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The Peronist meritocracy

2020-09-26T15:20:38.172Z


What President Fernández omitted in his reference to the subject was that original Peronism had its own saga of merits and meritocracy, which forever changed the Argentine social composition in the mid-twentieth century.


Osvaldo Pepe

09/25/2020 - 20:43

  • Clarín.com

  • Opinion

President Fernández (Alberto) revived an old debate, still pending.

Is merit a virtue of social organization or a privilege of some sectors that exacerbates disharmonies that come from the cradle, through the aristocracy of lineage or money?

Meritocracy, its consequence in the exercise of public powers or in private business, does it really promote social progress or is it a network of bureaucratic secrets whose covert purpose is to hinder the processes of social transformation?

The presidential message wanted to address the historical elites of power (in government or outside it), who have more possibilities of development and successful performance than the least favored of the social pyramid, either due to lack of specific weight or influence. of these to incorporate their demands and needs into the system or due to deficiencies to meet certain standards and expectations of knowledge.

The translation is unequivocal: equal opportunities is a constitutional aspiration, not a practical right of the people.

What President Fernández (Alberto) omitted

was that original Peronism had its own saga of merits and meritocracy

that forever changed the Argentine social composition in the mid-20th century.

His was the historical responsibility of promoting the rise of the former farm laborers, immigrants and Creoles with low-skilled and poorly paid jobs to a nascent category that would acquire political identity: the condition of urban industrial worker, salaried, under the shelter of a network of social rights and redistributive norms of income.

According to Félix Luna in his Historia Integral de la Argentina, “in 1949 there were millions of workers who enjoyed access to previously unattainable goods.

The omnipotent unions gave the common worker a backing never dreamed of:

decent wages, job stability, paid vacations, severance pay

, assistance through social work, Christmas bonus, retirement ... "

The work was thus

the first merit that Peronism established

on its agenda.

There were no gifts, no plans, but increasing employment and compensation according to effort.

This "worker meritocracy" characterized the first two experiences of Peronism in power (1946-1951 and 1952-1955).

Upward social mobility was the consequence of an intense cycle of transformations framed in an accelerated process of industrialization.

The cider and sweet bread from the Eva Perón Foundation turned out to be a picturesque character, which many called a stupid demagoguery, with more power of metaphor than anything else: everyone had the right to toasts.

However, this transformation was not based only on social rights, protective legislation, the redesign of labor architectures and the greater purchasing power of wages.

This "worker merit" was articulated with access to training for the children of working families

, to whom the doors of schools, public and private, and university cloisters, especially the latter, were opened like never before.

By law 13,299 of 1948 the National Workers University was created, inaugurated in 1952, continued by Frondizi in 1959, and until today, as the National Technological University.

In Argentine History written "in homage" to the revisionist José María Rosa, Fermín Chávez, based on official data, assures that "by 1951 there were 286 factory schools, 304 apprenticeship schools and 78 professional training schools for women", a phenomenon non-existent before Peronism.

As a consequence of this educational philosophy "in 1945 there were 15% illiterate in the country and in 1955" (when they overthrew Peronism), only 3% ".

Those merits and that meritocracy had errors of totalitarian bias: indoctrination and propaganda.

They were so nefarious that they competed successfully and managed to undermine the new egalitarian virtues.

The school books with "Evita loves me, Perón takes care of me" or the delaying slogan "espadrilles yes, books no" did nothing but confirm that the merit and meritocracy of commoners was unfeasible, due to intolerance or revenge, in a country with "Black heads" on the rise.

President Fernández (Alberto), finally,

had to take better care of his words

.

Surely he did not meditate very well on that phrase of his about that “what makes us evolve or grow is not true that it is merit, as we have been led to believe in recent years.

The dumbest of the rich has a better chance than the smartest of the poor ”.

In truth, it was

a missile with an uncertain destination

.

It seemed that he went to the fifth "Los Caltrops", but who could say that it does not fit any rich dynasty in the country, from north to south?

In particular in the South.

Osvaldo Pepe is a journalist with a degree in Political Science.


Source: clarin

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