Argentina 1900-1910

Synopsis

During the first decade of the 1900s, the tone of the labor movement in Argentina turned dramatically from cooperation to defiance as anarchists took over the leadership roles in union organizations. The militant antigovernment policy of anarchism, in turn, forced the government to change dramatically its attitude toward unions from one of general ambivalence to one of repression. As the waves of general strikes built up during this period, the government employed various repressive measures, such as riot controls and even deportation of militants, to control the defiant nature of the labor movement. By 1910, however, organized labor had clearly gathered strength in Argentina. Because of its revolutionary nature, however, it remained outside of the established political and capitalist structure of the country. The labor movement would remain an outsider until the government and the capitalists needed it...