Peronism

Abstract Peronism is an Argentine political movement defined mostly by what its founder, Juan Domingo Perón (1895–1974), did and said while in government from the 1940s through 1955. At its core, Peronism stands for popular social justice and national economic independence. At the outset of the Cold War (1950), Perón declared his “20 Peronist truths,” in an effort to create a coherent synthesis of ideas previously mentioned here and there. Perón sought a Third Way, neither capitalist nor socialist. He rejected Marxist class struggle; his populist fight was against “concentrated economic power.” During his first presidential term (1946–52) he nationalized key economic institutions. This was a period when Perón sought to bring about permanent shifts in the country's social and economic structure, when action matched rhetoric.