Peronism and “Socialismo Nacional”: Expropriation Policies During Miguel Ragone’s Administration. The Case of Minas de Unchime/Altos Hornos Güemes and Frigorífico Arenales, Salta, 1973–1974

Abstract

Memory and historical studies concerning the Peronist government of Miguel Ragone (1973–1974) lead us back to a “nationalist” and “popular” political project. Within this framework, various expropriation initiatives may be situated, such as the one concerning the Unchimé deposit/Altos Hornos Güemes, or the one that expropriated assets and shares of the Arenales meat-packing plant.

These policies could be interpreted as a product of the “climate of the time” and of the debates on the “socialist path” and “national socialism”. Although several studies have been carried out from this perspective, it is necessary to investigate the historical process with greater precision. In this research, we propose to explain the expropriation policy of Salta’s Peronist government within the framework of a broader historical cycle that began in the 1960s and gave meaning to these expropriation policies. On the other hand, we seek to reconstruct the trajectories of the companies subject to expropriation in order to observe the ways in which different interests were articulated or came into tension.

The long-term study and the analysis of judicial, journalistic, and governmental sources will make it possible to observe that the expropriation policy during Ragone’s government was, rather, the result of a set of decisions and interests that preceded the Peronist government and were resignified under it according to a new political program. In this program, the State undertook the task of regulating productive activity without restricting the participation of private capital, attempting to return to the old alliance among the State, the national bourgeoisie, and the labor movement, without greater revolutionary pretensions.