Evening star., 1947-03-05

he had, 12 months ago, written q criti-
cism for an AFL publication, OF
the Peron regime before it was voted
IN. He was angrily accused Of "Braden-
ISM
Next, the official press went to work
on Luis Gay, secretary general of the
Argentine Federation of Labor, because
he had presumed to take his duties as
co-host to the labor delegation too
seriously. Inside of two days, every gov
ernment paper in Buenos Aires charged
him with treason to President Peron.
Gay, as part Of Peron's labor setup,
was also president of the National
Savings Bank and member of the
Board Of Directors of the government
acquired telephone company. First he
was made to quit his nonlabor posts;
and the day after he had to hand in
his resignation as secretary of the
CGT.
Peron Demonstration.
Then came the day OF great demon
stration in behalf of Peron's five-year
plan. The Plaza de Mayo was jammed.
Everybody was there but Luis Gay,
who, until three days before, had been
scheduled to speak. The workers of
the government dominated unions
marched into the square, their attend
ance having been checked off by govern
ment monitors, to greet the first worker
OF the land" The American delegation
looked down on the throng from the
balcony of the Casa Rosada. At given
signal the crowd roared, mi Fascista
nj Nazista- -Peronista! At another it
sang: "For us, only one word begins
with P-Peron!" Peron stepped out on
the balcony and the rhythmic chant
arose: "Pay-run, Pay-run, Pay-run"
In a passionate Grafton of average
length, Peron bore down hard on "sabo-
teurs," on traitors who would plunge
knife in my back" on the press of
the "oligarchy" which sought to inter-
fere with Argentina's progress. He
wound up by announcing 10 command
ments to stir workers to greater pro-
duction under the five-year plan
When the meeting was over, the crowd
seemed to break up In the same orderly
way it had assembled. The delegation
went back to the hotel to eat and to
think.
Suddenly word came that La Prensa,
Buenos Aires great independent news
PoPO4S "do hCA41S dLtdCACu. TOI GWO
hours the mob Stormed at 1t, throw
ing stones, setting fire to the entrance,
which was barred against the crowd.
Down further, El Mundo was assaulted
and mile away La Vanguardia, the
Socialist weekly, was broken into The
police, present at the demonstration
had melted away. After four calls
were put in they came when the violence
had spent its force.
Reaction Against Violence.
The next day La Epoca, chief gov
ernment organ, led in belaboring La
Prensa for Its "Bradenist" propaganda,
and defending the peoples reaction"
to the "adulteration" being carried
on against 100000 Argentineans by
La Prensa and the rest Of the "com-
mercial press" But as days went by,
many Of the newspapers in the interior
OF Argentina published angry editorials
OF protest which La Prensa reprinted.
The spirit of government engineered
violence, not necessarily physical, pre-
walls in the field of education in Argen.
tina. About IL hundred professors
1.157 to be exact-were fired, retired
or compelled to resign within the last
two months of the old year. The
names, degrees and faculties of all the
academicians were listed and published
in La Vanguardia to convince the most
skeptical of how thorough was this
cleanout Of teachers. Since Argentina
has only six universities the wholesale
character OF the purge may well be
judged.
Gen. Peron has succeeded in obtain
ing control of the Argentine Fedora
ton Of Labor. In addition he can
rely on the totalitarian support of both
right and left: On the one hand the
Allianza Nacional, Nazi-trained cler-
ical-Fascist group, and on the other,
the Communists, who have deserted the
political opposition to give "progres-
sive support" to Peron.
As the United States envoy stepped
down from his plane, Juan Domingo
Peron gave the Ambassador a great
abrazo. "Nuestro amigo, our friend" he
beamed. The governments crowd
roared. Ambassador Messersmith must
surely be aware by now that the Peron
regime is internationally and system
atically attempting to exalt the AM
bassadcr Of the United States while
belittling the government he represents