First published 2004 by Transaction Publishers
Published 2017 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2003057350
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Di Telia, Torcuato S., 1929-
[Historia de los partidos polticos en Amrica Latina, siglo XX. English]
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7658-0181-7 (alk. paper)
1. Political partiesLatin AmericaHistory. 2. Latin AmericaPolitics and government20th century. I. Title.
JL969.A45D513 2003
324.2'98'904dc21
2003057350
ISBN 13: 978-1-4128-0510-0 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-7658-0181-4 (hbk)
Long ago, it was said that men make their own history, but with the materials provided by society. This book is an attempt at studying the materials that Latin America has provided, during the twentieth century, and how they have been used by committed actors, particularly political parties. It so happens that a modern, democratic society is impossible without parties. Which may be a sorry state to be in, given their many and very well-known shortcomings. But the alternatives are even worse.
What I have attempted is to provide a basic narrative, divided into historical periods, and by countries, to help readers become acquainted in some depth with the actors of the drama. Parallel to the story, I seek sociological explanations, or rather hypotheses, so as to place in comparative perspective what is going on. The aim is to construct as systematically as possible an interpretation of the Latin American predicament. This must be grounded in general sociological theory and political science, but a focus on the way the many variables interact in the region, which given different initial conditions and combinations of factors, creates a peculiar idiosyncrasy.
In a sense, this is historical sociology, taking history as a quarry from which to extract a number of episodes that show the interaction of different actors, and the games played by them. I have described in detail some of the episodes, and have passed rather lightly over others, according to the bearing I believe they have on theoretical issues. Anyway, theory has been kept in the background, and I have given pride of place to the narrative, so as to avoid excessively vague generalizations. And I must admit that I have undertaken this trip in the time machine not only out of scientific curiosity but also to be better able to understand current and future events.
This is an expanded and updated version of a book originally published by the Fondo de Cultura Econmica in Buenos Aires, in 1993, and reprinted in 1999. I have taken the opportunity of a stay as a visiting Tinker professor in Bolivar House at Stanford University to do the revisions and the translation, encouraged by the stimulating and friendly atmosphere created by its jefa and subjefa, Terry Karl and Catherine Morrison, and by the whole staff, to whom go my heartfelt thanks. As for Transaction Publishers, I am deeply moved by their determination to commit my thoughts to paper rather than to the flames, and I suspect the hand of my old friend Irving Horowitz, is at it now as so often in the past.
Torcuato S. Di Telia
Buenos Aires
October 2002
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Latin America seemed to be in the process of consolidatingwith a few exceptionsas a successful extension of the West, finally administered in an efficient manner, leaving behind ages of civil war, caudillismo, and chronic instability. Seen from the theoretical perspective of evolutionary positivism, as stated in the very widely read books of Herbert Spencer, the continent was in an advanced transition from militarism to an industrial and civil society. From a Marxist point of view it, could be posited that imperialism was performing a progressive role, implanting capitalist economic structures, together with liberal institutions. An essential ingredient of those institutions was a system of political parties allowing the bourgeoisie to be represented, but also giving scope for the organization of the middle classes and the proletariat, which should prepare for the moment when the times might be ripe for them.
Less optimistic, of course, were the visions of classical conservative, or Catholic origin, for whom technological innovation was not an obvious good, nor did it necessarily produce social changes beneficial to all. Far from it; the deleterious effect of modernization on traditional mores and respect for hierarchical superiors might bring about chaos, not a civilized polity.
But let us see in more detail what the situation was in the various countries of the region in the early years of the twentieth century.
In Mexico, after the terrible convulsions of the Insurgencia (1810-1816) and the wars of Reform (1857-1860) and Intervention (1861-1867), an era of authoritarian but constitutional development had been inaugurated, overcoming the succession of military coups and popular rioting that had marked the nations history. Porfirio Diazs regime was heir to the radical liberalism of the earlier part of the nineteenth century, which had successfully waged the struggle against religious traditionalism and foreign conquest. Its great foundational symbol was the Constitution of 1857, paradigm of possible future developments, which for the moment it was necessary to apply parsimoniously. Power should be delegated to a paternalist and solid government, ruling over a basically apathetic majority, while watching the ever-present, dangerous activist minorities.
The only serious problem was that in order to avoid the national tendency to slip into civil war, an excessively personalist system had been created, based on the reelection indefinitely of Don Porfirio. The system, in practice, was one of single-party rule; as a matter of fact, it was not even possible to speak of a governing party. What really existed was the entourage of the president, made up of officials and some intellectuals, plus regional caudillos who were slowly being transformed into civilian administrators in an expanding economy.
The Catholic Church had been ostracized since the mid-century convulsions, but it was slowly returning to a position of respectability. It maintained an excellent liaison with the upper classes, and a correct relationship to the ruling circles. For the presidential elections of 1904, Diaz would be reelected once again, for the sixth time, which was not too much for a country under reconstruction, and he promised he would not insist. Formally, the governing party called itself Liberal, though it was quite different from its European namesakes, or even from the Conservatives of the Old World. But precisely in thisit could be arguedrested its claim to efficient adaptation to its difficult milieu.
