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The 1930 Argentine Coup d'état (also known as the September Revolution) was a bloodless coup that would take place in Argentina on September 6, 1930 and was led by General Jose Felix Uriburu, who was supported by several members of the Argentine Patriotic League. The coup was used to overthrow the leader, Hipolito Yrigoyen, who due to several circumstances would become seen as an incompetent leader by several Argentine citizens, which is why the coup would be bloodless.

History

Presidency under Yrigoyen

Conservative forces dominated Argentina until 1916, when the “Radical Civic Union”, led by Hipolito Yrigoyen, won office in a national election, which was the first national election of Argentina. The Radical Civic Union (RCU) advocated expanding middle class and other groups previously excluded from politics. Also, the RCU advocated universal male suffrage, enacted the Labor Code (which gave rights like the right to strike), and implemented minimum wage laws. Yrigoyen became president, though his presidency contained some negative aspects including: increasing flow of funds into entitlement programs, the amount of money spent surpassed the value of the taxpayers’ contributions, and Argentina became under-funded. During Yrigoyen’s late presidency, he was surrounded by aides who censored the progression of economic depression. Yrigoyen was surprised by the depression, causing both the Radical Civic Union and Argentina as a whole to be devastated by the Depression. Yrigoyen would come to lose all popular support and would become deemed an “incompetent dictator” by most of Argentina’s citizens and some members of the military. The result of the Great Depression and the lack of popular support from the citizens resulted in the 1930 Argentine Coup d’état, also known as the September Revolution.

Causes of the Great Depression

One of the main causes of the Great Depression in Argentina arose from the overabundance of production, while consumption was not at the point to meet that production. Many countries like Europe had not yet recovered from World War 1, and Argentina depended on foreign trade. Argentina’s economy was closely tied to the British economy, since Argentina exported meat and imported coal and petroleum between it and Britain. Also, the United States placed high trade tariffs, on Argentina which devastated their trade and economy because the United States was one of Argentina’s primary partner. The high tariffs lead to constant conflicts between the two countries and negotiations became and remained unsuccessful for several years. The Great Depression took place during Yrigoyen’s second term (1928-1930) and caused a severe blow to the Radical Civic Union once it hit Argentina. Yrigoyen not only lost the popular support of Argentina’s citizens, but the elites and military who also came to view the president as corrupt. Many would come to view Yrigoyen as incapable of ruling Argentina during The Great Depression and this came to be the downfall of the Radical Civic Union. Exports dropped by forty percent and foreign investments all but stopped, while unemployment became widespread in the country. Also, the government incurred huge deficits and tried to cover it by borrowing money.

1930 Argentine Coup d’état

The 1930 Argentine Coup d’état or the September Revolution, was the event where the Argentine government, led by Hipolito Yrigoyen, was overthrown by General Jose Felix Uriburu and his forces. This event took place on September 6, 1930 and involved General Uriburu leading a small segment of his troops throughout the capital while facing no opposition from the government. As General Uriburu marched his troops through the capital he was met with large groups of supporters, many of which formed within Buenos Aires. After Uribur took control of the capital, he had many of the opposition supporters, the Radical Civic Union, arrested and lead the coup to be successful without any casualties on both sides. General Uriburu’s coup was supported by the Nacionalistas, with Uriburu being a part of the Nacionalista Argentine Patriotic League and many of his supporters were officers of Nacionalista. The Argentine Patriotic League was a nationalist group created in Buenos Aires on January 16, 1919 and would come to form larger movements of patriotic leagues that would become big in areas such as, Chile and Argentina. Most of the members of the Argentine Patriotic League would be wealthy youth and received most of their training from members of the Argentine Armed Forces. The design of the Coup had been in development by the Nacionalistas since 1927, when a politician, Juan Carulla, came to Uriburu in support of a coup and created an Argentine version of Fascist’s Italy’s Charter of Labour. The Great Depression in 1929 impacted Argentina, causing Yrigoyen to lose the political support of the public after he reduced the cost and spending for government services which resulted in acceleration in unemployment. The aftermath of the coup would come in the form of major changes to the Argentinean politics and government. General Uriburu would ban political parties, suspend elections, and suspend the 1853 Constitution. The 1853 Constitution being the basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing law in Argentina. Uriburu also proposed that Argentina be reorganized along corporatist and fascist lines.

General Jose Felix Uriburu

Jose Felix Uriburu was once a soldier for the Argentina military, but led to the bloodless, no casualty revolt against President Yrigoyen. After the 1930 Argentine Coup d’état, Uriburu became the provisional president of Argentina and denounced the liberal-radical democratic order that had governed since 1916. Uriburu removed all radical-democratic leaders from their national and provincial administrative posts, dissolved the Argentine national legislature, reformed the constitution and election law, and refused to allow the liberal-radicals to participate in politics. Addtionally, Uriburu created the Concordancia, which was a coalition composed of conservative aristocrats, the church, and the military. The Concordancia used corrupt practices and gained control of the national government. In 1931 Uriburu arranged for the fraudulent presidential election that was designed to ensure the oligarchy’s continued control of Argentine politics and then stepped down in favor of fellow officer, Agustin P. Justo, who had greater support among army officers.

 

References

<Alexander, Malcolm. "Conservatism, Counterrevolution, and Semiperipheral Politics: Australia and Argentina in the Interwar Period." Review (Fernand Braudel Center) 12, no. 2 (1989): 299-333. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40241127./>

<Korzeniewicz, Roberto P. "Labor Unrest in Argentina, 1930-1943." Latin American Research Review 28, no. 1 (1993): 7-40. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2503795./>

<NÁLLIM, JORGE. "BETWEEN FREE TRADE AND ECONOMIC DICTATORSHIP: SOCIALISTS, RADICALS, AND THE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC LIBERALISM IN ARGENTINA, 1930-1943." Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue Canadienne Des études Latino-américaines Et Caraïbes 33, no. 65 (2008): 137-72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41800403./>

<Potter, Anne L. "The Failure of Democracy in Argentina 1916-1930: An Institutional Perspective." Journal of Latin American Studies 13, no. 1 (1981): 83-109. http://www.jstor.org/stable/156340./>

<Sutton, Barbara. "Contesting Racism: Democratic Citizenship, Human Rights, and Antiracist Politics in Argentina." Latin American Perspectives 35, no. 6 (2008): 106-21. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27648140./>