1
00:00:09,505 --> 00:00:12,491
Action for Liberation

2
00:00:12,526 --> 00:00:18,015
Notes, testimonials and debate
about the recent liberation struggle

3
00:00:18,016 --> 00:00:20,664
of the Argentinean people.

4
00:00:20,665 --> 00:00:24,355
Second part of:

5
00:00:24,356 --> 00:00:29,419
THE HOUR OF THE FURNACES

6
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:37,074
Advertise your product or brand here
contact www. OpenSubtitles. org today

7
00:00:43,243 --> 00:00:49,220
Our thanks to the workers,
farmers, revolutionary activists,

8
00:00:49,221 --> 00:00:55,121
intellectuals, workers' unions and
people's organizations

9
00:00:55,122 --> 00:00:59,026
who helped in the making this film.

10
00:01:06,611 --> 00:01:10,620
To the Perónist proletariat,
who built the national conscience

11
00:01:10,621 --> 00:01:12,921
of the Argentineans.

12
00:01:26,925 --> 00:01:31,801
GENERAL ORDER
JULY 27:1819

13
00:01:40,366 --> 00:01:43,922
Comrades in the Andes army:
We must fight however we can.

14
00:01:43,923 --> 00:01:49,323
We may have no money, but we won't
lack meat and tobacco.

15
00:01:49,324 --> 00:01:55,324
When our clothes run out, we'll
wear those our women make for us,

16
00:01:55,325 --> 00:02:01,325
or we'll be stark naked, like our
fellow countrymen, the Indians.

17
00:02:01,326 --> 00:02:07,326
We'll be free,
and nothing else matters.

18
00:02:07,327 --> 00:02:13,327
Let's swear never to stop fighting
until the country is totally free,

19
00:02:13,428 --> 00:02:17,986
or else let's die fighting
as brave men.

20
00:02:59,620 --> 00:03:01,686
Tri-continental brothers:

21
00:03:05,255 --> 00:03:09,847
Revolutionary violence will
put an end to imperialist crimes.

22
00:03:14,510 --> 00:03:16,140
Liberation or death!

23
00:03:23,572 --> 00:03:28,156
"The nature of imperialism is what
turns man into a beast".

24
00:03:29,794 --> 00:03:34,518
Imperialism is international
and must be fought internationally.

25
00:03:43,365 --> 00:03:45,444
The Third World!

26
00:03:58,553 --> 00:04:01,308
"The people defend their rights.
Neither Wessin nor the Yanks

27
00:04:01,309 --> 00:04:03,229
nor death will stop us".

28
00:04:11,446 --> 00:04:15,474
"Coexistence" with imperialism
legalises its barbarity.

29
00:04:18,327 --> 00:04:19,895
Unity!

30
00:04:19,896 --> 00:04:24,360
Active solidarity with the peoples
that have been attacked!

31
00:04:26,708 --> 00:04:31,360
"Many Vietnams is the objective.
To create two, three, many."

32
00:04:36,438 --> 00:04:40,280
Long live internationalism
at the roots of combat!

33
00:04:47,016 --> 00:04:50,724
Revolution is our greatest
cultural manifestation.

34
00:05:00,944 --> 00:05:03,496
The nationalism
of the oppressed countries

35
00:05:03,497 --> 00:05:07,077
negates the nationalism
of oppressing countries.

36
00:05:11,582 --> 00:05:13,126
Motherland or death!

37
00:05:18,187 --> 00:05:21,188
The destruction of imperialism
will free all men.

38
00:05:21,189 --> 00:05:24,118
Death to US imperialism.

39
00:05:32,394 --> 00:05:36,286
Either a socialist revolution
or a mock revolution.

40
00:05:38,249 --> 00:05:39,329
The new man.

41
00:05:42,079 --> 00:05:47,980
The victory for Third World countries

42
00:05:48,081 --> 00:05:53,847
will be a victory
for the whole of mankind.

43
00:05:56,973 --> 00:06:01,973
Comrades, this is not just the showing
of a film,

44
00:06:01,974 --> 00:06:04,659
neither is it merely a spectacle.

45
00:06:05,060 --> 00:06:07,643
It is first of all an action

46
00:06:07,644 --> 00:06:12,192
for the liberation of Argentina
and Latin America:

47
00:06:12,193 --> 00:06:15,788
an action of
anti-imperialist unity.

48
00:06:16,589 --> 00:06:22,032
There's room for all those
who identify with this struggle.

49
00:06:22,833 --> 00:06:28,404
This is not a place for spectators,
or the enemy's accomplices,

50
00:06:29,005 --> 00:06:32,572
but for the
authors and main actors

51
00:06:32,573 --> 00:06:39,379
in the process that this film
tries to document and explain.

52
00:06:43,014 --> 00:06:46,078
This film is a preamble for dialogue,

53
00:06:46,079 --> 00:06:49,975
for the search,
for different wills to meet.

54
00:06:50,576 --> 00:06:55,378
It's an open report that
we offer for your consideration,

55
00:06:55,379 --> 00:06:58,705
for you to discuss
after the screening is over.

56
00:06:58,706 --> 00:07:00,833
The most important thing

57
00:07:01,234 --> 00:07:04,017
is to create this unitary space,

58
00:07:04,018 --> 00:07:06,683
this dialogue for liberation.

59
00:07:07,084 --> 00:07:11,549
Our opinions
are as valuable as yours,

60
00:07:11,550 --> 00:07:14,745
and you can add to this action

61
00:07:14,746 --> 00:07:18,087
any other view or experience

62
00:07:18,088 --> 00:07:22,487
to enrich this
chronicle of the liberation.

63
00:07:23,488 --> 00:07:28,444
To finish, our comrade
narrator is going to speak.

64
00:07:28,845 --> 00:07:34,469
He will update the nature of this act,
based on current circumstances.

65
00:07:34,870 --> 00:07:40,467
I ask all of you,
as a first act of united will,

66
00:07:40,868 --> 00:07:45,041
to pay homage to all
peoples and their armed fronts,

67
00:07:45,942 --> 00:07:51,880
who are now violently fighting
imperialism and colonialism.

68
00:07:52,481 --> 00:07:57,001
To politicize is to open,
waken, give birth to the spirit.

69
00:07:57,575 --> 00:08:00,375
It is, as Cesaire said,
to invent souls.

70
00:08:00,376 --> 00:08:03,876
Unit and committee meetings
are religious acts.

71
00:08:03,877 --> 00:08:09,220
They are privileged opportunities
for man to hear and speak.

72
00:08:09,521 --> 00:08:13,680
"if everybody must compromise
in the struggle for common salvation,

73
00:08:13,681 --> 00:08:17,088
there are no pure hands,
nor spectators, nor innocents.

74
00:08:17,089 --> 00:08:20,577
We all soil our hands
in the marshes of our land,

75
00:08:20,578 --> 00:08:22,325
in the open space
of our minds.

76
00:08:22,326 --> 00:08:27,082
Every spectator is a coward
or a traitor". Frantz Fanon.

77
00:08:27,083 --> 00:08:30,788
Space for the intervention
of our narrator.

78
00:08:37,900 --> 00:08:43,700
CHRONICLES OF PERONISM
1945-1955

79
00:08:45,011 --> 00:08:50,789
National and popular movements
were the first appearances

80
00:08:51,190 --> 00:08:56,990
in history of most
Latin American peoples.

81
00:08:56,991 --> 00:09:02,783
They were the first actions
of breaking with neo-colonial serfdom.

82
00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,600
OCTOBER 17

83
00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,898
On 17 October 1945

84
00:09:37,899 --> 00:09:41,099
the Argentinean masses burst
for the first time

85
00:09:41,100 --> 00:09:44,233
onto the national political scene.

86
00:09:44,634 --> 00:09:48,645
The eternal dispossessed,
the marginalised,

87
00:09:48,646 --> 00:09:52,495
became the great actors
in our history.

88
00:09:53,296 --> 00:09:57,196
The 17th October was the start
of the current process

89
00:09:57,197 --> 00:09:59,801
of liberation for Argentina.

90
00:10:00,902 --> 00:10:03,148
Hundreds of thousands
of workers

91
00:10:03,149 --> 00:10:07,081
spontaneously assaulted
the iron and stone city.

92
00:10:07,082 --> 00:10:11,655
They submerged their feet in the
forbidden fountains

93
00:10:11,690 --> 00:10:16,265
to the horror of civil servants
and colonial administrators.

94
00:10:17,466 --> 00:10:20,466
The "shirtless" who
spontaneously invaded

95
00:10:20,467 --> 00:10:23,035
the streets of Buenos Aires

96
00:10:23,036 --> 00:10:28,130
are none other than the direct
descendants of those nationals

97
00:10:28,131 --> 00:10:31,067
who followed San Martín
on the Andes,

98
00:10:31,349 --> 00:10:36,052
or of the "Montoneras"
who went with Varela or El Chacho.

99
00:10:36,653 --> 00:10:40,772
The people claimed that day
their leader's freedom.

100
00:10:41,373 --> 00:10:46,055
October 17th
marked the birth of Perón.

101
00:10:47,413 --> 00:10:49,961
Perón emerged as the
national expression

102
00:10:49,962 --> 00:10:54,746
of a people determined to achieve
their definitive independence.

103
00:10:55,705 --> 00:11:02,411
Evita is the flag carrier for the
lowest and most exploited groups.

104
00:11:09,125 --> 00:11:12,368
The working people are
the motherland's humble people,

105
00:11:12,369 --> 00:11:15,762
standing here
and across the whole country

106
00:11:15,763 --> 00:11:21,739
to follow Perón, as he has risen
the flag of redemption

107
00:11:21,740 --> 00:11:24,127
and justice for
the working masses.

108
00:11:24,128 --> 00:11:29,371
They'll follow him against oppression
from domestic and foreign traitors.

109
00:11:29,372 --> 00:11:31,963
Because I want my people to know

110
00:11:31,964 --> 00:11:36,507
that we are all
willing to die for Perón.

111
00:11:37,908 --> 00:11:41,423
And let the traitors know

112
00:11:41,424 --> 00:11:45,503
that we will no longer
appear to them,

113
00:11:45,504 --> 00:11:47,547
as Perón did on 28th September.

114
00:11:47,548 --> 00:11:51,496
We will die while taking justice
in our own hands.

115
00:11:53,111 --> 00:11:54,511
The enemy is lurking,

116
00:11:54,512 --> 00:11:56,765
he never forgives.

117
00:11:56,766 --> 00:12:01,789
And those who would sell the country
for a few coins

118
00:12:01,790 --> 00:12:04,164
are also lurking,

119
00:12:04,165 --> 00:12:06,779
to strike at any moment.

120
00:12:06,780 --> 00:12:09,941
But we are the people,

121
00:12:09,942 --> 00:12:13,287
and I know that if
the people are vigilant

122
00:12:13,288 --> 00:12:15,283
we are invincible,

123
00:12:15,284 --> 00:12:18,160
because we are
the motherland itself.

124
00:12:19,430 --> 00:12:24,739
Perónism came to put an end to
the effects of an infamous decade,

125
00:12:25,340 --> 00:12:27,379
the era that started in 1930

126
00:12:27,380 --> 00:12:29,964
with the oligarchic military
dictatorship

127
00:12:29,965 --> 00:12:31,765
that overthrew Irigoyen.

128
00:12:32,187 --> 00:12:34,749
The years of national corruption,

129
00:12:34,750 --> 00:12:36,805
soup kitchens,

130
00:12:36,806 --> 00:12:38,873
ignominious frauds,

131
00:12:38,874 --> 00:12:41,875
and assassins paid
by the committee.

132
00:12:41,928 --> 00:12:44,550
A time when
Argentinean politics were managed

133
00:12:44,551 --> 00:12:47,764
between the British embassy
and the army.

134
00:12:48,611 --> 00:12:52,121
A shameless handover
of the national wealth.

135
00:12:53,301 --> 00:12:56,740
Intellectualism, pseudo-Leftism
and Perónism.

136
00:12:56,741 --> 00:13:01,997
What was the world in 1945?

137
00:13:02,762 --> 00:13:06,010
The inter-imperialist war
was ending.

138
00:13:06,811 --> 00:13:09,999
A new parting of the
world was starting.

139
00:13:11,288 --> 00:13:13,857
The Chinese Revolution
did not exist,

140
00:13:13,858 --> 00:13:16,953
nor the so-called popular
democracies.

141
00:13:17,954 --> 00:13:21,383
The Arab countries had not
freed themselves.

142
00:13:22,626 --> 00:13:26,272
India was not yet
a republic.

143
00:13:26,873 --> 00:13:32,422
Colonialism ruled in most
of Asia and Africa.

144
00:13:33,859 --> 00:13:35,930
In the name of Marxism

145
00:13:35,931 --> 00:13:41,870
the idea was encouraged that
Soviet and US armies

146
00:13:41,871 --> 00:13:45,177
marched together
for the liberation

147
00:13:45,178 --> 00:13:47,100
of all peoples.

148
00:13:47,370 --> 00:13:52,558
The Third World
was hardly an active project.

149
00:13:54,138 --> 00:13:59,084
What did the rise of Perónism
mean at that time?

150
00:14:00,977 --> 00:14:04,896
Perónism was a precedent,

151
00:14:05,497 --> 00:14:08,498
and a new one in our country.

152
00:14:09,299 --> 00:14:12,189
The Argentinean intellectuals

153
00:14:12,190 --> 00:14:14,692
would lose direction again,

154
00:14:14,693 --> 00:14:19,020
as with the "Montoneras"
and Irigoyenism.

155
00:14:20,328 --> 00:14:25,496
The Justicialist revolution was to
challenge all their preconceptions.

156
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,273
It wasn't fronted by
a clear leadership,

157
00:14:29,274 --> 00:14:31,711
but a group of military men.

158
00:14:32,312 --> 00:14:34,524
No red flags were raised,

159
00:14:35,125 --> 00:14:38,276
but Argentinean
blue and white flags.

160
00:14:39,466 --> 00:14:41,806
How could this not worry

161
00:14:41,807 --> 00:14:43,809
an intellectual sector

162
00:14:43,810 --> 00:14:47,844
dependant on European
revolutionary models?

163
00:14:48,870 --> 00:14:56,787
In 1945, the intellectuals were not
engaged with the needs of the country.

164
00:14:57,788 --> 00:15:00,761
In those days, the university
federation

165
00:15:00,762 --> 00:15:04,837
declared mourning for
Roosevelt's death,

166
00:15:04,838 --> 00:15:08,553
and Borges praised the Allies.

167
00:15:09,937 --> 00:15:13,166
One was either with
the Allies or a Nazi,

168
00:15:13,167 --> 00:15:15,516
never an Argentinean.

169
00:15:15,551 --> 00:15:20,262
Anything "national" was
alarming and suspicious.

170
00:15:21,063 --> 00:15:25,710
The middle classes,
influenced by the intellectuals

171
00:15:25,711 --> 00:15:28,135
and with neo-colonial blessing,

172
00:15:29,281 --> 00:15:32,909
saw in Perónism just a

173
00:15:32,910 --> 00:15:37,509
Nazi-fascist-falangist
conspiracy.

174
00:15:39,069 --> 00:15:41,629
The Communist Party leaders

175
00:15:41,630 --> 00:15:45,000
called it a clan of the "classless",

176
00:15:45,035 --> 00:15:47,565
of prostitutes and rogues.

177
00:15:47,566 --> 00:15:51,456
They joined with
antinational groups

178
00:15:51,657 --> 00:15:54,193
in the Democratic Union Front.

179
00:15:56,206 --> 00:15:59,165
We are going to witness the
solemn creation of the

180
00:15:59,166 --> 00:16:00,487
Democratic Union.

181
00:16:00,488 --> 00:16:05,432
Rodolfo Guioldi, leader of the
Communist Party will now speak.

182
00:16:05,433 --> 00:16:10,226
The people will vote for the
Democratic Union formula because

183
00:16:10,227 --> 00:16:14,671
firstly it will mean a constitutional
normalization,

184
00:16:14,672 --> 00:16:18,313
and a democratic peace
process for the Argentineans.

185
00:16:18,314 --> 00:16:24,320
Secondly, its program will guarantee
the progress of the nation

186
00:16:24,321 --> 00:16:27,186
and wellbeing for the people.

187
00:16:27,221 --> 00:16:32,362
Voting for this formula, the people
will beat the Nazi-fascist axis

188
00:16:32,363 --> 00:16:34,599
in the Argentinean Republic.

189
00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,684
From the Progressive Democratic
Party, Dr. Díaz Arana.

190
00:16:39,501 --> 00:16:42,101
The Progressive Democratic Party

191
00:16:42,102 --> 00:16:45,364
has long stood for

192
00:16:45,365 --> 00:16:48,403
the need to unite democratic forces

193
00:16:48,404 --> 00:16:51,443
to recover,
through common action,

194
00:16:51,444 --> 00:16:56,239
constitutional normality
and a fully democratic regime

195
00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,612
not subjugated by
dictatorship.

196
00:16:58,950 --> 00:17:01,341
Those who could write

197
00:17:01,342 --> 00:17:03,469
had nothing to say.

198
00:17:03,470 --> 00:17:05,565
They marched arm in arm,

199
00:17:05,566 --> 00:17:08,187
cheered by US ambassador Braden.

200
00:17:09,188 --> 00:17:11,656
Those still illiterate

201
00:17:12,257 --> 00:17:18,252
"wrote" alone, through their action,
the National Liberation.

202
00:17:19,286 --> 00:17:23,720
That old sing-song of
"yes to shoes, no to books"

203
00:17:23,721 --> 00:17:26,522
would be the fair response
from the people

204
00:17:26,523 --> 00:17:32,387
to the distant and
foreign-influenced intellectuals.

205
00:17:33,964 --> 00:17:37,724
The movement was
seizing the power

206
00:17:37,725 --> 00:17:43,529
which the National
Revolutionary intellectualism lacked.

207
00:17:45,730 --> 00:17:49,730
The phenomenon of a
dependant intellectualism

208
00:17:50,131 --> 00:17:54,031
occurred in Argentina
both on the Left and the Right.

209
00:17:54,032 --> 00:17:57,924
The Socialist Party conformed
to the liberal models

210
00:17:58,433 --> 00:18:01,433
of European social democracy.

211
00:18:01,834 --> 00:18:07,434
The Communist Party followed
the international precepts.

212
00:18:08,671 --> 00:18:13,035
The so called "Popular Fronts",
with the bourgeoisie,

213
00:18:13,036 --> 00:18:15,336
"Centrism" and Browderism,

214
00:18:15,337 --> 00:18:19,337
were political expressions
of Stalinism.

215
00:18:19,338 --> 00:18:22,338
J. Abelardo Ramos says

216
00:18:22,339 --> 00:18:26,839
"Stalinism has never supported
truly national movements

217
00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:31,052
in Latin America, but rather,
anti-national coalitions."

218
00:18:31,441 --> 00:18:34,941
Due to this politics,
from 1945 in Argentina

219
00:18:34,942 --> 00:18:37,942
the words Communism, Marxism
and Socialism

220
00:18:37,943 --> 00:18:41,443
were synonyms with treason
for the proletariat,

221
00:18:41,444 --> 00:18:45,944
through no fault of real
Communism, Marxism and Socialism.

222
00:18:45,979 --> 00:18:49,348
Perónism in Power.

223
00:18:53,404 --> 00:18:58,762
Perónism displaced oligarchy
and imperialism from positions of power,

224
00:18:58,763 --> 00:19:03,475
causing their first great defeat
in the history of the country.

225
00:19:03,476 --> 00:19:07,737
The mass movement which reached
power in a few months

226
00:19:07,738 --> 00:19:10,430
originated from very particular

227
00:19:10,431 --> 00:19:13,525
national and international circumstances.

228
00:19:14,679 --> 00:19:20,070
The strong proletariat and bourgeoisie
created by industrial development

229
00:19:20,071 --> 00:19:26,043
didn't feel represented
by the traditional parties.

230
00:19:27,225 --> 00:19:30,235
A national army and a leader,

231
00:19:30,236 --> 00:19:35,221
Perón, brought together
those new forces

232
00:19:35,222 --> 00:19:38,734
at a good time
for the Argentinean economy.

233
00:19:39,135 --> 00:19:43,600
The National Front comprised the army,

234
00:19:43,601 --> 00:19:46,641
some sectors of
the industrial bourgeoisie,

235
00:19:46,642 --> 00:19:49,788
the church, the middle classes
from inner regions,

236
00:19:49,789 --> 00:19:54,891
rural workers, and the
whole of the young proletariat.

237
00:19:55,492 --> 00:19:59,454
Three themes unified the movement:

238
00:19:59,455 --> 00:20:03,553
Economic independence,
political sovereignty,

239
00:20:03,554 --> 00:20:05,901
and social justice.

240
00:20:06,102 --> 00:20:11,364
Perónism is the attempt to
go from a semi-colony of shepherds

241
00:20:11,365 --> 00:20:13,880
to an independent nation.

242
00:20:13,881 --> 00:20:16,938
This attempt was carried out
by a movement

243
00:20:16,939 --> 00:20:19,283
whose axis was the proletariat

244
00:20:19,284 --> 00:20:22,454
and for whom the revolution of 1945

245
00:20:22,455 --> 00:20:26,254
had a deeply anti-imperialist meaning.

246
00:20:27,921 --> 00:20:31,440
Perón did not assume power
as a Marxist,

247
00:20:31,441 --> 00:20:34,685
but as a national politician

248
00:20:34,686 --> 00:20:37,165
forced to improvise politics

249
00:20:37,166 --> 00:20:39,488
and a party.

250
00:20:40,090 --> 00:20:43,675
He was the embodiment of
a popular force,

251
00:20:43,764 --> 00:20:48,461
still too historically immature
to be anything other than

252
00:20:48,496 --> 00:20:52,148
a national movement
and its leader.

253
00:20:52,749 --> 00:20:55,770
The movement's
popular nationalism

254
00:20:55,771 --> 00:20:58,771
unleashed in 1945
the most advanced

255
00:20:58,772 --> 00:21:02,252
liberation process which,
at that time,

256
00:21:02,253 --> 00:21:05,790
could take place in our country.

257
00:21:08,051 --> 00:21:12,147
1945-1955: Ten years of
national democracy.

258
00:21:12,148 --> 00:21:16,234
For the first time, the whole
external debt is brought home

259
00:21:16,235 --> 00:21:20,572
and no deals are signed
with imperialist countries.

260
00:21:20,872 --> 00:21:24,315
External commerce is centralized.

261
00:21:25,316 --> 00:21:28,289
Industry is protected.

262
00:21:28,290 --> 00:21:31,290
High wages.
No unemployment.

263
00:21:31,691 --> 00:21:37,552
The central bank is nationalized,
as are railways, gas, telephone,

264
00:21:37,553 --> 00:21:43,583
public services and bank credits.

265
00:21:43,984 --> 00:21:49,172
Women vote for the first time.

266
00:21:49,173 --> 00:21:55,160
A Workers Central and
industrial unions are established.

267
00:21:55,961 --> 00:21:59,036
76,000 public works.

268
00:21:59,037 --> 00:22:02,534
More schools are built in 10 years

269
00:22:02,535 --> 00:22:07,371
than in the last one and a half
centuries of national history.

270
00:22:08,146 --> 00:22:12,549
Contradictions of a
national movement.

271
00:22:18,263 --> 00:22:21,315
A national and popular
movement in power

272
00:22:21,316 --> 00:22:24,456
implies deep contradictions:

273
00:22:24,457 --> 00:22:29,390
some external, in fighting
imperialism and oligarchy,

274
00:22:29,791 --> 00:22:35,449
others internal, due to the many
social classes being integrated.

275
00:22:36,050 --> 00:22:38,636
The multi-class base
of the movement,

276
00:22:38,637 --> 00:22:44,566
which had been its strength in 1945,
would later be its weakness.

277
00:22:45,267 --> 00:22:48,691
The industrial bourgeoisie was
accommodating

278
00:22:48,692 --> 00:22:51,835
and had no
national consciousness.

279
00:22:52,336 --> 00:22:55,509
It was more scared of
the proletariat's demands

280
00:22:55,510 --> 00:22:58,464
than of submission to imperialism.

281
00:22:59,265 --> 00:23:03,921
Perónism had taken power
from the oligarchy,

282
00:23:03,922 --> 00:23:07,426
but it had within it
the oligarchy's allies.

283
00:23:07,597 --> 00:23:11,854
So, oligarchic economic power
remained the same.

284
00:23:12,155 --> 00:23:18,197
The old regime's institutions
were not substantially modified.

285
00:23:19,215 --> 00:23:21,758
A national revolution that

286
00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:26,358
doesn't eliminate its main
contradiction with the enemy

287
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:29,367
is weakened by its
internal contradictions.

288
00:23:29,368 --> 00:23:31,970
Its politics become hesitant.

289
00:23:32,471 --> 00:23:34,745
It attacks the oligarchy,

290
00:23:34,746 --> 00:23:38,066
but does not eliminate its
underlying base.

291
00:23:38,373 --> 00:23:40,899
It calls for social revolution,

292
00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:44,914
but doesn't fully carry out
the national revolution.

293
00:23:44,915 --> 00:23:48,325
It oscillates
between a people's democracy

294
00:23:48,326 --> 00:23:51,395
and a bureaucracy’s dictatorship.

295
00:23:52,568 --> 00:23:56,091
Crisis in the Perónist Circle.

296
00:23:59,148 --> 00:24:01,912
From 1950

297
00:24:02,114 --> 00:24:05,999
the circumstances that made
the National Front possible

298
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,099
disappeared.

299
00:24:08,100 --> 00:24:10,624
Political and union leaderships

300
00:24:10,625 --> 00:24:13,904
entered a clear
bureaucratization process.

301
00:24:14,505 --> 00:24:17,305
Evita died

302
00:24:17,306 --> 00:24:22,171
and the movement
lost its most combative figure.

303
00:24:56,944 --> 00:25:03,031
The proletariat was unwilling
to face the problems alone.

304
00:25:03,432 --> 00:25:07,119
The class struggle,
contained for some time,

305
00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:10,683
started to show
within the movement.

306
00:25:11,832 --> 00:25:17,832
In 1955, the National Front
finally divided itself completely.

307
00:25:18,433 --> 00:25:21,500
The church,
some sections of the army

308
00:25:21,501 --> 00:25:26,239
and the whole of the bourgeoisie
surrendered to the oligarchy

309
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,997
and became an enemy
of the revolution.

310
00:25:30,598 --> 00:25:33,654
The Party was
a bureaucratic fiction.

311
00:25:33,855 --> 00:25:38,266
The lack of a revolutionary
organization and leadership

312
00:25:38,267 --> 00:25:42,369
was the movement's weakness.

313
00:25:42,670 --> 00:25:46,170
Without this, any mass organization

314
00:25:46,271 --> 00:25:49,426
is an easy target for the enemy.

315
00:26:16,516 --> 00:26:21,017
On 16 June 1955

316
00:26:21,718 --> 00:26:25,182
aircraft supported
by some navy units

317
00:26:25,683 --> 00:26:30,378
attacked the government
and the city centre.

318
00:26:33,864 --> 00:26:39,399
As in 1945, workers suddenly
left their factories

319
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,428
and flooded into the city

320
00:26:42,429 --> 00:26:44,479
to support Perón.

321
00:26:58,027 --> 00:27:02,194
For the first time
in the country's history,

322
00:27:02,195 --> 00:27:06,322
civilians were the target
of a mass bombing.

323
00:27:23,764 --> 00:27:28,404
They demanded weapons
from the army, to no avail.

324
00:27:28,805 --> 00:27:34,283
Equipped with old shotguns,
sticks and tiles

325
00:27:34,284 --> 00:27:37,464
they tried to assault
the Navy Ministry

326
00:27:37,765 --> 00:27:41,889
and were repelled
by machine guns.

327
00:27:42,590 --> 00:27:46,749
The workers collaborated
with the army

328
00:27:46,750 --> 00:27:50,159
in a battle lasting
just a few hours.

329
00:27:51,982 --> 00:27:57,813
The movement had gone through
its first blood and fire ordeal.

330
00:27:58,414 --> 00:28:04,396
The victory cost
over 300 civilian deaths.

331
00:28:09,478 --> 00:28:11,631
A few days later

332
00:28:11,632 --> 00:28:15,532
Perón requested a ceasefire
from the enemy.

333
00:28:16,684 --> 00:28:22,257
In consternation at the facts
and circumstances,

334
00:28:22,258 --> 00:28:26,440
we offer an open hand
in good faith

335
00:28:26,441 --> 00:28:29,958
hoping that our enemy
will hold on to it.

336
00:28:29,959 --> 00:28:33,254
To prove our good will

337
00:28:33,255 --> 00:28:37,973
and our discipline in the Party,
I ask all our members

338
00:28:37,974 --> 00:28:40,247
for a political ceasefire.

339
00:28:40,548 --> 00:28:44,744
We will await the results
of this sincere call,

340
00:28:44,745 --> 00:28:50,107
staying calm in the face of
comments that will surely be made

341
00:28:50,108 --> 00:28:53,537
by malicious factions.

342
00:28:53,538 --> 00:28:56,439
As in our past ordeals,

343
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,784
the way to act is the same:

344
00:28:59,785 --> 00:29:03,090
from home to work
and back home again.

345
00:29:03,091 --> 00:29:05,962
Always alert and watching.

346
00:29:22,843 --> 00:29:28,340
But a country divided in two
does not accept ceasefires.

347
00:29:28,741 --> 00:29:31,614
On August 31st

348
00:29:31,615 --> 00:29:35,419
Perón resigned the presidency.

349
00:29:36,020 --> 00:29:39,032
The people
took to the streets again

350
00:29:39,033 --> 00:29:42,353
and forced him to
withdraw his resignation.

351
00:29:42,442 --> 00:29:45,751
In the meantime, the oligarchy
prepared their strike.

352
00:29:45,752 --> 00:29:51,408
The most significant groups of the Left
joined Perónism

353
00:29:51,409 --> 00:29:53,925
only when it was too late.

354
00:29:55,754 --> 00:30:00,428
Perón was isolated
by a servile bureaucracy

355
00:30:00,429 --> 00:30:04,288
which was already
making deals with the enemy.

356
00:30:04,889 --> 00:30:06,981
The army deserted him.

357
00:30:07,582 --> 00:30:10,977
From the balconies of
Government House

358
00:30:10,978 --> 00:30:16,994
Perón invited the movement
to fight the oligarchy.

359
00:30:18,495 --> 00:30:22,170
That would be his last speech
to the people.

360
00:30:23,171 --> 00:30:27,752
How long ago

361
00:30:28,853 --> 00:30:31,726
did this Mayo Square

362
00:30:32,327 --> 00:30:37,163
witness yet another infamy committed

363
00:30:37,164 --> 00:30:39,753
by the enemies of the people?

364
00:30:40,354 --> 00:30:46,046
They will look for countless excuses.

365
00:30:47,047 --> 00:30:52,963
Reasons of freedom,
justice, religion.

366
00:30:52,964 --> 00:30:58,055
But what they want
is one thing only,

367
00:30:58,656 --> 00:31:02,754
to bring the situation
back to 1943.

368
00:31:06,822 --> 00:31:11,891
To violence, we must respond
with even greater violence.

369
00:31:17,458 --> 00:31:21,171
The way to act for every
Perónist,

370
00:31:21,172 --> 00:31:25,713
whether isolated or
within an organization,

371
00:31:25,714 --> 00:31:30,904
is to respond to a violent action
with even greater violence.

372
00:31:38,062 --> 00:31:41,632
And when one of ours
goes down,

373
00:31:41,633 --> 00:31:44,900
five of theirs will fall too.

374
00:31:52,126 --> 00:31:55,705
Either we fight to consolidate

375
00:31:56,006 --> 00:31:59,062
what we have achieved

376
00:31:59,389 --> 00:32:04,143
or the oligarchy will
destroy the country.

377
00:32:04,544 --> 00:32:08,788
Every one of you must remember:

378
00:32:08,989 --> 00:32:13,013
the word now is "fight"

379
00:32:13,414 --> 00:32:18,413
and we are going to fight
everywhere!

380
00:32:24,903 --> 00:32:32,233
To finish, I want to remind
all of you

381
00:32:32,234 --> 00:32:40,573
that today
a new armed vigilance begins for us.

382
00:32:41,174 --> 00:32:45,203
We all must consider

383
00:32:49,231 --> 00:32:53,465
that the people's fight
rests on our shoulders

384
00:32:53,466 --> 00:32:57,283
and we must show every day,
in all our actions,

385
00:32:57,284 --> 00:33:02,002
the necessary will
to conduct the people's fight.

386
00:33:23,198 --> 00:33:28,052
The National Defeat.

387
00:33:29,974 --> 00:33:35,810
A few days later, the army
removed Perón from power.

388
00:33:37,134 --> 00:33:39,794
The only base left
for the movement

389
00:33:39,795 --> 00:33:42,799
was the organized proletariat

390
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,346
and some middle class sectors.

391
00:33:45,947 --> 00:33:49,793
Perónism went down without a fight.

392
00:33:51,025 --> 00:33:55,753
The CGT, which a few days before
called for workers' militias,

393
00:33:55,754 --> 00:33:58,926
now made announcements
calling for peace.

394
00:34:01,079 --> 00:34:04,950
The Perónist high council did the same.

395
00:34:05,780 --> 00:34:07,943
The points of resistance

396
00:34:07,944 --> 00:34:10,995
erected in some workers'
neighbourhoods

397
00:34:10,996 --> 00:34:15,239
were easily annihilated by the army.

398
00:34:28,758 --> 00:34:33,743
On a gray and desolate day

399
00:34:33,744 --> 00:34:36,953
a formerly national army,
now a "Gorilla",

400
00:34:36,954 --> 00:34:39,047
occupied the city.

401
00:34:41,101 --> 00:34:43,809
Why did Perón abandon power?

402
00:34:44,910 --> 00:34:49,574
How could a government
with two-thirds of the vote

403
00:34:49,575 --> 00:34:52,632
go down without a fight?

404
00:34:53,233 --> 00:34:56,840
Was it Perón's error
not to arm his people?

405
00:34:57,041 --> 00:34:58,947
He could have done.

406
00:34:59,848 --> 00:35:03,500
Was the movement ready
for a civil war?

407
00:35:04,101 --> 00:35:06,623
In what direction?

408
00:35:07,024 --> 00:35:09,083
With what organization?

409
00:35:10,284 --> 00:35:12,904
The rest is a chronicle.

410
00:35:28,861 --> 00:35:30,746
The Gorilla Party.

411
00:37:34,705 --> 00:37:40,023
The city of stone and iron celebrated.

412
00:37:40,024 --> 00:37:45,574
Rural society sang
their victory on the streets.

413
00:37:48,189 --> 00:37:50,189
The shops closed.

414
00:37:50,790 --> 00:37:55,131
Flags were ordered to hang
from all churches.

415
00:37:56,132 --> 00:38:02,477
The Vatican flag was cheered
by liberals at Mayo Square.

416
00:38:02,978 --> 00:38:09,256
Again, Argentinean intellectuals
were serving the enemy.

417
00:38:10,875 --> 00:38:16,135
The Argentinean writers' society
greeted Perón's fall.

418
00:38:17,738 --> 00:38:19,982
The University Federation said

419
00:38:20,378 --> 00:38:23,261
"Let today's joy and anxiety

420
00:38:23,262 --> 00:38:27,502
give us the measure
of our responsibility."

421
00:38:28,103 --> 00:38:31,380
The Socialist Party said

422
00:38:31,981 --> 00:38:35,334
"We greet the great
liberation effort

423
00:38:35,735 --> 00:38:39,325
that the Argentinean people
have just made."

424
00:38:40,989 --> 00:38:45,551
Victorio Codovila,
leader of the Communist Party, said

425
00:38:47,260 --> 00:38:52,603
"This revolution is positive
as it removed a fascist

426
00:38:52,604 --> 00:38:54,930
dictatorial regime."

427
00:38:55,931 --> 00:38:59,808
Ernesto San Martino,
a radical leader

428
00:38:59,809 --> 00:39:04,176
who in the past had compared
the people to a zoological horde,

429
00:39:04,177 --> 00:39:05,429
said

430
00:39:07,275 --> 00:39:11,578
"I believe the Party
must fight united.

431
00:39:13,379 --> 00:39:20,480
Radicalism is the only organic,
serious and responsible solution

432
00:39:20,781 --> 00:39:26,657
that the country expects
after this deep political, social

433
00:39:26,658 --> 00:39:31,066
and moral crisis
that has shaken the Republic."

434
00:39:31,067 --> 00:39:34,803
The Liberator's Violence.

435
00:39:37,253 --> 00:39:43,122
Meanwhile, the system
plans its violence.

436
00:39:43,523 --> 00:39:46,053
The Congress will be dissolved.

437
00:39:46,454 --> 00:39:51,998
Perónism will be persecuted,
and there will be a ban

438
00:39:51,999 --> 00:39:57,182
on mentioning, publishing
or exhibiting its symbols.

439
00:39:58,380 --> 00:40:01,162
There will be an attempt
to erase

440
00:40:01,197 --> 00:40:04,342
10 years of history
from the people's memory.

441
00:40:04,343 --> 00:40:09,160
150,000 trade union leaders
will be suspended.

442
00:40:09,161 --> 00:40:12,239
Tens of thousands
will be arrested.

443
00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:15,453
Many of them will be sent
to Patagonia.

444
00:40:15,454 --> 00:40:21,292
The trade unions, assaulted by the
army and civil "gorilla" commandos,

445
00:40:22,293 --> 00:40:25,751
with 4,000 teachers and university clerks,

446
00:40:25,752 --> 00:40:29,150
will be suspended without trial.

447
00:40:29,993 --> 00:40:34,593
Raul Previs will set the grounds
for an economic plan

448
00:40:34,594 --> 00:40:37,409
based on the free market.

449
00:40:38,010 --> 00:40:42,242
At the time of Perón's fall
there was no external debt.

450
00:40:42,243 --> 00:40:46,657
10 years later, the debt
reached 6 billion dollars.

451
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:53,799
The IMF will start to influence
national economic policy.

452
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:58,989
The economy will start
a de-nationalization process,

453
00:40:59,590 --> 00:41:04,777
and the Constitution of 1949,
which granted the rights

454
00:41:04,778 --> 00:41:10,147
of workers, family, the elderly,
education and culture,

455
00:41:10,148 --> 00:41:12,350
will be abolished.

456
00:41:13,819 --> 00:41:17,517
The violent decade was about to start.

457
00:41:20,082 --> 00:41:22,651
Reflections for a Dialogue.

458
00:41:22,652 --> 00:41:27,228
The defeat of 1955 was the defeat
of the most advanced attempt

459
00:41:27,229 --> 00:41:30,801
for a national multi-class front
in Argentina.

460
00:41:31,034 --> 00:41:35,942
The inability of the bourgeoisie
to carry out the liberation process

461
00:41:35,943 --> 00:41:37,610
was blatant.

462
00:41:39,285 --> 00:41:44,415
The defeat of 1955 shows again
that the fight for national liberation

463
00:41:44,416 --> 00:41:48,015
cannot be separated from
the class struggle,

464
00:41:48,016 --> 00:41:51,389
that there is no winning
a national revolution

465
00:41:51,390 --> 00:41:55,148
if it is not also
a social revolution.

466
00:41:55,749 --> 00:42:00,976
It is important to look into the past
to extract critical conclusions

467
00:42:00,977 --> 00:42:04,039
to reinforce the present struggle:

468
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:08,497
only those within the battles
will lose or win them.

469
00:42:08,498 --> 00:42:14,160
A national movement's limitations
can only be dealt with from inside,

470
00:42:14,161 --> 00:42:20,197
through the struggle for national
and social liberation.

471
00:42:22,601 --> 00:42:28,448
Perónism can be blamed
for making errors while in power,

472
00:42:28,449 --> 00:42:35,438
but these can only by judged
within the limitations

473
00:42:35,439 --> 00:42:38,475
of a given historical moment.

474
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,117
In September 1955,

475
00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:49,113
it had been one year since American
mercenaries had invaded Guatemala

476
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:53,988
and defeated the government
elected by the people.

477
00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:59,669
Vargas committed suicide in Brazil
blaming imperialism.

478
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:05,710
One year later, Fidel Castro
landed in Playa Giron.

479
00:43:07,240 --> 00:43:12,314
Two years later, the war in Algeria
shook the world.

480
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:17,395
In five years the name of Lumumba

481
00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:21,195
assumed continental significance
in Africa.

482
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:23,552
After five years

483
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:28,352
Cuba became the first free
state of America.

484
00:43:30,720 --> 00:43:35,039
The Justicialist revolution was only
one additional expression

485
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,220
of the continental revolution

486
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:42,351
which was also occurring in
Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala,

487
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:48,420
and which would gain its first great
victory against imperialism in Cuba.

488
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:56,030
THE RESISTANCE

489
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:00,552
Comrades,

490
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:04,759
in realising this film,
our intention was to collect

491
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:11,677
information on the fights carried out
by our people starting from 1955.

492
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:18,120
We knew that this information had been
diminished by the system

493
00:44:18,155 --> 00:44:22,033
and did not appear in the official files,

494
00:44:22,240 --> 00:44:25,620
nor in the libraries,
nor in the cineclubs.

495
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:31,352
But we discovered that the popular
organizations themselves, trade unions,

496
00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:36,639
even political organizations,
did not have the necessary information.

497
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,392
How could this be?

498
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:43,828
Is it the organizations? The limited
number of national intellectuals?

499
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:45,957
In a certain way, yes.

500
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:50,229
A people not yet free

501
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:53,193
cannot gather information

502
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,516
nor crystallize firm ideas

503
00:44:55,720 --> 00:44:59,599
or conclusions about a fight
not yet defined.

504
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:06,239
The urgency of
the immediate struggle

505
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:10,319
does not make the people conscious of
the importance of the ongoing battle.

506
00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:16,919
History remains in
the collective subconscious.

507
00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:23,079
That's why we have directed our research
towards this collective memory

508
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,024
while speaking with workers,
activists,

509
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:28,559
trade unions, and political leaders,

510
00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:31,759
the peasants, the students
and the employees.

511
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:35,548
The experience showed us

512
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:40,117
the distance between
the intellectuals and the people.

513
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,317
Many comrades avoided
speaking out

514
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:48,638
for fear of reprisals from the system,
certainly,

515
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:54,198
but especially from a natural distrust.
We had to show

516
00:45:54,480 --> 00:46:00,589
that there existed in the country
a nationalized intellectual substrata

517
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:07,157
and that others are on this path.

518
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:11,356
The reality of working clandestinely

519
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:16,190
certainly did not facilitate easier
access to information.

520
00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:20,639
In spite of that, we bring to
you here

521
00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:24,110
the elements, the notes, the
experiences,

522
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:28,313
to submit them for your consideration,
comrades.

523
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:31,832
The purpose of this compilation

524
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:36,279
is to draw certain conclusions
at the end of the projection

525
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:40,612
about the most effective way
to conduct the fight today.

526
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,113
SPONTANEITY

527
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:52,244
As we said in the story
about Perónism,

528
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:59,551
September 1955 is only one
tactical defeat

529
00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:04,308
in a long war of liberation.

530
00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:10,477
Spontaneously, the proletariat went
down into the streets

531
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:14,072
to show that it was not overcome.

532
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:19,675
The flags were torn

533
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:23,395
from those who believed they
were jubilant.

534
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:26,797
The young people climbed
the lower wall

535
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:30,675
and withdrew flags from
the balconies.

536
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:34,429
Many trucks full of people came

537
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:40,476
and some leaders came in a car.

538
00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:43,759
They said "Guys, do not go to the bridge,
the army is there"

539
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:46,718
but no one listened,

540
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:50,674
enthusiasm was at its highest.

541
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:52,479
Suddenly there were people
on horses.

542
00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:56,678
A comrade, member of the
textile union,

543
00:47:57,320 --> 00:48:00,639
speaks about the first
spontaneous demonstration

544
00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:05,668
which took place in Buenos Aires
on September 1955,

545
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:10,957
on the same day that the oligarchy
took over power.

546
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:14,479
We moved towards the bridge
and started to shout:

547
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:16,630
Mayo Square!
Mayo Square!

548
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:21,595
As if we wanted to revive
17 October 1945.

549
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:30,469
And we arrived at the bridge,
but the army was already there.

550
00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:36,073
On seeing the soldiers,
the people stopped

551
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:38,834
and the army began to shoot.

552
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:41,279
People fled, then someone said

553
00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:45,114
"They're firing blanks.
Let's go forward.

554
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:49,359
Let's shout: Viva Perón!"

555
00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:52,632
Enthusiasm was at its highest.

556
00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:54,799
However they didn't use blanks.

557
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,599
It was live ammunition,
as we could see

558
00:48:57,600 --> 00:49:00,194
holes in the walls and asphalt!

559
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,710
It became serious.
Some fell.

560
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:06,879
I remember someone
who was in front of us.

561
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,279
I don't know what happened to him,
but he fell down

562
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,953
and didn't get up again.

563
00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:15,311
Then the commotion began.

564
00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:17,399
We were a good thousand.

565
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:20,479
Our enthusiasm was at its peak,
but each of us was alone

566
00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:24,044
because we didn't know
what we wanted to do.

567
00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:28,432
Everyone had followed the
demonstration.

568
00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:30,599
We were numerous,
we wanted to do something,

569
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:32,999
but we didn't have orders
of any kind.

570
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:37,118
We did not know

571
00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:39,239
how to attack, or retreat.

572
00:49:39,240 --> 00:49:42,994
Essentially, we didn't know
how to fight.

573
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:46,510
There was no one to lead us.

574
00:49:46,720 --> 00:49:50,395
Everything was spontaneous.

575
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:57,824
People fled on all sides.
- Without adequate organization,

576
00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:03,916
people joined in resistance
by spontaneous mobilization.

577
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:09,389
Perónism had given to this mobilization

578
00:50:09,720 --> 00:50:13,190
a national cohesion, an objective.

579
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:16,231
During the last decade,

580
00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:22,117
this spontaneous movement became
the great virtue of the Argentinean masses.

581
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:27,644
It didn't try to reform the system,
but to destroy it.

582
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:32,039
The goal of all the political struggles
and trade unions

583
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:35,364
was to re-capture power
for the people.

584
00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:40,516
Action always came before
a theoretical formulation.

585
00:50:41,720 --> 00:50:45,076
It was insolent, disrespectful.

586
00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:49,479
It was ignorant of the old theoreticians
of the revolution.

587
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:53,837
Instead of fixed ideology,
it had the advantage

588
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:59,433
of being the project of an ideology,
of seeking, of invention.

589
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:04,352
THE UNDERGROUND

590
00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:09,279
The experience of comrade
Martiniano Martin

591
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:11,599
leader of two automobile unions,

592
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:16,128
was identical to that of the entire
Argentinean proletariat.

593
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:25,350
After 1955 there was a
fundamental change.

594
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:32,000
In 1955 one did not know
the labour laws.

595
00:51:36,500 --> 00:51:40,384
One went to the trade union and
made a complaint.

596
00:51:40,500 --> 00:51:42,356
If there was a problem,

597
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,799
the functionaries would say
"pay him his due, he is entitled"

598
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:47,148
and that was it.

599
00:51:47,300 --> 00:51:49,839
But after 1955, we could file a
complaint when we wanted

600
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,279
but there were no more delegations,
they were out,

601
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:56,239
there were only pursuits
and arrests.

602
00:51:56,440 --> 00:52:02,159
Many comrades had to leave the country and
ask the neighbouring countries for asylum.

603
00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:06,199
Our comrades were afraid because
of the constant persecution.

604
00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:09,431
One even feared to confide
in comrades

605
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:12,519
for fear the other would
denounce you

606
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:16,991
to the personnel manager,
which meant persecution.

607
00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:21,637
That is to say, being taken
from your bed at midnight

608
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:24,719
and finding yourself in the street
with your children.

609
00:52:24,720 --> 00:52:31,671
Then we began a resistance, we organized
a clandestine resistance.

610
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:36,635
We met at coffee bars,
or at comrades' homes,

611
00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:40,992
at risk of being caught by the police.

612
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:48,233
Often we even organized the
resistance while in prison.

613
00:52:48,440 --> 00:52:51,796
When comrades were arrested

614
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,944
we somehow tried through
intermediaries

615
00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:57,554
to continue our activities.

616
00:52:57,760 --> 00:53:00,115
By any means.
Many comrades

617
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:02,038
died in prison,

618
00:53:02,240 --> 00:53:04,799
many were struck down by the police.

619
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:10,955
But in two years, we obtained
the restoration of the Confederation.

620
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:15,839
General of Work. Angel Taborda,
trade unionist.

621
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:21,597
I worked in metallurgy.
I remember that each day

622
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:26,670
patrols came to teach a lesson to
one of the directors,

623
00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:32,100
a comrade of the board of management
or commissioner of the company.

624
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:37,673
And they tried... they took them,
they came to punish them,

625
00:53:37,880 --> 00:53:41,479
because they were told there was
a Perónist resistance group there.

626
00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:44,559
I remember that the police force
had once tried

627
00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:46,668
to remove a bust of Evita.

628
00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:52,118
The resistance entered a new stage
of the national struggle,

629
00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:58,132
which would become the first
act of the underground movement.

630
00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:02,679
During this fight, the proletariat
invented, or discovered,

631
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:08,516
some forms of resistance which
it had never used before.

632
00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:16,909
CHRONICLE 1955-1959

633
00:54:18,440 --> 00:54:22,274
Perónism constitutes a
cursed event

634
00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:25,074
for the political system.

635
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:28,279
Supported by the trade union
organizations

636
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:31,199
it would cause, during the last 10 years,

637
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:35,664
the most serious crises of
democratic-liberal institutions.

638
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:40,913
Around the world, the Argentinean
proletariat was seen as

639
00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:46,428
carrying out the greatest number of
politico-trade union battles.

640
00:54:49,240 --> 00:54:51,515
After the 1955 coup d’état,

641
00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:55,759
the country seems to have been
occupied by an invading army.

642
00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:59,036
Tanks, soldiers, gendarmes,

643
00:54:59,240 --> 00:55:04,030
occupy the streets, evacuate
the factories,

644
00:55:04,440 --> 00:55:09,878
mobilize against trade unions.

645
00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:16,596
In the underground, the proletariat
organize the first few strikes.

646
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:22,199
The General Confederation of Labour calls
for a nationwide strike in November 1955.

647
00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:28,878
Later, the metal workers' strike will
last 50 days and will cause the dismissal

648
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:34,713
of 30,000 workers and the arrest
of 2,000 activists and delegates.

649
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:41,360
Each mobilization of the proletariat
leads to the hardest of repressions.

650
00:55:42,280 --> 00:55:49,118
In June 1956, on the waste
ground of Léon Suarez,

651
00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:54,260
many national militants were shot
without legal procedure.

652
00:55:56,560 --> 00:55:59,279
In spite of the repression,

653
00:55:59,640 --> 00:56:04,919
in 1957, 252 trade union strikes
were organized,

654
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:08,279
most of them national strikes.

655
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:12,638
And 397 strikes in 1959.

656
00:56:13,720 --> 00:56:17,713
The Gorilla revolution
calls for new elections.

657
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:22,278
The forbidden Perónists deliver
the voting cards blank

658
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:25,790
and obtain a majority
of the votes.

659
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:31,758
The trade unions

660
00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:37,080
are the principal bastions of the
movement in each meeting.

661
00:56:38,040 --> 00:56:44,070
In 1958, the Perónist vote
allow Frondizi to win.

662
00:56:45,160 --> 00:56:49,358
That same year, the
oil industry goes on strike

663
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:51,919
and in the confederation of trade unions,
there is resistance

664
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:56,384
to the contracts signed by
Frondizi with the imperialists.

665
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:00,795
Some time before, sixty-two
organizations,

666
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:04,159
which emerged after the General
Confederation of Labour's intervention,

667
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:08,790
approved the "Falda"
program in Cordoba.

668
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:12,390
This program proposed

669
00:57:13,840 --> 00:57:16,864
the liquidation of foreign monopolies,

670
00:57:16,880 --> 00:57:19,314
expropriation of large estates,

671
00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:24,319
the cancellation of treaties that were
hindering the national economy,

672
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:28,212
nationalization of the main
sources of our economy,

673
00:57:28,600 --> 00:57:32,673
and workers' control of production
and trade.

674
00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:37,708
THE TRADE UNIONS

675
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:44,597
In 1955, Argentinean trade
unions

676
00:57:44,800 --> 00:57:49,510
ceased being semi-public
institutions

677
00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:53,720
and transformed into authentic
engines of resistance,

678
00:57:55,120 --> 00:58:00,156
becoming for the proletariat
the first school, its only university.

679
00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:04,353
Many comrades have entered
the struggle,

680
00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:08,429
but we shouldn't fool ourselves.

681
00:58:08,640 --> 00:58:12,464
The working class no longer had
a political party

682
00:58:12,520 --> 00:58:14,590
after the fall of Perón.

683
00:58:14,800 --> 00:58:18,279
A legal party, I mean to say,
by the means of its legal organization.

684
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:22,114
The trade unions
could only carry out

685
00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:26,632
limited action.

686
00:58:26,840 --> 00:58:31,072
Delegates and trade union
leaders constituted

687
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:37,355
the only forward-looking intellectuals
from which the movement could profit.

688
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:46,193
In a neo-colonized country like Argentina
in the last decade,

689
00:58:46,840 --> 00:58:49,519
the trade unions had a
double role

690
00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:51,279
as both organization and political party.

691
00:58:51,280 --> 00:58:54,556
Victor Guilder, nationalist militant.

692
00:58:55,200 --> 00:58:58,879
Where the minimum demand is to
shake the whole system

693
00:58:58,880 --> 00:59:04,591
and disturb the economic, social
and political equilibrium.

694
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:09,638
Very different from developed,
independent countries

695
00:59:09,840 --> 00:59:15,870
where the different sectors in
the political fight

696
00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:20,949
arise relatively independently,
with their own demands,

697
00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:26,109
which can be in conformity
with the demands of power.

698
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:30,900
Here that's not the case. On the contrary,
many have tried

699
00:59:31,080 --> 00:59:34,959
to equate our situation with
that of a developed country,

700
00:59:34,960 --> 00:59:38,959
hiding the real goals of the workers movement
while wanting to make us believe

701
00:59:38,960 --> 00:59:43,164
that we were in an independent country,
whereas we are

702
00:59:43,240 --> 00:59:46,676
underdeveloped, dependent and colonized.

703
00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:54,239
And the trade unions wanted
to be limited to an impossible reformism

704
00:59:54,240 --> 00:59:56,754
because of the economic situation

705
00:59:56,960 --> 00:59:59,190
of the working class.

706
00:59:59,880 --> 01:00:04,199
The failure in Argentina of the parties
of the left and the supposedly popular parties

707
01:00:04,200 --> 01:00:09,877
made it possible for the trade
unions to replace

708
01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:13,352
what the people had not known,

709
01:00:13,600 --> 01:00:16,959
solidarity for the great mass
of the workers.

710
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:22,368
Angel Perelman, one of the founders of
the union of the metal-workers.

711
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:25,358
Argentinean trade unionism

712
01:00:25,560 --> 01:00:27,919
does not fight solely for wages.

713
01:00:27,920 --> 01:00:34,553
We dream and believe
particularly in the possibility

714
01:00:34,920 --> 01:00:37,796
of a large national social revolution,

715
01:00:37,920 --> 01:00:41,071
in favour of the working class

716
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:43,328
and of the entire country,

717
01:00:43,520 --> 01:00:47,195
for which we have fought
since independence.

718
01:00:47,680 --> 01:00:50,911
It has been thousands of years already.

719
01:00:51,120 --> 01:00:55,318
A patriarch named Job said

720
01:00:55,840 --> 01:00:59,469
Militia est vita hominis super terram,

721
01:01:01,480 --> 01:01:05,632
the life of humans on earth is
a continual fight.

722
01:01:05,840 --> 01:01:12,757
Raimondo Ongaro, Recently Appointed
Secretary-General

723
01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:18,159
of the New General Confederation of Work (CGT),
in March 1969.

724
01:01:18,160 --> 01:01:24,076
We can't speak only about the role
which trade unionism must assume,

725
01:01:24,280 --> 01:01:29,593
because today we live at a
time of mobilization,

726
01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:33,554
of combat, in a state of emergency.

727
01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:38,960
What would it accomplish

728
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:42,839
to have rich trade unions,
having important property,

729
01:01:42,840 --> 01:01:48,710
and certain sectors of workers

730
01:01:49,200 --> 01:01:52,879
profiting from right living conditions,
elevated, worthy,

731
01:01:52,880 --> 01:01:55,075
in a poor fatherland,

732
01:01:55,280 --> 01:01:58,192
in a dependent country,

733
01:01:58,400 --> 01:02:00,436
in a nation

734
01:02:00,640 --> 01:02:05,350
whose people are poor,
people who miss

735
01:02:05,560 --> 01:02:11,192
all these good things that civilization

736
01:02:11,400 --> 01:02:14,639
regards as essential for each citizen,
each individual?

737
01:02:14,640 --> 01:02:19,270
That's why we take to heart
a definition of trade unionism

738
01:02:20,040 --> 01:02:27,355
which thinks with an
Argentinean dimension,

739
01:02:27,760 --> 01:02:33,239
which includes the entire country
and not the restricted zone of a trade union.

740
01:02:33,240 --> 01:02:36,277
Everything else is old history;

741
01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:38,919
in a country which does
not develop itself,

742
01:02:38,920 --> 01:02:41,514
nobody can develop themselves,

743
01:02:41,720 --> 01:02:44,393
neither as a group nor a person.

744
01:02:44,600 --> 01:02:47,439
Those of us who are ready
to write history

745
01:02:47,440 --> 01:02:49,908
have the same animated spirit

746
01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:53,439
as these men who, in the catacombs,
faced the governments,

747
01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:58,309
faced the power and the
lion's dens.

748
01:02:58,520 --> 01:03:02,679
The weapons and the methods of
repression are modernized.

749
01:03:02,680 --> 01:03:06,753
The blood of the worthy
Argentinean is ready,

750
01:03:06,960 --> 01:03:10,589
disposed to rebel against
all repression.

751
01:03:10,800 --> 01:03:14,918
They will not be made
to kneel down.

752
01:03:15,120 --> 01:03:18,032
We believe that the rifles

753
01:03:18,560 --> 01:03:20,719
of those who want to shoot us will miss

754
01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:23,959
because there will always remain
Argentineans disposed to fight,

755
01:03:23,960 --> 01:03:28,431
to achieve the will of the
Argentineans.

756
01:03:32,440 --> 01:03:36,513
ERA OF DEVELOPMENT

757
01:03:42,240 --> 01:03:47,656
This same middle-class which, in 1955,
had accepted oligarchic hegemony,

758
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:52,914
tried with Frondizi, 3 years later,
an intermediate policy,

759
01:03:53,480 --> 01:03:56,278
aiming at harnessing the proletariat.

760
01:03:56,480 --> 01:03:59,870
In new industrial sectors.

761
01:04:00,320 --> 01:04:04,438
Integration seeks to involve

762
01:04:04,640 --> 01:04:07,200
some sectors of Perónism

763
01:04:07,520 --> 01:04:11,319
in an initiative which favours only the
middle-class related to imperialism.

764
01:04:11,320 --> 01:04:15,996
Frondizi personifies the most obvious,
bourgeois opportunism.

765
01:04:17,440 --> 01:04:20,512
Naively, the policy of development

766
01:04:20,720 --> 01:04:24,998
hoped to find, in the USA,
a generous sponsor

767
01:04:25,240 --> 01:04:29,677
like the old oligarchy had
found in England.

768
01:04:30,320 --> 01:04:32,834
The outcome of this policy was

769
01:04:33,040 --> 01:04:34,919
the promotion of private free enterprise

770
01:04:34,920 --> 01:04:37,792
and an open door for foreign capital,

771
01:04:37,920 --> 01:04:40,439
privatization of national enterprises,

772
01:04:40,440 --> 01:04:43,359
liquidation and removal of small industry,

773
01:04:43,360 --> 01:04:46,439
subjection to the
International Monetary Fund,

774
01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:48,479
and a repression of the people.

775
01:04:48,480 --> 01:04:52,359
This was compatible with the interests
of the investors.

776
01:04:52,360 --> 01:04:54,319
Popular resistance had
not been

777
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:58,279
foreseen by the planned
Kennedy development.

778
01:04:59,560 --> 01:05:05,829
In January 1959, the slaughterhouse
workers went on strike

779
01:05:06,440 --> 01:05:11,028
and occupied it to prevent its
return to private management.

780
01:05:11,080 --> 01:05:14,755
The police force, in armoured cars,

781
01:05:15,280 --> 01:05:18,608
evacuated the buildings,
crushing resistance.

782
01:05:19,160 --> 01:05:25,599
Three months later, it's the bank
clerks who strike for sixty days.

783
01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:31,190
100 employees find themselves
imprisoned in the barracks.

784
01:05:34,920 --> 01:05:38,390
Students also take part
in the fight.

785
01:05:40,000 --> 01:05:43,764
During this year, there are
250 student protests.

786
01:05:48,800 --> 01:05:54,396
Never before had the proletariat
trusted so much in its own strength.

787
01:05:58,300 --> 01:06:01,168
Never as in the course of
this year

788
01:06:03,200 --> 01:06:05,899
had the limits of various directions of
politico-union activists

789
01:06:05,900 --> 01:06:08,800
become so obvious.

790
01:06:11,680 --> 01:06:16,708
In 1959, the fight for
popular power

791
01:06:16,920 --> 01:06:19,514
became extremely violent.

792
01:06:19,720 --> 01:06:24,060
Perónism combined the trade
union struggle with terrorism,

793
01:06:24,160 --> 01:06:27,311
sabotage and military action.

794
01:06:28,360 --> 01:06:32,919
The first guerrillas went into action in
Tucuman under the command of Uturunco.

795
01:06:32,920 --> 01:06:34,399
General Iniguez

796
01:06:34,600 --> 01:06:38,070
sponsored the military
mutiny of Rosario.

797
01:06:38,280 --> 01:06:43,479
The tanks of the Shell oil company
in Cordoba are blown up a little later

798
01:06:43,480 --> 01:06:47,473
and more than 300 million
litres of fuel burn.

799
01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:53,720
The repression of the police,

800
01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:56,039
which bore the name of "Plan Conintes",

801
01:06:56,040 --> 01:06:59,669
led to brutal torture and murder.

802
01:07:00,200 --> 01:07:05,079
The resistance against the force
of the system did not diminish.

803
01:07:05,080 --> 01:07:08,436
From 1959 to 1964,

804
01:07:09,160 --> 01:07:13,631
one can count 1400 acts of
terrorism and sabotage.

805
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:22,679
The Perónist terror tactics do not
succeed in winning power

806
01:07:22,680 --> 01:07:26,316
but succeed in avoiding, between
1959 and 1962,

807
01:07:26,320 --> 01:07:29,278
the integrationist traps
of Frondizism,

808
01:07:29,480 --> 01:07:34,031
to which certain sectors of the
national movement belonged.

809
01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:39,073
Frondizi, like Betancourt,
Haya de la Torre,

810
01:07:39,520 --> 01:07:41,954
Figueres and so many others,

811
01:07:42,360 --> 01:07:46,764
symbolized the sterility of
the Latin American Bourgeoisie,

812
01:07:46,840 --> 01:07:48,876
their historical death.

813
01:07:50,120 --> 01:07:53,476
THE MIDDLE CLASS AND INTELLECTUALS

814
01:07:57,280 --> 01:08:02,638
The fight of the mass movements

815
01:08:02,960 --> 01:08:04,959
started to weaken the
antinational front

816
01:08:04,960 --> 01:08:07,838
which had seized power
from them.

817
01:08:08,480 --> 01:08:10,118
The oligarchy

818
01:08:10,480 --> 01:08:14,439
lost its traditional influence on
the middle class.

819
01:08:15,640 --> 01:08:18,239
There developed, and
strengthened gradually

820
01:08:18,240 --> 01:08:21,232
in intellectual circles,

821
01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:25,159
the idea of understanding
Argentina as a nation.

822
01:08:25,160 --> 01:08:30,279
It seems important to me, to explain
the role of the intellectual in Argentina,

823
01:08:30,280 --> 01:08:33,875
in particular the intellectuals
of the Left.

824
01:08:34,080 --> 01:08:36,719
Franco Moni, writer, journalist.

825
01:08:36,920 --> 01:08:43,268
Until today the left-wing
intellectual in Argentina

826
01:08:43,480 --> 01:08:45,869
did not play any serious part,

827
01:08:46,080 --> 01:08:51,712
no coherent role for the Left
or the revolution.

828
01:08:51,920 --> 01:08:57,790
He was a very elegant alibi of the system,
playing its game

829
01:08:58,000 --> 01:09:02,869
so the system incorporated him.

830
01:09:03,200 --> 01:09:06,988
Why did he not understand

831
01:09:07,200 --> 01:09:13,070
the most brilliant moments
of the Argentine people?

832
01:09:13,280 --> 01:09:16,955
Why was the intellectual of
the Left not tied,

833
01:09:17,160 --> 01:09:19,679
for example, to the Perónist process?

834
01:09:19,680 --> 01:09:23,799
Because he always thinks in the
shadow of old Europe,

835
01:09:23,800 --> 01:09:26,399
that hands are either dirty or clean.

836
01:09:26,400 --> 01:09:28,919
I believe it is time to clear up
this old problem

837
01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:33,000
of the conscience, of purity,
of the Oedipus complex.

838
01:09:33,200 --> 01:09:35,479
As long as the Argentinean left

839
01:09:35,480 --> 01:09:37,959
operates under this shadow
created by Europe,

840
01:09:37,960 --> 01:09:41,479
besides being magnificently
propagated by our system

841
01:09:41,480 --> 01:09:43,357
and liberal education,

842
01:09:43,560 --> 01:09:46,632
quite simply it has
no purpose.

843
01:09:47,200 --> 01:09:51,671
THE MILITARY

844
01:09:53,800 --> 01:09:58,237
The provincial elections of 1962
surprise the military.

845
01:09:58,760 --> 01:10:03,479
The Secretary-General of the textile
trade union, Andres Framini,

846
01:10:03,480 --> 01:10:07,439
is elected governor of the
most important province in the country,

847
01:10:07,440 --> 01:10:08,953
Buenos Aires.

848
01:10:09,760 --> 01:10:13,435
The army intervenes
and cancels the elections,

849
01:10:13,880 --> 01:10:18,112
overturns Frondizi,
dissolves the national congress

850
01:10:18,800 --> 01:10:22,628
and installs an appendage
like a president: Guido.

851
01:10:23,000 --> 01:10:28,279
The national movement is unable
to uphold the will of the people.

852
01:10:29,080 --> 01:10:33,160
Large sectors of the movement
had done nothing except

853
01:10:33,320 --> 01:10:38,713
engage in an electoral game
which was completely fraudulent.

854
01:10:39,640 --> 01:10:45,052
The facade of the bourgeoisie
had already begun to crumble long before.

855
01:10:45,240 --> 01:10:47,919
The only two previous times,
in 1916 and 1946,

856
01:10:47,920 --> 01:10:51,515
when the government

857
01:10:52,280 --> 01:10:54,874
was elected by the people,

858
01:10:55,080 --> 01:10:58,197
it was reversed by a
military coup.

859
01:11:01,320 --> 01:11:06,672
The continual action of Perónism
through to 1962 places the authorities

860
01:11:06,720 --> 01:11:08,756
in a difficult crisis.

861
01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:10,996
Their greatest concern is

862
01:11:11,200 --> 01:11:15,671
to find the best way to
neutralize the movement.

863
01:11:21,840 --> 01:11:27,198
From 1962, the trade unions begin
a new form of resistance:

864
01:11:27,800 --> 01:11:29,916
the occupation of factories.

865
01:11:30,640 --> 01:11:35,395
In 1964, the confederation of trade unions

866
01:11:35,880 --> 01:11:38,756
deepens the so called "Conflict Plan".

867
01:11:38,800 --> 01:11:41,199
For the first time in Latin
American history,

868
01:11:41,200 --> 01:11:46,149
a thousand premises are
occupied simultaneously.

869
01:11:46,880 --> 01:11:51,749
More than three million workers
take part in these occupations.

870
01:11:57,720 --> 01:12:01,269
1964 is also

871
01:12:01,480 --> 01:12:05,075
the year in which Perón
tries to return.

872
01:12:05,680 --> 01:12:10,079
The Brazilian military force the issue,
obeying instructions from the Pentagon

873
01:12:10,080 --> 01:12:12,514
to return him from exile.

874
01:12:14,200 --> 01:12:18,751
It is in 1964 that new groups
of guerrillas appear

875
01:12:19,320 --> 01:12:23,400
who are decimated before
they even enter into action.

876
01:12:23,440 --> 01:12:28,799
The most intense battles at this time
are by the proletariat of the interior

877
01:12:28,800 --> 01:12:35,239
with strikes, occupations
and hunger strikes.

878
01:12:42,320 --> 01:12:46,632
The Perónists victory
at the 1965 elections

879
01:12:47,160 --> 01:12:49,230
shakes the system again.

880
01:12:50,440 --> 01:12:55,355
To counter the threat of another
Perónist success, in 1967

881
01:12:55,560 --> 01:12:59,479
the army decides to forestall them,
becoming an arm of the government.

882
01:12:59,480 --> 01:13:05,828
It becomes
the government itself.

883
01:13:06,840 --> 01:13:09,999
The only thing the Communist
and Socialist parties can do

884
01:13:10,000 --> 01:13:12,958
is to ask for

885
01:13:13,160 --> 01:13:17,392
the democratic-civil institutions
to be maintained.

886
01:13:18,320 --> 01:13:21,039
The local centre of Perónism

887
01:13:21,440 --> 01:13:26,468
places their hopes in allegedly
nationalist sectors of the army,

888
01:13:27,760 --> 01:13:31,839
however the goals of the so-called
Argentine revolution

889
01:13:31,840 --> 01:13:34,877
soon become obvious.

890
01:13:35,760 --> 01:13:38,439
By prohibiting the political parties,

891
01:13:38,440 --> 01:13:41,799
they do not want to limit
the generous freedom

892
01:13:41,800 --> 01:13:44,439
that the civil parties enjoy,

893
01:13:44,800 --> 01:13:49,112
but to suffocate the
Perónist movement.

894
01:13:50,200 --> 01:13:54,159
By dismantling the autonomy
of the universities,

895
01:13:54,880 --> 01:13:57,879
they want to act against
the radicalization

896
01:13:57,880 --> 01:14:02,749
of important sectors
of the middle class.

897
01:14:04,040 --> 01:14:09,433
By the continued threat
of an intervention,

898
01:14:09,920 --> 01:14:11,919
in opposition to the confederation
of trade unions,

899
01:14:11,920 --> 01:14:17,711
it wants to push them into an
open collaboration

900
01:14:17,920 --> 01:14:22,820
with the system in place
to give victory to neo-colonialism.

901
01:14:31,040 --> 01:14:34,715
THE STUDENT MOVEMENT

902
01:14:35,680 --> 01:14:40,390
Leader of the new reform movement.

903
01:14:41,480 --> 01:14:44,358
What are the most
important actions

904
01:14:44,560 --> 01:14:48,872
of the student movement in
the last ten years?

905
01:14:50,360 --> 01:14:53,432
In the first place,

906
01:14:53,640 --> 01:14:59,829
the establishment of the great force
of mobilization of student movements.

907
01:15:02,000 --> 01:15:06,152
It is also important to see

908
01:15:06,360 --> 01:15:12,390
that this fight has been directed
in only one political direction

909
01:15:12,640 --> 01:15:17,873
with liberal goals,

910
01:15:18,080 --> 01:15:23,916
established by facts,

911
01:15:30,280 --> 01:15:34,432
such as for example in 1955

912
01:15:35,240 --> 01:15:39,439
when they were deceived by the oligarchy
to contain the popular movement.

913
01:15:39,440 --> 01:15:44,070
The great strike of 1958,

914
01:15:44,280 --> 01:15:48,990
with more than 100,000 students,

915
01:15:49,200 --> 01:15:55,355
was about the issue of
"liberal or national training"'

916
01:15:55,560 --> 01:15:59,439
while Frondizi sold off the
riches of Argentina

917
01:15:59,640 --> 01:16:02,712
to imperialist Yankees.

918
01:16:02,920 --> 01:16:08,517
In the more recent battles,
in 1964/65,

919
01:16:09,120 --> 01:16:14,990
the student movement perceived
a new reality

920
01:16:15,200 --> 01:16:20,354
and realized that it was to deviate
from its old positions

921
01:16:20,560 --> 01:16:27,432
and stick to the most important
question of the moment:

922
01:16:27,640 --> 01:16:33,033
anti-imperialism or colonial
dependence.

923
01:16:33,360 --> 01:16:37,444
Octavio Getino questioned
Julio Barbarao, a student,

924
01:16:38,400 --> 01:16:42,119
about how he sees the current situation
of the student movement

925
01:16:42,120 --> 01:16:44,634
after the last coup d’état.

926
01:16:45,040 --> 01:16:47,919
I think that the coup d’état
contributed,

927
01:16:47,920 --> 01:16:51,714
like all the methods which
the right wing tested,

928
01:16:51,715 --> 01:16:54,319
to slow down historical development

929
01:16:54,320 --> 01:16:57,119
and in the final analysis,
the revolutionary process.

930
01:16:57,120 --> 01:17:04,390
That is, it forced us students
to leave our island.

931
01:17:06,100 --> 01:17:10,240
For most of us, who come from
a Christian background,

932
01:17:10,300 --> 01:17:13,996
we break the patterns and
return to the origin.

933
01:17:15,840 --> 01:17:20,914
This situation has really important
and interesting aspects for us.

934
01:17:26,640 --> 01:17:28,799
We collaborate with people
who come from Marxism,

935
01:17:28,800 --> 01:17:31,399
from orthodox Marxism,
the Marxism

936
01:17:31,400 --> 01:17:33,639
which is regarded as
the historical axis,

937
01:17:33,640 --> 01:17:35,839
and with those who reason
with old values,

938
01:17:35,840 --> 01:17:38,919
and with the Perónist
revolutionary groups.

939
01:17:38,920 --> 01:17:43,311
These three currents will fight together
with the people

940
01:17:43,520 --> 01:17:48,150
for national liberation.

941
01:17:49,840 --> 01:17:54,072
Roberto Grabois, leader of the
student national front,

942
01:17:54,720 --> 01:17:59,756
talks about the current political position
of the student movement.

943
01:17:59,920 --> 01:18:01,751
Perhaps we could say

944
01:18:01,960 --> 01:18:06,424
that what characterizes the process
of the student movement

945
01:18:06,560 --> 01:18:09,759
comes from the nature
of the universities.

946
01:18:09,760 --> 01:18:13,119
In other words, the fight
for great ideals,

947
01:18:13,120 --> 01:18:16,919
which conforms to a narrow, specific
prospect for the students,

948
01:18:16,920 --> 01:18:20,239
and to a paternalism
for the popular movement,

949
01:18:20,240 --> 01:18:24,159
leads towards a national conscience,
together with the

950
01:18:24,160 --> 01:18:25,752
popular movement.

951
01:18:25,960 --> 01:18:30,484
We are conscious that the fight for
a liberated fatherland,

952
01:18:30,640 --> 01:18:34,600
a socialist fatherland, inevitably
implies our fusion

953
01:18:34,760 --> 01:18:37,319
with the essential axis of the
Argentinean revolution

954
01:18:37,320 --> 01:18:38,519
which is the working class,

955
01:18:38,520 --> 01:18:41,512
not understood as
an abstraction,

956
01:18:41,720 --> 01:18:44,879
but understood by its
battles and its feelings.

957
01:18:44,880 --> 01:18:49,239
From that fundamental point, the
process of national consciousness,

958
01:18:49,240 --> 01:18:53,552
understanding, re-evaluation
of the Perónist process

959
01:18:53,760 --> 01:18:56,719
and of its significance for the Argentine
working class,

960
01:18:56,720 --> 01:18:58,319
becomes our business,
our own business.

961
01:18:58,320 --> 01:19:01,392
Not the Perónism of
the bureaucrats,

962
01:19:01,600 --> 01:19:04,759
which does nothing but negotiate and concede,
but the Perónism of the masses,

963
01:19:04,760 --> 01:19:09,117
that of the anti-imperialistic and
revolutionary fight,

964
01:19:09,320 --> 01:19:12,949
which leads to socialism.

965
01:19:13,160 --> 01:19:16,994
In this sense, the Cuban revolution,

966
01:19:17,240 --> 01:19:21,392
a national, nationalist
and anti-imperialist revolution,

967
01:19:21,480 --> 01:19:23,471
had a great influence.

968
01:19:23,680 --> 01:19:30,392
Its heritage for us
is Marxist-Leninist, a guide

969
01:19:30,760 --> 01:19:36,559
which establishes the link with the history,
with the life, of our working class,

970
01:19:36,560 --> 01:19:39,757
and which opens the way

971
01:19:39,960 --> 01:19:45,639
towards national liberty and the construction
of socialism and unity with our people.

972
01:19:45,640 --> 01:19:51,112
THE OCCUPATION OF THE FACTORIES

973
01:19:54,400 --> 01:20:00,077
What was the high point reached by the
resistance in the last 10 years?

974
01:20:01,880 --> 01:20:05,793
Generalizing we could say

975
01:20:06,000 --> 01:20:09,124
what was said to us by
many comrades...

976
01:20:09,240 --> 01:20:13,313
the demonstration of a national
consciousness.

977
01:20:14,320 --> 01:20:19,917
Able to resist the executions,
repressions, tortures,

978
01:20:20,600 --> 01:20:22,836
the traps of the system,

979
01:20:23,480 --> 01:20:26,352
to quote an example,
let us announce

980
01:20:26,440 --> 01:20:29,910
the most important of
these demonstrations -

981
01:20:31,240 --> 01:20:33,356
occupation of the factories.

982
01:20:35,560 --> 01:20:40,559
Cirillo Ramallo speaks about one of
the first occupations of a factory,

983
01:20:40,560 --> 01:20:43,119
the metallurgy factory,
Siam de Montechingolo.

984
01:20:43,120 --> 01:20:47,584
The occupation resulted from the
dismissal of 300 comrades.

985
01:20:57,400 --> 01:21:02,679
What measures were taken
to defend the factory?

986
01:21:02,880 --> 01:21:07,431
All measures likely to
guarantee to us

987
01:21:08,320 --> 01:21:13,519
that the police
would not make us evacuate,

988
01:21:14,080 --> 01:21:18,759
and at the same time to maintain the
normal functioning of the factory

989
01:21:18,760 --> 01:21:21,513
in order to avoid disorders.

990
01:21:21,720 --> 01:21:27,750
We distributed the gasoline
in various places,

991
01:21:28,400 --> 01:21:33,474
likewise fire extinguishers,
to be used

992
01:21:33,680 --> 01:21:36,992
in case of an attack by
the police force.

993
01:21:37,160 --> 01:21:40,319
The defence of the factory,
I'm the one who organized it,

994
01:21:40,320 --> 01:21:44,199
with the comrades of
the internal commission.

995
01:21:44,400 --> 01:21:48,712
I personally instituted
the strike pickets

996
01:21:49,400 --> 01:21:52,312
which circulated in the factory

997
01:21:52,520 --> 01:21:54,112
and in the district

998
01:21:54,600 --> 01:21:59,116
who always showed solidarity with us.

999
01:21:59,320 --> 01:22:03,438
We feared that the police
would drive us out.

1000
01:22:09,040 --> 01:22:12,424
Rudy Taborda speaks of
the first occupation,

1001
01:22:12,560 --> 01:22:18,829
the one large textile mill under worker
administration: La Bernalesa.

1002
01:22:21,400 --> 01:22:24,199
In the country, there
were many occupations

1003
01:22:24,200 --> 01:22:27,715
like ours.

1004
01:22:27,960 --> 01:22:33,671
But it acted as a historical event,

1005
01:22:33,880 --> 01:22:36,399
of a unique kind,
because, for the first time,

1006
01:22:36,400 --> 01:22:40,188
a factory functioned under
workers control.

1007
01:22:40,560 --> 01:22:43,757
For the first time, we felt ourselves

1008
01:22:43,960 --> 01:22:46,119
the absolute owners of a factory

1009
01:22:46,120 --> 01:22:51,717
where for 30 years the
comrades had been

1010
01:22:51,920 --> 01:22:54,959
exploited and crushed by the
employer class.

1011
01:22:54,960 --> 01:22:57,349
We had a double responsibility:

1012
01:22:57,560 --> 01:22:59,079
to show the employer class

1013
01:22:59,080 --> 01:23:03,073
that we were able to keep
up production,

1014
01:23:03,280 --> 01:23:08,593
to work and, at the same time,
to manage the production.

1015
01:23:09,640 --> 01:23:14,475
We were going to show that we were
capable of production.

1016
01:23:14,680 --> 01:23:21,870
We had to succeed in doing
both things at the same time.

1017
01:23:22,080 --> 01:23:25,359
And we succeeded there rather well,
it seems to me.

1018
01:23:25,360 --> 01:23:28,479
For example: the quality
of the products

1019
01:23:28,480 --> 01:23:31,836
compared with that of those

1020
01:23:32,040 --> 01:23:37,128
which had been stored, appeared,
at the end of the 13 days during

1021
01:23:37,280 --> 01:23:40,159
which we had ensured the management
of the factory, to be definitely superior.

1022
01:23:40,160 --> 01:23:43,159
Another fact important to announce
is the participation of the employees.

1023
01:23:43,160 --> 01:23:49,918
They joined with us unanimously.

1024
01:23:50,360 --> 01:23:54,672
A really extraordinary fact.

1025
01:23:54,920 --> 01:23:56,797
For the first time,

1026
01:23:57,680 --> 01:24:02,848
two thousand workers assumed
autonomous responsibility for their work.

1027
01:24:03,320 --> 01:24:08,679
For the first time, they discovered that
they are worth as much, or even more,

1028
01:24:08,680 --> 01:24:12,064
than those who always
benefited from them.

1029
01:24:12,280 --> 01:24:16,876
They became aware of their
own capacities,

1030
01:24:17,600 --> 01:24:19,556
their own possibilities.

1031
01:24:22,000 --> 01:24:28,109
The workers, this time, took the
occupation very seriously.

1032
01:24:28,880 --> 01:24:32,077
During the previous occupations

1033
01:24:32,280 --> 01:24:36,398
people came with their
portable radios,

1034
01:24:36,600 --> 01:24:40,388
the workers organized barbecues,

1035
01:24:40,600 --> 01:24:43,398
the comrades played cards

1036
01:24:43,600 --> 01:24:48,390
or football in the streets
bordering the factory.

1037
01:24:49,640 --> 01:24:54,475
This time, however,
it was very different.

1038
01:24:55,280 --> 01:25:02,231
The truth is that the majority
of us are illiterate.

1039
01:25:04,680 --> 01:25:08,639
We grew up in absolute misery,

1040
01:25:09,400 --> 01:25:11,079
working since tender
childhood

1041
01:25:11,080 --> 01:25:14,993
without learning how to
read and write.

1042
01:25:15,400 --> 01:25:19,996
I worked in various places
for a mouthful of bread.

1043
01:25:20,720 --> 01:25:27,319
I am not ashamed to say
that I had to beg to eat.

1044
01:25:28,160 --> 01:25:32,438
And then, at 17 years old,
I came to Buenos Aires

1045
01:25:33,400 --> 01:25:35,675
to seek my fortune.

1046
01:25:35,880 --> 01:25:41,164
All of that was before 17th October.
And then General Perón appeared.

1047
01:25:43,520 --> 01:25:47,528
I was not the only one to arrive
from my province.

1048
01:25:47,600 --> 01:25:53,357
We were very numerous, in total
ignorance of the social laws.

1049
01:25:53,760 --> 01:25:57,355
In fact, in the countryside,
we do not profit

1050
01:25:57,640 --> 01:25:59,119
from any protection.

1051
01:25:59,120 --> 01:26:04,353
In view of this panorama
of total misery,

1052
01:26:04,960 --> 01:26:09,238
like many Argentineans I came
to the capital.

1053
01:26:10,280 --> 01:26:13,479
But the trade unions were not yet
well organized,

1054
01:26:13,480 --> 01:26:16,119
and there were still
some difficulties.

1055
01:26:16,120 --> 01:26:21,212
However it was still better than
living in poverty in the country.

1056
01:26:24,600 --> 01:26:30,311
One afternoon the Minister of Justice
from La Plata came.

1057
01:26:31,600 --> 01:26:34,068
We received him at the gates.

1058
01:26:34,280 --> 01:26:38,512
And he said to us that we must
evacuate the factory

1059
01:26:38,720 --> 01:26:45,512
because we had taken possession
of a private property.

1060
01:26:47,400 --> 01:26:51,919
I replied to him: you are Minister of
Justice? And your justice

1061
01:26:51,920 --> 01:26:55,833
is to lay off 300 workers!

1062
01:26:56,400 --> 01:27:01,554
He replied to me that he was
not a Minister for Labour,

1063
01:27:02,040 --> 01:27:05,119
and that this was a trade union
problem.

1064
01:27:05,120 --> 01:27:08,039
Then, I said to him that,
if this was the case,

1065
01:27:08,040 --> 01:27:10,639
he had nothing to do with
this factory.

1066
01:27:10,640 --> 01:27:14,315
But he repeated that we
must evacuate,

1067
01:27:14,520 --> 01:27:18,199
that there were 150 police officers
ready to employ force.

1068
01:27:18,200 --> 01:27:22,557
I told him 150 police officers
were not enough.

1069
01:27:22,760 --> 01:27:25,672
He would have to call the army.

1070
01:27:25,880 --> 01:27:29,270
He was completely surprised.

1071
01:27:31,640 --> 01:27:34,552
And I added

1072
01:27:34,840 --> 01:27:37,957
that if they evacuated
us by force,

1073
01:27:38,160 --> 01:27:40,239
we would blow
up the plant.

1074
01:27:40,240 --> 01:27:44,128
I showed him where we had
the gasoline containers

1075
01:27:44,280 --> 01:27:47,158
which were ready

1076
01:27:47,360 --> 01:27:50,875
in case of any aggression.

1077
01:27:51,760 --> 01:27:55,230
As a representative of
the government,

1078
01:27:55,440 --> 01:27:58,564
he had the police
force and the owners.

1079
01:27:58,640 --> 01:28:02,315
Me, I had the support of
all the comrades

1080
01:28:02,520 --> 01:28:05,990
to face any aggression.

1081
01:28:11,200 --> 01:28:15,478
Occupations are violent acts,

1082
01:28:16,480 --> 01:28:18,357
traumatic,

1083
01:28:19,240 --> 01:28:22,550
which erase from the workers'
memory

1084
01:28:22,880 --> 01:28:27,351
many myths, lies, and oppressions.

1085
01:28:29,040 --> 01:28:34,194
Through occupations, the worker
accelerates his own decolonization,

1086
01:28:35,840 --> 01:28:38,832
finds the conscience of
his own work,

1087
01:28:39,040 --> 01:28:42,237
re-conquers his own humanity.

1088
01:28:43,480 --> 01:28:47,359
THE LIMITS OF SPONTANEITY

1089
01:28:48,080 --> 01:28:52,471
Up to which point can one carry out,
inside the system,

1090
01:28:52,760 --> 01:28:55,824
the battle for the means
of production?

1091
01:28:56,680 --> 01:29:00,275
The dominant classes control

1092
01:29:00,520 --> 01:29:03,318
all the other levers of power.

1093
01:29:16,080 --> 01:29:19,311
Resistance, at its spontaneous
level,

1094
01:29:20,160 --> 01:29:23,224
has arrived today at a
critical moment.

1095
01:29:24,280 --> 01:29:29,312
If, until yesterday, the trade unions
were the axis of resistance,

1096
01:29:29,760 --> 01:29:33,878
today they've lost their
political effectiveness.

1097
01:29:34,440 --> 01:29:37,636
As an instrument of revolutionary
struggle

1098
01:29:37,720 --> 01:29:41,676
they have reached the limits of
their possibilities.

1099
01:30:32,400 --> 01:30:34,675
Spontaneity

1100
01:30:34,880 --> 01:30:38,452
is the great virtue of the
Argentinean masses.

1101
01:30:39,800 --> 01:30:43,156
But it also indicates their limits.

1102
01:30:45,040 --> 01:30:49,591
It is to spontaneity that
the Argentinean proletariat

1103
01:30:49,800 --> 01:30:52,314
owes its most memorable day,

1104
01:30:52,920 --> 01:30:55,224
but also its greatest defeats.

1105
01:30:56,240 --> 01:31:01,598
On October 17th and the month of
September 1955,

1106
01:31:05,440 --> 01:31:09,194
the combativeness and the heroism
of resistance

1107
01:31:10,080 --> 01:31:13,311
are not enough to overcome
the enemy.

1108
01:31:13,760 --> 01:31:17,799
When spontaneity and the initiative
of the masses

1109
01:31:18,480 --> 01:31:21,759
do not take the path
resulting in seizure of power,

1110
01:31:21,760 --> 01:31:27,676
everything is transformed into dispute,
resistance, self-defence.

1111
01:31:29,160 --> 01:31:33,680
In this case, the initiative is always
taken by the enemy.

1112
01:32:52,080 --> 01:32:54,036
THE WAR TODAY

1113
01:32:57,000 --> 01:33:01,278
If the war is the sum
of partial battles,

1114
01:33:02,240 --> 01:33:06,679
we've lost some of them, but
on the level of creating conscience,

1115
01:33:06,680 --> 01:33:12,437
we have won many others.

1116
01:33:13,600 --> 01:33:17,559
Imperialism also has
its experiments.

1117
01:33:18,200 --> 01:33:22,159
Since the Cuban revolution, it's learned
better ways

1118
01:33:22,160 --> 01:33:25,232
to fight the revolution,

1119
01:33:25,800 --> 01:33:30,191
ways that the revolutionaries
themselves did not learn.

1120
01:33:49,960 --> 01:33:53,111
This is a "miguelito,"
a small iron rod

1121
01:33:53,320 --> 01:33:55,240
about an inch in length.

1122
01:33:55,320 --> 01:33:59,839
The points are sharpened and then
folded into a right angle

1123
01:33:59,840 --> 01:34:03,992
in order to form a base
which hangs.

1124
01:34:06,960 --> 01:34:11,078
Before, we'd make a larger model

1125
01:34:11,280 --> 01:34:14,716
of one centimetre in
thickness.

1126
01:34:14,920 --> 01:34:16,559
Then we couldn’t get rods
of that type any more.

1127
01:34:16,560 --> 01:34:18,790
Now we make them from

1128
01:34:19,000 --> 01:34:22,595
the bars, which we can get.

1129
01:34:22,800 --> 01:34:26,156
I cut it out, sharpen it.

1130
01:34:26,360 --> 01:34:28,479
Because I know the people
can make use of it.

1131
01:34:28,480 --> 01:34:31,438
Where is that?
In the streets.

1132
01:34:33,160 --> 01:34:35,279
We hide them the
best we can

1133
01:34:35,280 --> 01:34:40,400
in a heap of garbage
or in a puddle.

1134
01:34:40,600 --> 01:34:45,799
The vehicles pass without seeing them,
and the tires are punctured.

1135
01:34:46,000 --> 01:34:50,312
We especially use them
during the strikes.

1136
01:34:50,520 --> 01:34:53,559
We leave at dawn, each
one with his bag,

1137
01:34:53,560 --> 01:34:55,278
and we place them.

1138
01:34:58,680 --> 01:35:03,879
From 1963 to 1966,
the Pentagon

1139
01:35:05,200 --> 01:35:10,797
gave special training

1140
01:35:11,880 --> 01:35:16,716
in its centres in Panama,
to 19,000 soldiers of Latin America.

1141
01:35:17,040 --> 01:35:22,558
The armies of the continent behave
like troops of occupation

1142
01:35:23,560 --> 01:35:29,271
and they all have the advantage
of blending in easily.

1143
01:35:30,200 --> 01:35:33,159
These are the Peruvian
"hunter commands",

1144
01:35:33,160 --> 01:35:37,392
the Bolivian "Rangers",
the Argentine gendarmerie.

1145
01:35:38,400 --> 01:35:42,154
The ODECA: the American
defence council,

1146
01:35:43,400 --> 01:35:47,757
the military operators,
are all directed by the Pentagon.

1147
01:35:49,520 --> 01:35:53,274
Latin America

1148
01:35:53,560 --> 01:35:56,496
is the theatre of a
silent escalation

1149
01:35:56,960 --> 01:35:59,394
devoted to genocide.

1150
01:36:12,080 --> 01:36:16,358
I remember a demonstration,
on November 5th

1151
01:36:16,560 --> 01:36:18,480
after the fall of Perón.

1152
01:36:18,600 --> 01:36:23,674
With a comrade, we had gone to
Plaza Alsina in Avellaneda,

1153
01:36:24,400 --> 01:36:27,676
where the police force
charged ferociously.

1154
01:36:29,960 --> 01:36:34,033
They used horses to
turn back the crowd.

1155
01:36:34,240 --> 01:36:37,550
There was a comrade
sitting on a bench.

1156
01:36:37,760 --> 01:36:41,599
The police came from behind and
threw him to the ground

1157
01:36:41,600 --> 01:36:43,919
and almost trampled him
with their horses.

1158
01:36:43,920 --> 01:36:46,957
I felt such indignation

1159
01:36:47,160 --> 01:36:51,039
that I remembered a trick
from back home.

1160
01:36:51,440 --> 01:36:56,070
I went to a grocery store and bought
packets of pepper

1161
01:36:56,280 --> 01:36:59,976
and launched them in
the direction of the wind.

1162
01:37:02,560 --> 01:37:06,473
When the horses inhaled pepper,

1163
01:37:06,680 --> 01:37:10,355
they started to sneeze
and reared up.

1164
01:37:10,560 --> 01:37:14,473
That made the police even
more angry.

1165
01:37:14,680 --> 01:37:19,452
We were sorry for the horses,
but not for them, certainly not

1166
01:37:19,520 --> 01:37:24,674
after the brutality with which
they treated our brothers!

1167
01:37:24,960 --> 01:37:28,430
Pepper is effective, certainly!

1168
01:37:28,640 --> 01:37:31,079
We knew it worked. We used it
in the countryside!

1169
01:37:31,080 --> 01:37:32,799
And can it stop the
police force?

1170
01:37:32,800 --> 01:37:35,420
That is a little more difficult!

1171
01:37:37,080 --> 01:37:42,393
What can trade union organizations
achieve these days

1172
01:37:43,040 --> 01:37:47,795
in the face of a well trained,
well equipped modern army,

1173
01:37:48,480 --> 01:37:54,077
that also has mercenary
forces?

1174
01:37:56,040 --> 01:37:59,112
But is this army really invincible?

1175
01:38:00,000 --> 01:38:01,069
Algeria,

1176
01:38:01,600 --> 01:38:03,989
Cuba, Vietnam,

1177
01:38:04,840 --> 01:38:06,353
prove the opposite.

1178
01:38:07,000 --> 01:38:11,278
People determined to
liberate themselves

1179
01:38:11,840 --> 01:38:13,831
are invincible.

1180
01:38:15,400 --> 01:38:19,678
But victory over these
armies

1181
01:38:19,880 --> 01:38:23,512
is only possible with the
will of the people.

1182
01:38:24,960 --> 01:38:28,953
Power is held exclusively

1183
01:38:29,160 --> 01:38:31,464
by those who possess
weapons,

1184
01:38:31,840 --> 01:38:35,310
or those who decide to
obtain them.

1185
01:38:36,760 --> 01:38:41,276
The language of weapons is,
in our time,

1186
01:38:41,960 --> 01:38:45,396
the most effective political
language.

1187
01:38:46,800 --> 01:38:51,319
Is it therefore necessary to teach
the people this language?

1188
01:38:51,320 --> 01:38:56,075
Does this mean a long
and painful war?

1189
01:38:57,840 --> 01:39:01,628
Are there any other alternatives
for liberation?

1190
01:39:03,000 --> 01:39:06,072
INTRODUCTION TO THE DEBATE

1191
01:39:07,360 --> 01:39:08,759
Comrades,

1192
01:39:09,160 --> 01:39:12,519
the reflections which we have just
talked about

1193
01:39:12,520 --> 01:39:15,717
arise from the current
national situation

1194
01:39:15,920 --> 01:39:20,640
and from the experience accumulated
during years of resistance.

1195
01:39:21,200 --> 01:39:24,033
Let us point out the facts.

1196
01:39:24,240 --> 01:39:27,239
The military government has been
in place since 1966

1197
01:39:27,240 --> 01:39:29,104
destroying the resistance

1198
01:39:29,240 --> 01:39:33,719
of different trade unions, like the
trade union of the dock labourers

1199
01:39:33,720 --> 01:39:36,479
who closed the sugar factories
of Tucuman.

1200
01:39:36,480 --> 01:39:41,892
They have assigned the energy reserves,
giving no rights to the people,

1201
01:39:42,160 --> 01:39:47,192
and has found no opposition
which could confront and overcome it.

1202
01:39:47,880 --> 01:39:49,598
This is one symptom.

1203
01:39:52,000 --> 01:39:58,699
At the same time, certain proletarian tendencies
have begun to stray from their roots,

1204
01:39:58,700 --> 01:40:02,400
bureaucratic, confused
by the enemy

1205
01:40:03,000 --> 01:40:06,000
moving closer towards them.

1206
01:40:06,400 --> 01:40:09,600
These tendencies existed before

1207
01:40:09,900 --> 01:40:13,900
but they'd never acted
in such a sneaky way.

1208
01:40:14,300 --> 01:40:17,500
This is another symptom.

1209
01:40:18,200 --> 01:40:23,159
Thoughts and reflections which are
contributions to this discussion

1210
01:40:23,160 --> 01:40:28,792
are also based on experiences
encountered during filming.

1211
01:40:29,720 --> 01:40:32,279
Rudy Taborda was recently laid off

1212
01:40:32,280 --> 01:40:35,955
together with the most
active comrades.

1213
01:40:36,480 --> 01:40:39,079
Cirillo Ramallo, was also laid off

1214
01:40:39,080 --> 01:40:42,840
and the factory where he
worked was closed down.

1215
01:40:43,040 --> 01:40:45,349
Angel Taborda was arrested

1216
01:40:45,560 --> 01:40:49,512
and laid off because of his
trade union engagement.

1217
01:40:49,560 --> 01:40:53,359
Martiniano Martin is no longer on
the committee of the car factory.

1218
01:40:53,360 --> 01:40:58,136
Employers have blacklisted him
and he can't find work anymore.

1219
01:41:03,720 --> 01:41:08,714
At Tucuman we spoke with the most
combative leaders of FOTIA:

1220
01:41:08,920 --> 01:41:14,711
Can you talk about the fight
carried out by the Tucuman workers?

1221
01:41:15,280 --> 01:41:20,319
I'm Leandro Foté. I'm the secretary-general
of the Trade Union of San José.

1222
01:41:20,320 --> 01:41:23,628
Let me say that it's only
four hours ago

1223
01:41:23,800 --> 01:41:27,475
that I left prison.

1224
01:41:27,680 --> 01:41:33,118
I was arrested for organizing the
fight of the sugar workers.

1225
01:41:33,520 --> 01:41:38,753
However that's not important.

1226
01:41:39,280 --> 01:41:42,280
The important thing
is that in Tucuman

1227
01:41:42,440 --> 01:41:44,519
we have valuable combat
experience.

1228
01:41:44,520 --> 01:41:48,149
We have occupied factories,

1229
01:41:48,360 --> 01:41:51,750
we've fought on the streets,

1230
01:41:51,960 --> 01:41:53,879
we've had victims. Recently
we lost

1231
01:41:53,880 --> 01:41:57,639
one of our comrades at Bella Vista,
where the fight was particularly tough.

1232
01:41:57,640 --> 01:42:00,768
Did these fights bring us
any solutions?

1233
01:42:04,800 --> 01:42:09,351
Comrade, these fights did not
bring any solution.

1234
01:42:09,560 --> 01:42:14,429
No solution for the
sugar workers.

1235
01:42:14,640 --> 01:42:19,794
That's why I believe the
workers fight must be quite different.

1236
01:42:20,440 --> 01:42:26,037
We have recognized that one should
not only fight for

1237
01:42:26,240 --> 01:42:31,872
wage increases, but against government
and its domination.

1238
01:42:32,080 --> 01:42:34,119
The workers must understand

1239
01:42:34,120 --> 01:42:39,399
that we need a popular government
of the workers.

1240
01:42:39,600 --> 01:42:44,239
This is the only way we can provide
for the future of the country

1241
01:42:44,240 --> 01:42:49,759
and for the workers, to worry about
the proletarian people of the country.

1242
01:42:49,760 --> 01:42:51,799
Now, comrade, at this moment,

1243
01:42:51,800 --> 01:42:54,959
the situation of the
Tucuman workers is disastrous.

1244
01:42:54,960 --> 01:42:59,168
There are 24,000 unemployed
from the closed factories.

1245
01:42:59,280 --> 01:43:03,671
These people will emigrate
to other provinces,

1246
01:43:03,880 --> 01:43:08,396
which will increase unemployment
elsewhere in the country,

1247
01:43:08,600 --> 01:43:14,550
like in Tucuman in the past year.

1248
01:43:17,200 --> 01:43:20,237
Resistance and self-defence,

1249
01:43:20,440 --> 01:43:23,557
by reaching their culmination,

1250
01:43:24,440 --> 01:43:29,389
expose the people to lassitude,

1251
01:43:29,960 --> 01:43:32,155
and exhaustion.

1252
01:43:33,360 --> 01:43:38,836
Each point of defence is located by
the enemy, isolated, and eliminated.

1253
01:43:39,720 --> 01:43:43,838
But the people's memory
assimilates the experience.

1254
01:43:57,640 --> 01:44:00,074
One day I asked:

1255
01:44:00,280 --> 01:44:02,430
Father, where is God?

1256
01:44:07,600 --> 01:44:09,989
My father became serious,

1257
01:44:10,200 --> 01:44:12,430
but answered nothing.

1258
01:44:16,800 --> 01:44:19,109
My father died in the mine.

1259
01:44:19,320 --> 01:44:21,519
In the bottom of the gallery.

1260
01:44:21,520 --> 01:44:23,954
Colour of blood of the mine.

1261
01:44:24,160 --> 01:44:26,712
Where the owner's gold piles up.

1262
01:44:44,160 --> 01:44:47,152
One day I asked:

1263
01:44:47,360 --> 01:44:50,484
My brother, what do you
know about God?

1264
01:44:54,480 --> 01:44:56,835
My brother lowered his eyes,

1265
01:44:57,040 --> 01:44:59,554
but answered nothing.

1266
01:45:03,760 --> 01:45:06,316
My brother lives on the mountain

1267
01:45:06,520 --> 01:45:08,715
where no flowers grow.

1268
01:45:08,920 --> 01:45:10,956
Sweat, malaria, snakes.

1269
01:45:11,160 --> 01:45:13,958
This is the life of the logger.

1270
01:45:19,720 --> 01:45:22,029
And nobody asks of him

1271
01:45:22,240 --> 01:45:24,519
if he knows or has found God.

1272
01:45:24,520 --> 01:45:29,355
Another important person.

1273
01:45:42,800 --> 01:45:45,439
Me, I sing on the streets.

1274
01:45:45,640 --> 01:45:48,154
And when I am in prison,

1275
01:45:53,520 --> 01:45:56,199
I listen to the voices of the people

1276
01:45:56,200 --> 01:45:58,839
who sing much better than me.

1277
01:46:04,560 --> 01:46:06,919
Does God take care of the poor?

1278
01:46:06,920 --> 01:46:09,434
Perhaps yes, perhaps no.

1279
01:46:09,640 --> 01:46:11,870
What I know,

1280
01:46:12,080 --> 01:46:15,516
is that he sits at the owner's table.

1281
01:46:22,760 --> 01:46:25,504
If there is anything on this earth

1282
01:46:25,520 --> 01:46:27,590
more important than God,

1283
01:46:27,800 --> 01:46:30,599
it is that nobody has to spit blood

1284
01:46:30,600 --> 01:46:33,028
so that others can live better.

1285
01:46:43,720 --> 01:46:46,757
I am Andina Lizarraga,

1286
01:46:47,240 --> 01:46:50,152
Chief of Perónist Youth
of Tucuman.

1287
01:46:51,400 --> 01:46:53,200
Although the experiences

1288
01:46:53,960 --> 01:46:59,193
of the population of Tucuman
were invaluable after 1955-

1289
01:46:59,800 --> 01:47:04,510
mobilizations, street battles,
occupations of factories

1290
01:47:05,000 --> 01:47:10,632
and fights against the oppressor -

1291
01:47:13,440 --> 01:47:18,389
for the historical process,

1292
01:47:24,240 --> 01:47:27,073
I believe they

1293
01:47:27,640 --> 01:47:30,598
are not applicable today,

1294
01:47:30,800 --> 01:47:34,936
and that it would be a great mistake
to repeat them.

1295
01:47:35,360 --> 01:47:38,612
People don't want these
battles any more.

1296
01:47:39,160 --> 01:47:42,232
They want another form of action.

1297
01:47:42,600 --> 01:47:46,149
An action for the political
seizure of power

1298
01:47:46,360 --> 01:47:51,718
which can only be carried out

1299
01:47:51,920 --> 01:47:55,310
by an armed struggle.

1300
01:48:00,680 --> 01:48:06,152
However, an armed struggle
is not possible

1301
01:48:06,400 --> 01:48:13,272
without a revolutionary organization
prepared to make

1302
01:48:14,160 --> 01:48:20,156
sacrifices and to risk their lives

1303
01:48:20,360 --> 01:48:24,512
like the Argentinean people have
done until now.

1304
01:48:24,720 --> 01:48:33,116
The time of the chief bureaucrat
is over.

1305
01:48:33,560 --> 01:48:37,269
That depends only on us,
on yourselves,

1306
01:48:37,480 --> 01:48:42,119
to contribute to the foundation of this
revolutionary organization.

1307
01:48:42,120 --> 01:48:46,159
Otherwise we will waste our
time miserably.

1308
01:48:48,040 --> 01:48:50,279
We crossed vast parts
of the country

1309
01:48:50,280 --> 01:48:54,637
and found in many provinces a
similar situation,

1310
01:48:55,320 --> 01:48:58,790
more dramatic, perhaps,
in the North,

1311
01:48:59,400 --> 01:49:01,311
specially in Tucuman.

1312
01:49:01,720 --> 01:49:06,999
However, the proletariat doesn't appear
defeated, or overcome.

1313
01:49:08,160 --> 01:49:12,950
Many means of struggle were tested
in the course of time,

1314
01:49:14,400 --> 01:49:20,236
but the truth is that no organization,
no direction is yet in sight

1315
01:49:20,440 --> 01:49:24,272
which could direct the proletariat
towards victory.

1316
01:49:24,600 --> 01:49:31,870
In the meantime we experience
a kind of dynamic waiting.

1317
01:49:32,320 --> 01:49:35,118
The search continues.

1318
01:49:37,280 --> 01:49:43,435
Comrades, the conclusions you can draw now
are important.

1319
01:49:43,720 --> 01:49:48,052
You, as the true authors and
protagonists of this story.

1320
01:49:48,200 --> 01:49:51,199
The experience which we have
gathered here

1321
01:49:51,200 --> 01:49:55,280
and our conclusions
are valuable to a certain extent.

1322
01:49:55,560 --> 01:49:56,759
They are helpful depending

1323
01:49:56,760 --> 01:49:59,959
on how useful they are to the present and
the future of the liberation struggle,

1324
01:49:59,960 --> 01:50:02,964
of this liberation which you represent.

1325
01:50:03,960 --> 01:50:07,519
The importance is the action
which can follow these conclusions,

1326
01:50:07,520 --> 01:50:12,435
an agreement based
on facts shown here.

1327
01:50:13,640 --> 01:50:16,791
This is why our film ends here.

1328
01:50:17,320 --> 01:50:21,598
For you to continue it.

1329
01:50:22,400 --> 01:50:25,437
You have the floor.

1330
01:50:26,800 --> 01:50:31,600
OPEN SPACE FOR DIALOGUE

1331
01:50:32,305 --> 01:50:38,933
Support us and become VIP member
to remove all ads from OpenSubtitles. org