Argentine Revolution

The Argentine Revolution was a year long civil war between anarchists and syndicalists against Argentine anti-socialist forces, resulting in an anarchist victory and causing the Buenos Aires government to flee to Brazil.

## Argentinian Civil War

Arrested rebels during the Patagonia Rebelde

### **Outcome**

Anarchist VictoryEstablishment of the Free Territory of South America

## **Prelude**

Argentina, similar to many Western European nations like Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Great Britain had various left-leaning influences in its country. But Argentina was different than the rest of South America, due to the fact it was the most industrialized nation on the continent by the 1890s which allowed anarchist and communist influences alike to become the strongest in all of South America. The rise of socialism in the country can be credited to a large swath of European immigrants who migrated to Argentina. Many of those migrants were socialists, who brought leftist ideologies to the country. But, due to the sheer amount of socialist Europeans entering in Argentina, leftism soon was, like in most other socialist circles split between Marxists, Syndicalists and Anarchists. As migration of left-leaning individuals increased throughout the early 1900s, various socialist councils, unions, and government parties were formed.

Gradually, these groups began to clash with Argentine police and became somewhat violent. During the rest of the 1900s-1910s, anarchism began a gradual decline in Argentina yet events within Argentina would see a rapid rise of their popularity. During the Cairo War, Argentina participated in the war by quickly taking control of the Falkland and South Georgia Islands, seeing the fall of the British Empire as an opportunity to gain control of those islands.

However, this would cause Britain to cut off relations with Argentina, including a several month embargo from the country. Argentine authorities did not believe the British would act as strict as they did, and tried to renegotiate with London to give them their islands back, but by that point it was far too late. Argentina didn't want any large scale conflict, but London's response completely escalated the situation. In reality the British knew that handing the islands back would do little for the Empire as a whole, and so refused Buenos Aires’ pleas. The fact that Britain was the largest trading partner of Argentina severely damaged their economy with the embargo in place. As a result, many British companies pulled themselves out of Argentina, including from investment, not only causing a depression in Argentina but also sending tens of thousands into unemployment. Protests began to erupt in the streets calling for governmental reforms to be made, and for welfare to be expanded to help those suffering from the recession. By around 1922 as the situation had for years not improved. The rich got bailed out in the years of the depression which angered much of the Argentine populace who felt they were abandoned by their own government. The government however really had no power in being able to alleviate the depression from what a catastrophe the Cairo War was, but the fact that the wealthy in the country were secured from feeling the effects of the crisis fueled class rage and ideas of radical socialism began to rise, including Anarchism. Many nations were already feeling the effects of recession, including possible trading partners like Brazil and the United States, which out the government in a very tight spot.

In 1922 the general election in Argentina resulted in the Socialist Party of Argentina, represented by Nicolás Repetto being elected. Despite its name, the party represented liberalist and social democratic ideas, and while their promises to end austerity, rations and expand welfare policies made them greatly popular, the inefficiency to ease the population in the months following his inauguration as president would cause the support for the socialist party to plummet. In Patagonia specifically, anarchism and syndicalism by extent skyrocketed in support due to the region in many ways having to deal with the worst effects of the economic depression, resulting in a general strike in the region, specifically in the Santa Cruz province of the country. Previously, revolutionary ideas and ideologies were quite influential in the Patagonian population, and they soon began to mobilize themselves, taking inspiration from the German and Iranian Revolutions. Known as the Patagonia Rebelde, the rebellion (which saw the Patagonian population strike and riot) would eventually be crushed but it would ironically further support for the anarchist cause, and the principles of the strike and the need for a revolution would grow. In total, the suppression resulted in the execution of as many as 1500 workers while only 5 police officers and 2 soldiers lost their lives sending resentment across the countryside. Similarly to the aftermath of the Tragic Week in which anarchist and communist riots in Buenos Aires were swiftly crushed, anarchism would prevail further in Argentina and the strikes would continue until the Madryn Uprising. Not wanting a German style civil war after seeing the damage caused by it, the government advised against using force to quell the rebellions, but instead thousands were imprisoned for striking. Prisons were overloading with striking workers arrested, and the situation in the prisons deteriorated rapidly. Córdoba in March of 1923 saw a successful prison uprising, resulting in a jailbreak by the workers and most escaped from the prison, resulting in similar attempts throughout all the major cities in the country, with some succeeding and some failing. This increase in violence and rumors of assaults against the police pushed Nicolás to call in the army to all major cities in the country, but martial law had not yet been declared.

With military presence in every major city, many strikers realized they couldn’t strike peacefully to get the government to pay attention and instead, violent tactics were used. Such as in the summer 12 terrorist attacks were carried out in Argentina, one of the biggest being the explosion of the Parish of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Buenos Aires. These attacks pushed the government to further exercise violence against leftist agitators. But by 1924 it was clear that Argentina was tearing itself apart. Residents across the country lived in fear of the government and the terrorists alike, but the inexcusable acts by the government rallied many to their cause. The government still ignored calls by the people to stop mass arresting and using police violence. Due to the police brutality many had begun to face, old wounds from the Tragic Week and Patagonia Rebelde began to reopen. By around April of 1924 a new uprising in Patagonia occurred, however it would be much more successful than their counterparts.

## **1924 Madryn Uprising**

In the early morning of May 13th, the police and military stationed in Puerto Madryn were hit hard by a surprise attack by newly formed militia forces. The determination of these forces and ideological ferver resulted in a full retreat of Argentinian forces and the town shortly after fell into into the militias. News of this successful uprising spread like wildfire, especially in the neighboring provinces. Many workers had been preparing for another assault in Chubut took up the opportunity of the success and organized together. Throughout the month the military was on the retreat from the Chubut province and by the end of the week over half of the province had fallen into militia hands. From this news, Nicolás, on the evening of June 21st delivered a speech in Buenos Aires through radio, calling for Argentines to support the nationalists and stand up to the Argentinian Left. More importantly, Nicolás, on the topic of the Madryn Uprising had stated “we shall crush these rebels decisively. No Anarchist, communist or syndicalist may ever feel welcome in our country. We are not Germany”. 3 days later in Puerto Madryn, Antonio Soto, who went into hiding since the failure of the 1921 Second Patagonia Strike, came out of hiding and gave a speech in the city similar to Nicolás, called for the workers of Argentina to overthrow the government and at the very end declared the Free Territory of South America, uniting the militias and rebels in Chubut. Interestingly, during the speech Antonio had said that, for the military of the enemy, they shall receive immunity from any sort of trial of imprisonment if they desert their post and join the workers militia. Soon after however the navy of Argentina moved to blockade the rest of Patagonia.

As the months rolled around, from the rest of May-September, it was a stalemate as Nicolás did not want to engage the rebels for a fear of loosing, and from this stalemate many of the militias began to organize more effectively. Antonio specifically called for mass conscription and trained the militias with a few military generals that fled into the rebel area. Germany also very sympathetic to the rebel cause, and in July lended a couple thousand unused rifles to the rebels. By October however, the stalemate was broken by another Argentinian loss. The rebels were stopped at the Chubut River while also having control of areas north of the river including Puerto Madryn, however the military there since May began to resent being in the Argentinian military and aligned more and more with the rebels. In October a new offensive was planned and the divisions north of the Chubut River were instructed to strike across the River, however most of the men there refused to go ahead with the offensive not wanting to fight. After a breakdown of talks by the military generals there and the divisions resulted in mass deserters and many mutinied. Hearing this news, the rebels across the River took a daring risk and cross the Chubut River to confront the military. With the Argentinian military already decimated in the area, the rebels with the help of the deserted and those who mutinied, were able to advance into the area over the next two weeks, ending in the capture of San Carlos de Bariloche.

From October to December, across the rest of Argentine controlled territory anarchists and syndicalists despite being crushed beforehand returned with a vengeance and rioted in every major Argentine city. Rioters struck the industrial heartland of these cities, destroying numerous factories that halted much of the war effort. Especially along the coastline naval bases and dockyards were severely damaged which depleted supplies for the Argentinian navy, which in turn partially ended the blockade from the navy in Patagonia.

## **1925**

In early 1925 as more troops were mobilized, the rest of southern Patagonia south of the Chubut River, which was still partially controlled by Argentina quickly fell into rebel hands. As the navy was forced back into Argentinian ports in order to prevent the total depletion of resources also forced the armies in what remained of Chubut and southern Patagonia to retreat as well, allowing the rebels to quickly annex the rest of the two provinces, which allowed the rebels to only focus on the north of the country. Around this time, with riots growing martial law had finally been declared on the rest of the country as Nicolás, not wanting to further enrage the population felt he had no choice but to declare martial law. With this, the rioters began to oppose the total control of the military in cities and many of the rioters began to fight the military. In some cities the military was able to crush the rioters such as in Buenos Aires but as a result the cities became decimated and furthered delayed the Argentinian war effort. While in Mar Del Plata, the rioters had seized control of most of the city before the military could arrive, and they had declared the city as a part of the Workers State as with Bahía Blanca.

As the military was unable to quell much of the rioters, it resulted in much of the soldiers being taken from the front line to urban areas allowing a weakened front for the militias. Antonio decided to strike the southern city of Neuquén. However, once the militias arrived they were bogged down by the military in the city, and forced to retreat out of the city. But, seeing an opportunity the militias closed off the city, as the military in the city held their ground thinking the militias would attack once again. Instead, the military was completely encircled and after 1 week the military surrendered and the militias took the city in late February.

By this point in time the military had completely broken apart. It took massive amounts of resources to quell the riots in Buenos Aires and Córdoba and resulted in the decimation of the cities. The manpower of the military, the navy, Air Force and army together began to broke away as many saw that the revolution would succeed and did not want to be tried and imprisoned, and took Antonio for his word and joined the militias. For part of the Argentinian navy that mutinied, they fled to Mar Del Plata and Bahía Blanca.

In spring of 1925, the militias south of the Rio Negro rallied themselves for a mass offensive into Argentinian territory. Their mass offensive lasted for 2 weeks but was a success overall. Viedma was captured and Bahía Blanca was connected with the rest of the rebel surge.

More rebellions popped up, not in the workers state. Rebellions across Mar Del Plata was able to connect the city with the reds by a very narrow strip of land. Santa Rosa also fell to a separate Syndicalist uprising and by this time the military was called to abandon the rest of the country and protect the northern cities including the areas around Buenos Aires. The Reds began to move up to the Pampas and captured San Rafael but was stopped by the remanents of the Argentinian army.

Around the summer, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia began to militarily occupy border regions which stretched the Argentine military much more thin, protecting the rest of their borders to prevent more land being taken over by the 4 countries. In the same time much of the remainder of the military began to surrender breaking the fragile front lines and allowing a rapid advance of red forces even into a ruined Córdoba as the military had basically fallen apart. In July, the Argentinian government, with the shadow of the loyal navy fled into Brazil as a government in exile as the reds sprinted to take Buenos Aires. In August, only the northern parts of Argentina lay in loyalist hands and Buenos Aires at this time had been captured by the reds. With the news of the capture of the capital, the Argentinian exiled government issued a statement, declaring the intent to fully pull out of their homeland and surrender to red forces.

After all this time of fighting, the revolution had finally been won.