The Politics of Everyday Life during Argentina’s ‘Infamous Decade’ (1930–43)

Abstract In Argentina, the years 1930–43 became known initially as the ‘Infamous Decade’, book-ended by General Félix Uriburu’s coup of September 1930 and a further military intervention in June 1943. Though Uriburu’s dictatorship only lasted until February 1932, the following eleven years – encompassing the presidencies of Agustín P. Justo, Roberto Ortiz, and Ramón Castillo – were characterized by widespread electoral fraud and corruption. Drawing mostly on police records, this article sheds fresh light on how, in everyday life, activists from across the political spectrum experienced, negotiated, and resisted state power and ideological conflict during this period. The history of everyday life has found fertile ground in Argentina and, consequently, everyday life history approaches have revealed important insights into more recent periods of authoritarian rule in the country, including the ‘National Reorganization Process’ of 1976–83. However, everyday experiences of both state power and ideological tensions during the ‘Infamous Decade’ remain overlooked. More generally, studies of this earlier period have often focused primarily on the nation’s capital or the province of Buenos Aires. In contrast, this article brings together material from across the country, to further understandings of political activists’ everyday experiences of state control, resistance, and ideological conflict between 1930 and 1943.