Peronism: The Dictatorial Populism of Essay

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By mobilizing women in the name of Peron, Eva was able to use women to evangelize the greatness of Peron to their families, and to count upon their turn-out in the streets on prominent festival days. She also took special care to help downtrodden women through her Foundation.

Plotkin suggests that Peron's rise to power was not merely based on charisma. The Peron regime created institutions that supported its quasi-religious cult of personality. The educational, bureaucratic, and social structures of the land all conspired to keep Peron in power. Textbooks, national holidays, myths disseminated through the media about the rise of Peron's wife up from poverty, and gift-giving all created a system of interconnected symbols and rituals that made Peronism seem legitimate. Populism itself can be a manufactured entity.

A common question not just in regards to Peron, but about many populist figures that betray their constituencies is how people can be so credulous -- are they duped due to their own stupidity and ignorance or manipulated by a clever leader? Plotkin shows how Peron created a system where it was almost impossible to question Peron's legitimacy and supposed commitment to the people. Peron allowed the people just enough control and pleasures so they trusted his benevolence, although his regime did grow increasingly dictatorial in its later years. And even while Peron's popularity began to ebb, many of the poorest members of society continued to support him, mindful of the work done by Eva and her Foundation.

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Peron to some extent 'benefited' from the harsher attitudes of his predecessors, and their less skillful manipulation of institutional and media channels, but his major skill was creating a gigantic social mechanism, a 'big lie' that gave him the ability to control every aspect of the nation. Particularly effective were those mechanisms that affected everyday life, such as education and religion. Plotkin demonstrates that propaganda is both institutional in nature as well as symbolic. One cannot ask of propaganda is one or the other -- using Peronism as a case study indicates that it requires both elements to be effective.

Although Plotkin's view of Peronism is largely negative, he is careful to point out that Peronism is not merely fascism in Argentinean clothing. Peronism differed substantially from fascism in several ideological respects, most notably in its populism and its professed concern for the poor. It was widely supported by the urban and rural poor, and instituted many social services to better the lives of these groups. Although Peron wielded a heavy hand in controlling the media and state institutions, moreover, he never entirely dismantled the pluralist system of government, or professed a desire to do so. Peron's persona as a populist democrat is why he is still beloved in some corners of Argentina today, even though most historians have condemned his legacy.

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