Antipersonalist Radical Civic Union

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Antipersonalist Radical Civic Union

In 1924 the Antipersonalistas in Argentina emerged as a separate political party when they broke ranks with the Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical—UCR) and its leader, Hipólito Irigoyen. The appearance of the Antipersonalistas reflected tensions that had typified Argentine radicalism since its birth in 1890.

Vincente C. Gallo, Irigoyen's minister of the interior, led a dissident group within the UCR known as the Azules, or Blues, a faction that later became known as the Antipersonalistas. They represented the old elite wing of the party and actively worked against Irigoyen from 1918 until the end of his term in 1922. Irigoyen's successor in office, Marcelo T. de Alvear, was nominally an Antipersonalista but failed to pursue policies that would assure the survival of the party. A mass base never materialized because the Antipersonalistas were denied access to state patronage, thus lacking the political rewards and positions necessary to gain support. Establishment of a committee structure to organize recruitment in the provinces succeeded only in the province of Santa Fe. Alvear's own ties were with the province of Buenos Aires, and he never established a working relationship with the Antipersonalistas' Santa Fe base.

In order for mass-based politics to succeed, there was need of an administration committed not only to flexible and somewhat inflationary spending of state resources but also, for political purposes, to an expansion of the bureaucracy. Alvear, however, pursued a conservative fiscal policy, and the Antipersonalista influence never effectively spread beyond the borders of Santa Fe.

The Antipersonalistas ran candidates for the presidency in 1928, but Irigoyen won in a landslide. In 1930 the Antipersonalistas supported the revolution that ousted Irigoyen and then joined with conservatives who dominated Argentine politics until the military coup of 1943.

See alsoIrigoyen, Hipólito .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

José Luis Romero, A History of Argentine Political Thought, translated by Thomas F. McGann (1963), pp. 224-225.

Robert A. Potash, The Army and Politics in Argentina, 1928–1945: Yrigoyen to Perón (1969), pp. 41 n., 47, 59-60.

Paul B. Goodwin, Jr., "The Politics of Rate-Making: The British-Owned Railways and the Unión Cívica Radical, 1921–1928," in Journal of Latin American Studies 6 (1974): 257-287.

Additional Bibliography

Gasió, Guillermo. Yrigoyen: el mandato extraordinario, 1928–1930. Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 2005.

Giacobone, Carlos Alberto and Edit Gallo. Radicalismo bonaerense: La ingeniería política de Hipólito Yrigoyen, 1891–1931. Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 1999.

Persello, Ana Virginia. El partido radical: Gobierno y oposición, 1916–1943. Buenos Aires: Siglo veintiuno editores Argentina, 2004.

Tato, María Inés. Viento de fronda: Liberalismo, conservadurismo y democracia en la Argentina, 1911–1932. Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno Editores Argentina, 2004.

                                        Paul Goodwin