José Alonso (trade unionist)
Encyclopedia
José Alonso was an Argentine politician
and trade-unionist
.
section of Buenos Aires
, in 1917. The son of a Spanish
tailor, he dedicated himself to the same profession, and was first elected as a union delegate of the tailors in 1938. Alonso initially supported socialism
and Alfredo Palacios
, but balked from the Socialist Party of Argentina in his support for the populist Colonel Juan Perón
, Secretary of Labor of the military government in power since June 4, 1943.
On March 23, 1943, Alonso created the SOIVA (Sindicato de la Industria del Vestido de la Capital Federal, Trade-Union of Garnment Industry of Capital Federal) textile trade-union to counter the influence of the communist Federación Obrera del Vestido (FOV, Workers' Federation of Garnment). Supported by Perón, the SOIVA soon became one of the strongest trade-unions of Argentina. Again, in 1945 and also with support of the military junta, Alonso founded the FONIVA (Federación Obrera Nacional de la Industria del Vestido) national federation, and became its vice-secretary.
(ILO) and took part in the formation of the ATLAS
(Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas, a Latin American trade-union confederation) in 1952.
He married at that time María Luisa Pinella, another trade-unionist who had earned Eva Perón
's trust.
José Alonso then participated, along with other unionist leaders, as representant of the CGT, to the First National Congress of Philosophy, in Mendoza
(March-April 1949), which contributed to set the bases of the Peronist movement.
He also collaborated to the creation of the FATRE (Federación Argentina de Trabajadores Rurales y Estibadores) and was a member of the directorship of the Fundación Eva Perón from 1952 to 1955, as well as secretary of the directorship of the EPASA, which published La Prensa and other newspapers.
Alonso was elected deputy of the Capital Federal from 1952 to 1955. He participated to the elaboration of the law on collective bargaining
and the law on the pay of free day for workers working at home.
, a military putsch which ousted Perón, Alonso was detained, before being unexpectedly released on 25 June, 1956. Apparently that was an error, and the junta tried to capture him again, but Alonso managed to join Perón in his Venezuelan exile. He then participated to the negotiations between Perón and Rogelio Frigerio
, who represented presidential candidate Arturo Frondizi
of the UCRI. These negotiations resulted in Perón's decisive endorsement of Frondizi in the 1958 presidential elections
.
Alonso returned to Argentina in 1957, and was again detained, for several months, following the strike in the Frigorífico Nacional Lisandro de la Torre. He then tried to re-organize his former group of textile workers, as the trade-union had been put under federal receivership
by the dictatorship. Frondizi would win the February 1958 elections, and would gradually restore the CGT to its former, independent status.
In March 1960, he was again elected as secretary general, and participated in the CGT de la Resistencia, headed by the steelworker Armando Cabo (the father of Dardo Cabo
, who would join the Montoneros
). He authorized his union's adhesion to the 62 Organizaciones, a Peronist trade-union association created following the 1957 CGT Congress.
authorized the CGT Normalization Congress in 1963. One hundred trade unions
participated, and because the 62 Organizations supported José Alonso as candidate for Secretary General of the CGT, he was thus elected on February 1, 1963.
Alonso supported at first political reforms issued by Arturo Illia's new president (1963-1966), such as the cancelling of oil contracts subscribed by Frondizi. But on December 4, 1963, he presented a 15 points petition list, which requested increased wages, rupture with the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), active participation of workers' in the state firms and the elimination of unemployment.
A few days later, he started his speech in La Boca
by declaring: "Viva 1964 because it is the year in which Perón will return to the country." He then headed the CGT's struggle against Illia's policies (Plan de Acción), between March 1964 and July 1965. On 21 May, 1964, around 80 factories of the Greater Buenos Aires
were occupied, and 6 other strikes were organized under the CGT's leadership, followed by 3,900,000 workers and 11,000 working sites.
The plan, initially supported by independents among the CGT, then lead to the resignation of the graphist and vice-secretary general of the CGT, Héctor Riego Ribas, who opposed himself to the mobilization in favor of Perón's return.
In 1965, he was reelected as representant of the CGT, and began to break with the steelworker Augusto Vandor
, who headed the 62 Organizations and wanted more independence from Perón's directives, launching the famous the mot d'ordre "A Peronism without Perón". Along with Lorenzo Pepe, Andrés Framini
and Amado Olmos, he established the anti-Vandor "62 Organizations Standing with Perón".
When María Estela Martínez, Perón's third wife, travelled to Argentina to head the opposition to Vandor, Alonso became her main counsellor. Meanwhile, the government and the military supported internal struggles among the CGT, particularly following Labor Minister Rubens San Sebastián's implementation of a "divide and conquer" policy, around 1966.
Despite open support from Perón and his wife, José Alonso lost his functions at the CGT on 2 February, 1966, under pressures from the Vandoristas, and was replaced by Fernando Donaires.
The CGT General Congress then named as general secretary Francisco Prado, a man from the Light and Power Workers' (Luz y Fuerza) trade-union - aliies of Vandor.
Alonso then decided a new turn. Using his good relationship with the diplomacy, the Church
and the Armed Forces, he supported a coup d'État against Arturo Illia's elected government, and managed to reach an agreement with Vandor, both unified in a common criticisms of liberal democracy .
's military coup of June 28, 1966, Alonso declared: "We congratulate ourselves in having witnessed the fall of the last bourgeois liberal government, because it will never be able to establish itself here again." .
The main trade unionist leaders, Vandor, Prado, Light and Power workers' leader Juan José Taccone, and Alonso attended the inaugural of the new de facto President Onganía. Along with Rogelio Coria, José Alonso participated to the Nueva Corriente de Opinión, which, headed by Taccone, supported a "partipationist" or "collaborationist" attitude toward the military regime. A new tendency, opposed to the latter, formed in the workers' movement, headed by Amado Olmos, Raimundo Ongaro
, Julio Guillán, Jorge Di Pasquale, Ricardo De Luca, Atilio Santillán, and Agustín Tosco
.
However, trade unionists, and in particular José Alonso, began to oppose themselves to Onganía's dictatorship following Perón 's public condemnation of the military regime in September 1966. On November 21, 1966, Alonso stated that the military's policies were handing out the country to foreign hands.
The break with the military junta became definitive with the nomination of the orthodox liberal Adalbert Krieger Vasena to the Economic and Labor Ministry, in December 1966. The government began to detain trade unionists. Francisco Prado resigned from his functions as CGT general secretary in May 1967, and called a Normalization Congress at the end of March 1968. The radical tendency, opposed to collaboration with the military, won the elections, and the print workers' leader, Raimundo Ongaro, was elected general secretary. Since the "participationists" (Vander, Alonso, etc.) retained control of the CGT's headquarters, Ongaro headed a split, leading to the creation of the CGT de los Argentinos.
In this context, the Cordobazo
riots of 1969 erupted, followed by the assassination of Vandor on June 30, 1969. Ongaro's CGT de los Argentinos was outlawed, while the CGT itself was temporarily suspended. On July 4, 1970, the right-wing unionist and steelworker José Ignacio Rucci
was elected general secretary of the CGT.
.
Politics of Argentina
The politics of Argentina take place in the framework of what the Constitution defines as a federal presidential representative democratic Republic, where the President of Argentina is both Head of State and Head of Government. Legislative power is vested in both the President and the two chambers...
and trade-unionist
Trade unions in Argentina
Trade unions in Argentina have traditionally played a strong role in the politics of the nation. The largest trade union association, the Confederación General del Trabajo has been a force since the 1930s, and approximately 40% of workers in the formal economy are unionized.- The FORA :The...
.
Early life
José Alonso was born in the MontserratMontserrat, Buenos Aires
Monserrat is a neighbourhood located in the east of the Buenos Aires CBD. The district features some of the most important public buildings in Buenos Aires, including city hall, the city legislature, Casa Rosada, the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires and the Libertador Building , among...
section of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, in 1917. The son of a Spanish
Spanish Argentine
Spanish settlement in Argentina, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina, took place firstly in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain, and again in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
tailor, he dedicated himself to the same profession, and was first elected as a union delegate of the tailors in 1938. Alonso initially supported socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and Alfredo Palacios
Alfredo Palacios
Alfredo Lorenzo Palacios was an Argentine socialist politician.Palacios was born in Buenos Aires, and studied law at Universidad de Buenos Aires, after graduation he became a lawyer and taught at the university until becoming a dean.In 1902, he was elected to the Buenos Aires' legislature, and in...
, but balked from the Socialist Party of Argentina in his support for the populist Colonel Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
, Secretary of Labor of the military government in power since June 4, 1943.
On March 23, 1943, Alonso created the SOIVA (Sindicato de la Industria del Vestido de la Capital Federal, Trade-Union of Garnment Industry of Capital Federal) textile trade-union to counter the influence of the communist Federación Obrera del Vestido (FOV, Workers' Federation of Garnment). Supported by Perón, the SOIVA soon became one of the strongest trade-unions of Argentina. Again, in 1945 and also with support of the military junta, Alonso founded the FONIVA (Federación Obrera Nacional de la Industria del Vestido) national federation, and became its vice-secretary.
During the Peronist government
José Alonso, elected secretary of the SOIVA in 1946, became part of the Confederal Central Committee of the CGT trade union. He travelled abroad, being delegate of Argentine workers' in several conferences of the International Labour OrganizationInternational Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
(ILO) and took part in the formation of the ATLAS
Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas
Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas was a Latin American trade union confederation, founded in Mexico, in 1952. The organization was formed by the Argentinian CGT, Mexican CROM and other trade unions. ATLAS intended to organize a 'third way' in the Latin American labour...
(Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas, a Latin American trade-union confederation) in 1952.
He married at that time María Luisa Pinella, another trade-unionist who had earned Eva Perón
Eva Perón
María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita.She was born in the village of Los Toldos in...
's trust.
José Alonso then participated, along with other unionist leaders, as representant of the CGT, to the First National Congress of Philosophy, in Mendoza
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...
(March-April 1949), which contributed to set the bases of the Peronist movement.
He also collaborated to the creation of the FATRE (Federación Argentina de Trabajadores Rurales y Estibadores) and was a member of the directorship of the Fundación Eva Perón from 1952 to 1955, as well as secretary of the directorship of the EPASA, which published La Prensa and other newspapers.
Alonso was elected deputy of the Capital Federal from 1952 to 1955. He participated to the elaboration of the law on collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
and the law on the pay of free day for workers working at home.
Revolución Libertadora
Following the 1955 Revolución LibertadoraRevolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
, a military putsch which ousted Perón, Alonso was detained, before being unexpectedly released on 25 June, 1956. Apparently that was an error, and the junta tried to capture him again, but Alonso managed to join Perón in his Venezuelan exile. He then participated to the negotiations between Perón and Rogelio Frigerio
Rogelio Frigerio
Rogelio Frigerio was an Argentine economist, journalist and politician.-Background and early career:Rogelio Frigerio was born in Buenos Aires in 1914 to Gerónimo Frigerio and Carmen Guanzaroli...
, who represented presidential candidate Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi Ercoli was the President of Argentina between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union.-Early life:Frondizi was born in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes Province...
of the UCRI. These negotiations resulted in Perón's decisive endorsement of Frondizi in the 1958 presidential elections
Argentine general election, 1958
The Argentine general election of 1958 was held on 23 February. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 90.9% , it produced the following results:-President:aAbstentions....
.
Alonso returned to Argentina in 1957, and was again detained, for several months, following the strike in the Frigorífico Nacional Lisandro de la Torre. He then tried to re-organize his former group of textile workers, as the trade-union had been put under federal receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
by the dictatorship. Frondizi would win the February 1958 elections, and would gradually restore the CGT to its former, independent status.
In March 1960, he was again elected as secretary general, and participated in the CGT de la Resistencia, headed by the steelworker Armando Cabo (the father of Dardo Cabo
Dardo Cabo
Dardo Manuel Cabo was an Argentine journalist and activist. The son of a famous metalworkers' union leader, he started political activism in the Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara , a far-right youth group of the 1960s...
, who would join the Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
). He authorized his union's adhesion to the 62 Organizaciones, a Peronist trade-union association created following the 1957 CGT Congress.
General Secretary of the CGT
Alonso became a member of the "Commission of the 20", a unionist organization which gathered Peronists and independents, and headed the CGT following its legalization by Frondizi's government on February 28, 1961. Until 1963, the CGT was not completely institutionally normalized. President José María GuidoJosé María Guido
José María Guido was an interim President of Argentina from 30 March 1962 to 12 October 1963.Guido was elected to the Argentine Senate for Río Negro Province in 1958, representing the Intransigent Radical Civic Union...
authorized the CGT Normalization Congress in 1963. One hundred trade unions
Trade unions in Argentina
Trade unions in Argentina have traditionally played a strong role in the politics of the nation. The largest trade union association, the Confederación General del Trabajo has been a force since the 1930s, and approximately 40% of workers in the formal economy are unionized.- The FORA :The...
participated, and because the 62 Organizations supported José Alonso as candidate for Secretary General of the CGT, he was thus elected on February 1, 1963.
Alonso supported at first political reforms issued by Arturo Illia's new president (1963-1966), such as the cancelling of oil contracts subscribed by Frondizi. But on December 4, 1963, he presented a 15 points petition list, which requested increased wages, rupture with the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
(IMF), active participation of workers' in the state firms and the elimination of unemployment.
A few days later, he started his speech in La Boca
La Boca
La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. In fact the name has a strong assonance with the Genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse , and some people believe that...
by declaring: "Viva 1964 because it is the year in which Perón will return to the country." He then headed the CGT's struggle against Illia's policies (Plan de Acción), between March 1964 and July 1965. On 21 May, 1964, around 80 factories of the Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires is the generic denomination to refer to the megalopolis comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it, over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative...
were occupied, and 6 other strikes were organized under the CGT's leadership, followed by 3,900,000 workers and 11,000 working sites.
The plan, initially supported by independents among the CGT, then lead to the resignation of the graphist and vice-secretary general of the CGT, Héctor Riego Ribas, who opposed himself to the mobilization in favor of Perón's return.
Operativo Retorno and the break with Vandor
In December 1964, Alonso participated to the organization of Operativo Retorno (Operation Return), aimed at bringing back Perón from exile. The Operation was defeated however by the government.In 1965, he was reelected as representant of the CGT, and began to break with the steelworker Augusto Vandor
Augusto Vandor
Augusto Timoteo Vandor was an Argentine trade unionist leader, military and politician.-Career:Vandor was born Bovril, Entre Ríos Province, to a Dutch father and a French mother, in 1923. He enlisted in the Argentine Navy in 1940, and later became an officer in the ARA Comodoro Py warship...
, who headed the 62 Organizations and wanted more independence from Perón's directives, launching the famous the mot d'ordre "A Peronism without Perón". Along with Lorenzo Pepe, Andrés Framini
Andrés Framini
Andrés Framini was an Argentine labor leader and politician.-Early career:Andrés Framini was born in the working-class La Plata suburb of Berisso, in 1914. He entered the labor force as a peon in one of Buenos Aires' many textile manufacturers, eventually working for the important Piccaluga...
and Amado Olmos, he established the anti-Vandor "62 Organizations Standing with Perón".
When María Estela Martínez, Perón's third wife, travelled to Argentina to head the opposition to Vandor, Alonso became her main counsellor. Meanwhile, the government and the military supported internal struggles among the CGT, particularly following Labor Minister Rubens San Sebastián's implementation of a "divide and conquer" policy, around 1966.
Despite open support from Perón and his wife, José Alonso lost his functions at the CGT on 2 February, 1966, under pressures from the Vandoristas, and was replaced by Fernando Donaires.
The CGT General Congress then named as general secretary Francisco Prado, a man from the Light and Power Workers' (Luz y Fuerza) trade-union - aliies of Vandor.
Alonso then decided a new turn. Using his good relationship with the diplomacy, the Church
Roman Catholicism in Argentina
The Catholic Church in Argentina is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the Curia in Rome, and the Argentine Episcopal Conference....
and the Armed Forces, he supported a coup d'État against Arturo Illia's elected government, and managed to reach an agreement with Vandor, both unified in a common criticisms of liberal democracy .
Onganía's dictatorship
Following Juan Carlos OnganíaJuan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
's military coup of June 28, 1966, Alonso declared: "We congratulate ourselves in having witnessed the fall of the last bourgeois liberal government, because it will never be able to establish itself here again." .
The main trade unionist leaders, Vandor, Prado, Light and Power workers' leader Juan José Taccone, and Alonso attended the inaugural of the new de facto President Onganía. Along with Rogelio Coria, José Alonso participated to the Nueva Corriente de Opinión, which, headed by Taccone, supported a "partipationist" or "collaborationist" attitude toward the military regime. A new tendency, opposed to the latter, formed in the workers' movement, headed by Amado Olmos, Raimundo Ongaro
Raimundo Ongaro
Raimundo Ongaro is a prominent Argentine labor leader.-Early career and rise to prominence:Raimundo José Ongaro was born to a middle-class family of Italian Argentines from the Lombardy region, in the Argentine seashore city of Mar del Plata in 1924...
, Julio Guillán, Jorge Di Pasquale, Ricardo De Luca, Atilio Santillán, and Agustín Tosco
Agustín Tosco
Agustín Gringo Tosco was an Argentine union leader, member of the CGT de los Argentinos and an important participant in the historic local uprising known as the Cordobazo.-Thought and maturity:At 27 years old, he was the general secretary for Luz y Fuerza...
.
However, trade unionists, and in particular José Alonso, began to oppose themselves to Onganía's dictatorship following Perón 's public condemnation of the military regime in September 1966. On November 21, 1966, Alonso stated that the military's policies were handing out the country to foreign hands.
The break with the military junta became definitive with the nomination of the orthodox liberal Adalbert Krieger Vasena to the Economic and Labor Ministry, in December 1966. The government began to detain trade unionists. Francisco Prado resigned from his functions as CGT general secretary in May 1967, and called a Normalization Congress at the end of March 1968. The radical tendency, opposed to collaboration with the military, won the elections, and the print workers' leader, Raimundo Ongaro, was elected general secretary. Since the "participationists" (Vander, Alonso, etc.) retained control of the CGT's headquarters, Ongaro headed a split, leading to the creation of the CGT de los Argentinos.
In this context, the Cordobazo
Cordobazo
The Cordobazo was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, in the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía, which occurred a few days after the Rosariazo, and a year after the French May '68...
riots of 1969 erupted, followed by the assassination of Vandor on June 30, 1969. Ongaro's CGT de los Argentinos was outlawed, while the CGT itself was temporarily suspended. On July 4, 1970, the right-wing unionist and steelworker José Ignacio Rucci
José Ignacio Rucci
José Ignacio Rucci was an Argentine politician and union leader, appointed general secretary of the CGT in 1970...
was elected general secretary of the CGT.
Assassination
Alonso was assassinated on August 27, 1970, allegedly by Peronist left-wing militants, although the crime has never been solved. He was buried in La Chacarita CemeteryLa Chacarita Cemetery
Cementerio de la Chacarita in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is known as the National Cemetery and is the largest in Argentina.-Location:The cemetery is in the barrio or district of Chacarita, in the northern part of Buenos Aires...
.