Nation or colony: national reality as a topic of reflection

The 1930s gave rise to a series of tensions in Argentine society. Until then, the
euphoria of economic growth and the democratization of social life had shaped
the image of a country confident in its future; for many, Argentina had to fulfill
a manifest destiny that would distance it from some Latin American countries
and resemble it to powerful and rich countries. This was a widely held
conviction, which had grown throughout the great expansion, and few people
noticed the limits of growth. Although many Argentine leaders maintained their
liberal ideas, the global economic depression, which occurred between 1929
and 1933, revealed the weaknesses of the free trade system and the risks of
maintaining a sustained economy in the agricultural sector. The government of
Justo implemented a series of measures to deal with the situation: it
introduced regulations in prices and production, created the Central Bank and
promoted industrial production aimed at replacing imported goods with others
manufactured in the country.
Forging a national
The effects of the crisis motivated the reflection on
thought meant resorting
the national reality in a different way than the to history as a means to
centenary of May Revolution had produced. The formulate a new political
crisis showed that the Argentine economy was too project. In the opinion of
exposed to the cycles of world capitalism, a the nationalists, the
situation derived from the economic dependence of vindicable past had begun
central countries and foreign corporations. For with Rosas, which for
some young nationalists, disillusioned with the them represented federal
1930 coup plotters, the government of Justo and popular traditions,
represented the restoration of the land owners - and the defense against
external aggression. From
which they called the oligarchy - which, since the
their perspective, this
19th century, were linked to the interests of the
tradition had been
British Empire. In this sense, the form of the trade continued by
agreement with Great Britain, the Roca-Runciman Yirigoyenism. For the
Pact (1933), was for them one more link in a long revisionists, Rosas and
chain of ties that preserved the interests of the Yrigoyen represented the
Empire in matters of meat, transport and finance, national position and the
and benefited farmers and meet transport presence of the people in
companies, to the detriment of national interests the State as a living
and economic sovereignty. instrument of the Nation
against the British
The anti-imperialist positions, the criticisms of directives of the Argentine
economic dependence and the national interest oligarchy.
ideology began to gain followers among groups of
the right and the left, since they considered that it
limited the possibilities of autonomous and free national development. In 1935,
a group of young radicals, who tried to recover popular traditions, founded a
group with the purpose of influencing Argentine political thought for national
accomplishment: Radical Orientation Force of Young Argentina (FORGE)
was launched by Arturo Jauretche and other supporters of radicalism, such as
Manuel Ortiz Pereyra, Gabriel del Mazo and Homero Manzi. The group
questioned Alvear's leadership in the party, proposed the return to a
nationalist doctrine, according to federal historical traditions and university
reform of 1918, fought for an entirely Argentine and Latin American thought without
European influences, if he had the thesis of the revolution Latin American and
Argentine, based in the popular masses, and took an anti-imperialist position against
Britain and the United States.

Translation from Historia de la Argentina, Estrada Editorial, Buenos Aires, 2000.