IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 9 ENGLISH | Page 81

relations with the Axis and to raise the flags
of Anti-Communism and Catholicism.
The Revolution of 1943 enabled Perón,
coordinator of GOU, to temporarily hold
his first public office: Minister of War. It
would be the springboard for his rise to
power. Along with the repression common
to all military regimes, there was also
certain approach to the masses. On
November 27, 1943, the National
Department of Labor became Secretary of
Labor and Social Security headed by Perón,
who began to forge a special relationship
with the labor movement that would change
the Argentine history forever (Rouquié,
1998: 25, 32; Romero, 2012: 114; Tower,
2002: 25, 27).
The relations with the Axis were finally
broken. Perón was appointed firstly as
Minister of War and then as Vice President,
while retaining his two previous offices.
Thus, he reached the summit of power and
was the soul of the government (Romero,
2012: 113; Tower, 2002: 24).
The post-war in Europe encouraged the
transition to democratic regimes and Peron
glimpsed the electoral process as political
chance. Since 1944 he had channeled his
social policy through multiple measures
favoring the workers, like the Statute of the
Day Laborer, in order to develop a political
doctrine, later known as Justicialism,
against the resistance of the most powerful
economic sectors (Rapoport, 2010: 134135).
As pressure to a democratic transition
increased, the government was branded as
Nazi-fascist. The opponents found support
in the US Ambassador Spruille Braden, and
they showed their discontent in a successful
mobilization of 200-250 thousand people
on September 19, 1945 (Rapoport, 2010:
137; Tower, 2002: 30).
The government's response raised the
tensions and Perón resigned on October 9.
The next day he delivered a speech
encouraging his humble followers. On
October 13, he was arrested and deported to
the island Martin Garcia, as Yrigoyen
fifteen years ago. By then, Perón was
already a martyr. On October 17, union
leaders and others activist called for a
general strike and marched on the City of
Buenos Aires. The workers were
determined to defend their conquests under
the social policies implemented by the

military government and demanded the
release of their leader (Rapoport and
Seoane, 2007: 515, 665). The Peronist
faction estimated that 500,000 people
marched; Perón appeared in Plaza de Mayo
to deliver a speech more substantial than
the previous one a week ago (Rapoport,
2010: 137-138). This rally against antiPeronism proved that the establishment was
no longer in power.
Peronism, poverty and Blackness
Thusly,
the
unprecedented
mass
demonstration on October 17, 1945, gave
birth to Peronism. A new and decisive stage
in the history of Argentina was open by the
founding pact between the leader and the
people. From there, all massive popular
concentration
had
a
plebiscitary
legitimizing effect for the nascent regime
(Torre, 2002: 33).
Peronism was born as a warning to those
who described the rally as a gesture of
barbarism, in which thousands of sansculottes from various parts of Greater
Buenos Aires came to Plaza de Mayo
bearing the brand of Peronist identity
marked by drums and popular songs
(Solomianski, 2003: 256). The enemies of
this budding movement did not see a
popular feast, but a portrait of barbarism
against the status quo. And the word black
surfaced in this context to name these
popular sectors that became very visible in
the City of Buenos Aires.
Argentina is a nation that prides itself from
an absolute whiteness. In the twentieth
century, blackness leads to a very particular
and contemptuous statement that refers to
the beginning of Peronism —October 17,
1945— and therefrom, as identity category,
it arrives to the present time. From a
sociological perspective, interpreting what
implied this October 17 in the way of
conceiving the Other, we must explain the
birth of Peronism in historical context, but
firstly blackness must be characterized.
Blackness in Western Civilization
The word black recurs in speech and its
characterization is predominantly negative
throughout history. Today it has negative
sense in most contexts. The Afro-groups
prefer other words to define themselves
with identity categories: Afro-Latin
Americans or, more recently, African

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