ARGENTINA: WHITE-COLLAR TERRORISM
NACLA
ARGENTINA In the hour of the Furnaces The decision taken on November 6 by the Argentine government to declare a state of siege throughout the country virtually returned Argentina to the...
...The syndicalists attempted to build strong trade unions but they saw them as the only means by which the working class would struggle for economic demands as well as control over the means of production...
...He became Assistant Secretary General of ORIT in 1951 and first Executive Director of AIFLD in 1962...
...Then we get them into the trade union field, and we let them know just-for instance, the thing that we have got to do with the South Americans, we have to show them the relationship between wages and production...
...But workers massively boycotted the elections: in the Bank Workers Association local of Buenos Aires, only 275 votes were cast out of a membership of 1,280...
...To leave no stone unturned, AIFLD launched an Agrarian Union Development Service in 1965, predictably in the volatile Northeastern-region of Brazil...
...With their emphasis on organization, the syndicalists, and then the socialists, managed to displace the anarchists from leadership positions...
...To achieve its objectives-split the Peronist Movement, consolidate the labor bureaucracy and subvert leftist struggles-AIFLD would have to alter its tactics...
...The offensive of the Right gained momentum in the fall of 1973 and throughout 1974 under the government of Juan Peron and particularly, after the latter's death in June 1974, the government of Isabel Peron...
...ORIT has since built up an illustrious record of obedience to U.S...
...THE ARGENTINE OFFENSIVE Romualdi and the "Free Trade Unionists" Romualdi had greeted the fall of Peron as a "gift of God...
...AIFLD's role, therefore, must be assessed in terms of its success in diverting, diffusing and suppressing the class struggle...
...of Comm...
...Once they have a foot in the door, they feed new friends and recruits into the AIFLD network: incountry seminars, scholarships and travel abroad...
...In the late 1950's and early 1960's the Plan de Lucha attempted to preserve the wage levels and social services which workers had gained under the Peronist administrations...
...In 1971, Michael Boggs, inter-American representative of the AFL-CIO, summarized its analysis of potential dangers: Outside of Buenos Aires, especially in Cordoba, there exist several Peronist splinter groups...
...The Cordobazo was a landmark in Argentine history...
...AIFLD then had the option of running its own seminars, co-sponsoring or acting as a consultant to the ITS...
...VIII, No...
...Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Hearings on the A.I.F.L.D., 91st Congress, 1st Session, August 1, 1969 (Washington, D.C...
...Cordoba is also the home of Tosco and Ongaro, jailed leftist Peronists who at one time had been labor leaders...
...The Cordobazo of 1969 and parallel uprisings in other cities of the interior marked the resurgence of class struggle within the labor movement itself...
...Other educational exchanges arranged by the Institute include the Inter-American Labor Economics Program at Georgetown University where promising trade-unionists follow an intensive 1-2 semester course for "labor economists," and Trade-Union Leader Grants which bring top-level union personnel to the United States under State Department auspices...
...In May 1956, he consulted with U.S...
...The pamphlet will appear in December...
...Above all, we have to act together as Americans defending our in- terests abroad and helping the people of Latin America strengthen their economies...
...It actively prepares for such contingencies through the covert activities of "independent" agencies like AIFLD...
...2) Fight labor militancy: Gompers' "no-politics" line tries to thwart the development of workers' political consciousness...
...In March 1960, Frondizi turned the CGT over to a provisional commission of bureaucratic Peronists and "free trade unionists...
...Auto and truck manufacturing in 1963 was already 96.6 percent controlled by European and U.S...
...labor aristocrats wanted higher wages for their Latin American counterparts-again, a privileged minority employed in the monopoly sector-to prevent a mass exodus of American corporations from the metropolis...
...U.S...
...2) the requirements for calling an ex- traordinary congress were raised from 10 to 20 percent of the membership's signatures...
...He will be free to return to Argentina any day...
...9 (September 1969), p. 5. 36...
...government without considerably damaging their "credibility" at home and abroad...
...V, No...
...The largest of these ITS networks-the PTTI--set up a sub-regional office in Buenos Aires in January 1973...
...of Municipal Employees & Workers (Conf...
...3 7 Thus without using a cent of its own funds, AIFLD obtained extensive dossiers on union activities and cemented its relations with key labor leaders, both Peronist and non-Peronist, and with middle-level bureaucrats who would eventually occupy the housing...
...A call immediately went out for a congress of all militant labor organizations...
...Latin America had become my province, and it was to remain so for the next twenty, exciting, truly rewarding years...
...1958) and26thed...
...Why this sudden generosity toward AIFLD...
...Autogestion (or co-gestion) represents another scheme used to promote the collaboration between capital and labor...
...Workers (Fed...
...E. AIFLD Builds its Data Bank One of AIFLD's top priorities during this first phase of operations was housing projects, i.e...
...In Cordoba, many of the young leftist Peronists are not Peronists at all, but Communists who take ad- vantage of the politics of the moment to galvanize a following...
...Armando March, the Secretary General of the Confederation and long-time stalwart of "free trade unionism," became president of the bank...
...His political ambitions were therefore caught between the need for mass electoral support (i.e...
...4 5 The fact is that Peron did return and the offensive of 1971 ended in stalemate...
...10 16, 27-28...
...The labor bureaucracy was isolated and its political role as representative of the State, the local bourgeoisie and imperialism in the labor movement has been under constant attack...
...With the creation of a new labor international in 1949 (the ICFTU), CIT became its regional branch under a new name: the Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers (ORIT), with headquarters in Cuernavaca, Mexico...
...In 1962, the 62 Organizations met to elaborate the Program of Huerta Grande, calling for the nationalization of foreign banks, of the steel, electric power, petroleum and meat-packing industries, the expropriation of the landed oligarchy without compensation and the establishment of worker control over production...
...2. This brief description was abstracted from Jorge Correa, Los jerarcas sindicales (Buenos Aires: Editorial Polemica, 1972), pp...
...The new CGT de los Argentinos was not in itself a viable organization...
...labor experts back to the drawing boards...
...Five members of the 12-man CGT secretariat had close ties to AIFLD, including the new General Secretary, Francisco Prado, whose Light and Power Union was negotiating one of the AIFLD housing loans...
...CTAL's founder and first president, Mexican labor leader Vicente Lombardo Toledano, was emerging as an important leader of working-class militancy...
...After a brief apprenticeship with David Dubinsky and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Romualdi travelled to Latin America in 1941 representing the Mazzini Society (an anti-fascist organization in the U.S...
...imperialism had an able ally in this endeavor...
...When Romero died of a heart attack shortly after being "reelected" in July 1974, he was succeeded by Palma, thus giving the Vandorist faction a dominant position in the CGT bureaucracy...
...In 1958, nineteen unions with communist affiliation left to form the MUCS (Movimiento de Union y Coordinacion Sindical...
...attempts to subvert militant trade unionism in Argentina and strengthen the collaborationist bureaucracy...
...labor attache, Henry Hammond...
...Strike tactics are noticeably absent from the AIFLD bill of fare...
...7. Whereas the value of production for the food and textile industries, as a per centage of total industrial production, dropped between 1950 and 1960 from 27.2 to 20.5 and 16.6 to 10 respectively, chemical and petrochemical production rose from 10.2 to 16.7 and metallurgical goods production soared from 9.4 to 20.7...
...The persistent determination of Argentine workers and the continued efforts to build political unity among the vanguard organizations of the working class will give the definitive death blow to the labor bureaucrats, AIFLD, ITS et al...
...The MSB plan of struggle specifically calls for the "disaffiliation of trade unions tied to trade union organizations in the service of imperialism (AFL-CIO, ICFTU...
...The CGT would be taken over...
...It laid bare the corrupting tendencies of the top leadership of the CGT, a product of the class alliance created by the Peronist Movement...
...The Montoneros resumed operations by kidnapping two members of the Bunge y Born family, foremost representatives of the monopoly bourgeoisie, and executing the Federal Police Chief, Alberto Villar, accused of leading the right-wing terrorist group, the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance...
...Romualdi died of a heart attack in November, 1967 while attending meetings of the Mexican Labor Federation-still active in grooming his "new type of labor leader" and with an inter-American network of class traitors to mourn his death...
...NACLA and Carlos Diaz23 FOOTNOTES 1. Friedrich Engels, "Trade Unions," On Britain (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1962), p. 516...
...Days lost in strikes dropped from 1,003,710 in 1966 to 2,702 in 1967 and 15,502 in 1968.38 Meanwhile, foreign capital deepened its penetration of the economy with the willing assistance of Economy Minister Krieger Vasena, board member of twelve multinational sub- sidiaries...
...16 per year for non-profit institutions ($30 for two years...
...At another meeting between the two in November 1959, Romualdi urged that the CGT be turned over to the railroad unions, Union Ferroviaria and La Fraternidad, both under non-Peronist and non-communist leadership...
...Their base is among skilled and professional sectors of the labor force...
...These industries could substantially raise their productivity and realize greater profits per unit of invested capital relative to other industries, which still relied on labor-intensive production...
...The roots of this trade-union bureaucracy are to be found in the history of class struggle in Argentina, in the nature of Justicialism (the classcollaborationist ideology of right-wing Peronism), in the development of dependent capitalism and the mechanisms of U.S...
...labor-the leadership of the AFL-CIO...
...Labor's Conservative Role in Latin America," The Progressive, November 1967...
...Sharing the Spoils In its early years, the AFL perceived U.S...
...Militancia ( Buenos Aires), Vol...
...AFL: Cold War on Workers The U.S...
...He chose two assistants for the task: Arturo Sabroso, Secretary General of the Peruvian Confederation of Labor (CTP) and Bernardo Ibanez of the Chilean Confederation (CTCh), expelled from his post as Secretary General for his AFL connections in 1946...
...Peralta Ramos, op...
...By 1972, over 190,000 trade unionists from Latin America had attended in-country seminars on union organization and administration, book-keeping, cooperatives and credit unions, labor journalism and collective bargaining techniques...
...Fred Hirsch, An Analysis of Our AFL-CIO Role in Latin America (San Jose, Ca...
...Despite the overall drop in capital's share of the Gross National Product, the national bourgeoisie increased its share relative to that of the landed oligarchy and the big industrial and financial bourgeoisie tied to foreign capital...
...4. For a more detailed discussion of the role of the national bourgeoisie in this period see "Imperialism Rides Herd in Argentina," NACLA Report, Vol...
...At a time when opposition to the Social Pact and the Law of Professional Organizations was mounting on the Left, however, Miguel was unwilling to rock the boat and refrained from direct confrontation with the Officialist faction...
...William Doherty (AIFLD Executive Director) explained what AIFLD does to warrant such generosity: We are collaborating with the Council on Latin America which is made up of the primary U.S...
...By 1963, Romualdi was Executive Director of the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), yet another hemispheric labor organization, created a year earlier to cement the ties of imperialist control...
...The vast majority of workers in Latin America-and the majority of U.S...
...House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements, Winning the Cold War: the U.S...
...MSB...
...The 62 Organizations and the MUCS called a three-day general strike and even the "free trade unionists," caught in the wave of militant worker solidarity, supported the meatworkers' struggle...
...94701...
...an analysis of the FREJULI government and the impact of new laws on the structure of the economy...
...While industries dominated by foreign capital grew rapidly, food processing and textiles, for example, remained virtually stagnant...
...cit., p. 142...
...Martin Nicolaus, "Theory of the Labor Aristocracy," Monthly Review, Vol...
...For more on AIFLD finances, see U.S...
...Paul Jacobs, "How the Ci-A Makes Liars Out of Union Leaders," Ramparts, April, 1967, pp...
...In the northern province of Santiago del Estero, for example, 14 unions got only 20 units each...
...7, September 1973, and in the NACLA pamphlet Argentina: the Hour of the Furnaces (New York, 1974...
...2 1 Coming to Terms with Peronism Between 1955 and 1960, U.S...
...They actively participate in internal union battles for control, organizing campaigns, contract negotiations, etc...
...Two conclusions can be drawn from this process...
...One of these factions, known as Vandorism, had emerged when Augusto Vandor first challenged Peron's political leadership in 1964, and again at the 1965 CGT Congress of Avellaneda...
...ideological weapon in 1973 when Taccone "withdrew" from union activities and assumed the presidency of SEGBA...
...Ronald Radosh, American Labor and United States Foreign Policy (New York: Random House, 1969...
...They have jailed, tortured and assassinated striking workers and militant leaders...
...government and ending up in an Argentine labor union...
...A social democrat and member of the Italian Socialist Party in his youth, Romualdi migrated to the U.S...
...Right-wing violence has steadily increased since Peron's return to Argentina...
...Correa mentions that they were trained in the United States, West Germany, Mexico and other countries...
...He was vice-consul in Brazil from 1958 to 1960, followed by two years as staff assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs...
...Alfonso Ferraro (CGT...
...While the productivity of the economy as a whole rose 65.9 percent between 1956 and 1964, the number of hours worked dropped 26.3 percent in the same period...
...Heriberto Pazos, Nestor Piferrer (Light and Power Union...
...Jay Lovestone had just the man for the job of directing Cold War operations in Latin AmericaSerafino Romualdi (see box) who was a key figure in U.S...
...However, a decade and a half later, U.S...
...de Obreros de la Industria del Vestido y Afines) Glass Workers Union (Sind...
...Bulk orders (add 10% for postage): 10-49 copies, $1.80 each...
...Once again, concrete results were slim...
...Such confusion helps break down opposition among workers and paves the way for the future application of autogestion to other state companies and the private sector...
...A) Complete name of the union or trade union organization B) Address, telephone number and cable address if any C) Political orientation (stated, known, suspected) D) Political support (government, political and private groups, international organizations) E) Internal organization of the union F) Leaders (indicate names and positions, rank, responsi- bilities) G) Trade union strength (active membership) H) New leaders (explain carefully) I) Internal friction among leaders, between leaders and members J) Activities of the union K) Particular problems of the union L) Publications M) General Information II...
...economic interests in the hemisphere and to U.S...
...2 5 Many top graduates return home on the AIFLD or AID payroll as full-time teachers or organizers...
...6 (June 1968), p. 4, and Vol...
...The second thrust of the law was to modify the statutes of the unions and thereby reinforce the rigidity of their structure: 1) the period between elections was raised from two to four years...
...Local seminars were followed by regional and then, beginning in 1967, national courses-the last stage in the selection process for training at Front Royal...
...Government Printing Office, 1969...
...In the long run, the ability of militant sectors of the working class to withstand the onslaught of repression and terrorism will depend on their degree of unity and ideological clarity...
...This required advanced technology and large amounts of capital, which could only be obtained through concessions to foreign interests...
...companies and tractor production 87.7 percent...
...United opposition to the CGT bureaucracy will be the basis for a united struggle for socialism...
...business institutions that have activities in that area (Latin America...
...In 1969 over 11 percent of Argentine industrial workers were employed in this industry...
...This revolutionary alternative not only proposed to confront the military dictatorship, but also the reformist and Venturini 3 (Union of Naval Electricians...
...AIFLD: LABOR'S ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS You can't dictate to a country from any angle at all unless you control the means of production...
...AIFLD acted only as an advisor to the unions seeking credits, but it gained access to detailed information provided by the participant unions...
...Atilio Oscar Alvarez, Roque Azolina, 3 Elba Laura Benitez, Juan J. Casadarant, Rodolfo Guido Nieto, Joe Guttenberg, Julio Manual Lucero, Domingo Oscar Marchi, Romulo Messina, Delia Noemi Migoya, Julio Cesar Parola, Angel Ruben Ramallo, Horacio Ramirez, Rodolfo Ricardo Stutz (union affiliation unknown...
...Field personnel were borrowed from the AFL-CIO hierarchy and money came from CIA dummy foun- dations...
...He had legal and business training, as an associate of two Chicago law firms and an officer in the Trust Department of the First National Bank of Chicago...
...While several limited reforms were enacted, the lack of permanent, well-structured labor organizations facilitated government repression...
...In the summer of 1974 they sought to join their efforts and agree on a united strategy of resistance...
...Application procedures require extensive biographical data and photos to fatten the AIFLD files...
...The labor bureaucracy became imperialism's Trojan Horse in the labor movement, while monopoly capital provided the material basis for the growth of a relatively privileged sector of the working class...
...AIFLD soon found unidentifiable "private" donors to pay graduates, and then convinced AID to hire others directly on its incountry staff...
...Michael D. Boggs, "Impressions of the Argentine Labor Movement," AFL-CIO Trade Union News, Vol...
...of Postal and Telecomm...
...COASI was taken over by the government in 1949 and many of its leaders went into exile in Uruguay where they were groomed for an eventual return to Argentina...
...2 2 Monica Peralta Ramos points out that these struggles reflected a "trade10 unionist consciousness" and essentially economist demands, which did not necessarily contradict the political objectives of top CGT leadership...
...But secret agreements and back-room scheming are not the fundamental forces of history, and Frondizi's plan was toppled by the most militant sectors of the working class before the new president could even return to Argentina...
...Aditario Sanchez (Petroleum Workers Union...
...At the political/military level the two largest armed groups, the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP, Marxist-Leninist) and the Montoneros (left Peronists) pledged to work together despite their ideological differences...
...3) 1,667 units would be built, providing housing for less than one half of one per cent of the four unions' combined membership (330,000...
...The policies of AFL bureaucrats replace class struggle and internationalism with class collaboration and national chauvinism...
...Romualdi's static view of Peronism as a monolithic block and his unmitigated opposition to all sectors of the Peronist Movement, led to total reliance on the most bankrupt sectors of trade union leadership, on officials repudiated by the union rank and file...
...Not only had its allies in the labor movement failed, but their strategy had united their worst enemies...
...Romualdi was in Buenos Aires at the time of the convention, ostensibly to participate in an Inter-American Economic Conference, but meeting regularly with members of the "democratic" sector to plan the convention strategy...
...Second-class postage paid at New York...
...workers-particularly the oppressed national minorities, women and childrenremained unorganized and super-exploited...
...Because of its position within the world capitalist system, Argentina experienced more rapidly the effects of the system's contradictions in even the most dynamic sectors of its economy: super-exploitation, rising unemployment, inflation, etc...
...ISETU-Int...
...unions would be turned over to "Democratic" leadership and the objectives and ambitions of labor would be guided into the "depoliticized" channels of collective bargaining suited to the interests of foreign investors...
...25-8...
...By the early 1950's, however, this national industrial bourgeoisie sought to raise the rate of capital accumulation (limited by the conditions of full employment and the bargaining power of unions) by introducing new technology, raising the capital/labor ratio and by developing basic industries such as metallurgy and petrochemicals...
...We must bear in mind that we cannot allow communist propaganda to divide us between liberals and con- servatives or between business and labor...
...The ideology of these labor bureaucrats was Justicialism, the ideology of class collaboration, of laborcapital harmony under the arbitration of the State.5 Justicialism became the ideology of right-wing Peronism, of its entrenched leadership in the trade unions and political organizations...
...Under Charles Wheeler, AIFLD had developed a broad program of activities with considerable public exposure...
...destroy Toledano's leadership...
...With this fresh perspective, the United States revised its analysis of "monolithic" Peronism...
...Already in 1972 the Lanusse dictatorship ordered other government corporations to begin implementing "worker" participation in management...
...government support has made business donations superfluous...
...Eager for pay-offs and prestige, they are supported and trained not only by the U.S...
...2 6 One reason for so much talk and little action on these housing projects is that long before the earth is broken participating unions must provide extensive information on their internal affairs...
...This strategy implies that given a higher standard of living than most workers, this minority will become ardent defenders of the status quo...
...The idea of Workers' Savings and Loan Banks is as old as AIFLD itself...
...Romualdi, however, was not altogether satisfied with the proposal, since it still left room for some Peronist participation, conciliatory and bureaucratic as that participation might be...
...AIFLD's task was facilitated by the existence of an incipient labor bureaucracy, whose consciousness had its roots in the social-democratic and syndicalist trends in Argentine labor history and the Peronist class alliance of 1945-55...
...They have consistently supported U.S...
...Over the last two decades Argentine workers have become increasingly militant in their struggle against exploitation, against the interests of the Argentine bourgeoisie and the penetration of U.S...
...They have no idea that labor has a contribution to make to production...
...Trade unions became the base of the Partido Laborista (Laborist Party) founded by Peron, and their representatives entered government service in the Ministry of Labor, Congress and as labor attaches in the diplomatic corps...
...The expansion of U.S...
...Peralta Ramos, op...
...Romualdi's unabashed enthusiasm and varied experience made him the logical choice for a mission so vital to the interests of U.S...
...V. AIFLD IN ARGENTINA The Velvet Glove AIFLD's objective in Argentina was two-fold: (1) to sharpen the divisions in the labor movement by promoting splits among Peronists and between Peronists and communists, and (2) to strengthen the growing practice of "business unionism" and class collaboration in the rightwing Peronist bureaucracy...
...Instead, he recommended the establishment of a "public-private mechanism to provide public funds for overseas activities of organizations which are judged deserving, in the national interest, of public support...
...1 (Winter 1966), pp...
...11 (April 1970), p. 97...
...Mario Barrientos, 3 Miguel Angel Catolia 3 and Jose Notaro 3 (Metallurgical Workers Union...
...Data on the Law of Professional Associations and autogestion was drawn from Pedro Aguirre, "La reforma de la ley de asociaciones profesionales," and "Dos documentos sobre control obrero en la empresa," Pasado y Presente, Vol...
...The figure includes industrial, service and agricultural workers...
...The ITS was eventually expelled from Brazil in 1968.34 The ITF worked closely with transport unions in Chile, in support of the October 1972 lockout and precoup preparations...
...The Social Pact, an agreement between sectors of the bourgeoisie and the trade union bureaucracy, also became a means to keep the lid on workers' struggles...
...The recent declaration of a state of siege culminated this repressive trend and closed off all possibilities of effective legal action by the Left...
...When Romualdi landed in Buenos Aires in November 1963, he was accompanied by William C. Doherty, the then Directorof the Social Projects Department, and Thomas Bradley, of the National League of Insured Savings Associations...
...4. attitude taken in response to key questions or matters of importance (ask a series of questions directly) 5. impression of the person 6. what is his/her potential as a future leader...
...Instead, he placed leading members of his own faction in secondary posts in the CGT-surrounding Romero with hostile bureaucrats, among the most corrupt in Argentina: Segundo Palma, Jose Rodriguez and Antonio Baldassini (all three with direct AIFLD connections), and Alberto Campos (UOM), Jose Baez (Insurance Workers Union) and Esteban Rolando (Railroad Workers Union...
...Charles Wheeler, "AIFLD's Programs in Argentina Underscore Friendship Between Hemispheric Unionists," The AIFLD Report, Vol...
...So it seems, in July of 1971, that "Peronismo"* in the old sense is an echo, a sentiment, indeed an anachronism Peron finds himself in a difficult position...
...Three organizations have played an important role in this respect: the Peronist Workers Youth (JTP, the tradeunion wing of the Peronist Youth), the Movimlento Sindical Combative (MSC, a coalition of militant unions, locals and rank-and-file groups from the province of Cordoba, formed in February 1974), and the Movimiento *'This right-wing paramilitary group is occasionally referred to in the media as the Argentine Anti-Imperialist Alliance, creating confusion about its real anti-communist objectives...
...The 1962 Program of Huerta Grande was a direct threat to the holdings of U.S...
...they are deeply imbedded in the trade union structures...
...First he patched up relations with Peronist labor leaders, meeting with Jose Alonso in the office of U.S...
...They even paint misspelled slogans on walls so that it looks as if workers had expressed themselves politically, not the Communist Party...
...The variable in the orientations of these groups lies in the concrete forms of organization they propose...
...This explains its participation in the conflicts which began taking place in the interior of the country in 1968.41 The automobile workers' revolt in 1969 was proof enough to the CGT bureaucracy that important sectors of labor were questioning their leadership and turning to others for trade union and political direction...
...1. THE EARLY STAGES Anarchism, Syndicalism and Social Democracy 2 The anarchist period in Argentina (1878-1916) was highlighted by militant boycotts, strikes and violent confrontations with the police...
...A comparison between three branches of the food industry (rice, sugar and oil) which have a low participation of foreign capital, and the artificial fiber and textile production of the petrochemical industry, which is 100 percent controlled by five foreign companies, underlines the growing disparities in wage levels...
...Lovestone's Cold War," The New Republic, June 25, 1966...
...This selection process culminates at the Front Royal Institute, a 76-acre campus in northern Virginia where AIFLD offers a 5-week residential course for middle-level trade unionists...
...intervention in the Dominican Republic...
...AIFLD could no longer think of expanding its traditional functions, such as the 1968 move to Cordoba suggested...
...4 6 Throughout this process, AIFLD was most rooted in the Officialist unions and favored their political dependability...
...Augusto Vandor, General Secretary of the powerful Metallurgical Workers Union and the new head of the 62 Organizations, saw Peron's return as a threat to his own political ambitions...
...They have attempted to legislate class struggle out of existence...
...2 (February 1972), pp...
...8. CIDOC Dossier No...
...It brought down the Ongania dictatorship and reasserted the role of the Argentine working class as the determinant force in the nation's political process...
...The real importance of the new CGT was not the structures which it tried to create, but the consciousness it reflected in crucial sectors of the working class, and the impact it had on political developments in the following years...
...and, above all, to assist in the development of a new type of Latin American labor leader who would reject the stale concept of class struggle in favor of constructive labor-management relations in a democratic, pluralistic society...
...In early 1971 these bureaucrats and their union machines became the launching pad for another power struggle in the ruling spheres of the CGT...
...Boggs, op...
...Moreover its financial status was undermined by the existing checkoff system, whereby the companies themselves collected workers' dues and turned them over to the old CGT...
...Frondizi nevertheless stipulated in the agreement that communist participation in the 62 Organizations be terminated-a stipulation not unpalatable to the bureaucratic sectors of Peronist leadership...
...Copyright 0 1974 by the North American Congress on Latin America, Inc...
...Unions not included in this list but with some ties to AIFLD include: the Construction Workers Union, the Association of Health Workers of Argentina, the Argentine Federation of Workers of the Noodle Industries, the Federation of Paper and Cardboard Box Workers Union, the General Workers Confederation, the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union, the Metallurgical Workers Union, the Transportation Workers Union and the Union of Naval Electricians...
...But AIFLD had to move slowly and cautiously...
...We give them training in basic economics...
...Progressive and revolutionary forces intensified their resistance to the onslaught of government repression and right-wing terrorism...
...The purpose of this congress was to draw up a common plan of struggle against the bureaucracy and the government of Isabel Peron...
...On the one hand, the agrarian leagues, which were formed in the early 1970's in the provinces of Chaco, Misiones, Formosa, Corrientes and Santa Fe, carried out demonstrations in support of the demands of small and mediumsize peasants...
...A New Division of Labor By the 1940's changes in the pattern of imperialist penetration in Latin America had heightened the need to control its labor force...
...Obrera Textil) Turf Workers Federation (Fed...
...This call was issued by Raimundo Ongaro (a Peronist and former leader of the CGT de los Argentinos), Augustin Tosco (Marxist leader of the MSC) and Roque Romero (SMATA, whose Secretary General in Cordoba is a leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party)-reflecting major political organizations on the Left which are actively engaged in labor organizing...
...1966...
...working class...
...Alternativa de la claseobrera...
...working class...
...it allowed the federation to collect workers' dues directly from the company and not from the local...
...Romualdi met with Francisco Perez Leiros (Municipal Workers Union), Jesus Fernandez (La Fraternidad), jSebastiani Marottat (Printers Union), Alfredo Fidanza, Candido Gregorio and Armando March (Commercial Employees Union...
...In September 1974, 80,000 sugarcane workers in the poverty-stricken province of Tticuman paralyzed not only the sugar industry but the entire province in a massive strike...
...I (May 1968...
...He represented the Officialist faction and was closely allied to Minister of the Economy Jose B. Gelbard...
...The time for the State Department, CIA and AFL to act was ripe...
...George C. Lodge, Spearheads of Democracy (New York and Evanston: Harper and Row for the Council on Foreign Relations, 1962), pp...
...26, No...
...Nelson Rockefeller...
...Instructors are trained to pick out "responsive" students, those with "leadership potential"i.e...
...The Pan-American Federation of *Craft-scabbing describes the use of workers from a craft union (a trade union of workers sharing a common skill, e.g...
...This ninemonth "internship program" was too blatant for even the U.S...
...of Textile, Garment and Leather Workers IMF-Int...
...The "60" published a major document in every newspaper in Buenos Aires on the 24th of June setting forth their point of view...
...In addition to contributions from AFL- affiliated unions, AFL pledges about 23 percent of its regular budget to international activities...
...One faction, led by Jose Rucci, the CGT General Secretary since 1970 and head of a UOM local, was building pressure on the government to allow Peron to return from exile and participate in open elections...
...This close collaboration with the military dictatorship brought down another wave of brutal repression on the working class, as the labor bureaucracy sabotaged strike after strike...
...Open collaboration between trade-union bureaucrats and the State began in the last two years of the Frondizi administration...
...labor expert Robert Alexander who was in Buenos Aires "researching" the labor movement for the AFL-CIO and making contacts with COASI elements...
...The political position, the privilege, of the labor aristocracy rests on maintaining the suppression of the particular autonomies of oppressed nationalities (and analogous groups) within the working class, while the economic position, the surplus wage, of the labor aristocracy rests on maintaining the general hegemony of the existing state sovereignty within the metropolis and over all the territories, possessions, colonies, semi- colonies and dependencies in the entire imperial sphere.12 Thus labor aristocrats had an interest in perpetuating the international division of labor based on superexploitation of the Third World...
...In 1943, as head of the National Department of Labor and Social Welfare, Peron campaigned to enforce existing social and labor legislation, pass new laws and raise wages...
...Martin 3 Hugo Hernandez, Alberto L. Suero IFCCTE Juan C. Ventura ISETU IFJ PTTI IFTGLW IFPCW IFTGLW PTTI Osvaldo Alonso, Mr...
...In close collaboration with the U.S...
...The groundwork for the program was laid by Romualdi in late 1963...
...The first step in this process came at the end of 1969, with an overhaul of key labor personnel in Argentina...
...Enrique Terny (Argentine Federation of Workers of the Noodle Industries...
...By November 1969, 2,682 workers from 21 unions had taken AIFLD courses and seminars, 17 impact project grants and loans had been disbursed and the largest AIFLD housing boondoggle in Latin America was underway...
...Romualdi attributed this new setback to the "lack of initiative and aggressiveness so characteristic of the Argentine democratic unions...
...by Peron...
...His leadership was opposed by the Vandorists, led by Lorenzo Miguel (Metallurgical Workers Union)-an ally of Gelbard's arch rival and Minister of Social Welfare, Jose Lopez Rega...
...Rather, increased U.S...
...It brought to a close a stage in Argentina's protracted struggle and opened a new phase of heightened class warfare...
...4 4 Michael D. Boggs, Associate InterAmerican Representative of the AFL-CIO, just happened to be in Argentina at the time and reported on the importance of this new offensive: A new and highly significant realignment of forces within the CGT took place on June 24, 1971...
...Anarchism began to dwindle in the first two decades of the 20th century...
...the influence of the Peronist Movement in the working class would be broken...
...and (4) the fractionalization of the political leadership of the Peronist Movement itself...
...NYAIF Los ing Is Gri Argentina's working class numbers about six million.* or one quarter of the total population...
...labor strategy for the hemisphere...
...When in May 1973 the Justicialist Liberation Front (Frente Justicialista de Liberacion--FREJULI) removed the military from its control over the government apparatus through the electoral process, it temporarily broke the repressive climate which had prevailed in Argentina for the last 18 years...
...Challenge from the Left Despite these divisions, by 1968 the bureaucracy as a whole was wary of a deeper threat: the growing acceptance among workers of a revolutionary alternative...
...These practices multiplied with the consolidation of the labor bureaucracy in the 1960's and became increasingly common in 1973 as left forces organized among the rank and file to wipe out the bureaucratic leadership...
...3 5 This image was furnished through close collaboration with the International Trade Secretariats at the initial stages of AIFLD activity, 3 6 and the selection in 1965 of a country program director with sound labor "credentials:" Charles Wheeler of the Communication Workers of America...
...Joseph Hul, "Labor's Establishment-Stop the World," Commonweal, March 21, 1969...
...The 1955 coup led Romualdi and his disciples to believe that a new dawn was rising for "free trade unionism" in Argentina...
...New territories could provide cheap labor and push down domestic wages...
...He came bearing new gifts and, despite himself, a new approach to Argentine labor and to Peronism...
...Although a relatively privileged sector did exist, its wage level remained inadequate...
...A union was characterized by a centralized structure where the national commission controlled the regional and provincial locals...
...workers as well-would bear the brunt of imperialist exploitation...
...presence in Argentina and against the military dictatorship it supported, forced AIFLD to remove the last sign of its overt involvement in the labor movement...
...An expert on communism (Lovestone was General Secretary of the Communist Party USA in the late 1920's), he established the AFL's Free Trade Union Committee to combat the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and sabotage rising worker militancy in war-torn Germany, France, Italy and Greece...
...de la Industria del Vidrio y Afines) Leather Workers Federation (Fed...
...19 Professional Associations (see below) which strengthened the vertical control of labor unions...
...Employees (Conf...
...Romualdi agreed to grant four scholarships to Peronist labor officials for the next AIFLD course in Washington, and a local seminar network was established...
...It was the only ITS represented at the CGT Congress in May that same year, which voted to create a Department of International Affairs headed by Antonio Baldassini, General Secretary of FOECYT (see Chart II...
...4 3 Between 1969 and 1973 AIFLD granted five large loans under the new Regional Revolving Loan Fund (RRLF) program...
...In 1973 it forced the Lanusse regime to hold presidential elections and "Bring Peron Home...
...Among the commission's most prominent members, Francisco Perez Leiros and Armando March, were close friends of Romualdi...
...15 Lonardi had initially promised to respect labor legislation and the "free trade unionists" were eager to negotiate...
...Of particular importance were the strikes in Acindar, Propulsora Siderurgica, IKA-Renault, Centenera, Terrabusi, IME, and Bagley, all among the top 120 industrial corporations in Argentina...
...de Sind...
...Militant trade unionists and labor organizers have been tortured and killed by right-wing paramilitary groups, the most prominent of which is the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance.* The Left's Response The goal of militant trade unionists since the fall of the military dictatorship has been recuperacion sindical ("trade union recuperation"), the end of bureaucratic control and the democratization of labor organizations...
...and key documents on the present period...
...2. what motivates him/her (try to be as specific and detailed as possible...
...9-19...
...The task of the Left since 1973 has been to unify these struggles and give them political direction...
...Funds are virtually untraceable, originating with the U.S...
...It opened the way for a new surge in foreign investment, particularly from the United States, and the heightened exploitation of the Argentine working class...
...This corrupt leadership pledges labor-capital collaboration-"a favorable investment climate"-to worried capitalists at home and abroad...
...4 With the nationalization of bank credit and government control over the commercialization of agricultural goods, the national bourgeoisie could channel the reserves and resources of the nation into new industries such as food and textiles, which were largely labor intensive...
...The idea originated in Europe and the United States when organized labor first presented a serious challenge to the bourgeoisie...
...p. 26...
...They subsequently shifted to a policy of splitting the Peronist Movement and collaborated with the right-wing Peronist labor bureaucrats as well as "free trade unionists" to suppress the militant sectors of the working class...
...production for imports of manufactured goods...
...Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Foreign Assistance Actof 1967, 90th Congress, 1st Session (Washington, D.C.: U.S...
...VII, No...
...The U.S...
...Sindical de Base (MSB, a national coalition of militant unions, locals and rank-and-file caucuses, formed in January 1974...
...In the early 1950's the CIA approached ORIT to serve as a conduit for money to exiled Latin American labor leaders and groups con- centrated in Mexico...
...The new central was composed of small unions, service workers and locals of the larger unions in the interior...
...9 (September 1971), p. 6. 43...
...Romualdi's history was well known to Argentine workers and even some right-wing Peronists who were sensitive to AIFLD's connections with AID and the intelligence community...
...In a sharp departure from past policy, Romualdi also met with Jose Alonso-the Peronist General Secretary of the CGT...
...Augustin Tosco is a former leader of the Cordoba Luz y Fuerza (Light and Power) and self-labeled Trotskyist-Peronist, while Raymundo Ongaro headed the Buenos Aires Graphics Union...
...Rising worker militancy, however, prevented the military from reaching a solution behind closed doors...
...The Cordobazo demonstrated that the conditions which allowed the labor aristocracy to develop in the United States, to withstand the challenge of the IWW in the early 1900's, and the surge of the CIO in the thirties and forties could not be reproduced in Argentina...
...When the Radical Party took over the government under H. Yrigoyen in 1916, the socialists (social democrats) gained legitimacy among many workers...
...He dedicated his life to the anti-communist cause-convincing, coercing labor leaders in Latin America to join his puppet federations (CIT, ORIT) and his final masterpiece, the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD...
...to combat and defeat communist and other totalitarian movements...
...If and when a project is com- pleted, AIFLD wants control over who can live there, and carries out political surveillance of them thereafter...
...Peralta Ramos, op...
...de Obreros Maritimos Unidos) Meat Workers Federation (Fed...
...de Maestros y Profesores) Textile Workers Association (Asoc...
...While the Vandorists wanted to impose their political interests on the State, Officialists were willing to negotiate their economic participation in the privileges of capitalism and accept the political hegemony of the bourgeoisie...
...2 4 To fulfill its goals, AIFLD employs a variety of tactics, including intense propaganda and "educational" activities...
...Finally in September 1974 a new "Antisubversive Law" was passed to repress militant trade union action and guerrilla activity...
...They recognized, however, that a tight grip on the volatile working class of Argentina was essential to their continuance...
...Under the dictatorship of General Lonardi (Sept.-Nov...
...Most AIFLD personnel, however, have absolutely no claim to legitimate labor experience...
...By 1964, 11,000 plants had been occupied for varying periods of time by almost 4 million workers...
...The pamphlet will include sections on: past and present modes of imperialist penetration in this highly industrialized Third World country...
...In 1967, a series of dummy foundations were exposed as CIA conduits for funding student, cultural and labor organizations abroad...
...the Latin American Confederation of Labor (CTAL), founded in 1938, was supported by the still independent CIO and became a regional branch of the communist WFTU in 1945...
...Anibal Andreallo, Pedro Ratto (AIFLD personnel...
...Its budget climbed from $24,000 in 1964 to $186,440 in 1966...
...and Samuel F. Pryor, Jr., Vice-President of Pan American World Airways...
...Bancaria) Civil Service Workers Union (Union del Personal Civil de la Nacion) Comm...
...The AIFLD seminar network serves two additional purposes essential to U.S...
...Extending the Network The phasing out of AIFLD's public activities in Argentina by no means signified an end to U.S...
...Other labor bureaucrats trained by AIFLD include: Segundo Palma 3 and Rogelio Papagno 3 (Construction Workers Union...
...3 0 After 1967, these "CIA orphans" were in a financial bind, yet they could not accept money outright from the U.S...
...Prominently absent were Vandor himself, Rogelio Coria (Construction Workers Union), Francisco Prado and Juan J. Taccone (Light and Power Union), Jose Alonso (Garment Workers Union), Armando March (Commercial Employees Union...
...These plans depended on two factors: 1) the understanding and cooperation of the military dictatorship and 2) an organized and disciplined corps of "free trade unionists...
...Information on Individuals A) Identification 1. complete name, nickname, etc...
...It is being tested in the state-owned electrical company, SEGBA, and implemented by Juan Jose Taccone, one-time General Secretary of the Light and Power Union (a PTTI affiliate), and a Front Royal graduate of 1968...
...After Rucci was killed by an unidentified group in September 1973, Adelino Romero (Textile Workers Union) became General Secretary of the CGT...
...Sueiro had been the AIFLD country program director in Argentina after Holway's departure in 1973...
...3. These names were drawn from Jorge Correa, Los jerarcas sindicales (Buenos Aires: Editorial Polemica, 1972), p. 77...
...Unico de Trabajadores del Espectaculo Publico) Federation of Journalists Fed...
...We let them know something of the history of this country...
...Four years went by before any agreement was signed and the pickings of "Operation AFL-CIO" were slim: (1) only four unions were included: Postal and Communications Workers Union, the Railroad Workers Union, Light and Power, and the Municipal Workers Union...
...AIFLD played on this split by maintaining allies in unions representing both factions...
...cit., p. 166...
...As the expansion of monopoly capitalism sharpened the contradiction between rank-and-file militancy and the corrupt union leadership, imperialism immediately came to the aid of the latter...
...6 and 7. 46...
...And in the AIFLD office, country director Charles Wheeler, the communications worker, was replaced by James Holway...
...Ideological Offensive, 88th Congress, 1st Session, Part I1: April 30, 1963 (Washington, D.C.: U.S...
...intelligencegathering, for some twenty unions and locals...
...1. 10...
...In 1955, after years of frustration and rabid indictments of Peron's "totalitarian" control of Argentine workers, they seized on the possibility of increased influence and infiltration of the weakened trade-union structures...
...and Stanley Meislen, "Dubious Role of AFL-CIO: Meddling in Latin America," The Nation, February 10, 1964...
...sympathies...
...Figures for cumulative annual wage increases between 196367 show that the former granted average wage hikes of 31 percent while the latter averaged over 44 percent...
...Once all the information was submitted, AIFLD of course took its time to reach a decision...
...Panorama (Buenos Aires), August 20, 1974...
...Their campaign against Peron was chanelled through the Committee for Independent Trade Union Action (COASI), affiliated to ORIT...
...Mechanisms of covert-financing, intelligence-gathering and counter-revolutionary violence had already been well-perfected through AIFLD/CIA operations in Chile during the Popular Unity Government...
...the Meatcutters Union ran a seminar series in the capital, and other labor schools were launched by a variety of unions and locals in cities of the interior: San Juan, Santa Fe and Resistencia...
...They readily agreed that a visit by AFL-CIO "heavies" was needed...
...TABLE 1: Share of Wages and Salaries, and Capital in the Argentine Gross National Product, 1946-1954 % Wages & Year Salaries % Capital 1946 38.7 59.8 1947 37.3 55.5 1948 40.6 51.8 1949 45.7 46.3 1950 45.9 46.0 1951 43.0 49.6 1952 46.9 45.2 1953 44.8 46.6 1954 45.6 45.5 Source: ECLA, Economic Development and Income Distribution in Argentina (New York: United Nations, 1969) p. 169...
...In Argentina, Romualdi and crew labored incessantly against the Peronist administrations and sought to isolate the CGT from other labor movements in Latin America...
...It gave the federation the right to intervene in local union affairs...
...Together they launched an international campaign against the CTAL and obtained pledges of support for their new federation in return for AFL "favors...
...After the 1973 elections, this duality in the CGT leadership sharpened...
...Education Breeds "Intellige:.Ace" As an educational institute, AIFLD teaches the fundamentals of "free trade unionism"-the ideology of class collaboration, free enterprise and rabid anti-communism...
...However, among rank-and-file workers the conditions of decreasing wages and productivity-oriented incentive plans which prevailed in the years preceding the coup dictated a radically different consciousness...
...Without the pressure of a large reserve army of the unemployed, wages as well as labor's share in the Gross National Product rose substantially until the early 1950's...
...The function of such "authentic" trade unionists is to legitimize relations with Latin American labor movements and build a solid network of "old friends" and contacts...
...Correa, op...
...ILO, op...
...1974...
...Subscriptions: $10 per year for individuals ($18 for two years...
...By the late 1930's, however, increased government repression and ideological differences split the CGT into two branches (CGT-1 and CGT-2), with a third faction, the old reformist leadership, resurrecting the defunct Union Sindical Argentina...
...Worker" delegates were never chosen by the rank and file but appointed by fellow union bureaucrats with management's approval...
...The role played by the International Trade Secretariats-another link in the imperialist chain-is worthy of further examination...
...In the same year, other courses were arranged for newspapermen (co-sponsored by the Inter-American Federation of Working Newspapermen's Organization), and for stevedores (co-sponsored by the International Transport Federation...
...This assumption was the underpinning of imperialist control of the Argentine working class and was founded on the AFL experience in the United States...
...government, the AFL made its first attempts at organizing labor at the hemispheric level...
...H. U.S...
...Almost half of these workers belong to the 137 industrial and service unions of the General Workers Confederation (CGT...
...For background information on the ITS-CIA funding scandal, see William Greiden, "Unions Turn to AID after CIA Pull-out," Washington Post, April 21, 1969...
...Although left forces maintained differences over the position to take towards this "antiimperialist, anti-monopolist and anti-oligarchic" government and over the correct tactics to follow in this period, they took advantage of this opening to carry out political and organizational tasks to raise the level of struggle...
...For political reasons, it encouraged the Vandorist opposition to Peron's influence in the trade unions and the Peronist Movement...
...In the embassy, labor attache James Shea was replaced by John T. Doherty, the brother of William Doherty, Jr., Executive Director of AIFLD...
...and European capital which followed was accompanied by organized attempts to divide Argentine workers, break up militant labor unions, co-opt labor leaders, depoliticize workers' struggles and instill in its place the consciousness of business unionism...
...In the labor movement all militant unions and rank-and-file groups held a congress in the province of Tucuman and formed a National Coordinating Committee for the Trade Union Struggle...
...Mass mobilizations were held, rank-and-file organizing spread in the unions against the corrupt leadership and armed actions were carried out against the military and foreign multinationals...
...His intelligence-gathering, organizing and propaganda work soon caught the eye of one Nelson Rockefeller-coordinator of Inter-American Affairs under FDR and always on the lookout for fresh talent to further his economic interests in the region...
...Undeterred by their failure to diffuse labor militancy and "normalize" the CGT, both Frondizi and Romualdi sought new approaches and alliances to meet their ends...
...A hypothetical conduit route would be: CIA- AID-AIFLD-CWA-PTTI-FOECYT (Argentine Postal and Telegraph Workers' Union, affiliated to the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International...
...imperialism to submit Latin American societies to its political and economic needs...
...Abbreviations for Local Projects TR-Training (local, regional and/or national seminars and courses) HP-Housing Project IP-Impact Project RL-Regional Revolving Loan Fund Local Proj.s15 Footnotes to Chart I 1. The information presented in this chart was primarily obtained from the AIFLD Report...
...Ruth Needleman, "The AFL CIO Abroad: Behind the Chile Coup," Guardian: Special issue on American Workers and Their Struggle, Fall 1974, p. 21, 34...
...The Vandorists were unpredictable political allies, having first opposed Peron's political leadership, then backed it, always demonstrating a tendency to elude AIFLD's political line...
...The eight unions were the construction, garment, meat, leather, hotel and restaurant, municipal, petroleum and rural workers unions...
...de Trabajadores de la Industria del Cuero y Afines) Light and Power Union (Fed...
...When the government and the old CGT leadership voided the elections and retained control of the CGT by fiat, the new secretariat constituted itself as the CGT de los Argentinos and drafted the 1st of May Program, virtually a replica of the 1962 Program of Huerta Grande, In addition, the new CGT called for the formation of an anti-imperialist alliance of workers, students, professionals and small merchants and producers...
...5) all appeals, which used to go before the courts, would now be ruled on by the Minister of Labor, and 6) the requirements for candidates for union election were raised...
...Yet U.S...
...Housing projects directly funded by AIFLD were also played down...
...Letter from Ernest S. Lee (Assistant Director, Department of International Affairs, AFL CIO) to Rutherford M. Poats (Deputy Director, AID), May 15, 1968...
...In essence, the "60" calls for an openminded attitude toward the Lanusse government's overtures to the CGT...
...2 3 George Meany President...
...markets abroad was indeed a prerequisite for sustained domestic prosperityfor super-profits to the capitalists and extra spoils to privileged sectors of the U.S...
...162 and 175...
...Romualdi (second from right) and his mentors: (from left to right) David Dubinsky, President of the Ladies' Garment Workers Union...
...These were particularly apparent in the final stages of the Plan'de Lucha (Plan of Struggle)-a step by step program of workers' struggles initiated after the currency devaluation of 1959 to maintain the leyel of real wages...
...At the very moment of publication of this thesis, CGT Secretary-General Ignacio Rucci was in Madrid on a pilgrimage to Peron...
...embassy personnel and discussed with Aramburu himself the labor policy of the dictatorship...
...de Mecanicos y Afines del Transporte Automotor, SMATA) Bank Workers Association (Asoc...
...de Obreros y Empleados de Correos y Telecom...
...For Romualdi's own boasting account of labor subversion in Latin America see: Serafino Romualdi, Presidents and Peons (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1967...
...Four of the Argentine loans, valued at $131,000, were specifically destined to establish "credit institutions" for workers...
...Gerry O'Keefe, head of the Department of International and Foreign Affairs of the RCIA, served as bagman for CIA money in the 1963 overthrow of Cheddi Jagan in Guyana...
...Romualdi, op...
...3) Replace class struggle with labor-management harmony: To raise wages without reducing the capitalists' share, AFL supports labor-management cooperation to increase production...
...AIFLD Board Member, George C. Lodge, writes: "ITS flexibility, inner cohesion and conviction makes the Secretariats especially effective antiCommunist organizations in the so-called neutralist areas and thus extremely important to U.S...
...de Obreros y Empleados Municipales Arg...
...Finally, the AIFLD office was closed down altogether at the beginning of 1974...
...2) a loan of $13 million would be provided by the Connecticut General Insurance Company and the Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company, jointly guaranteed by AID and the Argentine National Mortgage Bank...
...As the working and living conditions of Argentine workers worsened, a new consciousness arose which sparked militant opposition to bureaucratic collaboration with the Ongania regime...
...The Congress elected a new Secretariat headed by Raymundo Ongaro, left Peronist leader of the Graphic Workers Union...
...AIFLD needed a labor facade which would convincingly project the image that "the Institute had come, not for the purpose of teaching a 'way of unionism,' but rather to bring them the basic elements and rudiments of unionism whereby they might develop their own methodology, united in a common effort to better the lot of themselves, the organizations which they represent and their fellow workers...
...Most objective observers in the Argentine labor movement say that although both men have messianic qualities, they represent no significant number of trade unionists...
...His opposition to Peron and the CGT had been complete since 1945...
...The leadership was largely working-class, and highly influenced by the anarchist teachings of Bakunin which had spread to Argentina with the immigrants from southern Europe...
...In accordance with Romualdi's original position, the ICFTU had endorsed the "32 Block" and accepted its affiliation in 1959...
...21, No...
...de Viajantes de Comercio de la Rep...
...labor strategy failed in its attempt to gain control over the Argentine labor movement...
...Romualdi could proudly report that Ibanez was "ready" to assume the leadership of a new inter-American labor organization...
...They are European in origin and tied politically to the remains of the Second International and contemporary social democratic groups...
...Business contributions figure more prominently...
...penetration of labor movements in Argentina and the rest of Latin America...
...of Comm., Clerical and Technical Employees IFFTU-Int...
...Henry W. Bengen, "Lovestone, Meany and State: American Labor Overseas," The Nation, January 16, 1967...
...CIOSL, Informe del Octavio Congreso Mundial, Amsterdam 1965 (Brussels, 1965), pp...
...Embassy reduced its "labor" staff from three to one, leaving a former Air Force officer, Roger Gamble, in charge of the labor/political office...
...In November, Romualdi, Meany and Dubinsky travelled to Buenos Aires, met key leaders of the "free trade union" sector,1 6 introduced them to U.S...
...In May 1969, the Cordoba local of the Automobile Workers Union led other workers and students in a massive rebellion--the Cordobazo-occupying entire neighborhoods for days before the military could dislodge them in street battles...
...Following the path laid out by Samuel Gompers, David Dubinsky, George Meany and others, they have sought to make trade unionism an end in itself, its goals limited to wage increases, shorter hours and better "fringe" benefits for a privileged membership...
...Diego Abad de Santillan, La F.O.R.A., ideologia y trayectoria del movimiento obrero revolucionario en la Argentina (Buenos Aires: Proyeccion, 1971...
...maintained a total opposition to the Peronist Movementviewed as a serious threat to U.S...
...However, Romualdi was unable to convince the railroad unions themselves to trust Frondizi and enter into a pact with his government...
...The on-going tug of war between Vandorists and Officialists must be seen in terms of antagonistic political tendencies within the labor bureaucracy...
...The purpose of AIFLD's activities was to deny the existence of the class struggle and the contradiction between capital and labor...
...moulders, carpenters, etc...
...Nevertheless, AIFLD was not to be caught again with all its eggs in one basket...
...1 and 2. 38...
...Its participation in the Institute's total budget has grown from 62 percent in 1962 to 92 percent in 1967 and just above that figure in 1970...
...During this period the central labor organizations were also restructured...
...imperialism, the monopoly bourgeoisie, the landed oligarchy and the right wing of the Peronist Movement (the dominant force in the FREJULI coalition) spread chaos and instability, and brought down the Campora government in July...
...and business at the founding ceremony of the American Institute for Free Labor Development...
...4) the union president would automatically become the assembly chairman...
...73-4...
...AIFLD activities in Argentina were overseen by Charles Wheeler, member of the Communications Workers of America for over 20 years and former president of a CWA local...
...This16 division has persisted until the present period and is at the heart of power struggles within the CGT bureaucracy...
...6. I LO, Yearbook of Labor Statistics, Geneva, 11th ed...
...Working committees (mesas de trabajo) were set up at different levels within the company to discuss future forms of "worker" participation...
...objectives...
...About $200,000 went to AIFLD in 1965, but this is just a drop in the bucket for an inter-American network of labor sub- version...
...dictates...
...To obtain its information, AIFLD submits the following questionnaire:27 I. Description of the Union: Here we are interested in knowing the potential of the union, its leaders, membership, orientation, ef- fectiveness as trade union entity, etc...
...Militant unions were taken over by government intervenors, elected officials of the Peronist Left were forced to resign, left publications were closed down, demonstrations were prohibited or brutally repressed, the military resumed counterinsurgency operations and rightwing terrorist groups began a wave of assassination of left politicians and militant labor leaders...
...Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on American Republic Affairs, Survey of the Alliance for Progress: Labor Policies and Programs, 90th Congress, 2nd Session, July 15, 1968 (Washington, D.C.: U.S...
...Secondly, these seminars facilitate a careful selection process, a weeding-out of trouble-makers and identification of potential allies...
...of Journalists IFPCW-Int...
...unions and International Trade Secretariats...
...The "60", after all has declared its mission as one to "depoliticize" the CGT and to diminish Peron's direct influence in the Argentine labor movement...
...In both cases opposition slates were prevented from registering, either by force or through last minute additional requirements...
...Progressive measures by the new government of Hector Campora and the heightened activity of left forces quickly drew a counterattack by the classes and interests which felt threatened., U.S...
...Top labor leaders were co-opted as "worker delegates" on the boards of corporations, representing a minority position but tying their interests to the need for greater worker efficiency and higher profits...
...While attention was not focused directly on AIFLD, several of its union donors--certain International Trade Secretariats and their U.S...
...congressional investigation of AIFLD activities raised sharp criticisms of exaggerated accomplishments, false promises and shabby results...
...AIFLD claims to have provided low-cost housing to thousands of trade unionists in Latin America: 16,269 units completed in 12 countries by 1972 at a cost of $69,815,060...
...Entertainment Workers (Fed...
...and Hobart Spalding, La clase trabajadora argentina(Documentos para su historia-1890/ 1912) (Buenos Aires: Editorial Galerna, 1970...
...1 4 Romualdi's mission was clear-cut: (1) prepare the conditions for a split in the militant CTAL...
...de Empleados de Casinos, Sind...
...companies, and spurts of rural guerrilla activity added to the alarm of the Kennedy Administration...
...Latin America was to be kept as a cheap source of raw materials, dependent on U.S...
...It promoted the concept of labor schools run by the unions themselves, and AIFLD graduates were the logical experts in these new methods...
...If the Peronist Movement is not effectively channeled into legitimate political ac- tion, there are active elements who already enjoy organized inroads into some of the most important Peronist enclaves, such as Cordoba...
...de Empleados de Comercio de la Rep...
...In contrast to 1964, when the AFL-CIO was connected to only a small, bankrupt sector of the right-wing labor leadership, by the time it closed its offices in 1974 AIFLD had established a strong foothold in the Secretariats of the CGT and the top positions of unions and federations...
...2 and 3 (Nueva Epoca) (July-December 1973), and "Autogestion: conquista obrera o soborno...
...An improvement over the sometimes risky coalition of Latin American interests embodied in ORIT, AIFLD would be controlled from top to bottom by Washington...
...The Institute also runs a Social Projects division, funded entirely by AID...
...In his memoirs, Presidents and Peons, Romualdi described the aims of the Institute as the following: "to strengthen the cause of freedom and representative democracy...
...152-3...
...The UOM simply refused to make the results public...
...To fill the vacuum, AIFLD re-instated one of its earlier schemes: workers' savings and loan associations...
...De Frente (Buenos Aires), Vol...
...1955) the CGT was not immediately taken over and Romualdi was quick to claim that "all the troublessocial, political, economic-that have plagued Argentina during the last decade (1955-65) stem precisely from the enormous historical mistake: stopping the Revolucion Libertadora* at the door of the CGT...
...To compensate for its "low profile" at the in-country level, AIFLD sought to strengthen its network of contacts at the highest possible levels of the CGT...
...Strike figures for this period reflect this rising discontent: 313,343 work days lost in 1952 as opposed to 1,333,592 days lost in 1954.6 Grass roots opposition to the Peronist labor bureaucrats was rapidly spreading as the Armed Forces stepped in...
...He would make a fresh start in 1963, but only after new conditions it the trade unions and new forces in the Peronist Movement pointed to a radically different strategy...
...The real value of these activities is not limited to propaganda and bribery, however...
...But despite the immediate impact of these measures, they only serve to demonstrate the weakness of the labor bureaucracy's control over the majority of workers...
...3. Monica Peralta Ramos, Etapas de acumulacion y alianzas de clases en la Argentina (1930-1970) (Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 1973), p.113...
...This militancy has also spread to the agricultural sector...
...4 (Fall 1967...
...50 or more, $1.35 each...
...When workers do succeed in electing representative leadership, the Ministry of Labor or the national com-21 mission quickly intervenes to oust the militant leaders within the terms of the Law of Professional Associations...
...cit., 31st ed...
...In the absence of such stability the margin of legitimacy for reformist policies, even in this fraction of the working class, are narrow...
...The meeting was arranged in Miami by Henry Holland, former Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America and, at the time, chief lobbyist for major oil and gas companies in Argentina...
...of Entertathment Trade Unions IMF Jose Rodriguez IFCCTE Juvenal D. Louzao Juan C. Garcia Leiva IFCCTE Colin Cristobal Cooper IFCCTE Armando March,3 Y.J...
...Garment Workers Union (Sind...
...Peralta Ramos, op...
...For further information on Jay Lovestone and U.S...
...Foreign investment was concentrated primarily in the automobile, chemical, petrochemical and machine industries, bringing in its wake the introduction of advanced technology and capital-intensive methods of5 production...
...In 1971 the Center for Trade Union and Social Studies estimated that the monthly cost of living for a family of fout was 2,300 pesos...
...2. address or place where the person can most easily be located 3. photograph if possible 4. functions performed for the union, if person holds a position 5. number of years of membership 6. trade union positions previously occupied 7. if not a leader, explain what training or knowledge of the union he/she has B) Biographical Information 1. personal history 2. political and ideological connections 3. financial resources (explain what kind of work and salary received) 4. character 5. general information C) Motivation and Outstanding Traits 1. why did this person stand out from the others...
...The growing sentiment in many sectors of the population against the U.S...
...This threat became a reality at the 1968 Congress of the CGT...
...Argentina was a prime example of domestic industrialization and subsequent denationalization of these industries by foreign monopoly capital...
...On the one hand, Frondizi was elected with the support of the Peronist Movement...
...of Teachers and Professors (Conf...
...Romualdi remained in Latin America for two more years under Rocky's auspices, as field representative for the Bureau of Latin American Research...
...Rather, they are retired army officers, former employees of the OSS, CIA, CounterIntelligence Corps, Navy Intelligence and Department of State...
...Militant workers are eliminated through a variety of tactics (red-baiting, black lists, etc...
...Aramburu had little understanding of the subtle ideological distinctions in the labor movement and sent military interveners into both Peronist unions and those "democratic" unions which had re-emerged after the coup against Peron...
...Taccone had introduced the concept into his union contract in 1962 but it acquired its real dimension as an Felix Perez and Juan Jose Taccone of the Light and Power Union are wined and dined by Andrew C. McLellan, AFL-CIO Inter- American Representative, and William C. Doherty after graduating from the Front Royal Institute in 1965...
...government and corporate elite but by their counterparts in the top echelons of U.S...
...Finally, we will dwell extensively on the contemporary period of confrontation between the corrupt union leadership and the revolutionary alternative...
...Romualdi was quickly disillusioned on both scores and the failure of his initial strategy towards the7 SERAFINO ROMUALDI I rolled up my sleeves and went to work...
...labor strategy in Argentina...
...Brick and Mortar Democracy" AIFLD favors don't stop with ideological persuasion...
...On the other, agricultural workers-among the worst paid in Argentina-have applied strong pressure on the government for higher wages...
...AIFLD Shifts Gears U.S...
...This has been demonstrated time and again since 1973 in strikes for higher wages, for the reinstatement of militant leaders, the rehiring of laidoff workers, etc...
...4. These bureaucrats were trained in Israel by Histadrut, the Israeli General Workers Confederation...
...Ibid., p. 155...
...of Lumberjacks and Stevedores (Fed...
...This is wherein the danger lies...
...AFL-CIO "The New Consensus" In 1962, at the height of hysteria over the Cuban Revolution, of furtive planning for an "alliance for progress" to prevent its repetition, John F. Kennedy, George Meany and J. Peter Grace announced the beginning of a "new consensus" among labor, government * After Peron's return was aborted, Vandor revived the Plan de Lucha to undermine the civilian government of President Illia and cooperate in the 1966 military coup...
...This article on the imperialist role of AIFLD in the labor movement will appear with many others in a new NACLA pamphlet, Argentina...
...Appeals were useless since the Minister of Labor, Ricardo Otero, was a bureaucrat himself from the Metallurgical Workers Union...
...These improvements in the economic situation of workers did not, at first, conflict with the objectives of the national bourgeoisie...
...imperialism...
...He opposes this to "Peronismo" which "means social justice, an independent labor movement free to bargain collectively, to strike, to collect dues and to carry out its traditional programs of a social nature (provide hospitals, clinics, vacation hotels and other services for its members...
...Gremial del Personal de la Industria de la Carne y sus Derivados) Petroleum Workers (Fed...
...In July 1964, the Workers' Retail Bank ( Banco Sindical Mercantil) was established under the aegis of the General Confederation of Commercial Employees...
...While the bourgeoisie remains firmly in control of the government, SEGBA is projected as a "public service" and "non-profit" corporation which does not exploit its workers and which "serves" the community...
...Foreign investment shifted from its traditional havens (agriculture, mining, transportation) to light industry and manufacture...
...Having set the stage for its "educational" activities, AIFLD began branching out on its own in 1965, both in Buenos Aires and the interior of the country...
...Joe Beirne, of the CWA, took up the call and was instrumental in setting up the first ITS in Latin America: the Postal, Telephone and Telegraph International (PTTI...
...2. This category includes training at the Front Royal Institute, the InterAmerican Labor Economics Course or State Department trips...
...Conte 4 Hector Fretes Policarpg Acosta,3Roberto Franchi, Sebastian Montoya Alejandro Spagnuolo 3 Juan Herbociani, Ruben Arancibia 3 Aquilino Urbano Mendez Raul Balcells 3 Isaac Negrete,3 Juan A. Pocione Felix A. Perez, Juan J. Taccone Unknown Juan F. Arce, Luis G. Masmuh unknown Eleuterio Cardoso,3 Abel Arias Maria Elena Silva, Luis Rubeo Oscar Valdovinos IFPCW Adolfo Cavalli, Hector Chacon 4 Ernesto Medina IFFTU TR IP,TR IP,TR IP,TR TR TR,HP TR,RL TR IP,TR IP,TR HP,RL TR,RL IP,TR RL IP,TR TR,HP IP,TR TR IP,TR Horacio Ibanez,3 Horacio M. Nieto IP,TR Carlos R. Ferrgyra, Ramon Rozas 3 HP M. del Mestre, Nicolas Mayolino TR IFTGLW Juan 0. Araujo, Juan Corrad 3 Raul Peralta, Mr...
...pro-U.S...
...Under Peronistcommunist leadership, the working class struck time and again against the sham of the Revolucion Libertadora...
...Celso Pastor de la Torre, Ambassador of Peru...
...Ricardo Elorza and Ramon Elorza 3 (Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union...
...The program's political content contradicted the ideology of the top CGT leadership and constituted the first real indictment of class collaborationism...
...On the other hand, the effectiveness of this labor bureaucracy and consequently of AIFLD has been undermined by the fact that class struggle has been intensified rather than suppressed...
...Low-cost "impact projects" for earthquake relief, medical supplies, meeting halls, libraries, etc., are an effective means of patronage and propaganda to enlist the friendship of key unions and union officials...
...Romualdi's goal was an agreement whereby his Argentine colleagues would be given absolute control over the labor movement...
...This second faction was made up of sixty unions, but its leadership was provided by the eleven largest in the country--eight of which had close ties to AIFLD...
...1951) and 18th ed...
...At the same time, Peronists and communists had reasserted their influence in the trade unions and had even joined temporarily to combat the military dictatorship...
...While AIFLD has the double liability of being directly linked to the United States and supported by business-government ties as well as labor, the ITS enjoy a greater range of maneuverability in their *Ernest Lee was recently appointed to succeed Jay Lovestone as head of the AFL-CIO's International Affairs Department.13 operations...
...Nevertheless, a U.S...
...most assuredly, the Lanusse government will make the most of that fact...
...Conf...
...cit., p. 144...
...labor experts realized that militant unionism in Argentina could not be broken through such a strategy and that Peronism itselfas a movement of heterogeneous political tendenciescould be divided and weakened...
...This battle has been led by independent trade-union leaders and the most important political organizations on the Left: the Peronist Youth, Peronismo de Base, the Revolutionary Communist Party, the Revolutionary Workers Party, the Anti-Imperialist Front for Socialism and the Communist Party...
...Government has now become the undisputed patron of AIFLD activities...
...foreign policy the world over-from Cuba to Vietnam.11 At home and abroad, AFL applies a three-pronged strategy commonly referred to as "business unionism...
...Two aspects of the in- stitutionalization process are particularly significant in :his respect: the Law of Professional Associations and mutogestion...
...union, one of six former beneficiaries of CIA financing: Communications Workers of America (CWA), Retail Clerks International (RCIA), Brotherhood of Railway, Airline Clerks (BRAC), Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), Textile Workers Union (TWUA), and the American Federation of Musicians (AFM...
...However, Argentine workers have also had to face another enemy within their own ranks: the bureaucratic leadership of the CGT...
...4 7 The importance of AIFLD contacts in the labor bureaucracy must be understood at two levels: (1) the network could provide the means to channel AIFLD's vast financial and human resources into clandestine operations against the Left...
...Most strikes became anti-bureaucratic as well as economic struggles...
...Supporting "free trade unionism" became the AIFLD euphemism for fighting the Cold War in Latin America, for the creation of AFL-style unions throughout the hemisphere-in essence, for waging the class struggle on the side of the bosses...
...As the main pillar of support for Peron's government (1945-55), workers gained a wider role in political and economic affairs...
...Thus, AIFLD began its attack on the easiest prey-the white-collar service workers of Argentina: the Municipal Workers Confederation, the General Confederation of Commercial Employees, the Association of Bank Workers and the Association of Commercial and Industrial Travel Agents...
...The inability of AIFLD and its allies to dominate the CGT bureaucracy at this stage and pull it firmly into line with the ailing military dictatorship was a contributing factor to Lanusse's downfall...
...Behind this sudden about-face was the growing realization that the extension of U.S...
...All three held congresses in 1974 to draw up programs of political and economic struggle, the tone of which invariably centered on the principle of complete opposition to the labor bureaucracy...
...Cuestionario, Vol.1, NO.8 (June 1974...
...But Cordoba was also the heart of worker militancy in Argentina and the base of a new labor organization, the CGT de los Argentinos, whose revolutionary program posed a new threat to imperialist interests...
...Important bureaucrats trained by AIFLD in Argentina include: Benito Bruzzone (Confederation of Commercial Employees...
...Three unions in particular broke the strike by withdrawing their support: the Transport Workers Union, the Meatpackers Federation and the Petroleum Workers Union...
...Single issues: $2.25 plus 254 postage...
...He nevertheless agreed to the plan and Frondizi reciprocated with unprecedented generosity toward foreign investors...
...Holway was a far cry from a worker...
...Internationalization of the production process, the establishment of capitalist relations of production within the dependent countries themselves and the rapid proletarianization of the masses created new contradictions for Latin American societies...
...The product was unemployment, under-employment and radicalization of the urban proletariat...
...After his election Frondizi granted 13 exploration, drilling and exploitation contracts to U.S., British and Italian oil companies...
...It plays on the support of relatively privileged sectors of the labor force to suppress the militancy of the majority...
...Four others, J. Carlos Loholaberry, Augusto Vandor, Jose Alonso and Rogelio Coria, would later lead rival factions in the Peronist bureaucracy, three of them eventually losing their lives at the hands of armed groups for selling out the workers' interests...
...Romualdi reverted to an essentially passive role, maintaining contacts and nominal support for the 32-Bloc, but resigned to the fact that his efforts-for reasons he could yet not assimilate-had been fruitless...
...III...
...Peralta Ramos obtained these figures from the indices (1960:100) of the statistical appendix of Estudios sobre economia argentina by the Institute of Economic and Financial Investigations of the CGEArgentina, No...
...Their intention was to help set up a Workers' Savings andLoan Bank along the lines proposed by John Napple, the AID Desk Officer for Argentina...
...George Meany describes the curriculum: We take young people that we screen in their home countries, and we bring them to a center where we put them through a course...
...At the same time, the vast majority of U.S...
...to break a strike of workers from another craft within the same plant.6 Labor (COPA) was formed in 1918 with Samuel Gompers as its first president...
...influence and infiltration of the labor movement...
...1967, and "U.S...
...7, No...
...Labor statistics for Argentina are very inconsistent, estimates of the labor force varying from 4 to 8.5 million...
...Sectors of the military, top leaders of the 32-Bloc and social-democratic forces all agreed to the plan...
...Peronism The Peronist administrations symbolized an alliance between the working class and the national bourgeoisie, with both expanding rapidly under the protection of the State...
...By early 1964, fourteen unions had submitted direct requests for financial and technical assistance involving $65 million for 20,000 housing units...
...William C. Doherty, AIFLD Executive Director, inaugurates housing in Buenos Aires in 1968.14 CHART I: MAJOR ARGENTINE UNIONS PARTICIPATING IN AIFLD PROGRAMS Trade Union ITS Aff...
...R. Carri, "Desocupacion y salarios pauperrimos," I PS, May 1973...
...Nevertheless, workers in the construction industry (250,000) made only 1,300 on the average, in the metallurgical industry (350,000 and the heart of the labor aristocracy), 1,030 pesos, railroad workers 1,020-1,760 pesos, commercial employees, 1,260 pesos, textile workers 860-950 pesos and rural workers 740-860 pesos...
...V, No...
...3 9 Wage levels in other key industries were subpar according to official standards...
...In addition, his foreign service career which began in 1958 ranked him as a qualified intelligence operative...
...Meatworkers immediately occupied the plant and mobilized popular support for their demand that the industry remain under state control...
...Address all correspondence to Box 57, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025 or Box 226, Berkeley, CA 94701...
...6, NO...
...and craftscabbing* is used to break militant strikes...
...9. For a detailed discussion of this point, see Peralta Ramos, op...
...9, November 1974 Published monthly, except May-June and July-August when it is published bi-monthly, at 160 Claremont Ave., New York, NY 10027...
...To set up a seminar for a union, AIFLD requires11 specific data on size of membership, educational and political levels, political affiliation, internal problems, relations with other unions, etc...
...George Meany, President of the AFL-CIO...
...7. does the person accept guidance and orientation...
...In January 1959, he took advantage of a trip to the United States to meet with Meany and Romualdi...
...cit., p. 183...
...Thus, "although these wages are the highest among all industries, their increase was always outstripped by the rise in the productivity of this sector...
...imperialist strategy...
...After the Argentine office was closed, he was brought up to Washington as Al FLD's Assistant Director of Education...
...multinationals...
...But even more important, the "60" demands the cessation of control of the CGT from Madrid (i.e...
...David Langley, "The Colonization of the International Trade Union Movement," New Politics, Vol...
...Its principal ally in this drive had been the "democratic" sectors-limited in size, divided among themselves and devoid of a popular base...
...In many instances, the housing was never even built, while funds flowed freely into the pockets of corrupt union officials to be repaid eventually by the workers through union dues...
...That new mechanism was AID...
...American Institute for Free Labor Development, AIFLD 1962-1972: A Decade of Worker to Worker Cooperation, p. 7. 25...
...Bureaucrats Trained in the U.S...
...For further discussion of the reactionary role of the AFL-CIO abroad see: Susane Bodenheimer, "AFL-CIO in Latin America-the Dominican Republic: A Case Study," Viet Report, Sept.-Oct...
...In return, he reinstituted the Law of Professional Organizations (which granted unions their juridical status), promised to end government intervention in the CGT and agreed to let Peron return from exile...
...Rucci remained in control of the CGT and Coria was handed the leadership of the 62 Organizations...
...This is something that a few years ago they were completely ignorant about...
...Actually all the major unions of the "32 Block" returned to the fold of the world organization, not as a block, but individually: the Municipal Workers Confederation joined in 1962, the General Confederation of Commercial Employees in 1963 and the Association of Bank Workers in 1964...
...All three became affiliates of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical and Technical Employees (IFCCTE) as well asof the world body, the ICFTU...
...While the Officialists were in bagic agreement with the Vandorists in their acceptance of the capitalist system as such, they differed in the form of collaboration they sought to establish...
...Eduardo Labarca Goddard, Chile invadido (Santiago: Editora Austral, 1968) p. 154-5...
...3) the emergence of a score of militant labor leaders who sharpened the struggle by translating the economist demands of workers into an anti-imperialist and increasingly socialist consciousness...
...It endorsed the CIA overthrow of Arbenz in Guatemala, acclaimed the fall of Goulart in Brazil, opposed Cheddi Jagan in Guyana and Fidel in Cuba and approved the U.S...
...Holway returned to Brazil for a year in September, 1964, (following the military coup) as AIFLD's Social Projects Director...
...ITS/AIFLD Division of Labor The International Trade Secretariats are autonomous confederations of unions of workers in the same industry or the same occupation...
...The military coup of 1955 marked the culmination of this process and the final deterioration of the class alliance...
...Romualdi's unmitigated opposition to all sectors of the Peronist Movement was still the dominant position of U.S...
...This basic division between a militant base and corrupt sectors of the trade-union leadership had immediate economic and political repercussions for the working class...
...It preaches a nationalist line while selling out to European and U.S...
...The JTP puts emphasis on the "future CGT" and contends that existing trade union structures must be transformed from within...
...Augusto Vandor himself was one of its first targets in June 1969, followed by his bureaucratic rival, Jose Alonso, one year later...
...The Inter-American Confederation of Labor (CIT) came into formal existence on January 12, 1948 with Ibanez as president, George Meany vice-president and S. Romualdi secretary of international relations...
...2 8 Labor itself plays a very minor role, accounting for 17 percent of the AIFLD budget in 1962 and a meager four percent in 1967...
...The shift from Wheeler, a labor official (albeit a reactionary one), to Holway-a lawyer-businessman with all the trappings of an intelligence operative-foretold the transition from AIFLD's education-social projects facade to a more clandestine function of contact-building and subversion...
...The violence of the Cordobazo also led to another threat17 against government and right-wing labor leaders: the organized violence of revolutionary armed struggle...
...In 1964, however, the plan also became the political means by which the most militant sectors hoped to force Peron's return from exile...
...Most of the large unions under bureaucratic control remained in the old CGT...
...Argentina had two main types of labor organizations: unions and federations or confederations of unions...
...When cooperation was not forth- coming, people like Cord Meyer (CIA) and Michael Ross (CIO) pushed the establishment of hemispheric ITS offices...
...The final link between ITS headquarters and AIFLD in Washington was made through Jose Sueiro...
...The anarcho-syndicalist International Workers of the World (IWW) had made strong inroads in Mexico...
...Histadrut cooperates with the AFLCIO and the German Ebert Foundation in training right-wing labor leaders in Third World countries...
...since they know that Peron cannot return (author's emphasis...
...Financial reports of the IFPCW showed receipt of $30,000 from the Andrew Hamilton Foundation, a CIA conduit, for operations in Brazil...
...But the common denominator of rank-and-file consciousness is that unity has become a prerequisite...
...All left forces agree that socialism is their common goal, that power must be seized if that goal is to be achieved and that their immediate objective is to wipe out the labor bureaucracy...
...AIFLD quickly came to the rescue, as a new conduit for AID/CIA funds to U.S...
...President Johnson promptly prohibited any further covert subsidies to private, voluntary organizations...
...1 9 Frondizi proposed to reorganize the CGT "on the basis of exclusion of Communists and hard-line Peronists...
...Under their control, trade unions have ceased to be a means for class struggle, "a means toward a higher end: the abolition of the wage system altogether...
...Working days lost in strikes jumped from 21,170 in 1955 to over 5 million in 1956 and 1957, over 6 million in 1958 and finally to 10 million in 1959.18 This combative opposition forced the military to bow out to elections and a civilian government in 1958...
...While many new social and labor laws were passed, trade unions became an end in themselves, seeking only economic reforms through parliamentary pressure and substituting direct action and militancy with arbitration and collective bargaining...
...Whether you control them through ideological methods or control them by brute force, you must control them...
...The new grouping is called the "60", and represents a solid bloc of votes on the CGT Executive Council numbering some 340...
...He had worked closely with dissident elements, particularly from the Municipal and Commercial Workers Unions...
...This process, and the coup which it provoked, also revealed the ideological and organizational weaknesses of the working class and the Argentine Left...
...The Law of Professional Organizations, passed in 1945, permitted trade-union participation in political activities and bolstered their bargaining position in the labor market...
...trade-union background, many with Latin American experience through the inter-American field offices of the International Trade Secretariats (see below...
...William Doherty, AIFLD Social Projects Director, was also on hand to launch "Operation AFL-CIO," supposedly the largest AIFLD housing construction project in Latin America...
...According to the needs of capital accumulation in the industrialized nations and the beginning of autonomous industrialization in the Third World, a new international division of labor was emerging...
...In 1944, he left for a brief assignment as Special Agent of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, precursor of the CIA) in the Mediterranean theatre of operations-presumably to "reconstruct" the Italian labor movement...
...J. Peter Grace, chairman of the board at AIFLD with major investments at stake in Latin America, ex- plained the Institute's mission: We need to understand that today the choice in Latin America is between democracy and communism...
...Open Door to Imperialism The brutal repression unleashed by the military after 1955 submerged for almost a decade the sharp divisions between rank-and-file Peronists and their bureaucratic leadership...
...NACLA readers can order copies now from NACLA East, Box 57, Cathedral Station, NY, NY 10025 or NACLA West, Box 226, Berkeley, Ca...
...Donations from the largest multi-nationals complement their long histories of exploitation and active intervention in Latin America: W. R. Grace and Co., the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, ITT, Kennecott Copper Corporation, First National City Bank, Mobil Oil Co., Anaconda, United Fruit-to name but a few...
...While U.S...
...On the one hand, both factions supported the new Law of *To Boggs, "Peronismo" in the old sense means the political movement run by Peron...
...Baldassini's fellow bureaucrat, Angel Bucci, who had negotiated with AIFLD in 1963 for a FOECYT housing loan, guaranteed the direct channels of communication and operation by assuming the direction of the regional PTTI office...
...But all was not bleak: those splits and divisions in Argentine labor organizations and the Peronist Movement itself offered new in-roads to U.S...
...1971...
...affiliates in particular-were exposed as major recipients of CIA funds...
...If you don't control the means of production, you can't dictate...
...By 1972 the Garment Workers had set up their own course cycle in Buenos Aires and a labor school in Tucuman...
...In the early sixties, working-class militancy was also in ascendency...
...Faced with the politicization of labor struggles, the labor bureaucracy chose to seal its collaboration with the bourgeoisie...
...AIFLD and the CGT Leadership In 1968, AIFLD opened an office in Cordoba, the second industrial center of Argentina and the site of operations of many U.S...
...in 1923 and became active in the Free Italy Movement...
...AIFLD Report, Vol...
...The period of labor activity which followed (1922-43) was heavily influenced by the reformist ideology of the German social democrats Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein...
...Before his assignment to Argentina, Holway spent four more years in Washington as Director of AIFLD's Social Projects Department...
...With the invasion of the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Cuba, however, the American labor establishment was quick to adapt to the spirit of imperialist expansion...
...Federico Mayorga Vargas, Alberto Munoz Barra, Enrique Otero (Turf Workers Union...
...Tfade unions were formed in previously unorganized industries and plants, and the ranks of union membership grew from 1.5 million in 1947 to three million in 1951.3 The government's policy of trade-union promotion and rapid industrialization with full employment strengthened the role of the CGT...
...NACLA'S LATIN AMERICA & EMPIRE REPORT Vol...
...First, it is an effective means of gathering important information on key unions and their membership...
...Government Printing Office, 1963), p. 134...
...Government Printing Office, 1968...
...If the new "60" (which now numbers about 80 unions) is able to continue its cohesiveness and can win over three of the big live nonaligned unions on a permanent basis, Peron's influence in Argentina will be drastically diminished...
...ITS operations in Latin America, however, were the product of U.S...
...The Law of Professional Associations and autogestion have been complemented by other more traditional forms of bureaucratic control: violence and fraud...
...imperialism...
...In the sphere of local education, AIFLD began using the ITS network of affiliates which had been built up since the mid-sixties to downgrade its own public involvement...
...2) the power of labor bureaucrats over the union rank-and-file would be greatly enhanced by the process of institutional centralization which began in 1973...
...Two of these strikes involved workers from the Metallurgical Workers Union, underlining the fact that rank-and-file workers of those unions traditionally considered the preserve of the right-wing bureaucracy are determined to push the class struggle forward...
...Here, the imperialist "consensus" comes into play again, with contributions from labor, business and government...
...9 Sectors of the economy dominated by foreign monopoly capital were both able and willing to grant relatively higher wages to their labor force, in the interests of reduced labor conflict, greater productivity demands and the time-honored technique of "divide and conquer...
...5. See the document by right-wing Peronism, ibid...
...Under such conditions, the power of trade unions was drastically reduced and the objective situation of the working class as a whole was marked by greater heterogeneity in terms of wage levels, benefits, stable employment, etc...
...It began by sponsoring courses for smaller unions (lumberjacks, glass, leather, hospital, hotel and restaurant, and turf unions) and gradually moved on to the large unions, traditionally known as Peronist strongholds: textile, garment, light and power, postal and telecommunications...
...He cut short the Plan de Lucha and cooperated with the government to thwart Peron's come-back.* The turn of events since 1960-divisions within the working class, the challenge to Peron's political leadership and growing corruption and collaboration among sectors of the Peronist bureaucracy-also triggered the interest of the U.S...
...Beginning in 1974, contacts with these operatives were maintained through the eight ITS operating in Argentina...
...It will be a relatively simple task to reorient much of the laboring Peronist force along other lines, once there is no more hope for "authentic" political expression of Peronism...
...He represented neither a mass base nor a dominant sector of the bourgeoisie...
...Its essential goals are to: (1) Build a privileged aristocracy of labor: AFL focuses on skilled and professional workers, on consolidating their privileged status vis-a-vis management and government...
...Armed with the legitimacy of representing an "independent" labor organization, the bureaucrats of the AFL-CIO moved in to mold the Argentine CGT to the interests of imperialist exploitation...
...When militant unions cannot be controlled, AFL creates parallel union structures...
...But the realities of a dependent economy and the heightened political consciousness of workers sparked a new era of trade-union militancy...
...de Trabajadores de Luz y Fuerza) Maritime Workers Union (Sind...
...2 0 Over 5,000 of the 9,000 workers at the plant were dismissed and all major unions were placed under government control through the repressive Conintes Plan (Conmocion Interna del Estado-Internal Commotion of the State...
...Under the constant prodding of AIFLD, 32 Argentine unions had joined five ITS...
...Harvey O'Connor, World Crisis in Oil (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1962), pp...
...labor strategy did not remain passive to the escalation of class struggle in Argentina...
...Unit prices ranged between $6,000 and $11,500, an impossible sum for the average Argentine worker...
...Romualdi, op, cit., p. 167...
...The most glaring cases of electoral fraud occurred in the Bank Workers Association and the Metallurgical Workers Union...
...4 2 The surge of labor militancy, the presence of armed groups and the death of Vandor, whom AIFLD considered "one of the Argentine labor leaders with true qualities of leadership," sent U.S...
...52 6 and "Postscripts," Vol...
...These conditions were characterized by four new factors: (1) the re-emergence of a conciliatory labor leadership, both Peronist and "free trade unionist," which would translate its early negotiations with the State into outright collaboration with successive military regimes...
...labor policy in Argentina...
...Conf...
...It was essential that AIFLD be represented in the rigid hierarchy which this produced.20 The Institutionalization of Power The weakness of the labor aristocracy in Argentina and the parallel increase in worker militancy required a rigid, vertical trade-union structure which could be effectively controlled by right-wing leaders...
...These loans totalled over $155,000 and represented a full 19 percent of all RRLF monies to Latin America...
...In contrast, the MSC and MSB discuss the need for an "alternative CGT:" In no way do we intend to create a new CGT, but faced with the situation in the organized labor movement, with the growing intervention of the State in the internal life of the trade unions, with the bureaucratization of the leadership and the latter's collaboration with the owners, we propose an alternative: the Movimiento Sindical de Base...
...10 The seeds of a relatively privileged sector of the working class were being planted--destined to become the new aristocracy of Argentine labor...
...CONCLUSION The development of a working class with a revolutionary consciousness was set back by the coup of 1955...
...Ideological and organizational weaknesses of the past still plague the Left and increase its vulnerability to right-wing attacks...
...The Vandorist faction negotiated with the military before the 1966 coup and was given control of the CGT in ret