What’s more, the dissatisfaction with the Concordancia governments of the 1930’s was a long-term cause that Perón was able to exploit to get to power. People had already lost faith in the political system of the country, and were tired of the corruption and the government impunity. All the power of the country rested on the elite, the land-owning class, that was allied with the conservative Catholic Church. The resentment of the middle and lower classes due to their exclusion was a situation that Perón exploited. The working class lacked organization to fight against the system and Perón was the first political figure to address effectively the many problems of the working class.
Besides, the last condition of the country that led Perón get to power was the rise of industrialization. With the growth of industry came a larger working class, and with it, it came political concerns to the middle class and the military. They fear communism, they wanted to prevent the labor class to reveal against capitalism. Perón exploited the fear that these sectors would be attracted by the social and economic conditions of communism by offering to take care of the nation’s proletariat. And since 1930 till 1943 this urban working class didn’t stop growing, 80.000 people moved in to cities per year.
Finally, the opposition was a country condition that led to his rise. The opposition of the elections of 1946 was extremely weak. It was represented by a heterogeneous, large but not well organized group which failed to gain electoral support. This opposition was called Union Democratica and its slogan was: “For liberty, against Nazism”. Another problem that this Union Democratica had was that it counted with the support of the US ambassador in Argentina, Spruill Braden, and they represented the symbol of “Yankee imperialism”.
On the other hand, there were several methods, politics that Perón implemented to reach to power. The 4th June 1933 the GOU (Grupo de Oficiales Unidos) staged a coup against President Castillo. The principals of this coup were anti-communism and economic sovereignty. Peron was a member of the GOU and participated of the coup. Between 1943 and 1946 the Army oversaw the government. Perón used a succession of political positions during these three years to build up a power base.
To begin with, he was the Secretary of Labor and Welfare since November 1943. He used this position to pose as defender of the working class. Before him, there were no laws that defended workers, there weren’t worker’s rights. There were two main reasons why Perón’s role in the Secretariat of Labor strengthened his position. Firstly, that the left-wing parties that seemed to represent the interest of the workers, lost their appeal. Workers realized that it was better if Perón met the demands and resolved the conflicts. And secondly, his position as secretariat strengthened him because he was responsible for a whole set of reforms. Such us: the idea of social justice, settled disputes in favors of labor; paid holidays for workers; wages were increased, between others. A very important reform which Perón was also responsible of was the Law of professional Associations, signed in 1944. The law said that every trade union required government approval to exist. This will make him be in control of the trade unions in the future, as president. Since all these laws, workers became unconditional supporters of Perón.
In addition, he also took advantage of his position as Minister of War since 1945. He used this position to gain support within the armed forces. He increased the Armed forces budget, by 1945 it represented 38% of the total budget. He tripled the army’s size. He democratized the methods of promotion within the Armed Forces. And finally, he ordered the purchase of new military equipment.
The last political position he had before being president was Vice-President since 1945, and he also used it to gain further social support. As Vice-President he agreed with the Church that Catholic education would be compulsory in all public primary schools.
Furthermore, his personal appeal was another method he exploited to gain support. Perón’s charisma and oratory skills did contributed in his rise to power. Also, the flexibility of the Peronist ideology helped Perón gain support from the middle classes. This flexibility allowed him to gain support because he could easily change some type of thought or policy about something. His excellent use of propaganda also shown in the slogan Braden or Perón inspire support. According to him people had to choose between Perón’s nationalistic program or the Yankee imperialism.
Last but not least, Perón’s built up a diverse coalition to gain electoral support was also another method to get to power. Perón’s Labour Party was a coalition formed by radicals from the Junta Renovadora, the FORJA, clerical groups, nationalistic faction, members of the army with Allied tendencies and workers that supported his position as head of the Labour Department. This coalition was possible for Perón’s flexibility. The formula made him the winner with the 55% of support in the elections of 1946.
All in all, the country’s contexts as well as the world’s one allowed him to get to power. And the methods he used also played a very important role in the elections, the flexibility that allowed him to gain support, and besides the appeal to the workers, the military and the Church were really significant. The coalition he was able to form in the context of the country made him able to win the elections to the weak opposition with a 55% of support.
by
santiagogdelr (student)
