1913 by Charles Emmerson

Author:Charles Emmerson [Emmerson, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781610392570
Publisher: PublicAffairs

Moretti’s obelisk, meanwhile, was delayed year to year. Three years after the centenary had passed, in 1913, it amounted to no more than some foundations in the middle of the Plaza de Mayo and special reinforcements of the subway tunnel below.36

Perhaps an unfinished sculpture more eloquently described the Argentine nation in 1913 than a completed project would have done. What was the Argentine nation, after all? Who was the Argentine nation? Many Argentineans were indubitably proud of their country, both of its past and, more particularly, what they deemed to be its inevitably bright future. Travelling the country, Clemenceau remarked upon the ‘rabid Argentinism’ he found there, and the ‘inherent jingoism’ of the country’s people.37 There was the perennial rivalry with Chile to stoke feelings of nationalism, as well as competition with Uruguay and Brazil. British ownership of the Falkland Islands was hotly contested. A particular state-sponsored reading of Argentine history was evident in Buenos Aires’ statues, and in the textbooks of the country’s schools. ‘There is a stereotyped ideal of Argentine History which must be adhered to … to depart from this is regarded as an educational crime’, editorialised the Buenos Aires Herald, ‘it would be an actual crime if any Argentine personage … were to be represented as other than a whole-hearted patriot and a hero’.38

Yet having thought it through, many new residents of the country chose not to become Argentine citizens, preferring to remain legally French, Italian, Spanish or German. Their affiliation to the Argentinean state was muted. Unlike in the United States, where the acquisition of citizenship was considered a mark of success, opening the way to greater opportunities ahead, foreigners felt they had little to gain from Argentinean citizenship. They already had the right to own land, and to travel freely. To many, citizenship simply conferred the dubious right to be conscripted into the Argentinean army. And although some nationalists railed against the failure of immigrants to be naturalised as Argentineans – periodically suggesting enforced naturalisation and Spanish classes to remedy the matter – the arrangements ultimately suited many conservatives. Why needlessly introduce a new element into the country’s political system through the grant of citizenship, by which men (but not women) would acquire the right to vote? Foreigners could remain foreigners if they wanted. The political status quo would be retained.

As it was, though elections were held in Argentina, the process of voting in public meant that those in power were in a strong position to ensure that the voters followed their line. ‘The Government is republican in name’, wrote Lloyd in 1910, ‘but the elective principle is largely farcical, and the executive power is as autocratic as that of Central Europe’.39 Politics continued to be dominated by the elite, with political bosses – caudillos – running the show in the provinces. For those in charge, the system seemed just fine. Argentina should be led from above, by the old Argentinean elite. Why change?

But the pressures on the country’s political system were increasing. Opposition

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