Page 22 - Social Science.docx

Principles of social science
group of elites. He was the first politician in Argentina to recognize the backwards policies regarding the lower class, and recognizing it as a pathway to absolute power.5
F. J. McLynn, a noted historian and journalist, argues that Peron saw the direct involvement of the state, “To embrace Marxism is to abandon the spiritual and Christian values on which a good society must depend. ”6 However, by creating a state monopoly over the exports of key agricultural crops, Argentina became the most state directed economy7in Latin America. Finchelstein, one of the leading scholars of fascist and populist ideologies, notes that clearly Peron never saw the future of Argentina as one that would follow the path of communism, socialism or anything in a far leftist area, but rather his entire reform is said to be a copy of the contemporary fascist governments, Italy and Germany, even going to the lengths of describing the regime set up by Peron as Hitleresque.8 As Hitler did on the night of the Reichstag fire using the fear of communism to justify dictatorship, while Peron was able to rise to a position of power through a military dictatorship, using democracy and popular support to legitimize his control.9
Peron gave a voice to the labor unions which became the source of his populism. By implementing policies such as vacation days and increased wages during the holidays, he was able to create a massive political bloc which provided enduring support.10 He implemented truly Argentine solutions, promising workers rewards which they felt they had been denied. He encouraged strikes which his government settled in favor of the workers. Real hourly wages
5 Morris Horowitz, "The Legacy of Juan Peron," Challenge 12, no. 1 (October 1963), p. 29. 6 McLynn, "THE POLITICAL," 20.
7 Skidmore, Smith, and Green, Modern Latin America, p. 259.
8 Finchelstein, "The Peronist," 620.
9 Frank McLynn, "The Political Thought of Juan Domingo Peron,” Boletín de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 32 (June 1982), p. 19.
10 Horowitz, “The Legacy of JUAN PERON," pp. 27-30..
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