Page Eight
THE SUMMER DAI(LY
Tuesday, May 22, 1973
Peron's influence undimished
By LOUIS UCHITELLE -
Associated Press Writer
BUENOS AIRES - A Peronist
president, Hector J. Campora,
takes office Friday, and jubilant
workers will be able to celebrate
"St. Peron's Day" again.
That's the excuse they gave
employers for skipping work in
the 1949s and 1950s at giant out-
door rallies.
PERON'S labor legislation was
credited with turning thousands
of underfed slum dwellers into
respectable wage earners. In
gratitude they jammed Plaza de-
Mayo on many occasions to hear
Peron speak from a second-floor
balcony of Government House.
They would chant "St. Peron,
St. Peron," and he would reply,
"That's right take tomorrow
off."
Management has had the up-
per hand during years of mili-
tary rule since Peron's downfall
in 1955; years in which Peronists
were jailed and wage earners
lost ground. But when Peron was
president, labor was king and'
few bosses challenged "St. Per-
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on's Day" absenteeism .
WITH the second coming of
Peronism, the long - dormant
holiday will reappear next month
when the former dictator returns
triumphantly from exile in Spain.
At 77, his voice is hoarse and
week and his speeches seldom
last more than two hours. But he
dyes his hair to maintain the rich
black color of his years in pow-
er, and his famous broad smile
makes him appear young and
vigorous.
Peron's incredible popularity
among Argentina's 24 million
people stems in great part from
the 25-year-old image of him-
self and his second wife, the late
Eva Duarte Peron, as benefac-
tors of the masses; colorful lead-
ers who endlessly expressed their
love for the underprivileged.
The new generation of Peron-
ist leaders realize this.
RECENTLY formed Peronist
youth brigades do volunteer work
in slum areas. The Eva Peron
Foundation is to be revived un-
der tbe direction of Person's
third wife, Isabel, 45, a pretty
cabaret dancer he met in exile.
Isabeltpublicly declares that she
is the custodian of Eva's spirit.
"We expect jobs and better
homes now," said Domingo Gu-
tierrez, 40, after Campora visit-
ed the shantytown where Gutier-
rez and his family live. He said,
"When Peron was president,
there was work; everything was
better. But after Peron, every-
thing came apart."
Gutierrez's cement block home
is unheated and lacks plumbing.
But on the walls are brilliant
photographs of a younger Peron
in colorful general's uniform and
a happy Eva in white evening
gown.
MANY HOMES display similar
photos of the Perons in power.
They are sold by hawkers at ev-
ery Peronist rally and meeting.
Tens of thousands of these
workers will attend Peron's
homecoming celebration, sched-
"the man who does not believe in
revolution is finished, because
the revolution is going to come."
THE NEW PERONISTS in-
clude doctors, lawyers, students,
engineers, scientists, business-
men, women's liberation leaders
and teachers.
Peron played an active role in
converting these new Peronists.
Many traveled to Madrid and
were won over by the ex-presi-
dent during an afternoon's con-
versation in Peron's living room.
He's had hundreds of these con-
versations, during 17 years in ex-
ile, the last 12 in Spain.
"I was profoundly anti-Peron-
ist and anti - Fascist when Peron
was president," said Rolando
Garcia, 54, referring to Peron's
World War II sympathies for
Germany and Italy. "But in
1968, when I was depressed about
the Argentine political situation
and saw no end -to repressive
military government, Peron sent
word he wanted to see me in
Madrid. I went, mostly out of
curiosity.
GARCIA, a meteorologist and
former university dean, was con-
vinced by Peron to head a group
of 2011 professionals preparing
Socialist programs for the new
Peronist government to enact.
The ex-president has given
other groups similar assign-
ments. But one group wants to
reform Argentina's capitalist
economy without making basic
changes. Another's proposals are
as a mixture of private enter-
prise and state socialism. Peron
encourages all three.
"Peronism is a movement in
search of an ideology and we
have faith that Peron will make
the right decisions," says Juan
Jose Taccone, an* early Peronist
and czar of the nationwide Light
and Power Workers Union. "Per-
on is an extraordinarily realistic
politician.
NEITHER Peron nor his pro-
tege, Dr. Campora, the 64-year-
old president-elect, have spelled
out the proposals to be submitted
to a Peronist - controlled Con-
gress once Campora is inaugur-
ated.
Instead, Peron speaks with
"universial amplitude" - as a
Peronist newspaper put it -
about U. S. and Soviet imperial-
ism and the "third world" po-
sition Latin America should
adopt. The ex-president says the
United States dominates the
Western Hemisphere and is
largely to blame for Argentina's
economic problems.
These include a 70 per cent
annual inflation rate, sharply de-
clining real wages, 10 per cent
unemployment, and 19th century
farming methods.
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JUAN DOMINGO P E R O N
stands like a monolith astride
Argentine politics. Although at
77 he claims he is merely an
"Indian" in the Peronist move-
ment, it is his image wh i c h
keeps the Argentine worker's
dream of prosperity alive.
uled for the second week in June.
Their faith in Peron is still the
backbone of Peronism, but they
are not as militant as a new
generation of Peronists. Most of
the new Peronists are young men
andwomen from the middle and
upper classes. They follow Peron
because they believe he will lead
Argentina to "national social-
ism."
"In Argentina," Peron says,
PERONIST PRESIDENT-ELECT
Dr. Hector Campora once com-
mented that he would order his
own execution it itdwas necessary
to help "The, Leader."
MANY OBSERVERS m a i n-
tain, however, that Peron's poli-
cies created the economic woes
of his successors.
"National Socialism" is the
road to Argentine liberation and
to economic independence for all
Latin America, Peron says. He
explains that Italy, West Ger-
many and France are natural
allies because they fought a simi-
lar battle to shake off U. S. domi-
nation after World War II.
Peron says he's just an Indian
in the new Peronist government.
He says that is why he does not
want to be here Friday and steal
the show when Gen. Alejandro
Lanusse, president of the out-
going military junta, places the
presidential sash over Dr. Cam-
pora's shoulder. But Campora, a
former dentist, never misses an
opportunity to remind the public
that he ran for president on a
pledge of loyalty to Peron and
this loyalty has been his chief
asset during 30 years in politics.
"IF I had to sign the order of
my own execution by firing
squad because that would serve
Peron, I would do it," Campora
said recently, when someone ac-
cused him of acting independent-
ly of "The Leader."
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