Editing Peronism (section)

=== Twenty Peronist Tenets ===
From Perón's "Peronist Philosophy":<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bcnbib.gob.ar/uploads/Peron.-Modelo-argentino-para-el-proyecto-nacional.pdf|title=Modelo Argentino para el Proyecto Nacional}}</ref>
# "A true democracy is that one in which the government does what the people want and defends only one interest: the people's."
# "Peronism is essentially of the common people. Any political elite is anti-people, and thus, not Peronist."
# "A Peronist works for the movement. Whoever, in the name of Peronism, serves an elite or a leader, is a Peronist in name only."
# "For Peronism, there is only one class of person: those who work."
# "Working is a right that creates the dignity of men; and it's a duty, because it's fair that everyone should produce as much as they consume at the very least."
# "For a good Peronist, there is nothing better than another Peronist." (In 1973, after coming back from exile, in a conciliatory attempt, and in order to lessen the division in society, Peron reformed this tenet to: "For an Argentine, there is nothing better than another Argentine.")
# "No Peronist should feel more than what he is, nor less than what he should be. When a Peronist feels more than what he is, he begins to turn into an oligarch."
# "When it comes to political action, the scale of values of every Peronist is: Argentina first; the movement second; and thirdly, the individuals."
# "Politics are not an end, but a means for the well-being of Argentina: which means happiness for our children and greatness for our nation."
# "The two arms of Peronism are social justice and social help. With them, we can give a hug of justice and love to the people."
# "Peronism desires national unity and not struggle. It wants heroes, not martyrs."
# "Kids should be the only privileged class."
# "A government without doctrine is a body without soul. That's why Peronism has a political, economic and social doctrine: Justicialism."
# "Justicialism is a new philosophy of life: simple, practical, of the common people, and profoundly Christian and humanist."
# "As political doctrine, Justicialism balances the right of the individual and society."
# "As an economic doctrine, Justicialism proposes a social market, putting capital to the service of the economy and the well-being of the people."
# "As a social doctrine, Justicialism carries out social justice, which gives each person their rights in accordance to their social function."
# "Peronism wants an Argentina socially 'fair', economically 'free' and politically 'sovereign'."
# "We establish a centralized government, an organized State and a free people."
# "In this land, the best thing we have is our people."

Peronism as an ideology had many factions and manifestations, often completely contradictory for each other; however, the political thought and policies of Juan Perón are considered to be the core of Peronism. As an ideology, Peronism had authoritarian and populist components, which was a blend of several ideologies and currents and a traditional Argentinian style of leadership (''caudillismo''), which featured a charismatic leader leading a broad front.  Christopher Wylde defines Peronism as "a form of leftist–populist nationalism, rooted in an urban working-class movement that was allied to elements of the domestic bourgeoisie as well as the military."<ref name="wylde_138">{{cite book |title=Emerging Markets and the State: Developmentalism in the 21st Century |first=Christopher |last=Wylde |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-55654-7 |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-55655-4 |year=2017 |pages=138–139}}</ref> The legitimacy of Peronism derived from trade unions who gave Perón their support, and his ideology was a reflection of demands and expectations of the Argentinian labor movement. According to historian [[Daniel James (historian)|Daniel James]], the reliance of Peronism on trade unions was so strong, that in the Peronist movement, "the initiative very much lay with the trade union movement; Perón was more its creature than the labor movement was his."<ref name="brennan_6"/>

Peronist economic policy had three objectives which consisted of expanding public spending and giving the state the dominating role in production and distribution ([[economic nationalism]]), egalitarian distribution of national income (therefore Peronism is considered to represent [[syndicalism]] and/or non-Marxist socialism), and implementing a system of incentives and rewards that would direct economic activities towards local markets while severely limiting production for international markets ([[protectionism]]).<ref name="wylde_138"/> Perón's policies included extensive worker rights legislation and redistribution of wealth; Peronism rejected [[individualism]] in favor of [[communitarianism]] and sought a system that would reject both capitalism and liberalism in favor of an economic system that would be oriented around "social equity, rather than the individual pursuit of wealth." This was combined with Peronist redefinition of citizenship, as Perón attracted and empowered groups that were previously excluded socially and economically - urban poor, immigrant communities and unionised workers.<ref name="wylde_140">{{cite book |title=Emerging Markets and the State: Developmentalism in the 21st Century |first=Christopher |last=Wylde |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-55654-7 |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-55655-4 |year=2017 |page=140}}</ref> Throughout his lifetime, Peron attacked capitalism or aspects of the system.<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8G9YAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA8&dq=Juan+Peron+capitalism&article_id=2579,1832353&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3kt2El82KAxWvWEEAHYDEF_0Q6AF6BAgNEAI#v=onepage&q=Juan%20Peron%20capitalism&f=false The Bulletin 2 May 1950]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CC5kAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA26&dq=Juan+Peron+capitalism&article_id=1593,3020288&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3kt2El82KAxWvWEEAHYDEF_0Q6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q=Juan%20Peron%20capitalism&f=false The Calgary Herald 20 Dec 1950]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iCVZAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=Juan+Peron+capitalist+system&article_id=3308,8819680&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimzN-pl82KAxVGQkEAHTi6EdwQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=Juan%20Peron%20capitalist%20system&f=false The Sydney Morning Herald 21 Nov 1972]</ref>

Deriving from 1930s anti-imperialist nationalism, Peronist doctrine had three leading principles, as formulated by Perón: economic independence, political sovereignty, and social justice. Perón considered Argentina "an economic colony of Great Britain" and sought to liberate Argentina from both British and American influence; Perón's foreign policy was formulated as "third position" and was a forerunner of [[thirdworldism]] - Perón argued that instead of looking to either Western capitalism or Soviet communism, Argentina should carve out its own path and seek alliances with like-minded nations that would reject imperialism and foreign influence in favour of absolute sovereignty. As a requirement for this sovereignty, Peronism featured extensive redistributive and nationalist policies - Perón established a central bank, nationalized foreign commerce and implement a system of free, universal education. Socially, Peronism was authoritarian, yet it also implemented free suffrage and promoted causes such as feminism, indigenous rights and emancipation of the working class. Peter Ranis wrote that "paradoxically, Perón democratized Argentina in the sense of bringing the working class more fully into the political process, though his administrations often placed cultural and political restrictions on the opposition that severely compromised that democracy."<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentine Workers: Peronism and Contemporary Class Consciousness |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |year=1992 |first=Peter |last=Ranis |isbn=0-8229-3703-4 |pages=20–25}}</ref>

Writing on Perón and his ideology, Charles D. Ameringer argued that "The rise to power of Juan Perón in 1943 was not the end of the socialist impulse in Argentina; it was the culmination" and added that "much of the social legislation either introduced or implemented by Perón . . . originated with the Socialist Party."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Socialist Impulse: Latin America in the Twentieth Century |first=Charles D. |last=Ameringer |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8130-3812-4 |page=25}}</ref> [[Raanan Rein]] similarly wrote that Peronism as an ideology was nationalist populism, shaped by the [[Catholic social teaching]] as well as "socialist currents of varying nuances". Rein attributed the socialist component of Peronism to policies that would give new sociocultural and political dimensions to Argentinian identity and nationalism. According to Rein, "Peronism rehabilitated popular culture and gave folklore a place in Argentine culture, attempted to rewrite national history and included various ethnic minorities who, up until that point, had been relegated to the margins of the nation – as was the case for Arabs and Jews." Peronism is thus credited with creating the image of multicultural Argentina through his policies that would redistribute the wealth while also promoting the concept of Argentina as a society of "multiple collective ethnic identities".<ref>{{cite book |title=Populism and Ethnicity: Peronism and the Jews of Argentina |first=Raanan |last=Rein |author-link=Raanan Rein |translator=Isis Sadek |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-2280-0299-4 |pages=4–13}}</ref>

Peron described his ideology as "intrinsically Argentine" and a reflection of the Argentinian people. Perón's preferred wording for his ideology was ''justicialism'', which he used to promote social justice as the core of his ideology. He wrote: "like the people, justicialism is national, social, and Christian." Peronist communitarian philosophy envisioned a society that would be an organized community, where each individual was to fulfill a social function "in the service of all", and also have access to an extensive complex of faculties, each designed for a different special task, that would contribute to 'individual happiness'. Establishing his populist rhetoric, Perón also defined his ideology as "a new philosophy of life, simple, practical, popular, profoundly Christian, and profoundly humanistic", adding that Peronism was to be class-based, as justicialism "centers its ideology and preoccupation on . . . the primacy in our country of a single class, the class of those who work." In his writings, Perón consistently emphasized that the roots of his ideology are based on Catholic doctrine as well as socialism; around the end of his second term, Perón argued: "We believe that there are only two philosophies in the world that can embrace and give direction to the major ideological orientations: one is Christian philosophy, which is already 2,000 years old and has continued to sustain itself through 20 centuries; and the other is Marxist philosophy, which is the philosophy of communism... There is no other."<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentina's "Dirty War": An Intellectual Biography |last=Hodges |first=Donald |author-link=Donald C. Hodges |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=[[Austin, Texas]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-292-77689-0 |page=55}}</ref>

According to Brennan, as a populist mixture, Peronism synthesized multiple ideologies and schools of thought, which he listed as nationalism, anti-imperialism, socialism, authoritarianism, federalism and militarism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Peronism and Argentina |author=James P. Brennan |year=1998 |publisher=Scholarly Resources Inc. |isbn=0-8420-2706-8  |url=https://archive.org/details/peronismargentin0000unse |page=149}}</ref> Robert Crassweller offers a different definition, arguing that "Peronism may be defined roughly as an authoritarian populist movement, strongly colored by Catholic social thought, by nationalism, by organic principles of Mediterranean corporatism, and by the caudillo traditions of the Argentine Creole civilization."<ref name="Crassweller 1987 334">{{cite book |title=Peron and the Enigmas of Argentina |first=Robert D. |last=Crassweller |publisher=Penguin Books Canada Ltd. |year=1987 |isbn=0-393-02381-8 |page=334}}</ref> Other definitions include that of Donald C. Hodges, who saw Peronism as "a Christian and humanist version of socialism" and a "peculiar brand of socialism".<ref name="Hodges 1991 56"/> Peter Ranis notes that describing Peronism is made difficult by vague language of Perón as well as his constant pragmatic shifts that he took throughout his life - Perón often modified his rhetoric and promoted different movements in order to maintain his big-tent movement that apart from consisting of trade unions, included both left-wing and right-wing supporters. Nevertheless, Ranis wrote that Peronism was a "worker-type populism" that one can roughly describe as "corporate democratic socialism", despite the authoritarian tendencies of Perón himself.<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentine Workers: Peronism and Contemporary Class Consciousness |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |year=1992 |first=Peter |last=Ranis |isbn=0-8229-3703-4 |page=5}}</ref> Despite opportunistically declaring his opposition to Communism and even socialism, Perón nevertheless described his justicialism as "national socialism" (socialismo nacional) and "Christian national socialism" (socialismo national cristiano); to Ranis, Perón "fused an indigenous socialism with Argentine nationalism through Peronism", and used Marxist rhetoric: 
{{blockquote|text=Peron's usage of Marxist terminology, but within a nonsocialist context, is striking. He spoke of the "proletarians," the "exploitation of man by his fellow man," the "dehumanization of capital." At the same time, Peron expressed fears of foreign ideological penetration's and continually reiterated the need to avoid class conflict between capital and labor. His critique of Marxism was centered on what he called humanist and Christian attitudes — which, if applied, would render class struggle irrelevant. Peron's corporatist scheme already was one of class collaboration under the auspices and direction of the state. What Peron offered was not the individual consciousness of the unreconstructed liberal, nor the class consciousness that he identified with foreign and alien alternatives, but a unified, communitarian, social consciousness that would assuage class warfare, avoid the contamination of international socialism, and organize society to transcend the old liberal conceptions of the state.<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentine Workers: Peronism and Contemporary Class Consciousness |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |year=1992 |first=Peter |last=Ranis |isbn=0-8229-3703-4 |page=20}}</ref>}}

Alternatively, Peronism was also denounced as fascism by some scholars -  [[Carlos Fayt]] believed that Peronism was "an Argentine implementation of [[Italian fascism]]".<ref name="peronism" /> Such conclusion was also reached by Paul M. Hayes, who argued that "the Peronist movement produced a form of fascism that was distinctively Latin American".<ref name="peronism" /> This belief was particularly popular in the United States, as the American government sought to discredit Perón on the basis of his anti-Americanism, suspected communist sympathies, and neutrality during WW2. Similarly, anti-Peronists on the left such as anti-nationalist socialists also described Peronism as fascist.<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentina: From Anarchism to Peronism: Workers, Unions and Politics, 1855-1985 |first1=Ronaldo |last1=Munck |author-link1=Ronaldo Munck |first2=Ricardo |last2=Falcón |author-link2=:es:Ricardo Falcón (historiador) |first3=Bernardo |last3=Galitelli |publisher=Zed Books |year=1987 |isbn=9780862325701 |page=121}}</ref> Some scholars, such as Lipset, tried to combine this view together with the conclusions that Peronism was a worker-based and a left-leaning movement; to this end, Lipset wrote that "If Peronism is considered a variant of fascism, then it is a fascism of the left because it is based on the social strata who would otherwise turn to socialism or Communism as an outlet for their frustrations."<ref name="seymour_173176"/> Most scholars rejected this view - [[Felipe Pigna]] wrote that no researcher who has deeply studied Perón should consider him a fascist.<ref name="Mitos">{{cite book|title=Los mitos de la historia argentina 4|last=Pigna|first=Felipe|author-link=Felipe Pigna|year=2008|publisher=Editorial Planeta|location=Buenos Aires|isbn=978-950-49-1980-3|pages=28–29}}</ref> Goran Petrovic Lotina and Théo Aiolfi wrote that "Peronism was never a form of fascism during Juan Perón's first presidencies (1946-55). Nor was Peronism fascistic in its subsequent incarnations over the past seventy-five years from the 1970s revolutionary leftist Montonero guerilla organization to the neoliberal centre-right presidency of Carlos Menem."<ref name="Bloomsbury Academic">{{cite book |title=Performing Left Populism: Performance, Politics and the People |first1=Goran Petrovic |last1=Lotina |first2=Théo  |last2=Aiolfi |page=128 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9781350347045 |year=2023}}</ref> Daniel James wrote that Perón "took his ideas principally from social catholic, communitarian ideologues rather than from any pre-1955 fascistic theory."<ref>{{cite book |title=Resistance and integration: Peronism and the Argentine working class, 1946-1976 |first=Daniel |last=James |author-link=Daniel James (historian) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-46682-2 |year=1988 |page=203}}</ref> Robert Crassweller explains:
{{blockquote|text=One should first clear away the inappropriate definitions and parallels. Thus: Peronism was not fascism. Some of Peronism's adherents had a fascist outlook and mentality. Peron himself admired Mussolini and the idea of the corporate state. Some of the trappings of Peronism recalled the ambiance of the Black Shirts. But all this was relatively superficial. No fascist society was ever erected on a mass base of laboring and dispossessed hordes. In its own descriptions of identity, Peronism rejected the Fascist parallel. It was more intimately grounded in the national history and ethos than was any European fascism. The structure of the Peronist state after the constitutional amendments of 1949 remained that of the old Argentine democratic order.
:
Peronism was not nazism. Peronism's main thrust reflected no adherence to Nazi principles. There were occasional minor aggressions against synagogues (and Protestant churches) and the police reaction was not always rigorous, but Peronism as such had no anti-Semitic or other racial bias. As Ambassador Messersmith reported at length in May 1947, "There is not as much social discrimination against Jews here as there is right in New York or in most places at home." In this, Peron did not scramble for the moral high ground in the spirit of a crusader; that was not his style. Practical awareness was always at the forefront of his politics, and in the 1940s there were half a million Jews in Argentina, along with an equal number of Arabs. His private preference was for the Arabs, partly because he believed they assimilated more completely into Argentine society and partly, one may assume, because of the Islamic elements in his beloved Hispanic heritage; but the potential conflict between these ethnic rivals had to be muted in the interests of the organic state, and there was no official anti-Semitism.
:
Peronism was not a dictatorship. Admittedly, definition is a factor here, but as the American embassy stated in April 1948, "... Peron is far from being a dictator in the sense of having absolute authority." This viewpoint was explicitly adopted in the Department of State's Secret Policy Statement of March 21, 1950. The cabinet debated measures at length. The army concerned itself with foreign policy. Peron often had to bargain for support, to trim his sails on the timing of initiatives, and to balance interests that could not be overridden.<ref>{{cite book |title=Peron and the Enigmas of Argentina |first=Robert D. |last=Crassweller |publisher=Penguin Books Canada Ltd. |year=1987 |isbn=0-393-02381-8 |pages=220–221}}</ref>}}