Fatherland is the other, but not forever. The national question in the end of century Argentine socialism (1894-‍1912)

Abstract

This work addresses, in the Argentinian case, a key problem in the constitution of modern socialism during the Second International: the place of the nation and the nationalism in the Socialists Parties. The paper takes into account a plurality of voices and interventions that demonstrate, as well as the early presence of this problem in local socialism, a constant identity tension within it. The sources analysed show the richness acquired by the intrusion of national motives in the Argentine Socialist Party, from regular writings in the party press and in bodies of theoretical reflection, to conferences by the leaders and intellectuals, passing through some critical voices of the socialist positions and international referents of the movement. The adopted perspective takes into consideration the identity processes in their different analytical dimensions and in successive moments that show the changes operated in the median historical duration. According to the hypothesis of an early rejection in the party of the patriotic effusions developed in the country, it is argued that from the more general phenomenon that was nationalism, the reception of the debates and resolutions of the International, as well as internal disputes within the Argentine socialism, took shape towards the 1910 Centenary an own version of patriotism. Thus, this “Good nationalism” tried to reconcile the internationalist doctrinaire base with a new context that will mark for decades this political identity.