Editing Peronism (section)

===Development===
Peronism gained popularity in Argentina after the failure of its government to listen and recognize the needs of its middle class. As president of Argentina, [[Hipólito Yrigoyen]] did not listen to the workers' pleas for better wages and better working conditions after World War I. Yrigoyen was notorious for failing to oppose Argentina's oligarchy. According to [[Teresa Meade]] in ''A History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present'', Yrigoyen failed "to establish a middle-class-based political system from 1916 to 1930 – mainly because his Radical Civic Union had neither the will nor the means to effectively oppose the dominance of the oligarchy".<ref name="Meade, T. A. 2016 p.202">Meade, T. A. (2016). ''A History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present''. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 202 {{ISBN?}}</ref> Many in power did not work to change the way things were. However, Juan Perón, at that time a military officer, used his experiences in Europe and political power to create a new political atmosphere that he felt would better the lives of citizens in Argentina.<ref>Minster, C. (2019, July 28). Biography of Juan Perón, Argentina's Populist President. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/biography-of-juan-peron-2136581</ref>

Unlike Yrigoyen, Perón "recognized that the industrial working class was not necessarily an impediment, and could be mobilized to serve as the basis for building a corporatist state that joined the interests of labor with those of at least a large section of the national bourgeoisie to promote a nationalist agenda".<ref name="Meade, T. A. 2016 p.202"/>

Perón was yet unknown to the general public in the 1930s, but he already had high respect in the Argentinian army; he served as a military attaché between 1938 and 1940, and quickly gained a prestigious political position following the [[1943 Argentine coup d'état]]. He took over the Labor Department in October 1943 and started cementing his reputation as the ally of the Argentinian trade unions, describing himself as a "labor unionist" (''sindicalista'') in an interview with a Chilean journalist. In November 1943, the national labour department was replaced by a new department for labour and welfare, which gave Perón enormous influence over the economy. Perón presented himself as a Catholic labourist committed to the ideals of "harmony" and "distributive justice". First breakthrough in his political career came with the settlement with [[:es:Unión Ferroviaria|Unión Ferroviaria]] in December 1943, which was the largest railroad union in Argentina at the time. Perón "offered the union almost everything it had been seeking, until now in vain, during the past fifteen years", which gave him the reputation of the "Argentina's Number One Worker" amongst railroad unionists.<ref>{{cite book |title=Authoritarian Argentina: The Nationalist Movement, Its History and Its Impact |first=David |last=Rock |author-link=David Rock (historian) |year=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-20352-6 |page=142}}</ref>

In January 1944, General [[Pedro Pablo Ramírez]] fell from power following the revelation of secret negotiations between Nazi Germany and Argentinian junta. The junta was forced to break diplomatic relations with the Axis and purge its cabinet of pro-Axis members. Ramírez was replaced by moderate [[Edelmiro Julián Farrell]], which prompted protests from nationalist circles - in [[Tucumán Province|Tucumán]], flags on government buildings flew at half-mast in sign of protest. Perón further expanded his power, as he took over the ministry of war that Farrell commanded before becoming president. In March 1944, railroad workers organized a demonstration in support of Perón, and in June, he was able to take control over metalworkers' union [[:es:Unión Obrera Metalúrgica|Unión Obrera Metalúrgica]]. Perón's speech from 11 June introduced the concept of "nation in arms", where he called war an inevitable consequence of human condition. According to Perón, a nation could win a war only if it would "develop true . . . solidarity [and] create a strong sense of discipline and personal responsibility in the people." The speech was commonly cited by domestic and international opponents of Perón, who accused him of fascist sympathies. The junta suffered a massive decline in prestige in August 1944, as the liberation of Paris sparked massive pro-Allied demonstrations in Argentina, in which the protesters called for the resignation of the junta for its Nazi sympathies.<ref>{{harvnb|Rock|1993|p=145}}</ref>

Perón would sharply reconfigure his views and speeches in late 1944, as the nationalist junta was facing intense pressure to reform and hold elections. He declared that his ultimate goal is to introduce "true democracy" in Argentina, and began searching for allies amongst the middle and upper classes. However, as he was rejected by the Radical circles, Perón committed himself to developing his popularity amongst the working class. Historian [[David Rock (historian)|David Rock]] remarked that "Perón again found himself forced back on the support of the unions alone and at this point openly embraced democratic socialism."<ref>{{harvnb|Rock|1993|p=152}}</ref> He praised the victory of the Labour Party in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election]], portraying it as proof of "humanity marching toward a new world" and urged Argentinian workers "to defend their rights for themselves if these rights were not to be taken away by their enemies." Perón also embraced the hitherto derogatory connotation of his supporters as "shirtless" (''descamisado''), which became a metaphor for poor and destitute worker that Peronism would lead towards a "national liberation".<ref>{{harvnb|Rock|1993|p=153}}</ref>

Using the term ''justicalismo'' to describe his ideology, Perón propagated it as ''socialismo nacional cristiano'' - "Christian national socialism", an unclear term that he used to discuss diverse government systems that in his belief corresponded to the will of the people while also considering the unique circumstances and culture of each nation.<ref>{{cite thesis |title=The Geopolitics of Juan Perón: A New Order for an Imperfect World |first=Robert D. |last=Koch |url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10102&context=etd |degree=Doctor of Philosophy in History |publisher=University of South Florida |date=27 March 2020 |pages=4–5}}</ref> According to Richard Gillespie, this expression meant to convey "a ‘national’ road to socialism, understood as a system of economic socialization and popular power respectful of specific national conditions and traditions."<ref name="3839gillespie">{{cite book |title=Soldiers of Peron: Argentina's Montoneros |first=Richard |last=Gillespie |year=1982 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-821131-7 |pages=38–39}}</ref> In 1967, Perón defended his notion of 'national socialism' by arguing that "nationalism need not be at odds with socialism", given that "both, in the end, far from being antagonistic, can be united with a common goal of liberation of peoples and men". In the September 1972 meeting of left-wing Peronist groups, Peronism was described as "the national expression of socialism, insofar as it represents, expresses and develops in action the aspirations of the popular masses and the Argentine working class". Peronism was regarded as a form of autochthonous socialism that was to grant "political and economic emancipation" to the workers of Argentina.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Entre el Gran Acuerdo Nacional y Trelew: alcances y significaciones de los conceptos de socialismo nacional y peronismo |journal=Quinto Sol |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |year=2022 |publisher=Universidad Nacional de La Pampa |language=es |first=Valeria |last=Caruso |doi=10.19137/qs.v26i1.5597|doi-access=free }}</ref> However, whether Peronism constituted a genuine socialist movement of non-Marxist nature is unclear. John J. Johnson and [[Kalman H. Silvert]] linked Peronism to Argentinian reactionary nationalism and concluded that it is a fascist movement, whereas [[:es:Juan José Hernández Arregui|Juan José Hernández Arregui]] and [[:es:Jorge Abelardo Ramos|Jorge Abelardo Ramos]] considered Peronism a variant of [[left-wing nationalism]] or a "revolutionary, anti-imperialist, nationalist movement".<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Ideological Origins of Right and Left Nationalism in Argentina, 1930-43 |first=Alberto |last=Spektorowski |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |year=1994 |volume=29 |issue=1 |page=179 |publisher=Sage Publications, Ltd. |doi=10.1177/002200949402900106 |jstor=260959 |s2cid=154283372 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/260959|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Jorge Castañeda Gutman]] describes Peronism as a national populist movement that "undoubtedly belongs on the left of the political spectrum."<ref>{{cite book |title=Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War |publisher=Vintage Books |first=Jorge |last=Castañeda Gutman |author-link=Jorge Castañeda Gutman |year=1994 |isbn=0-394-58259-4 |page=43}}</ref>