The history of Argentina from 1946 to 1955, known as the Peronist Years or the Peronist Era (Spanish: Era Peronista), began with the election of Juan Domingo Perón to presidency, and ended with the 1955 coup d'état which ousted Perón's government.
His government was influential for initiating industrialization in Argentina, expanding social rights (such as for workers, women, children, and the elderly)Paltrinieri, Amanda (1997): «Setenta años de voto femenino: San Juan, la pionera», artículo publicado en la revista Nueva, del diario La Nación, 1997. and making public university tuition-free. Alongside his wife, Eva Duarte ("Evita"), they also pushed for women's suffrage, provided charity and built approximately half a million houses. Other relevant measures include reforming the constitution in 1949 to add second generation rights; the creation of the UTN (originally named National Worker's University); paying off all the national debt; nationalizing the central bank, the entire banking system and the railways.
This period of history is often divided between the First Peronism (1946–1951) that corresponds to Perón's first presidency, and Second Peronism (1951–1955) that corresponds to his second term, after being re-elected in 1951.
Precedents
Perón's First Term (1946–1952)
When Perón was elected, his coalition won the majority of the chamber of deputies and the entirety of the senate. As a result, his government was able to replace the supreme court judges with others aligned with them. Therefore, the Peronist government had the control of the three powers of the republic.
Economy
In 1945, an year before Perón was elected, the economy of Argentina was gradually industrializing, but it still remained dependent on agricultural exports to Europe. This dependence resulted in European powers influencing the prices of Argentine production and the value of the national currency. The railway companies set freight rates in their London-based boards of directors. The structure of the Argentine central bank was based on the designs of British banker Otto Niemeyer. The Central Bank was a private entity and British interests held a majority of its stake; the president of the Central Bank was appointed by the president of Argentina, but only 5 of its 12 directors were Argentine and the majority were private-bank executives. In addition, foreign banks regulated credit in Argentina and controlled the international transport of Argentine exports.
By 1946, Argentina found itself with significant reserves of gold and foreign currencies originating from exports during the World War II. The accumulation of a favorable balance in the trade balance in the form of gold in custody abroad and foreign currency deposited in banks in the United States and in the Bank of England reached 1,697 million dollars.
The economic project of Peron's government revolved around the consolidation of the industrialization process within Argentina. As to reduce foreign dependency and because the industrial model promised to create many more jobs. This was important considering that in many areas of the Argentine countryside people were barely surviving as field laborers. The Industrial Credit Bank (created in 1944) was key to the consolidation of the industrial sector; during the Peronist governments it financed almost 52% on average of all industrial activity, with peaks of up to 78.3% in 1949, 64.1% in 1951 and 54.2% in 1952.
In 1947, Perón created the Argentine Steel Mixed Society (Somisa), appointing General Manuel Savio and the Agua y Energía Eléctrica company as its head. In 1948 he created the National Telecommunications Company (ENTel). In 1950 he created Aerolíneas Argentinas, the first Argentine aviation company. Perón affirmed that Argentina had obtained political freedom in 1810, but not economic independence.
Establishment of the Argentine Institute for the Promotion of Exchange (IAPI)
The Argentine Institute for the Promotion of Exchange (IAPI) was one of the boldest expression of economic transformation during Peron's government. It was an institution that enforced a centralized state-monopoly over foreign trade, by assuming the direct operations of exports and imports; subsequently, it transferred resources from the countryside to industry. Its creation practically meant a nationalization of foreign trade.
It was actually established during the 1943 Revolution, via the decree-law 15,350 on May 28, 1946 by de facto president Edelmiro Farrell. However, it was during the presidencies of Perón when the IAPI was given a hugely important role for the economy. The IAPI replaced middlemen and groups that managed exports, buying agricultural and livestock products from producers at a fixed price, and negotiating sales with the external buyers. Thus, the IAPI imposed prices abroad that could have never been able to be obtained before. Until 1949, it sold abroad for double the rate it paid to rural producers. It derived the surpluses of these operations to investments in capital goods, the nationalized financial system and essential raw materials for manufacturing; thereby transferring income from the agriculture to the booming industrializal sector.
The marketing of agricultural production was traditionally carried out by a network of collectors and export consortia, most of which were foreign. The Second World War generated favorable conditions for local exports. Faced with the post-war crisis and in an attempt to recover in better conditions, the countries demanding raw materials from Europe made the decision to group together in cartels for the purchase of these products, called monopsonies. Faced with this, Argentina acted in the same way but centralizing its foreign trade, like other exporting countries such as Australia (Australia Wheat Board), Canada (Canadian Wheat Board) or the USA (Commodity Credit Corporation). “If there is a single buyer, there is a single seller,” was the official slogan that gave rise to the creation of the IAPI.
The IAPI was composed of a president, a vice president and a board of directors with seven directors individually proposed by: the Ministry of Agriculture, the Secretariat of Industry and Commerce, the Central Bank, the Credit Industrial Bank and sectors of industry and agriculture. The board of directors proposed a manager and an assistant manager, who would be appointed by the National Executive Power. The IAPI, was dependent on the Central Bank under Miguel Miranda. In the first major restructuring, since September 30, 1949, the IAPI goes from depending on the Central Bank to acting under the orbit of the Ministry of Economy by means of Decree No. 13,668.
Some of its consequences included a rise in agricultural credit from 400 million pesos in 1945 to 2.9 billion in 1951, credit aid to cooperatives amounting to 1 billion pesos during the first five years, and an investment of 20 million pesos on the creation of agricultural schools between 1947 and 1951. Additionally, the Central Bank granted forestry loans totaling 41,330,000 pesos from 1946 to 1951, while the production of forestry plants increased from 3,140,000 to 11,330,000.
Nationalization of the Argentine Railways
The IAPI managed the nationalization of the railways in 1947 and 1948, being one of the economic milestones of the first Peronist government. Before the nationalization, the system was divided into three groups of companies: those with British capital,FCS/O; FCCA; FCBAP; FCER/NEA; FCCBA; FCCC those with French capital,FCPSF; FCRPB; FCCGBA and those already state-owned.AGFE; PBA The railways were in the most part profitable,Ferreres (2010) but also, its fees were a decisive incentive for nationalization: Miguel Miranda (director of the IAPI) argued in 1947 that there was a system of different fees that favored agricultural products at the expense of industrial or finished articles and essential materials for industry, with serious detriment to the country's industrial economy and its rail transport.
The international context also easned the nationalization. During World War II and after it, the pound sterling ceased to be convertible into other currencies, which complicated the foreign trade of Great Britain, which by 1945 was accumulating international debts seven times greater than its reserves of dollars and gold, weakening its ability to maintain investments abroad, such as railways in Argentina. In this context, under the conditions of the Marshall Plan, the United States demanded that the balances accumulated in pounds be convertible to any currency, which allowed it to inject dollars into the world economy and consolidate American commercial hegemony. Faced with these pressures, Great Britain chose to "unlock" its pounds by selling assets such as railways to the Argentine State, while France, also with a devastated economy, was equally forced to sell its railway companies.
British railways were nationalized by Decree 5,789 of February 1948. Likewise, by Decree 31,218 of 1947, French companies were included in the network of lines. To politically control the companies nationalized, in June 1948, the entire railway network passed under the control of the new Secretariat of Transportation of the Nation, reporting directly to the President of the Nation.
First Five-Year Plan
At the beginning of the second half of 1946, José Figuerola, Legal and Technical Secretary of the Presidency, presented the Five-Year Plan on September 30 of that year. It was officially announced in the presidential message on October 19, 1947.
The plan centered around three key areas: State Governance, National Defense, and the Economy. Economically, it focused on state-led industrialization, providing financial incentives and protecting national industry through tariff barriers; nationalization of banks, deposit accounts, transportation and public services; implementing wealth redistribution policies; and making state investments in the road network. The nationalization of foreign-owned public services was due to the fact that the payment for their services mortgaged the value of our exports, and that on some occasions it compromised 38% of them.
Some of the measures included nationalizing the Central Bank and the entire Argentine banking system by Law 12,962 in march 1947, as to support industrial development and trade. By 1952, the external debt was fully paid off, shifting the country from debtor to creditor. Key state enterprises were established, including nationalized telecommunications (ENTEL) and gas services. A number of policies aimed at expanding and improving oil distribution as a step toward eventually nationalizing it; increasing the supply of industrial inputs to lower their cost and promote the development of this economic sector; boosting energy production to strengthen the energy matrix and enhance overall productivity; and introducing a new customs law aligned with the process of import substitution. Public works expanded access to potable water and sanitation, benefiting millions more by 1955. The nationalization of railways between 1946 and 1948 unified and expanded the network to over 45,000 kilometers by 1954. Ports, grain elevators, power plants, hydroelectric dams, and oil refineries were developed, alongside the creation of a merchant fleet and investments in coal and petroleum exploration. Worker rights advanced with rural labor statutes, labor courts, and pensions for commerce employees. Housing initiatives delivered 350,000 homes, new residential neighborhoods, and landmark projects like Ciudad Evita. Infrastructure achievements included the Ezeiza International Airport, irrigation systems, rural sanitation, and national parks, all fostering modernization and economic self-reliance.