estadisticas, II, 43-45

* * I have added up all the Patagonianbrigades because many operated across provincial and territorial lines.

TABLE

II:

Male brigades, 1919-28, by region

Region
Pampas
Federal Capital
Andean
Northern lowlands
and Mesopotamia
Patagonia
Unclassifiable

Number of
Brigades

Percentage
of Total
Brigades

Regional
Population as
Percentage of
National
Popuilationi,1920*

279
61
22

50.7
11.1
4.0

50.4
19.4
13.8

91
75

16.5
13.6

14.8
1.6

22

4.0

550

99.9

100.0

* Source: Vazquez-Presedo, Estadisticas, II, 43-45

Percentages in Tables I and II may not add up to 100, because of rounding procedure.

249

LIGA PATRIOTICA ARGENTINA, 1919--28

TABLE III:

Women's brigades (Sefioras and Sefioritas), 1919-28*

Location
(Province or
Territory)
Federal Capital
Buenos Aires
C6rdoba
Mendoza
Entre Rios
Santa Fe
Santiago del Estero
Tucuinal1
Chaco
Tierra del Fuego
Catamarca

Number

Percentage
of Total

20
7
4
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
41

48.8
17.1
9.8
7.3
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
99.8

*The groups of Sefioritas organized around factory schools are nlotincluded.

The percentage does not add up to 100 because of roundiingprocedure.

upper class. Most brigade members seem to have come from the middle
sectors. Women did not conform to this pattern, except for the Magisterio. According to the Liga and other observers, female brigade members were of "the highest lineage." 44Both female leaders and rankand file
were more aristocratic than their male counterparts.
As is common in Latin American politics, family networks helped determine affiliationto the Liga, particularlyin the case of women. Thirty-six
percent of the Junta de Sefiorasand 23 percent of the Comision Central de
Sefioritas were closely related to men in the Liga. At least 40 percent of
the Junta and an overwhelming 86 percent of the Comision were closely
related to other Liga women. The male authorities, however, drew upoil
scholdesigniations(of both sexes) by showing the lists of namiiesto two prominienitAr-genitinie
ars, N6stor Tomas Auza and Jose Luis de Imaz, autlhorof Lo clase aita de Buenios Aires
(Buenos Aires, 1962), and I thank them for their help. The most important sources were
Archivo de La Prensa; Album ldeoro; Libro de Oro (Buenos Aires, 1911, 1923, 1936, 1943
eds.); Carlos Calvo, Nobiliario del antiguo virreynato del Rio de la Plata, 6 vols. (Buenos
Aires, 1936-43); Jockey Club, N6mina de los socios (Buenos Aires, 1926 and 1943 eds.);
"N6mina de socios," Anales de la Sociedad Rural Argentinra,52 (Feb. 1918), 1 i6-134; Sociedad Rural Argentina, N6mina de socios (Buenos Aires, 1938 and 1962 eds.). For a comilplete list of sources, see McGee, "Female Activists," n. 43, and "Counterrevolultion,"
pp. 349-351. I found only fiagmentary evidence onithe social backgrounldsof rank-anld-file
members in the press and Liga publications. See La Frotnda,Apr. ii, 1920; Liga Patii6tica
de Urquiza
Argentina, Primero de Mayo Argentino. Connemoraci6n del prontunlciamttentto
en Entre Rios (Buenos Aires, 1921), p. 75; identifications of members in Brigada 19, Libro
de Actas.
44. La Voz del Interior, Oct. 24, 1919. Also see La Fronda, Nov. 1, 1919.

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HAHR

I MAY I SANDRA F. MCGEE

a wider group than did the female: only 17 percent of the Junta Central
and Consejo Ejecutivo were closely related to other male Liguistas. Similarly, only 8 percent were closely related to members of the Junta de
Sefioras and io percent to those of the Comision. Female Liguistas came
from a smaller, more cohesive group than the male.45
These patterns reflected differences between men's and women's socialization. The figures above suggest that male Liguistas, usually husbands, may have influenced the Sefioras as much as their female kin, yet
women's relationships exercised the decisive influence on Sefioritas.
Young society women were largely secluded from men other than close
relatives, and in general they were discouraged from public activities.
They developed ties with female relatives and classmates at elite Catholic
schools. Frequent visiting and, after marriage, contact through charity
work bolstered these friendships.46Indeed, 58 percent of the Sefioras
studied had actively participated in philanthropic and civic associations,
whose memberships overlapped. These kinship and associational networks nourished the Liga, yet they were narrowly upper-class. By recruiting exclusively among these women, male and female leaders drew
upon their rich organizational experience but limited the breadth and
size of the female ranks.
Men enjoyed greater opportunities to broaden their networks than
women, beginning in the universities and continuing throughout life.
Many Liga men were acquainted with each other through politics; about a
third of the central authorities were active in parties opposed to the Radical government. Another third belonged to the powerful Sociedad Rural
Argentina or an affiliated rural association, while 48 percent were members of the prestigious Jockey Club. Others knew each other through their
contact with the military. Seventeen percent of the central authorities had
served as officers, and a few others, including Carles, taught in military
schools or belonged to military clubs.
Despite these differences, the principal motive behind male and female participation was the same: to preserve the class hierarchy. The social backgrounds of Liguistas, the stated goals, the circumstances surrounding the creation of the group, and the activities of the "invisible"
Liga all prove this point. In the Argentine context, however, female mem45. The most important sources for tracing family ties were Calvo, Nobiliario, and social registers such as Libro de Oro. "Close relationships"include parents, children, siblings,
spouses, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, grandparents, grandchildren, first cousins,
and brothers- and sisters-in-law.
46. Two memoirs were valuable sources for the socialization of upper-class women: Celina de Arenaza, Sin memoria (Buenos Aires, 1980); and Carmen Peers de Perkins, Eramos
j6venes el siglo y yo (Buenos Aires, 1969). Little information exists on the upbringing of
middle-class women in this period.

LIGA PATRIOTICA

ARGENTINA,

1919-28

251

bership in the Liga was unique and merits additional explanation. The
founders of the Cordoba women's brigade echoed this aim when they declared that "the moment had arrived for the Argentine woman to incorporate herself into the movement of defense against the designs of demolition."47 In addition, one could say that female (and male) Liguistas'
concern for the state of the family among the poor led them to join the
Liga, yet this preoccupation was also tied to the issue of social stability.
Nevertheless, women's networks and prior experience with social welfare
projects constituted a secondary motive for participating in the Liga,
which they regarded as another benevolent institution. Another reason
for their activity in the Liga was that the male leaders' recruitment drives
among women gave them a sense of importance. Finally, the Liga's emphasis on home and motherhood was appealing because it confirmed
women's own traditional roles.
Activities
In keeping with their roles as mothers and philanthropists, Liga
women were responsible for strengthening and "argentinizing"(argentinizar) working-class families, with the object of engendering social peace.
Brigades of Sefioritas and the Magisterio carried out this task mainly
through education. The teachers urged the hiring of native-born instructors in the public schools and the spread of nationalist ideas through the
classroom. The Sefioritas concentrated on influencing female workers
through tuition-free schools in factories and workshops, beginning in July
One reason for creating the schools was moralistic. Jorgelina Cano,
1920.
president of the Comision Central, argued that they would serve as a
wholesome alternative to bars or "sensual" tango schools, places that
women frequented after work.48
The schools served purposes other than the moral. Although the Liga
theoretically opposed women's work outside the home, its members recognized that many households depended on this source of income. Furthermore, they believed that teaching mothers the principles of nutrition
and hygiene would improve the health of impoverished families. Therefore, another goal of the schools was to enhance working women's capacities as wage-earners and housewives. In this regard, the schools offered
47. La Voz del Interior, Oct. 23, 1919. For a similar statement of pturpose, see La
Prensa, May25, 1919.
48. Comisi6n de Sefioritas de la Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Sus escuelas de obreras en
lasfdbricas (Buenos Aires, 1922), pp. 1-2; La Fronda, July 2, 1920; Marcela Bosch in Liga
Patri6tica Argentina, Primer Congreso de Trabajadores(Buenos Aires, 1920), pp. 10I- 105;
Comisi6n Central de Sefioritas, Memoria de cliez escuelas obreras, 1924-mnayo-1925
(Buenos Aires, 1925), pp. 9, 44-50.

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instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, typing, sewing, cooking, and

other domestic and vocational skills.
The most important purpose was, however, "to transform the hatred
of the working class into the friendship of the workers for their patrones
and benefactors," as one Liguista put it.49To further this end, pupils were
taught Argentine civics and such "Argentinevalues" as piety, obedience,
punctuality, deference toward one's betters, love of country and work,
and the "virtue of contentment," values conducive to the creation of a
pliant labor force. The singing of patriotic anthems reinforced the ideological messages of these lessons. Ironically, the daily La Nacio6n claimed
that the schools in no way manifested any class interest, yet added that by
reaffirming "the conservative feminine sense," they would give female
workers "a social vision of the real woman, not of the red lady,"50meaning
socialist feminists. As the "real woman" was religious, teaching the catechism became an integral part of the Liga curriculum. Carles considered
religious training for women particularly important, not only because it
encouraged obedience to authority, but because he thought it neutralized
feminism.5' Lest anyone fear that education would encourage rebelliousness, one student assured a Liga congress that the schools' aims were limited to teaching women to be conscientious mothers and to hate disorder.52
The Liga hoped that pupils would disseminate their knowledge at
home and raise their first-generation children to follow Argentine values.
Immigrant women would teach their families to ignore subversive doctrines, attend church, work diligently, and rise throuighthe system. In
this manner, class conflict would be resolved largely through the efforts of
mothers. The Sefioritas seemed to assume that the female proletariat was
inherently susceptible to their message, despite its participation in labor
conflicts. It is difficult to determine whether their assumption proved accurate. By 1927 the Liga claimed to have taught about io,ooo women;
more than twenty years later it announced that about fifty schools were
still in operation.53 Another possible measure of success was the fact that
male workers, whom the Liga considered more prone to leftism than
women, graduallyjoined the student body. Their numbers, however, remained small.
The Sefioritas served as school administrators rather than teachers.
49. Juan de Dios Gallegos in Liga Militar, Solemnzlehomiienaje,p. i8.
50. La Naci6n, July 5, 1920.
51. Octavo Congreso, p. 57.
52. Carmen Lasse in S6ptino Congreso, p. 435.
53. Comisi6n Central de Sefioritas, Meniioria,1927-a ayo-1928 (BtuenosAires, 1928);
Brigada 19 y 21, La verdad de la Liga Patri6tica Argentina (BueniosAires, 1950), p. II. I
found mentioni of niineteen factory schools by 1927, in the press and Liga publicationis. Ani
interview with Maria Ltujain
Baylac de Eizagtuirre,formiierhead of social services in the GCrafa
Factory, ButenosAires, July 6, 1981, confirmed the existence of schools in that workplace
anidothers.

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They solicited space and equipment from management, hired the teachers, inspected the operations, designed the curriculum, and collected
funds and books. Aside from administering the factory schools, which
proved to be the single most important Liga social project, the Sefioritas
also performed other services. Their precinct brigades sometimes served
as adjuncts to the male brigades, organizing their funld-raisingdrives
and other events. The Sefioritas donated textbooks to poor children and
opened lending libraries and homes for juvenile delinquents.
Meanwhile the Sefioras also established an array of social projects.
They created free neighborhood schools and kindergartens, maternity
hospitals, day-care centers for children of working mothers, free medical
facilities, and other services for underprivileged families. They sponsored
free entertainment in working-class areas, always with a nationalistic
slant, such as films on Argentine themes. Organizing celebrations of national holidays and traditions, such as folk dances (other than the tango),
salutes to the flag and armed forces, and typical meals was another activity. Sometimes they solicited contributions for these functions in the
streets. Perhaps their best-known venture was the annual exposition and
sale of textiles produced by Indian women in cottage industries, held

from 1920 at least throughthe early1930S. These expositionshad several

purposes: to stimulate Argentine industry and the spirit of free enterprise
among Indians; to help an impoverished and truly "national" group; to
honor the ability of traditional craftswomen; and to help women whose
participation in the labor market had not uprooted them from their
homes.54

Seemingly contradicting their sanctioned role, female Liguistas carried out many activities in public view. Women organized events and appeared in parades and annual congresses, where they occasionally gave
speeches. The presidents of the Sefioras and Sefioritas even participated
in the executive committees of these congresses. Nevertheless, in keeping with the wife's role as helpmate, some of the women's public functions, such as fund-raising, were designed to help male brigades. Furthermore, most of their projects were aimed at female workers and their
families and concerned health, educational, religious, and other matters
traditionally in the woman's sphere of duty. Even the leaders' speeches
focused on specific remedies for such issues, or on the "unique" feminine
qualities that enabled Liga women to join men in the struggle against social disorder.55Never did they voice any feminist sympathies. Female
Liguistas only barely trespassed into the male sphere of public life.
54. Hortensia Berdier in Discursos pronunciados, pp. 1-2. Brigade activities of Senioritas, Sefioras, the Magisterio, and men are discussed extensively in the press.
55. For example, see Jorgelina Cano in Tercer Congreso, pp. 327-328. In Supermnadre:
Women in Politics in Latin America (Austin, 1979), Elsa M. Chaney noted how women in

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MAY
I SANDRA

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Men carried out the not-quite-invisible repressioni of labor. Througlhout the nation, the Liga attacked unlionls and attempted to reinistate 'Argentine values" in labor-management relations. In the taxicab drivers'
strike in Buenos Aires of May 1921, for example, armed Liguistas invaded
union headquarters, killing two drivers and forcing others to kneel and
sing the national anthem.5' During the same year, Liga brigades in Entre
Rios fired upon peacef-ul workers' demonstrationis, destroyed Socialist
party offices, and assaulted individual militants in the streets. At harvest
time in the pampas, Liga members posted themselves at railroad stations
and prevented suspicious characters from getting off the trains, while
rural commissions patrolled the countryside.
Supported finanicially and logistically by the Asociaci6n Nacional del
Trabajo, a powerful employers' group, the Liga organiized its brigades of
free laborers in strike-prone industries and rural areas. Theoretically these
brigades were supposed to provide their members with the same economic benefits as unions, without "subjugating" them to the ideological
demands of leftist labor federations. In practice, lhowever, the workers'
brigades were merely the armies of businessmieni and landowniers used
againlst unionl foes. Sometimiies workers whose unlionls had been simiaslhedby
employers, the Liga, or official forces wer-e compelled to join the raniks of
free labor. This, for example, took place in Patagonia, after other brigades
supplied and assisted the army in its massacre of strikers in 1921. It was
common for Liga landowniers to deny jobs to harvest workeris unless they
joined the organization and could show their membership cards. The
workers' brigades also included agenits provocateurs hired by management to fomen-t strife between laborers and to spy on uInlionl mllemllbers.58
As a result of repression and economic recovery, the labor movemient
diminished in numbers and activism. Thlus, after 1922 Liga men joined
p)iblic life have uisuially been conicerined with social welfare, pnblic milor-alit, ainid otier
matter-s that pariallel womilen's roles in the famiily.
Femiiinists also extolled the -nniqne" qutalities of womiieinat this timie. Tlheir social backgrounnds, labor syml-pathies, anid opinlionls on1 female rights, however, distin-gtnislhecl tlhe
from Liga woimen. In this regard, Eva Per6n votild occnpv a miliddle positionl betweeni Liga
"social lhotisekeepers" anid socialist feminiiiists. Shle, too, sav lher-self as the "mnother" of Argentina, aniidwlhile slhe favored female suffrage anid other r-iglits, slhe devoted little attenitionl
to such isstnes anid vieNved feminisin coniteimpttiotuslv. See Chanev, Supemrandre, p. 2a, anid
Niclholas Fr-aser-anid Marvsa Navxarro, Eca Per-on (New York, 198o), p 10o.
56. Unisigined entry, Btuenios Aires, May 2s5 1921, U.S. l)ept. of State, 835.oo/326G
57. Oni the evenits in Enitre Rfos, see Liga, Pmmrietrode Alamlo;Liga Patri6tica Ar-genltinia,
(Btnenios Aires,
La Liga Patriotica Amgetiila enl Gmalcgmmamicimlim
Humnanitarismno
pr'ictico.
1921); La Vanguardia, Feb. 15-28 anid Mav-Jtnlv 1921; Estattitos dle la Liga, Gtialegtiavelich.
58. Oni Patagoniia, see Bayer, Los vcengado-es; anid Liga Patiri6tica Ar-genitinia, El ctulto (lc
la Patagomsia.Stmcesos de Santa Crtmz(Btuenios Aiies, 1922). La Protesta, jtunie 14, 1922, offered a good descr-iptioni of a fiee workei s' b1 igade. Agenlts provocateurs wvere descrlibed in
La Vanguarcdia,Aug. 24, 1920.

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their correligionarias, abandoning tactics of confrontationfor those of social peace. Although male brigades set up their own social projects, often
financed by the proceeds of women's fund-raising efforts, these charitable
works rarely assumed the scope of the women's. Men directed more attention to publicity and lobbying campaigns, aimed primarily at influential male leaders and secondarily at the public. As part of these efforts,
male Liguistas routinely delivered speeches, put up posters, and distributed notices of their activities to the press. Local brigades and the
central authorities interceded with provincial and national governments,
alerting them to educational, economic, security, and other needs.59
Men's and women's peaceful activities, then, were aimed at different
groups and carried out in different arenas.
Gender roles within the Liga also differed in another respect. The
Sefioritas' factory schools and other women's projects were designed to
improve the workers'lot in limited, practicalways, without increasing the
autonomy of workers. The Liga recognized, however, that broader means
were necessary to alleviate the misery of the poor while preserving the
essentials of the capitalist system. Carles and other male leaders assumed
the task of analyzing national problems and formulating an ideological alternative to both leftism and laissez-faire capitalism. In the congresses
and other important meetings, male Liguistas and guest speakers discussed such possible measures as social security, public housing, a national labor code, industrialization policy, and even limited land reform.
No clear consensus on these ideas emerged within the organization, and,
partly for this reason, the Liga had little effect on national legislation in
the 1920S. There was also no urgent need to adopt the reforms entertained by the Liga because the labor movement had declined and prosperity had (temporarily) returned. Nevertheless, the Liga left a heritage
of a "third way," which would influence future politicians such as Manuel
Fresco, a Liga member, and perhaps Juan Peron.'; At any rate, this discussion demonstrates another division of labor within the Liga: the men
served as ideologues, while the women were the practical reformers. In
this respect the Liga also prefigured the division of labor between Juan
and Eva Per6n, although Eva had a greater role in speechmaking, propa59. For examples of these activities, see Brigada 19 y 21, La verdad, pp. 17-i8;
Fronda, Nov. 21, 1919; Brigada 19, Libro de Actas, May i8, 1927 and Aug. 1, 1927.

La

6o. No evidence directly links Per6n and the Liga, but Carl6s or other Liguistas could
have been his teachers at military school, and he probably knew other officers who belonged
to the organization. Some of his ideas on capitalism, the left, and the recruitment of women
were similar-to those of the Liga. On Fresco, see Ronald Dolkart, "Manuel A. Fresco, Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, 1936-1940: A Study of the Argentine Right and its
Responses to Economic and Social Change" (Ph.D. Diss., U.C.L.A., 1969). The deepening
par-tisanconflict in Congress during this decade would have also made it difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish substantive refor-ms.

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ganda, and labor policy than female Liguistas, and she was much more of
a compafiera to the poor than they were.
Conclusion
The Liga's failure to unite behind and implement a coherent set of
proposals did not overshadow its successes. Its multiple responses to the
leftist threat reflected its ability to attractboth sexes. Friendly and hostile
observers alike recognized its unique appeal for women. When the Sefnoritas held their organizational meeting, Carles proudly announced that
for the first time in Argentine history, young women had dedicated themselves to the advancement of the fatherland.62Socialist women might well
have disputed this claim, but Carles did not consider them to be true nationalists. The editors of the left-of-center Cordoba newspaper, La Voz
del Interior, commented extensively on the local Senioras'brigade. They
found it difficult to believe that women had created a group and had written manifestos; surely men were behind these actions. Only rarely were
women, capable of exercising such strong feelings. Weak, tame, and ingenuous, they had traditionally been manipulated by the church, and
now the Liga was taking over that role.63
In contrast to this "progressive"publication, Liga men did not condescend to their female counterparts, at least not as obviously. In the congress of 1925, for example, Carles singled out the Sefioritas for special
commendation, calling them "the saintly women of the Republic who
serve as models of the true Argentine civilization." 64 The male leadership
believed that the collaboration of women rounded out the social mission
of the Liga.6 Clearly they valued the importance of the feminine contribution; otherwise, there would have been no reason to recruit women.
Whether Liga men organized and controlled female members, as the
opposition claimed, is a more complex question. Both men and women
created female brigades; that women exercised no comparable role in
organizing male brigades is understandable, considering that men had
entered the Liga before most women. While women followed Carles's
6i. According to Elsa M. Chaney in "The Mobilization of Women in Allende's Chile,"
in Jane S. Jaquette, ed., Woment in Politics (New York, r974), Latin American women in
government and politics have leaned towar-dthe task of practical reform rather than conceptualization. On Eva Per6n's role and image, see Fraser and Navarro, Eva Per6n, and J. M.
Taylor, Eva Per6n: The Myths of a Woman(Chicago, 1979).
62. La Fronda, Nov. 1, 1919.
63. Oct. 24, 1919. Also see La Protesta, Oct. 29, 19L9, for similar-sentiments.
64. Liga Patri6tica Argentina, Sexto Congreso Nacionalista de Trabajadores (Buenos
Aires, 1925), p. 46. Chaney in "Mobilization of Women" noted that Allende's government
and the leftist press also expressed condescending views of women.
65. Justo P. Correa in La Capital (Rosario),Jan. 17, 1921.

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257

leadership and the geneiral policies set by imale authlorities, thev con-trolled their own welfare programs. Despite the organization'santifeminist views, its female mem--bersgained valuable experience in adminiist-ation, voting, holding meetings, and other activities related to politics
more thanitwenty years before Argentine wom-ieni
achieved suffrager-ights.
Finally, if one simply assumes that male Liguistas "used"womnen,one ignores the many compelling reasons why the latter joined the organization. Men heacdedthe Liga, but its female mnemberswer-efar friompassive.
In at least one sense, however, the m-ialeleaders did manipu-late
women. The Liga issued many photographs to the press, aindwomen appeared much more frequently in them than the size of their membership
would have warranted. A favorite outlet for these pictures was the imlasscirculation magazine Caras 1 Caretas. One of their purposes was to present female Liguistas as a model of womanhood to be imitated by upwardlv
mobile women, similar to the intent of the factory schools. Another, more
important fiunction related to the iml-ageof the Liga that niale leaders
wished to cultivate. The entire ideological spectrum revered womenl as
mothers and peacemakers, and tbe Liga tookadvantageof this view. Photographs of women inaugurating schools or sitting among men at meetings
commi-unicatedthe more peaceful and benevolent values of the organization. At the same time, they helped camouflage those repressive acts that
detracted from its respectability.66In an ironic reversal of roles, women's
heightened visibility helped mask the "invisible" male ranks. The Liga's
attempt to cover its violent side, however, was not very successful, aiil
hiistorianshave since overlooked the "visible"women.
The Liga's manipulation of the female mystique demonstrates that
one should not overestimate women's autonomy in the group. Despite
the fact that their activities were politically oriented, they did not directly
challenge the prevalent definition of gender roles. In conformity with
tradition and prior experience, Liga women, although few in number, generally served as the philanthropists and behind-the-scenes organizers,
while the men were the combatants, publicists, lobbyists, and ideologues.The dual nature of the Liga suppressive and cooptative, invisible and visible-relied upon the participationiof men and women aiil a
sexual division of labor.
The Liga's programs and recruitment of both sexes ultiml-atelyproved
attractive to groups other than the upper class, wh7ose interests they were

originally designed to protect. National governmenitsbefore the 1940S did

not implement social welfare reforms because they did not view the small
66. Plhotographswere founi-din Archivo Grhfico,Ar-clhivoGen-er-alde la Naci6n, Buenos
Aires. I thank Robert Roten-beirgfor hiisideas onipolitical symbolism.

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and divided labor movement as a threat. Partly for the same reason, nationalists between the late 1920S and early 1940s, including Liguistas,
directed most of their opposition to liberal democracy and economic dependency rather than labor. Women continued to join some rightist organizations, such as the Legion Civica Argentina, the largest one of the
early 1930s, but the shift in emphasis robbed their tasks of significance.
By the 1940s, however, industrial growth, rural-urbanmigration, and renewed labor militancy created the conditions for a revival of Liga-style
nationalism-this time with a vastly different leadership and social base.
Juan and Eva Peron helped fulfill working-classeconomic aspirations and
mobilized male and female laborers, thus incorporating them into the
given order, while at the same time they repressed leftist and independent unions. In effect they carried out much of the Liga's program, although they inspired a greater sense of power and self-esteem in the
masses than the Liga had ever intended, and they took political control
away from the elite. These two changes would make this comparison
odious to Liga members and Peronists alike.67Ironically, as a result of decades of ruling-class intransigence, what was initially an antirevolutionary
program appeared revolutionary when put into practice.
67. Two former Liga women I interviewed, anid Monsignor Miguiel de Andrea, a Liguista, for example, opposed Peronism, and uindoubtedlymany other Liga member-sdid as
well. The interviews were with Marta Ezctirra, Buenos Aires, Julyv6,1981, anidElsa Meyer
Pellegrini de LaFranco, Buenos Aires, Jully17, 1981.
In a similar argument, Solberg (Im7nigrationand Nationalismi,p. 171) niotedthat Per6n
to destr-oyits imoappropriated the Argentinie elite's traditional tool, cultural niationalismll,
nopoly of power.