Las Derechas: The Extreme Right in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, 1890-1939

Description

Despite its importance, the twentieth-century Latin American right has received little scholarly attention. This is the first book to explicitly compare extreme rightist organizations, ideas, and actions in different national settings in Latin America. Hardly an undifferentiated whole, the right in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile has changed over time and has contained moderate and extreme factions; the book's title, Las Derechas, emphasizes this diversity. The author focuses on extreme right-wing movements, showing how their class and gender composition, motives, programs, and activities varied over time and between countries. To demonstrate the variety of thought and fluidity of positions within the far right, the author brings to life the many voices it contained: its highbrow and lowbrow figures, its male and female exponents, and its mass-circulation periodicals and more erudite literature. The depiction of rallies, social welfare projects, and brutal clashes with opponents also reveals the flavor of the radical right and the rich texture of its history. Although extreme right-wing movements defined themselves as masculine, some nevertheless recruited women; this is only one of the many contradictions between their ideology and actions. Concentrating on domestic roots, the study shows how radical rightists incorporated local concerns, not simply European dogma, into their agendas. It explores their relations with the military, Catholic Church, government, labor, and other groups throughout the political spectrum. The ties of radical rightists to moderate rightists are of particular interest, for the ideological and tactical differences between the two factions tended to diminish during periods of crisis. The book concludes with an epilogue that traces radical rightist movements up to the present, demonstrating the importance of the analysis for understanding current conditions as well as the past. Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Part 1: Antecedents, 1890-1914 1 Chile: The Decline of a Manly People Nationalism, Antiliberalism, and Race Nativism Opposition to Labor Conservatives, the Church, and Women Conclusion 2 A Polluted Argentina Nativism Opposition to Labor Cultural Nationalism The Church, Women, and Social Reform The Military and the Ligas Conclusion 3 Brazil: A Fractured Republic Prado and Monarchism Nativism and Nationalism Positivism The Church and Women Opposition to Labor Race Alberto Torres The Military Conclusion 4 Conclusion Part 2: The Era of the Ligas: World War I to the Mid-1920s 5 Chile: Defending the Fatherland Border Tensions, Labor, and the Ligas Left Versus Right Labor, the Elite, and President Alessandri The Military The Church and Women Conclusion 6 Argentinizing Labor Laborers, Vigilantes, and the Military *The Liga Patriótica Argentina *Women in the LPA The LPÄs Base and Relations with the Government Liguistas Against Workers Gender and the LPA Conclusion 7 Against Anarchism: Brazilian Nationalism Economy, War, and National Defense The Ligas Gender and the ASN Catholic Authoritarianism Antisemitism Intellectual Trends Conclusion 8 Conclusion Part 3: The Era of Fascism: The Late 1920s to 1939 9 Chile: Socialism for the Twentieth Century Milicia Republicana Politics and the Nacista “Revolution” Composition of the MNS The Alternative to the Left Women and Nacismo The Moderate Right Turns Against the MNS The Nad Shift to the Left The Military, the Putsch, and Its Results Conclusion 10 Argentina: For Fatherland, Labor, and Social Justice Nacionalismo and the Struggle Against Yrigoyen Nacionalismo and the Uriburu Regime Nacionalista Social Composition Nacionalismo and the Political System Under Justo The Alternative to the Left The Popularization of Nacionalismo Gender and Nacionalismo The Nacionalista Base Among Civilians and Officers The Church and Nacionalismo Fascism and Nacionalismo 11 Brazil: A Revolution of the Heart and Soul The Revolution of 1930 and the Rise of the AIB Popularizing the AIB The AIB and the Political System The AIB’s Alternative to the Left Antisemitism The AIB and Other Ethnic and National Groups The AIB’s Membership Gender and the AIB Relations with Other Rightist Groups and Ideologies The AIB and the Political System The AIB and Religion Vargas, the Military, and the Estado Novo Conclusion 12 Conclusion The Legacy The Extreme Right After 1939: Trajectory and Continuity Historical Revisionism Populism The Military The Church A Weighty Legacy Notes Bibliography Index