In the Shadow of Perón: Juan Atilio Bramuglia and the Second Line of Argentina's Populist Movement (review)

In the more than six decades that Peronism has dominated Argentine politics, intellectuals have posited numerous ways of classifying and explaining this unique phenomenon. In this informative work that first appeared in Spanish, the Israeli historian Raanan Rein argues that Peronism is a form of populism but adds the twist that the role of Juan Perón was mediated through a group of secondary leaders who were influential in building support and in shaping policy. In other words, secondary leaders helped forge the bonds between the leader and the citizenry. This argument makes a lot of sense, but it is less original than the author claims, since labor historians have argued for several decades that union leaders provided Perón with an entrée to the working class. The book reads well but the press could have provided better copyediting, as in a few places the vocabulary is not standard English and in several other places I felt compelled to consult the Spanish version.

The work begins with the theoretical section and a brief discussion of four early secondary leaders who provided key connections and ideas for Perón. These are: Angel Borlenghi, a labor leader who becomes the minister of interior; Domingo Mercante, an army colonel who worked closely with Perón in attracting labor support and then was elected governor of Buenos Aires Province; Miguel Miranda, an entrepreneur who became a key component of Perón's economic team; and José Figuerola, a Spaniard who had worked for the Spanish dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera and then the National Department of Labor in Argentina and provided Perón with many of his ideas on the social question. The author emphasizes their roles in creating the Peronist coalition. All four were pushed aside by Perón, with only Borlenghi lasting almost the entire time Perón was president.

The following three chapters are a study of the political history of another secondary figure whose papers are available at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, Juan Bramuglia. Rein provides little in the way of personal history and one never gets a sense of Bramuglia's personality. Because Rein concentrates on the years after the military coup of 1943, which began Perón's assent to power, we also learn little about Bramuglia's time as a Socialist and as a lawyer for the largest and most powerful labor organization in Argentina, the Unión Ferroviaria. On the other hand, based on Bramuglia's papers, the reader receives a clear impression of his role in helping Perón forge ties to labor unions when these were first established and his time as interventor of the crucial province of Buenos Aires in 1945. Bramuglia became Perón's first foreign minister and according to Rein's account was a skillful one who tried to obtain a good working relationship with the United States. He played an acclaimed role at the United Nations during the Berlin crisis of 1948, but directly after this he was removed from office.

In this reviewer's opinion the most interesting section is the two chapters that discuss Bramuglia's attempt to create a neo-Peronist political movement in the years after 1955 when Peronists were not permitted full political participation. Bramuglia was stymied by both political restrictions and Perón's fears of a movement that he did not control plus Bramuglia's unwillingness or inability to go very far against the wishes of Perón. Bragmulia's party was essentially a failure at his death in September 1962.

The picture that Rein draws of Bragmulia is of an intelligent, hard working man who never really lost the social consciousness that he had when he was a Socialist. He also appears as a committed democrat who was conflicted about his relationship with Perón...