Importance of the Rebel Patagonia of 1974

It was a worker protest developed in the province of Santa Cruz, between 1920 and 1921, and due to the fierce repression that the government ordered on it, at that time in the hands of the radical Hipólito Yrigoyen, became the most tragic event linked to the Argentine union protest during a process democratic.

The bloodiest worker strike of Argentine democracy in the 20th century

Also known as Tragic Patagonia, because it occurred in the Patagonian region, leaving approximately three thousand workers as a balance, massacred by the forces of order, the federal police and the Argentine army, who intervened to restore order and factory activity arrested.

The fall in the price and demand for wool accelerated the crisis in the interwar period

The crisis began with a strike implemented by the workers dedicated to the production of wool due to the precarious working conditions and the exploitation to which they were subjected by their employers.

The end of the First World War seriously affected this industry which was the main exporter of wool to England.

The scarce demand complicated the profits of the merchants, of the owners of ranches, but especially that of the wool workers and rural laborers who are the ones who normally suffer the most from the adjustments of the bosses who do not want to resign Profits.

A systematic exploitation that broke out in a war between workers and security forces of the Nation

The working days to which they were subjected were leonine, 16 hours, paid with minimum wages that made them suffer miserable living conditions, and they could only rest on Sundays.

The aforementioned state of affairs inflamed the spirits of the workers who decided to protest with a strike.

The president of the country in exercise, Hipólito Yrigoyen, under very strong internal and external pressure, ordered the security forces and the governor of National Territory of Santa Cruz, Edelmiro Correa Falcón, that they carry out a rapid deterrence and restore to work the strikers.

Absolutely determined and committed to their action, the demonstrators resisted and reacted, with fewer resources of course, and this produced a massacre with thousands of casualties among the workers.

Workers' Links to Anarchy and Communism

The demonstrators belonged to the Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA), born in 1901, and which held considerable influence until the 1930s.

He raised the flag of anarcho-communism, a current that promoted the elimination of the state, wage labor, the private property, and instead proposed that workers own the means of production and share them.

In Santa Cruz, FORA, at that time, had a branch in the city of Río Gallegos, directed by Antonio Soto, who was the one that concentrated and channeled the claim before the authorities.

The refusal to hear the claims accentuated the drama

Among the demands they requested: more space to rest, not work on Saturdays, have a package of candles, a minimum salary of 100 pesos, improving the food ration, and the acceptance of FORA as a representative union.

The Rural Society refused to meet the requests and the general strike was a fact.

To the coercion exercised by the authorities against the demonstrators, they responded in the same way, and carried out serious attacks against the police, the landowners, and their families.

As the conflict and the violence progressed, an attempt was made to reach an agreement between the parties that never came to fruition and the trade union conflict remained tense for long months.

a movie story

The event, in addition to the tragedy it represented, remained present among Argentines of subsequent generations due to the recreations it had both in the literature like in the movies.

The author and historian Argentine Osvaldo Bayer published the story in several volumes in Los vengadores de la Patagonia trágica, between 1972 and 1974.

And in 1974 the film was released, La Patagonia rebelde, starring Federico Luppi, Héctor Alterio, Pepe Soriano, and Luis Brandoni, based on a script by Héctor Olivera (also a director), Fernando Ayala and himself bayer.