Generation of 80

We explain what the generation of '80 was in Argentine history, its relationship with the generation of '37 and its main representatives.

What was the generation of 80?

The generation of the 80s was the elite that governed Argentina between 1880 and 1916 through the National Autonomist Party (PAN), heir to the liberal-leaning Unitary Party. It corresponds to the stage that some historians call the Conservative Republic. Its main representative was President Julio Argentino Roca (1843-1914), soldier in charge of the Desert Campaign (1878-1885) against the Patagonian indigenous peoples and main architect of the consolidation of the national State.

Originally, the term “generation of the 80s” was coined by the intellectual Ricardo Rojas (1882-1957) in the 1920s to refer to “the moderns,” a group of writers and intellectuals who flourished during the conservative governments of the late century. XIX and early XX. Later it also spread to philosophers, politicians and scientists.

In the 1930s, the writer Manuel Mujica Lainez (1910-1984) proposed that the main characteristics of the generation of the 80s were the notion of “progress” and the influence of European ideas. Finally, in 1964, the critic and writer David Viñas (1927-2011) defined the meaning that is usually given to it today, that is, a group of intellectuals and politicians oligarchic linked to the so-called Conservative Republic, to the ideas of modernization and progress and to the agro-export model.

See also: Agro-export model

Characteristics of the generation of 80

The generation of 80 She considered herself an heir to the thought of the generation of '37 an intellectual movement of the mid-19th century whose literary works reflected their struggle to abandon the enduring aspects of the monarchical system and to build a liberal democracy. The generation of '37 included authors such as Esteban Echeverría (1805-1851), Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811-1888) and Juan Bautista Alberdi (1810-1884).

Furthermore, the generation of the 80s embraced the positivist ideal of the time, which He placed his faith in “order and progress” (according to the formula of the French philosopher Auguste Comte). Thus, they bet on a modernization and a education in the European way far from the traditional American heritages that they identified with the gauchos and indigenous people, whom they saw as barbarians and representatives of backwardness. In the Roca presidencies, this idea was manifested in the slogan “peace and administration.”

On the other hand, the generation of the 80s adhered to the liberal ideas that had emerged with the Illustration European. Therefore, he fought to minimize the power of the Church over the State, through modern laws on civil marriage, civil registration and public, compulsory, free and secular primary education. Its mission was to “civilize the country,” in the terms that Juan Bautista Alberdi had formulated, given that the national State had finally been consolidated.

For this, this generation opened the doors of Argentina to immigration massive european in the midst of a stage of economic expansion that made it favorable. In addition, he carried out, together with the ranchers of the Argentine Rural Society, the organization of the agro-export model which caused unprecedented economic growth.

Its methods can be defined as a combination of economic liberalism and political conservatism: despite the open opposition of the socialist and radical parties and the anarchist and syndicalist movements, the conservative elite He ruled for more than thirty continuous years through electoral fraud based on the “sung” voting system, without official registers and with the exercise of intimidation and political violence.

Opposition to the generation of 80

The political methods of the '80s generation gave rise to a continuous and increasingly radicalized opposition. Finally, His opponents took up arms in the Park Revolution of July 1890 led by the newly created Civic Union of Leandro N. Alem (1842-1896) and Bartolomé Miter (1821-1906).

The opponents knew how to capitalize on the discontent produced during the economic depression that began a few months earlier (the so-called “Panic of 1890”), the result of the bursting of the financial bubble that had formed during the government of Miguel Juárez Celman (from 1886 to 1890). Although the insurrection was quelled by conservative forces, Juárez Celman was forced to resign.

These events forced the government to take small steps towards social improvements demanded by the middle class and the working sectors. This is how the first modern labor laws emerged and the National Department of Labor was created (1907).

However, these measures proved insufficient. Faced with constant strikes and criticism from the press and the opposition, the modernist wing of the National Autonomist Party considered it necessary to reformulate the electoral system and promoted the Sáenz Peña law approved in 1912, which implemented the secret, universal (male) and mandatory vote.

It was like this The conservative regime lost power in 1916 in the first presidential elections held with the new suffrage model, which awarded the presidency to the radical Hipólito Yrigoyen (1852-1933), representative of the middle classes. This event marked the end of the political dominance of the generation of 80.

See also: Liberalism

Representatives of the generation of 80

Various important personalities in Argentine history belonged to the generation of 80, among them:

• Julio Argentino Roca (1843-1914). President between 1880 and 1886, and again between 1898 and 1904, he was also military leader of the Desert Campaign against the Patagonian indigenous peoples before becoming president. He was one of the main architects of the political centralization and modernization of the national State.
• Edward Wilde (1844-1913). Doctor, journalist, writer and diplomat, author of works such as The shirtless, Prometeo & Co. and The first night in the cemetery. He was a professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Minister of Justice and the Interior, and director of the government's health department, from where he helped combat the bubonic plague in Asunción, Paraguay. Previously, he stood out in the fight against yellow fever in Buenos Aires.
• Roque Sáenz Peña (1851-1914). Lawyer and politician from the modernist sector of the National Autonomist Party, he governed Argentina between 1910 and 1914 and died during his term, although he managed to reform the suffrage system through the law that bears his name. His father was Luis Sáenz Peña, president of the country between 1892 and 1895.
• José Figueroa Alcorta (1860-1931). A lawyer by profession, he was the only politician capable of occupying the highest position of the three branches of government: president of the Senate (as vice president) between 1904 and 1906; president of the Nation between 1906 and 1910; and president of the Supreme Court of Justice between 1929 and his death in 1931.
• Carlos Pellegrini (1846-1906). Lawyer, journalist, portrait painter and translator, he was vice president (1886-1890) and then president of the Republic (1890-1892). He assumed the presidency after the Parque Revolution, which forced Miguel Juárez Celman to resign. His presidency was arduous, between the economic crisis and the revolutionary movements, but he managed to balance the public accounts and founded the Banco de la Nación Argentina. For this reason he was nicknamed “the storm pilot.” The elimination of censorship and the state of siege that had been in force since the outbreak of the Park Revolution was also his work.

Continue with: Caudillism

References

• Botana, N. R. (2012). The conservative order. Argentine politics between 1880 and 1916. Edhasa.
• Bruno, P. (2007). A balance about the use of the expression generation of 80 between 1920 and 2000. Sequence. Magazine of History and Social Sciences, 68, 117-161. https://secuencia.mora.edu.mx/
• Calvert, PAR and Halperin Donghi, T. (2023). The Conservative Regime, 1880-1916. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
• Time, R. (2017). Generation of the 80s: progress as an ideal. The Nation. https://www.lanacion.com.ar/
• Moon, F. (1993). Brief history of Argentines. Planet.