La renuencia de las masas: el Partido Comunista ante el peronismo, 1945-1955

The emergence of Peronism meant a quantitative problem for all political parties, for the potential loss of electoral support. For the Argentine Communist Party (ACP), it was a theoretical problem as well – the working class, the subject of History for Marxists, was deviating from its historical mission. Moreover, as a member of the international Communist movement guided by the Soviet Union and because of the priority it was giving to the anti-Fascist struggle, the ACP found itself confronting “Nazi-Peronism” – a mass movement stemming from a Fascist-like military dictatorship. After Perón´s victory in the February 1946 presidential election, the ACP had to adjust its interpretation of Peronism in order to carry on its political activities aimed at attracting the elusive masses. This article reviews those interpretacions and accounts for the political dilemmas posed to the ACP by Peronism from its emergence in 1945 to Perón’s overthrow in 1955.