Between Resistance and Repression: New Writing on Argentine Political Radicalism, 1955-1976

Abstract

The two decades between 1955 and 1976, bookended by the beginning of a
military coup that ousted populist President Juan Perón in 1955 and the dictatorship
that replaced a democratically elected government in 1976, was a period
of tremendous political radicalism that would leave a permanent impression on
Argentina’s political history. During this period, left wing parties in Argentina,
already “extensive, prolific, [with] countless complexities and contradictions,” 2
gradually transformed from traditional orthodox parties of the left and the labor
movement into a ‘new left,’ introducing a wide range of ideological influences.
The nueva izquierda drew from crowds of intellectuals, university students,
defectors from traditional parties, guerrillas, and social movements, raising
a challenge to the legitimacy of traditional leftist parties in representing the
spectrum of political concerns and ambitions of the left.