Mutual Benefit Societies in Argentina: Workers, Nationality, Social Security and Trade

Unionism
Author(s): Ronaldo Munck
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Oct., 1998), pp. 573-590
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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J. Lat. Amer. Stud. 30, 573-590. Printed in the United Kingdom K i998 Cambridge University Press 5 73

Mutual Benefit Societies in Argentina:

Workers, Nationality, Social Security
and Trade Unionism

RONALDO MUNCK

Abstract. In the 'pre-history' of Argentina's labour movement lie the mutual-

benefit societies. Although these associations embraced almost half of the
workers of Buenos Aires at the time of the Centenario(i 91i) little is known about
them. The articleexplores the main parametersshaping the development of the
mutual benefit societies, their relationshipto the immigrant communities and
their role in relation to social security. It traces, finally, the ambiguous
relationshipbetween the mutual benefit societies and the emergence of Peronist
trade unionism in the mid-I940s.

When May Day was first celebrated in Argentina in i890, the list of
organizations which sponsored the event included many ethnic associ-
ations. This eminently class event, workers' day, was being endorsed by
associations based on ethnicity. These were the mutual benefit societies
(MBS) which proliferated amongst the Italian and Spanish immigrant
groups in particular. Yet subsequent socialist and anarchist accounts of
the making of the working class in Argentina virtually ignore the MBS
and downplay the ethnic cleavages which played such a pre-eminent role
during the period. At best the MBS are seen as colourful, yet not really
significant, precursors of genuine class organizations. Even the better
histories of the labour movement tend to dismiss the significance of the
MBS in a few lines.' So how do we explain the fact that nearly half the
workers of Buenos Aires belonged to mutual benefit societies in i914?
A study of MBS in Argentina could contribute to our understanding of
various issues. The comparative international study of MBS2 has so far
neglected the distinctive element of ethnic or immigrant-based societies
focusing instead on workers' societies. In terms of Latin American
studies, this research could contribute to a better understanding of the
complex process of national and class identity formation. It is still not
clear, for example, whether the MBS aided or retarded the formation of
a national working class. It is certainly too simplistic to say simply that the
MBS played a 'dual role' in relation to class and ethnic mobilisation as
1 H. Spalding, La clase trabajadoraArgentina (Buenos Aires, 1970), p. 83.
2 For example IALHI (International Association of Labour History Institutions),
ColloqueInternationaleSur L'Histoire de la Mutaliti (Paris, i992).
574 RonaldoMunck

some historians have done.3 Furthermore, the study of the MBS may also
contribute to a better understanding of social security or welfarism in
Argentina. Before the rise of Peron, the MBS were important providers
of social security. Overall it seems clear that a study of these societies,
their history, diversity, membership, activities and ultimate fading away,
is long overdue. This research thus seeks to set a preliminary agenda for
this project.

Context
While the study of MBS has been relatively neglected, there is some
research which helps place the case of Argentina in a comparative context.
Based on a meticulous study of the early labour movement in Colombia,
David Sowell has argued persuasively that most of the literature 'fails to
appreciate the collective efforts of craftsmen and others to provide
security in the midst of changing economic and social conditions through
mutual aid organizations'.' The first such society in Colombia was La
Sociedadde SocorrosMutuos (The Mutual Aid Society) formed in i872 by
leading artisans associated with the Conservative Party. Its objective, as
was that of the subsequent societies, was protection of their trade and
provision for their own social welfare. These became fairly stable
organisations until the first decades of the twentieth century when the
urban working class began to dominate the labour force. Sowell is correct,
I believe, in detecting a Eurocentric bias in many early studies of labour
in Latin America which assumed an onward march of industrialization
and a progressive proletarianisation. The artisan is certainly now back on
the agenda for Latin American labour history.
In Peru also there was an early development of MBS with the formation
of the SociedadArtesanos de Auxilios Mutuos(Artisans' Mutual Aid Society)
in Lima in i 86o. These societies expanded after the war with Chile
(i 879-1983) and became a major bulwark for the artisan against the side
effects of industrialization in their trades. As Peter Blanchard recounts
'they ranged from the general, attracting members from all walks of life,
to the specific, restricting membership to those of a particular profession
like hat makers or bakery workers'.' While believing that the MBS were
' conservative entities', Blanchard argues that they adopted some
progressive social goals and paved the way for their more militant
successors. In Chile, the first MBS emerged in Santiago in the i850s

3 E.g. J. Godio, El MovimientoObreroy la CuestidnSocial (La Plata, 1972), p. 70.

D. Sowell, The Early ColombianLabor Movement.Artisans and Politica in Bogotd,sA2- 9
(Philadelphia, i992), p. io6.
5 P. Blanchard,TheOriginsof thePeruvianLaborMovement, iNS&-s9s (Pittsburgh, i982),
p. I7.
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 57 5

amongst the printers at first, but then spreading to bakers, tailors,

bricklayers, railway workers and others. According to Peter de Shazo
these MBS (SocorrosMutuos) 'played a key role in furthering the cause of
organized labor in Santiago and Valparaiso'6 even if they were eclipsed by
other forms of labour organisation after the I905-7 strike wave. These
organizations were based overwhelmingly on workers of national origin
and developed a broad scope of action including strike activity.
In Mexico, the MBS were the predominant form of labour organisation
under the Porfiriato. In i906 it is reckoned that there were around 6o
mutual aid societies in Mexico City, some such as that of the tailors tracing
its origins back to the i 86os. These were mainly male organizations,
patriotic in outlook and dedicated to the usual purposes of relief during
periods of illness or unemployment. In some sectors, however, such as
those of the rail and the textile workers, the MBS began to act as trade
unions in all but name.' This cross-over occurred in many of the
spontaneous strikes in the first decade of the zoth Century when striking
workers would use MBS premises as their base. We now have a
preliminary, if sketchy and partial, view of the MBS in Latin America
which seems to go against simplistic views of them as unambiguously
conservative. We can thus question the verdict of Gerald Greenfield and
Sheldon Maram in their introduction to the encyclopedic Latin America
Labour Organizationthat: 'Generally absent from such associations was
any strong sense of class consciousness vis-a-vis either capitalists or the
state, nor did they express a sense of solidarity with a more broadly viewed
working class'.8
The national context for the development of the MBS in Argentina was
set by the interlocking processes of vigorous capitalist expansion and the
unparalleled level of overseas migration. From mid-nineteenth to mid-
twentieth century, Argentina went through momentous economic, social
and political changes. The unsettled decades following the declaration of
independence from Spain in I8i0 had led to something approaching a
nation-state by mid-century. The expansion of agrarian capitalism in the
fertile Pampas was leading to urbanization, the rise of a service sector and
in the last quarter of the century an incipient industrialization process.
Argentinabetween i870 and I930 has been characterizedas an oligarchic
6
P. De Shazo, Urban Workersand Labor Unions in Chile, I902-I927 (Wisconsin, i983), p.
go.
JJ. Lear, 'Del mutualismo a la resistencia: las organizaciones laborales en la ciudad de
Mexico desde fines del porfiriato a la Revoluci6n', in Carlos Illades and Ariel
Rodriguez Kuri (eds), Ciudadde Mixico: Instituciones,Actores Socialesy ConflictoPolitico,
1774-19p, (Michoacin, I996), p. 282.
8 G. M. Greenfield and S. Maram, 'Preface', in Gerald Greenfield and Sheldon Maram
(eds.), Latin American Labor Organisations(New York, 1987), p. I.
576 RonaldoMunck

state in that the levers of power were firmly and exclusively in the hands
of the land-owning elite. The growing middle classes were to some extent
incorporated into the political system, but this was unable to prevent the
crisis following the international capitalist recession of the I930s which
effectively terminated Argentina's golden era of favourable insertion into
the international division of labour. A cycle of political instability now
began which was to culminate in the rise to power of Colonel Peron in
1945, thus inaugurating the so-called populist state. The labour movement
was at one and the same time brought centre stage in the country's
development and coopted under the populist tutelage of Per6n and his
lieutenants in the trade union movement.9
Argentina at the turn of the century was, in social terms, a country of
immigrants. Buenos Aires, the capital city, was a cosmopolitan place.
Every other person was foreign born, and out of every ten of these we
would find five people from Italy, three from Spain, one from north-
western Europe and one from the Balkans or eastern Europe. The
melting-pot for this heterogeneous group of immigrant workers was the
class struggle in which the anarcho-syndicalists, in particular, played a
detonating role. Yet, contrary to the 'heroic' accounts of labour's history,
this was not a smooth or linear process. The examination of the mutual
benefit societies (MBS) allows us to explore some of the aspects involved
in the complex and conflictual relation between class, nation and society.
For example, why in i90i did Jacinto Oddone, the leader of the Socialist
Party, himself of Italian origin, denounce the Italian MBS as chauvinist
centres (centrosdepatrioterismo)which did not give a damn (un comino)for
their members and which existed only to satisfy the greed of their
directors ?1"If Oddone was right how do we account, for example, for the
pre-eminent role of the Sociedad Tipografica Bonaerense(Buenos Aires
Typesetters Society) as recently described in detail by Silvia Badoza?'

Formation
We have an extremely fragmentary knowledge of the early MBS in
Argentina. Most of the standard labour histories dedicate a token sentence
or two to them, alluding to their existence in the obscure pre-history of

9 See R. Munck (with R. Falc6n and B. Galitelli), Argentina: From Anarchism to Peronism.
Workers,UnionsandPolitics,s8yy-s98 (London, 1987).
0 Cited in R. Gandolfo, 'Las Sociedades Italianas de Socorros Mutuos du Buenos Aires:
Cuestiones de Clase y Etnia Dentro de una Comunidad de Immigrantes (i880-I920)',
in Fernando Devoto and Eduardo Minguez (eds.), Asociacionismo, Trabajo e Identidad
Etnica. Los italianos en una perspective comparada(Buenos Aires, I992), p. 32I.
S. Badoza, 'Typographical Workers and their Mutualist Experience: The Case of the
Sociedad Tipografica Bonaerense, I957-80', in Jeremy Adelman (ed.), Essays in
ArgentineLabourHistory,i87o-I930 (Oxford, I992).
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 577

the labour movement. An obvious preliminary point is that there were

most probably many more societies than those for which we have records.
Though partial, the following account is a starting point.
The first thing to note about the emergence of MBS in Argentina is that
they were almost all formed by immigrant workers. Thus, they were at the
same time collective associations of workers and of immigrants. The first
recorded MBS in Argentina was L'Union et SecoursMutuels formed by
French immigrants in Buenos Aires in i854.12 This was followed, two
years later, by the San Crispin society formed by shoe workers of Italian
origin. Then, in I 9 7, the typographical workers of Buenos Aires
organised the SociedadTipogrdficaBonaerense, which was to go on to become
the first trade union (see below). Clearly we need to distinguish, at this
stage, between those societies based largely on a specific trade and those
representing a national group across trades and social origin.
Italian immigrants soon organised the best structured network of
mutual-aid to support the newly arrived artisans or rural workers.'3 The
earliest of these societies was Unionee BenevolenZa formed in the i 86os. The
first article in the Unionee BenevolenZa statutes declares that the association
'is based on patriotism, morality and progress, and its objectives are the
mutual aid between the members and the education of their children'. By
i9i6, there were I 5 Italian-based societies grouped in a mutual-aid
association, including Unionee BenevolenZa, UnioneOperaiaItaliana, Giussepe
Garibaldi, La Patriottica, Le Italiane al Plata, etc. The very names of these
societies show the heterogeneity behind the common label of MBS. For
some, the function of worker solidarity had primacy, whereas for others
there was a clear emphasis on the political function. That entailed
maintaining a base for liberal political activity in the country of origin,
celebrating national festivals, etc. A newspaper report of I 899 refers to the
Italian celebration of the 20th of September thus: 'the classic festival of
the Italian people has been celebrated again this year... as previously with
ceremonies and dances, both official and popular.... The Italian national
society, the hospital, the Circulo Italiano and the Unione e Benevolen.a
society, a powerful association based on the high principles of fraternity,
were involved. All the societies celebrated at their premises with concerts,

12 While firm records date from after the fall of Rosas, Nasino refers to a number of
societies being formed between i8z5 and i835 including the 'Sociedad Italiana del
Plata', and even detects some mutual aid societies during the colonial period: P. B.
Nasino, Tratado de EconomzaSocial del Mutualismo Argentino, (Buenos Aires, I 9 i9).
13 On the Italian societies see S. Baily, "Las Sociedades de Ayuda Mutua y el Desarrollo
de una Comunidad Italiana en Buenos Aires, I 8 5 8-I 91 8 ", Desarrollo Econdmico,vol. 2 I,
no. 84 (i982) and F. Devoto, 'Las Sociedades italanas de ayuda mutua en Buenos Aires
y Santa Fe, Studi Emigrazioni, XXI, no. 75 (i984).
578 RonaldoMunck

Table i.
Period Number of immigrants Number of societies
I 8 5 4-I 870 I6I,777 4I
i87i-i880 45 3,669 I07
I88I-I890 979,2 56 220
i89i-i900 I,256,6i9 275
I90I-I9I3 3,007,o89 5 59

Source: Immigrants - G. Bourd6 Urbanisationet immigrationen Amirique Latine: Buenos

Aires, p. i62. Mutual-aid societies: Tercer Censo Nacional de Poblaci6n, i9i9.

dances and patriotic readings including II Risorgimiento,Stella d'Italia, La

Liberti, Vittorio Emanuelle"4
The link between the patterns of immigration and the formation of
mutual-aid societies appears well established. Table i details the flow of
immigrants and the number of societies formed in the period preceding
the First World War.
There appears from this data to be a close correlation between the
accelerated flow of immigration in the decades following i870 and the
increasing number of MBS being formed. The predominant nationality of
the various societies also, logically, follows the national breakdown of
immigrant flows. Thus, of the 97 mutual-aid societies recorded in the I 904
Buenos Aires census, 62 had a mainly Italian membership, I 5 were
composed of locally-born people, seven were mainly Spanish, five French,
and one each were Belgian, Jewish and Russian respectively, the
remainder being of mixed or 'cosmopolitan' membership.

Functions
Mutual benefit societies in Argentina had similar functions to their
counterparts elsewhere. Medical care and funeral expenses"5 were primary
functions with some societies also contributing towards pensions,
education and emergency aid. Typical dues at the turn of the century were
between one and two pesos per month, with extra funds sometimes being
borrowed from the banks. The proportion of income expended on
mutual-aid varied considerably, from 85 per cent in the mainly Argentine
and 'mixed' societies to around 50 per cent in the Italian, French and
Spanish societies. This would imply a greater attention to the cultural
functions - including journalism and education - in the latter. Census
14 Cara y Caretas, September i 899, cited in M. I. Passanante, Pobrezay Accidn Social en la
Historia Argentina (Buenos Aires, I987).
15 Nasino (op. cit p. 28o) notes for the First World War period, that the mutual-aid
societies not only carried the burial expenses (and in some trades the funeral was a
social occasion of some note) but provided a mourning subsidy of between 5o and ioo
pesos.
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 579

data indicates that the majority of societies had a predominantly skilled

working class membership, although the officer board was invariably
composed of professionals or merchants. Some, such as the printers
association, were composed of only one trade, but most societies were
open to all professions. Nationality restrictions were, however, commonly
applied which accounts for the clearly defined national societies mentioned
above. As seems to be the pattern elsewhere, 85 per cent of the society
members were male, ten per cent were female, and five per cent were
children enrolled by their parents to benefit from the medical coverage.'6
We could argue that as well as the manifest functions noted above, the
MBS in Argentina had a latent function of integration, securing for the
immigrant artisan a transition into a new milieu. In Argentina it is hard
to separate the insurance and social aspects of mutualism from an attempt
to maintain some cultural links with the old country.
The importance of MBS in Argentina prior to the First World War
should not be underestimated.It is calculatedthat by I 9 I 3, some 2 5 5, 500
of the 405,000 workers living in Buenos Aires were associated to some
kind of mutual-aid society. According to Richard Shipley, these societies
had a combinedcapitalof $i i,084,622 pesos, with an annualdisbursement
of $2,969,442 pesos for pensions, medical payments and other benefits for
the members.'7 The membership of the mutual aid societies was
concentrated geographically in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe
and Entre Rios which accepted the largest proportion of immigrants. At
their height in I914 there were i,202 MBS with a membershipof 507,637.
So, considering that Argentina had then a population approaching 7.9
million, we can estimate that six and a half per cent of the population were
members of MBS. However, this relatively low coverage overall masks
the higher proportion of members in the immigrant communities. Thus
in 1914, I8 per cent of Italian immigrants, I 5 per cent of French
immigrants and I 3 per cent of Spanish immigrants were members of MBS.
During their heyday the social impact of the MBS seems indisputable.
Maria Passanante has argued that the model of mutualism prevalent in
Argentina was the French one, in particular as expounded by Leopold
Mabilleau who visited Argentina in i9i2 for a lecture tour.18 This does
not seem to square with the fact that there were, at the time, only I7,000
French mutual-aid members, compared to i 66,ooo involved in Italian
societies. My own impression is that the ideological influences on the
mutualist movement were quite diverse. There was a strong Masonic
influence, the Catholic Church influence was considerable through the
16 R. Shipley, On the OutsideLooking In: A Social History of the Porteio Worker, unpublished
PhD dissertation(Rutgers University, I977), p. 234. 17 Ibid.
18 M. I. Passanante, Pobrezay Accidn Social, p. 66.
58o Ronaldo Munck

Circulosde Obreros,but Proudhon and other political figures also influenced

the mutualist discourse. I would argue that, as Hobsbawn puts it for the
British case, mutual aid symbolised 'the creation of a social space outside
the control of the powerful and rich'. 9 Notwithstanding a number of
MBS being formed to gather social support for elite politics, the greatest
proportion of the societies represented the interests and aspirations of the
artisans who were in the process of 'making' a working class in
Argentina.
Most members of the mutual benefit societies were at the same time
immigrants and artisans. The literature almost implies that artisans are
predestined to take up MBS as a form of organisation. Whatever the case,
it is hardly surprising for immigrants to construct networks of support for
new arrivals so as to assist them to find work and a roof over their heads.
A contemporary account found that 'the Italian has a very developed
spirit of association and he puts it into practice whenever two nationals
meet, which explains the great quantity of genuine palaces on the Plate,
raised in a few years by the Italian mutual aid societies, for economic or
simply recreational purposes."20 Where the country receiving mass
immigration lacks a state system of basic social provision it is natural for
the immigrant to turn to fellow nationals. Yet these immigrants were of
predominantly working class origins and it is difficult to separate the
social from the national dimension. At first, national solidarity would
prevail over class solidarity, but by the turn of the century social
differentiation had created the conditions for the emergence of class
conflict. The trade based MBS were to play a considerable role in building
class solidarity and creating the early trade unions.

Politics
For Robert Alexander, a pioneer in Latin America labour history, 'the
mutual benefit societies were much less political than the later unions and
have remained much more conservative in their outlook'.2" To say that
the MBS were 'less political', however, begs a whole series of questions.
First, there were many societies which were explicitly aligned with
political factions in the old country or in Argentina. Also, while ostensibly
denying political intent they were often schools of free thinking be it
anarchist, socialist or other ideologies which animated debates. Of course,
where state repression of explicitly class struggle prevailed, there was good
reason to present a 'non-political' front. It is, similarly, difficult to sustain
a blanket statement that the MBS were more conservative than the trade
19 E. Hobsbawn, Worldsof Labour(London, i984), p. I91.
20 Cara y Caretas, i899, cited in M. I. Passanante, Pobrezay Accidn Social, p. 7I.
21 R. Alexander, Labour Movementsin Latin America, (London, i967), p. 5.
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 58 i

unions which followed them. Certainly, the societies were defensive in

that they sought to protect their members from the ravages of an
unbridled capitalism. Yet there is no simple history of trade unions to
counterpoise to this which was one of unsullied radicalism and where the
defensive function had been superseded. While not wishing to blur the
line of distinction between MBS and trade unions it would be wrong to
accept a simple, stark, counterposition as much of the literature does.
In an overview of Chilean trade unions, Alan Angell draws a
conclusion which is equally applicable to the case of Argentina: 'Mutualist
societies demonstrated the possibility of organisation, they spread ideas,
they showed that cooperation could bring benefits, but their organisation
was intended to serve purposes outside the work place, for their aim was
to establish the social position of their members .22 The historical
significance of mutualism in the making of the working class now seems
well established. Not only the possibility but the benefits of organisation
were clearly demonstrated for those concerned but also, through the
broader auspices of the mutualist movement, for broad layers of society.
What seems incorrect in Angell's evaluation is counterpoising this aspect
to the objective of social integration. In Argentina, the MBS, the trade
unions and the socialist parties all served to promote the social integration
of the immigrant. The MBS were not unique in seeking 'to establish the
social position of their members'. As immigrants, upward social mobility
was an integral part of artisan culture but this did not preclude conflict
however. On the contrary, the often frustrated expectations of the
immigrant worker could lead in the direction of anarchism with its
individualistic discourse.
We have already mentioned the SociedadTipograficaBonaerenseformed in
i857. Its objectives were to 'forward the advance of the typographic
art ... lend assistance to its members who become ill or are unable to
work ... and to achieve a remuneration in accordance to peoples aptitude
and knowledge'.23 In spite of the wage revindication element, this society
was predominantly of a mutual-aid orientation. This did not prevent the
society from orienting towards workplace issues or from making political
statements. It was the Buenos Aires typesetters association which,
significantly, made contact with the First International towards the end of
the i 86os. It also organised the first recorded strike in Argentina in i878
although we do not know precisely what happened inside the MBS which
led to this pioneering strike, twenty years after its formation. At first the

22 A. Angell, 'The Origins of the Chilean Labour Movement', in Robin Cohen et al.
Peasants and Proletarians (London, I 979), p. 3 I.
23 S. Marotta, El MovimientoSindical Argentino s. Su genesis desarrollo18J7-s914, (Buenos
Aires, 1960), p. z8.
582 RonaldoMunck

society's discourse stressed its identification with 'universal civilization'.

Gradually we find increasing discussion of the grave situation of the
worker in Argentine society, now seen as its 'principal victim'. Defending
the trade was being superseded by defence of the worker. In the late I 870s,
a typesetters union was formed to rival the SociedadTipograficaBonaerense,
but the latter achieved its dissolution. Even as specifically trade union
activity began and strikes were mounted, the mutualist ideology continued
to exercise its influence. As Silvia Badoza, in a study of the Sociedad
TipograficaBonaerensehas noted, 'mutualism retained its relevance as one
form of workers solidary, it was not washed away by resistance societies
nor later by unions'. 24

Transformation
Though information is scanty, it is generally recognised that the MBS
entered a period of decline after the First World War. From a peak
membership for Buenos Aires of 255,534 (in 2I4 societies) in I9I4, a
legislative commission in 1926 could find only 77 societies with a
combined membership of I 2I,I46. For the membership of the MBS to be
halved in just over a decade something dramatic must have occurred. This
we shall examine under the two headings of the rise of labour unions, and
the incipient emergence of a welfare state in Argentina. First, however, we
must enter a caveat mentioned by Richard Shipley, namely that it is
possible that the decline of the MBS was more apparent than real. Thus
the i926 survey notes a further 23 societies with around io8,ooo members
which were similar to, if technically different from, MBS. Some of these
organisations were set up by employers and Shipley argues in this respect
that 'the rapid growth of such organisations was no accident. Industrial
leaders and upper-class elites in the city openly advocated the induced
growth of mutual-aid societies, and other similar organisations after the
outbreak of labour protest in i9i6-I7'. 2' This factor, however, may
qualify the image of decline but does not change the overall picture.
As Marcel van der Linden notes: 'In most cases of transformation
(mutual-aid) societies changed into trade unions'. 26 We have already
mentioned in the previous section the case of the Buenos Aires

24
S. Badoza, 'Typographical Workers and their Mutualist Experience: The Case of the
Sociedad Tipogrdfica Bonaerense, i857-I88', in Jeremy Adelman (ed.), Essays in
Argentine Labour History, IN7o-I93o (London, I992), p. 88.
25 R. Shipley, On the Outside Looking In, p. 235. Pablo Nasino (op cit. p. I5) lays
considerable emphasis on the 'pseudomutualidades', referring to those societies which
pursue commercial and politico-religious ends, which leads him, incorrectly in my
mind, to see Catholic workers' circles as not 'true' mutual-aid societies.
26 M. van der Linden, The ComparativeHistory of Mutual BenefitSocieties: SomeQueries and
Suggestions(Mimeo, I992), p. 5.
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 58 3

printworkers' society which became one of the first trade unions in the
country. It was the intensification of the class struggle in the first decades
of the twentieth century which created pressure on the MBS to adopt a
more combative role. From the general strike of I905 to the semi-
insurrectionary Semana Traigica of i919, the workers of Argentina were
engaged in fierce confrontations with capital and the state. Anarchists,
syndicalists and socialist currents all contributed to an unprecedented
ideological ferment. The MBS could hardly remain immune from this
accelerated flow of history. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century,
a transitional form of organisation known sometimes as Resistance
Societies emerged which retained some mutualist features while fore-
shadowing the trade unions of the twentieth century. The i89os were
probably the turning point, when the ambiguity between mutualism and
trade unionism was gradually resolved to the benefit of the latter form of
working class organisation and representation.

Social Security
The other development undercutting the role of the MBS was the
increasing, if uneven, social insurance provisions made by the state. In
I904 an enlightened elite class fraction proposed a law which included a
eight-hour day, compensation for occupational hazards and other labour
demands. However, this draft law was not approved, although the same
year a national social security fund for civil servants was set up. The
railroad workers' union, which had always prioritised social security
protection as a goal, demanded a similar fund but it was opposed by
employers. It was not until I9I5 that the railroad workers achieved a
social security law providing for old age, disability and survivors'
pensions for its members. Another law, following Mesa-Lago, provided
'protection against occupational accidents and diseases as well as safety
requirements for workers in industry, construction, mining, trans-
portation and energy (precisely the best organized and most active
workers)'. 27 The Radical government of Yrigoyen went on to extend
social security legislation in i92i to cover workers and employees in the
public utilities as well as those working in hospitals and clinics.
The memoirs of Nacionalista politician Carlos Ibarguren show the close
relationship between the history of the MBS and the question of social
provision.28 Already in i91i, as Minister of Justice under the Saenz Peiia
government, Ibarguren had argued that the great gap in social security
legislation had to be filled to maintain peace and order amongst the
proletarian masses. He saw in the mutual-aid movement 'the first
27 C. Mesa Lago, Social Security in Latin America (Pittsburgh, I978), p. ii z.
28 C. Ibarguren, La historia que le vivido (Buenos Aires, i969).
584 RonaldoMunck

rudimentary expression of social security in Argentina'. 29 In terms

reminiscent of T. H. Marshall, he referred to the need to complete
political democracy with social democracy in Argentina. In his speech to
the i9i8 Congresode la Mutualidad, which brought together some 300
mutual-aid societies, Ibarguren referred to the need to 'create a social
security system which would be 'the higher stage of mutualism, assisted
and financed by the State'.30 That Ibarguren saw MBS purely in social
security terms does not detract from their role as proto-class struggle
organisations. In fact, Ibarguren clearly saw the link between social unrest
during this period and the lack of basic social security for workers.
The history of social security in Argentina divides up clearly into a
period before and after Per6n. Until Per6n came to power, the social
security system provided pensions for some white-collar sectors and the
more powerful blue-collar sectors such as those central to the country's
agro-export orientation (railroad workers and the merchant marine).
Partial protection against occupational accidents and diseases was all the
rest of the population could expect. But, as Mesa Lago writes 'Peron
changed this situation dramatically in one decade (1944-5 5) by expanding
the coverage of pensions to most of the labour force: industrial,
commercial and rural workers, policemen and the self-employed".31 Social
security funds were established by the state to cover most occupational
groups, but many unions also set up mutual insurance funds to provide
health care for their members. In I944 the Instituto Nacional de Prevision
Social was set up to oversee social security programmes. Subsequent
military regimes were sometimes able to reverse the balance of forces
achieved by labour under Per6n, but the bedrock of social security
provision, among the most advanced in Latin America, remained as an
enduring achievement.
There is an implicit model of labour organisations in Latin America
which accounts for the decline of the MBS in a linear, economistic
manner. Thus Poblete Troncoso and Burnett's classic study of the rise of
the Latin America labour movement notes how it passed through three
stages: 'At first, the mutual benefit societies (mutualidades)were born.
These were followed by the societies of resistance (sociedadesde resistencia)
and finally by genuine trade unions'.32 This simple evolutionary model
does reflect reality to some extent but at the cost of ironing out
contradictions, continuities, mixed forms of organisations and setbacks.
The economism of this model is reflected in the simple equation between

30 Ibid, p. 32I 31 C. Mesa Lago, SocialSecurityin Latin America,p. i64.

32 M. Poblete Troncoso and R. Burnett, The Rise of the Latin American Labor Movement
(New York, 1960), p. 14.
29 Ibid, p. 234.
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 5E

MBS and incipient economic development. We are told, for example, that
'In this stage, which embraced virtually all of the nineteenth century,
workers united to attend to the immediate and distressing needs that were
produced in case of illness. The mutualist associations filled a physical and
spiritual void in this period'." Twentieth century industrialization is seen
to lead automatically to their demise and the rise of trade unions. This
model is developed not so as to create a 'straw man', but because it is a
thesis which underlies so much of the literature on MBS and seems to
hinder research into their real complexity. In short, the model acts as a
substitute for genuine understanding.
We need to start by recognising the heterogeneity of the MBS, and
perhaps even subdividing the category which seems an amalgalm of
diverse forms. The influence of positivism in Argentina during the turn
of the century was considerable. Yet we do not know precisely the weight
of positivism and the Masonic influence in the MBS milieu. We know that
the philosophy of Mabilleau, Rayneiri, Gobbi and Maffi were important
for Argentine mutualism but details are scanty. We do not know the
precise relationship between corporatist trade-based societies and those
based on nationality. It is also difficult to ascertain to what extent the
collectivist ideology of mutualism masked or coexisted with a par-
ticularistic spirit of personal security and advancement.
For the moment we can conclude that the labour organising and social
insurance functions of the societies were superseded by the development
of trade unions and state sponsored social security. Mutual benefit
societies with other, broader, perspectives and membership bases would
continue. To this day in Argentina there are Italian, French, British and
other hospitals which were originally built by the MBS on behalf of their
respective immigrant communities. It would seem to me, however, that
the MBS of today is a quite different organisation from that of the turn of
the century.
In a popular history of the labour movement in Argentina Alberto
Belloni once wrote: 'We will not describe the formation of the mutual-aid
societies nor the artisan guilds of the colonial period and the years
following independence, because one can consider that a working class
practically did not exist, and the artisan "unions" were not struggle but
defensive entities'. 4 Such a dismissive attitude is no longer possible in the
light of our own preliminary account above. Not only is the notion of the
working class reified in a way which prevents us recognising real workers,
but a whole period of self-organisation is dismissed in one sentence.
33 Ibid.
3' A. Belloni, Del Anarquismo al Peronismo. Historia del Movimiento Obrero Argentino
(Buenos Aires, i960), p. i i.
586 Ronaldo Munck

Clearly, the MBS in Argentina were an important, and hitherto neglected,

component in labour's history. This last term is itself misleading,
however, because it denies a certain autonomy to the mutualist project. It
is at once part of the pre-history of another movement and a movement
in its own right. The crisis and transformation of this movement was no
simple process as we saw above. On the one hand, the societies were
' transmogrified' into trade unions, and on the other hand, the state began,
in a reluctant and piecemeal fashion, to take over some of their main social
insurance functions.
The Peronist decade (I945- 5 ) saw the emergence of Argentina's
version of the welfare state. The extension of social security legislation to
cover the bulk of the workforce and the consolidation of the role of the
trade unions together rendered the MBS largely redundant. Yet it is not
entirely fanciful to consider the Peronist social justice doctrine of
justicialismo as a fulfilment of the mutualist philosophy. The trade unions
now ran a sophisticated and solid system of social security, providing for
the health, unemployment, funeral and even holiday needs of its members.
The mutualist dream, sometimes far removed from the more modest
reality, was coming to fruition. The social works (obrassodiales)of the trade
unions were to become a state within a state. A network of working class
solidarity - primarily defensive but capable of widescale offensive action
against capital and the state - was being formed. It is no coincidence that
the military dictatorship which came to power in Argentina in 1976 made
one of its first measures in regard to labour the separation of the obras
socialesfrom trade union control. As a century earlier, the control over
social insurance is a political issue and one in which labour has a vital
interest.
It has been suggested that there are two models of the welfare state: the
Helping Hand approach which attempts to integrate organised labour and
the Heavy Hand approach which, logically enough, entails a suppression
of social unrest.35 While accepting that these are two polar approaches I
do not think it is helpful to try to categorise Argentina as a Heavy Hand
or Helping Hand country. In the century of Argentina's history we are
concerned with - I 8 5 0-195 0 - the state oscillated various times between
repression and cooption policies towards labour. With Peron we could say
that the Helping Hand prevailed, but welfare programmes were still
intended to suppress socio-political unrest which is seen as a characteristic
of the Heavy Hand. With trade unions taking on a welfare role, it could
be said that their cooptive function was reinforced. Peron's welfarism can
be interpreted as state largesse, which dampens the class struggle. In
3 See S. Schneider 'The Sequential Development of Social Programs in Eighteen
Welfare States', ComparativeSocial Research, 5 (i982).
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 587

reality, the social significance of Peronism is far more complex: at once a

product of struggle and a bid to defuse it, at once a channel for an
elemental upsurge of the oppressed classes and also an institutional barrier
to its political development. The agenda of the MBS is certainly not absent
from these debates.
We must be wary of any rigid dichotomies between passive versus
aggressive organisations, conflict versus cooptation or state concession
versus labour gain. There is usually a complex dialectic between these
elements and even a contradictory coexistence in which both are present.
For example, we can consider James Malloy's conclusion for Brazil that
'the beginnings of social insurance (was) an elite-designed attempt to
dampen social protest and weaken radical labor organizers ,...36 From this
perspective the state moves into the field of social insurance can be viewed
as an attempt to divide the working class and co-opt key sectors. The early
provision of social insurance for the railroad workers in Argentina would
fit this argument. And yet we find an official publication of the social
security administration in Argentina describing how: 'The creation of the
early pension funds was the result of intensive union activism. The
economic strength, degree of solidarity and activism of the unions were
factors that shaped the fragmentation of the social security system along
occupational lines'." It would seem that the emergence of social security
systems was at one and the same time a product of labour activism and of
elite calculation, a gain for labour and a dampener on future struggles.

Assessment
In a general historical overview, van der Linden has argued that, over and
above their manifest functions, the MBS have had latent functions leading
to the making of a 'civilized" working class.38 This entailed a process of
building worker self-confidence and familiarising them with the ways of
industrial society. In Argentina it seems clear that the main latent function
of the MBS was the adaptation or integration of the immigrant into a
capitalist society in the making. There was, during the early phase of
immigration, a definite national division of labour. As Guy Bourde points
out: 'National origin, even a regional one, leads to a privileged choice of
profession'. 3 A pre-existing national or regional solidarity opened doors
and led to concentration of national groups in particular trades. This
explains the close link between trade and national based MBS. It also

36 J. Malloy, The Politics of Social Security in Brarzil(Pittsburgh, I979), p. 45.

3 C. Mesa Lago, Social Security in Latin America, p. X73.
38 M. van der Linden, The ComparativeHistory of Mutual BenefitSocieties, p. 7.
3' G. Bourd6, Urbanisationet Immigrationen Amirique Latine: BuenosAires (Paris, 1974), p.
234.
588 Ronaldo Munck

points to the coexistence of the social functions of these societies (with

regard to the trade) and the cultural aspect which was an integral part of
the self-identification of the immigrant worker. This latent function of the
MBS would seem to lead to fragmentation of workers along national lines
rather than a process of class formation. To explain this apparent paradox
would take us beyond our topic so a few lines will suffice.
The MBS in Argentina, as elsewhere, responded to a need for defence
and mutual aid among specific communities.40 The pre-existing solidarity
of nation or region was reinforced by these societies, but so was the new
trade-based solidarity. The MBS played a crucial pioneering role in the
process of integration and adaptation of the immigrant in a new milieu.
Whereas the old solidarity was reinforced, the conditions for a new
solidarity were created. It may seem ironic, but it was the process of class
struggle in the first part of the twentieth century which was to lead to
national integration of the working class. Struggle (ie. disorder) was
inseparable from the creation of a new national order. The anarchist who
had no nation and the member of a national based mutual benefit society
played a similar role in this process. It was not then so much a question
of 'civilising' a pre-existing working class but 'nationalising' a disparate
group of nationalities and trades. This would probably be a particularity
of the mutual benefit societies in Argentina compared to those in Western
Europe.
It would seem to be wrong to take a uni-dimensional or uni-directional
view of the relationship between ethnic-based MBS and the integration of
the immigrant worker. There is a strong tradition in Argentine sociology
going back to Gino Germani's classic work,41 of taking a straight
forwardly functionalist view on this question. Thus, emphasis is placed on
the psycho-social dimension of the individual immigrant with the MBS
being seen as an association which facilitated the structural integration of
the immigrant. It would seem more fruitful to avoid such structural
determinism and conceive of the 'melting pot' of migration as a more
complex process of pluralist interaction. The real life complexity of class
and ethnic relations can be alluded to from the trajectory of Carlos Mauli,
a leading revolutionary militant of Italian origin who was a founder
member of the Argentine Communist Party in i922. He saw no
contradiction between this side of his political activity and his long

40 As J. Adelman, 'The Political Economy of Labour in Argentina, 1870-1930', in

Jeremy Adelman (ed.), Essays in Argentine Labour History (op cit), p. 5, notes: 'Intra-
ethnic binds were crucial for survival, as mutual-aid societies, banks, sporting clubs and
libraries, not to mention job-recruitment systems, aided the newcomer to adapt and
integrate'.
41 G. Germani, Politicay Sociedaden una Epoca de Transiciodn (Paidos, 1964).
 Mutual benefitsocietiesin Argentina 589

standing role as secretary of the Italian MBS La Patriottica from i890

onwards. Of course, one individual trajectory does not constitute a trend.
There was considerable socialist and anarchist hostility towards the
ethnic based MBS, including the attitude of Italian socialist leader Jacinto
Oddone whose hostility towards the Italian MBS was quoted at the start
of this article. The Italian anarchists were even more forthright in their
ideological critique of the MBS. For example in 1907 La Protesta declared
that 'the Italian chauvinists (ilpattriotardismo italics) had come to Buenos
Aires to use the immigrants to ascend ... creating institutions [the MBS]
based on egoistic charity and fraternal love for the scab'.42 In some ways
this critique is not surprising given that anarchists, socialists and others
would be ideological opponents of the MBS leadership. It would,
however, be necessary to add to this element of ideological competition,
the degree of complementarity between the MBS and the more strictly
class based currents of the labour movement. It is not for nothing that the
sponsoring organisations for the first May Day in Argentina in i890
included prominent Italian MBS such as Italia Unita, Figli del Vesuvioand
the Societi Italiana de Barracas.i3
Against the integrationist model of Germani and others we should, of
course, cite the countervailing tendency referred to in Samuel Baily's
meticulous study of Italian MBS in Buenos Aires.44 For Baily, the Buenos
Aires Italian mutual aid societies were more effective than their
counterparts in the United States in terms of avoiding assimilation.
Indeed, the ' ColoniaItaliana' was a formidable social network and Buenos
Aires was practically an Italian city at the turn of the century. Baily's line
of interpretation finds support in the account of an Italian traveller to
Argentina in the early I 89os. Angelo Scalabrini saw in the Italian mutual
benefit societies of Buenos Aires a 'precious bulwark for patriotism
against the fatal law of absorption'.45 Yet, of course, Italian immigrants
did become Argentine workers and Argentine citizens. It would seem that
the socialists and anarchists actually played down the ethnic dimension, in
spite of the attack from Oddone for example, to prevent the ethnic
question blowing up or retarding the formation of a relatively
homogeneous working class and labour movement.
42 Cited in R. Gandolfo, 'Las Sociedade Italianas de Socorros Mutuos en Buenos Aires:
Cuestiones de Clase y Etnia Dentro de una Comunidad de Inmigrantes (i880-i920)',
in Fernando Devoto and Eduardo Minguez (eds.), Asociacionismo, Trabajo e Identidad
Etnica. Los italianos en una perspective comparada(Buenos Aires, 1992), pp. 32 I-2.
4 S. Marotta, El MovimientoSindical Argentino (Buenos Aires, 1960), p. 8o.
4 S. Baily, 'Las Sociedades de Ayuda Mutua y el Desarrollo de una Comunidad Italiana
en Buenos Aires, 1858-1918', Desarrollo Economico,vol. 21, no. 84 (1982).
4 Cited in F. Devoto, 'La Experiencia Mutualista en la Argentina: Un Balance', in
Fernando Devoto and Eduardo Minguez (eds.), Asociacionismo, Trabajo e Identidad
Etnica (Buenos Aires), 1992, p. 177.
590 Ronaldo Munck

In this regard we can take up the conclusion of Fernando Devoto that

the MBS can be seen as 'sites of democratic practices'46 which articulated
within civil society processes which would later lead to the trans-
formations of the political system as democratization of the political
system occurred. As the democratization debate today recognizes,
democracy requires democrats to implement it. The MBS can thus be seen
as a space within turn of the century Argentine society where democracy
could be learnt and practiced. It would be well not to exaggerate the level
of political participation which occurred in the MBS which seemed to
have been run by a self-perpetuating political elite. Yet at a cultural or
discursive level there was a distinctive democratic aura around the MBS
in Argentina as elsewhere. For this line of interpretation to be developed
we would need to proceed beyond a structural or formal analysis of the
MBS to learn more about the social life of the various societies, the lived
experience of the MBS members, their aspirations and dreams.
Useful methodological pointers for this project could come from the
recent study of MBS discourses in Mexico by Carlos Illades.4'7 From this
perspective, association by class and/or ethnicity can be conceived as an
expression of a new sociability in the immigrant city. For Illades, the
Mexican mutualist discourse at the turn of the century was inclusive as
well as defensive, defending status as well as promoting a collective
interest.48 The individual immigrant could become a social subject
through participation in the MBS. The early emphasis on particular trades
could also become dissolved subsequently in more general definitions of
'worker' and of 'citizen'. A discursive approach would be particularly
alive to the question of transformation sometimes elided in the structural
approach. Thus Illades traces the shift in mutualist discourse which at first
constructed itself in opposition to 'lazy' non-workers (vagos) but later
began to centre its opposition on the factory and workshop owner as the
idea of a working class began to take root.49 There is certainly a fruitful
research agenda here.
46 Ibid, p. i 8i.
4 C. Illades, 'Organizaciones laborales y discurso asociativo en el siglo XIX', in Carlos
Illades and Ariel Rodriguez (eds.), Ciudad de Mexico. InstitucionesActores Sociales y
ConflictoPolitico, s774-s9}s (Michoacin, 1996). 48 Ibid, p. 263.

4 Ibid, p. 264.