1905 Radical Revolution
On February 4, 1905, the civil-military revolution organized by the Radical Civic Union and led by Hipólito Yrigoyen took place, which attempted to overthrow the constitutional government of Manuel Quintana, demanding free and democratic elections. It was one of the most important rebellions that Argentina suffered up to that time, due to the number of soldiers involved, the forces linked and the extension of the movement throughout the country.
Towards the end of 1893, the Radical Civic Union was facing its first internal dispute and was divided into two groups: the red radicals who supported Leandro Alem's leadership of the party, and the lyrical radicals who supported Hipólito Yrigoyen's interpretation of the seizure of power and his leadership in radicalism.
The Reds were in favor of revolution as a method to change the prevailing system while the Lyrics were considered "evolutionists" and did not trust in carrying out a coup d'état as a method for the changes they considered necessary..
Alem was supported within the party by leaders such as Bernardo de Irigoyen, Francisco Barroetaveña, Leopoldo Melo, Mariano Demaría, Lisandro de la Torre, Vicente Gallo, Simón S. Pérez, Joaquín Castellanos, Adolfo Saldías, José Nicolás Matienzo, Martín Torino, Mariano Candioti , Adolfo Mugica, Víctor M. Molina, among others. Yrigoyen is supported by some young people such as Marcelo T. de Alvear and the majority of radical leaders in the province of Buenos Aires, whose provincial committee was led by Yrigoyen himself.
In 1896, Aristóbulo Del Valle died and Leandro Alem, plunged into a deep depression affected by successive political defeats, a failed love relationship and the deep internal division of radicalism, committed suicide. At that time the two radical groups tried to unify again in the face of the death of the two top leaders of the party. But the union did not last long and in 1897 the separation occurred again.
The former Reds, now led by Bernardo de Irigoyen and called radical coalitionists or Bernardists, after Alem's suicide, try to reach an agreement with General Bartolomé Miter and the National Civic Union to confront the Roquismo in the presidential and Buenos Aires elections of 1898. The agreement included the formation of a mixed formula for the presidency of the Nation, headed by the radical Bernardo de Irigoyen, and the same, but headed by the engineer Emilio Mitre, leader of the UCN, for the governorship of the province of Buenos Aires.
This agreement was known as the "parallel policy" and laid the seed for a future reunification of the Civic Union, as confirmed in 1890 before the division that occurred the following year between radicals and mitristas, but Yrigoyen and his allies (now known as intransigents or hypolists) refused to accept it and did everything possible to boycott it from their stronghold of the radical committee of the province of Buenos Aires.
In the end the agreement between radicals and Mitristas fell definitively due to Yrigoyen's action of dissolving the Committee of the Radical Civic Union of the province of Buenos Aires, which ended any possibility that the radicalism of the province would accept a Mitrista candidate for the governorship of the province. The fall of the parallel politics paved the way for the second presidency of General Julio Argentino Roca.
Even so, in the province of Buenos Aires, the national autonomists of Pellegrini, the radical coalitionists and the intransigents of Hipólito Yrigoyen managed to negotiate in the Electoral College and managed to establish Bernardo de Irigoyen, leader of the radical coalitionists, as governor of the province together with the intransigent radical Alfredo Demarchi as vice-governor, to snatch the province from the National Civic Union, who had won in the popular vote.
A lo largo de los siguientes años el radicalismo ingresaría en un tumultuoso periodo en el que todas las estructuras partidarias colapsaron y la interna entre coalicionistas e intransigentes nunca se saldo. Durante la gobernación de Bernardo de Irigoyen, los hipolistas fueron sus principales opositores, por lo tanto el gobierno provincial sobrevivió gracias al apoyo de los pellegrinistas y del gobierno nacional de Roca.
By the year 1900, the Bernardista sector of radicalism, which grouped together some of the men who had been closest to Alem, joined the Autonomist Party of the province of Buenos Aires, led by Carlos Pellegrini. The fusion between the Autonomist Party and the Bernardist sector of radicalism eventually resulted in the formation of the United Parties, which brought Marcelino Ugarte to the governorship of Buenos Aires in 1902, with the former radical Adolfo Saldías as its vice-governor.
Towards the first years of the 20th century, the Radical Civic Union had officially ceased to exist. But the survival of radicalism as a political force until the present day was largely the work of Hipólito Yrigoyen and the political circle that accompanied him since the internal party of 1893. At the beginning of 1903, Yrigoyen began to reorganize the Unión Cívica Radical (Radical Civic Union), inviting a political event for July 26 of that year, on the thirteenth anniversary of the Revolución del Parque (Park Revolution).
The event received a great response from the public and was attended by approximately 50,000 people. Yrigoyen was also successful in attracting important figures who had been part of the ranks of radicalism and who at that time were part of other political parties, such as the case of Pedro C. Molina from Córdoba, who was part of the Republican Party, led by Emilio Mitre.
In October 1903, the so-called "Convention of Notables" met in Buenos Aires, made up of more than 300 political leaders from all over the country, whose objective was to elect the presidential candidate who was to replace Julio Argentino Roca in office in 1904.
The Convention of Notables took place in the midst of the strong dispute between Roca and Carlos Pellegrini, which had been taking place since the breakdown of relations between the two in 1901 after a disagreement over a project to unify the external debt, which divided the Autonomist Party. National in two sectors: rockers and pellegrinistas.
Before the convention, Pellegrini was emerging as the main candidate for the presidency of the Nation but during its development, Roca managed to block Pellegrini's candidacy. For this reason, Pellegrini publicly accused Roca of destroying the National Autonomist Party. The rupture between the two, which was hinted at during Roca's second presidency, ended up materializing and Pellegrini founded the Autonomist Party. For this reason, Pellegrini and his supporters abandoned the convention, as did the political core led by Bernardo de Irigoyen.
Due to the break with Pellegrini and part of the interior leadership, Roca had to make an agreement with Marcelino Ugarte, governor of Buenos Aires, who imposed the name of Manuel Quintana as a presidential candidate to try to position himself as his successor. The winner of the Convention of Notables was Marcelino Ugarte who was able to impose Manuel Quintana, who was a man "stranger to the parties" and who had been a political rival of Roca in 1893/1894 when he served as strong man of the Luis Sáenz government Peña, as president and accepted José Figueroa Alcorta from Córdoba, a name promoted by the interior leaders associated with the ruling party, as vice president.
In February 1904, Yrigoyen organized a party convention, the first since the 1897 convention that debated parallel politics. However, almost no former Alemnista or Bernardista returned to the party ranks and the radicalism that was reorganized was made up almost exclusively of those men who were part of the old Buenos Aires radical group of Yrigoyen.
Obviously it was not mentioned that during the 1890s Yrigoyen's political sector had behaved as an organization independent of the party branch, that its leader had maintained a tense relationship with Alem, that Yrigoyen's participation in the Parque revolution of 1890 had had been a minor, who was suspected of having refused to cooperate in the armed uprisings planned by Alem after 1893, and of having defied the authority of the last party convention in 1897.
While other sectors of the old radicalism had dispersed and merged into different political parties, Yrigoyen presented himself as the legitimate heir of the Radical Civic Union, loyal to its founding objectives and strategies. The new radical organization demonstrated against the omnipotence of the PAN, against its economic policy, against corruption, and against the absence of guarantees for clean elections.
The UCR partly resumed its old language and style, although it did so in a context markedly different from the previous one and with some of its own particularities. In the first decade of the 20th century, the PAN was in complete decline and completely divided, the economy returned to its high growth rates and new political parties, such as the Socialist and the Republican, experienced the direct benefits of electoral competition.
On February 29, 1904, the newly reorganized National Committee of the Radical Civic Union declared the party's electoral abstention in the presidential and legislative elections of 1904. But while they declared their electoral abstention for the 1904 elections, its leaders conspired. Hipólito Yrigoyen had toured the country convincing and engaging hundreds of radical militants and young Army officers, and had even formed a revolutionary junta that he led, supported by José Camilo Crotto, Delfor del Valle and Ramón Gómez.
The initial objective was for this revolutionary movement to break out on September 10, 1904, during the government of Julio Roca. But the revolution had to be postponed. The government was suspicious and had taken some preventive measures. Yrigoyen, the only one who knew the entire revolutionary plot, decided to wait for the right moment.
On October 12, 1904, Roca completed his presidential term and handed over the presidency to his successor, Manuel Quintana. For his part, Yrigoyen explained to his coreligionists that it was not a revolution against a person but against "the Regime", so it mattered little if it started earlier or later.
Finally, in the early morning of February 4, 1905, the civil-military revolutionary movement, which had been preparing since the beginning of 1904 by the leaders of the Radical Civic Union and allies within the Army, began in the Federal Capital, Bahía Blanca. , Mendoza, Córdoba, Rosario and Santa Fé.
In the Federal Capital, the key element of the plot was the seizure of the Arsenal, from where weapons would be distributed to groups of radical militants. However, an infidelity allowed the government to learn of the revolutionary plan. General Carlos Smith, chief of the General Staff, in collaboration with Colonel Rosendo Fraga, chief of police of the Federal Capital, anticipated and became strong in the Arsenal, preventing the uprising of the neighboring 1st and 10th infantry regiments. In this way he prevented groups of civilian revolutionaries from being provided with weapons. Without those weapons the plan was destined to fail. Although in the previous days the radical leader had warned of the possibility of failure, it was already too late to give the counter-order. However, what happened at the Arsenal was not enough to stop hundreds of radical militants who, throughout the early hours of the morning, attacked numerous police stations in the city.
The government of President Manuel Quintana, who knew of the revolutionary plans, reacted with quick measures: he declared a state of siege throughout the country for the next ninety days, and established press censorship. The police, loyal to the national government, raided dozens of buildings in search of revolutionaries. Only some troops from the 9th Infantry Regiment marched towards Buenos Aires from Campo de Mayo, but shortly afterward they dispersed. Loyal troops and police soon recovered the police stations taken by surprise and the revolutionary cantons. At noon on February 4, the revolution in the Federal Capital had been completely defeated.
But the same was not happening in other parts of the country. The uprising had been successful in Mendoza, Córdoba and Bahía Blanca, where civilians had had the support of several military regiments. In Mendoza, the entire military garrison joined the uprising along with a mountain artillery regiment from San Juan. These troops provided weapons to civilians who identified themselves with their white berets. The revolutionaries attacked the capital of Mendoza, took 300,000 pesos from Banco Nación and attacked the barracks defended by Lieutenant Basilio Pertiné. The Mendoza government and some soldiers tried to resist in the Government House but laid down their arms. José Néstor Lencinas, head of the Revolutionary Junta, formed a provisional government after overthrowing the constitutional governor Carlos Galigniana Segura.
In Córdoba, the military troops under the command of Colonel Daniel Fernández were mobilized from the early hours of dawn and began to move after a speech by Colonel Fernández, in which he said: “Soldiers: we are going to carry out a transcendental crusade! For the Argentina that is close to dying, which is the reverse of Caseros and Pavón”!
The rebel military troops took over the Police Headquarters, took over the capital city and clashed with troops loyal to Governor Olmos, led by Colonel Gregorio Vélez. The hostilities lasted until noon and left several dead on both sides. Once the combats were over, they overthrew the government of José Vicente Olmos to impose a provisional government under the command of Colonel Daniel Fernández, accompanied by Abraham Molina and Aníbal Pérez del Viso as ministers. The proclamation spread in Córdoba sets the tone of the radical revolutionaries: "... the day has come when the opprobrious regime that has dominated the country for 30 years, covering it with ignominy before friends and strangers, ends."
In Córdoba, the radical revolutionaries took hostage Governor Olmos, Vice President José Figueroa Alcorta, who by chance was in Córdoba, Deputy Julio Roca, son of General Julio Argentino Roca, Francisco J. Beazley, who was returning from acting as intervener in San Luis, to Felipe Yofre, former Minister of the Interior during Roca's presidency, to Baron Antonio Demarchi, son-in-law of former President Roca, among other officials and political leaders of the opposition.
The radicals also headed towards the La Paz ranch, owned by Julio Argentino Roca, to try to arrest the former president, but Roca, who had been warned that the revolutionaries were heading towards his ranch, managed to escape from being taken prisoner and headed to the neighboring province of Santiago del Estero.
In Rosario the radical military troops marched from San Lorenzo towards Rosario, where civilian groups had taken over the Argentine Central Railway station. In Rosario, intense fighting also took place in the Arroyito area. However, once the failure of the revolution in Buenos Aires was known, the rebellious troops returned to their barracks, and abandoned the civilians to their fate.
The rebellious troops in Bahía Blanca and other cities in the interior had no perspective, nor did they find an echo in the town. President Manuel Quintana employed the same tactic used in 1893 to quell the radical movement; The state of siege became martial law. Despite the initial successes in Córdoba and Mendoza, the national government kept the situation under control and sent troops from different parts of the country to reduce the revolutionary centers.
The revolutionary attempt had not prospered in the other provinces, and the Córdoba radicals would be left alone in the fight. In search of a way out of the difficult situation, the revolutionary minister Aníbal Pérez del Viso took Vice President Figueroa Alcorta to the telegraph offices, where he made him establish communication with President Manuel Quintana. Once this was done, Pérez del Viso took the place of Figueroa Alcorta and began to propose different solutions, which obviously protected the insurgents. The revolutionaries even asked President Quintana for his resignation in exchange for the life of Vice President Figueroa Alcorta, however the president did not give in and the threat was not carried out.
As the powerful columns led by Generals Lorenzo Winter and Ignacio Fotheringham approached, the revolutionaries in Córdoba and Mendoza began to disperse. Finally the Radical Revolutionary Junta decided to lay down their arms to avoid more bloodshed. On February 8, there were no revolutionary centers left in the entire Republic. Immediately, the government of President Manuel Quintana arrested and ordered the rebels to be prosecuted, who were sentenced to up to 8 years in prison and sent to the Ushuaia prison. Many others went into exile in Chile or Uruguay. In the case of the military, those who joined the uprising lost their careers.
The repression was carried out against the radical revolutionaries and simultaneously against the labor movement, the socialists and their organizations, their press, etc., although they had had no connection with the February 4 movement. Hundreds of union members were arrested, the socialist and anarchist press was banned, the offices of the newspapers La Vanguardia and La Protesta, among others, were raided, and union offices were closed.
After the events of February, Quintana addressed Congress and said in this regard: "When I received the government, I knew of the conspiracy that was being hatched in the Army and that is why I directed that incitement to remain a stranger to the agitations of politics by invoking "at the same time the example of their ancestors and the glory of their weapons. A part of the junior officers did not want to listen to me and preferred to embark on an adventure that does not excuse inexperience in the face of the inflexible duties of the soldier."
After the defeat of the revolution, Yrigoyen went underground since he was wanted by the national authorities and for months there was no news about his whereabouts. Finally, on May 19, he appeared before Justice to assume his responsibility as the maximum head of the Revolutionary Junta.
The revolution was defeated, but it would unleash a current of institutional change within the ruling party that could no longer be stopped. The National Autonomist Party had divided, and both Carlos Pellegrini and Roque Sáenz Peña, main leaders of the new Autonomist Party, founded in 1903, understood the need to make profound institutional changes if the growing social and political conflict was to be contained.
Although at the moment the hostilities against the national government were still high and on August 11, 1905 there was an attack against Quintana, while he was heading in his carriage to the Government House, a man shot the president several times without being able to do anything. fire. The car continued moving, and the custody agents detained the aggressor, who turned out to be a Catalan worker named Salvador Planas y Virella, an anarchist sympathizer, who acted on his own initiative.
In March 1906, President Manuel Quintana died and was replaced in office by José Figueroa Alcorta, who until then was the vice president of the Nation and was politically inclined towards Pellegrinism. In June 1906, Figueroa Alcorta and Pellegrini promoted a Law of Oblivion, to offer a general amnesty to all radical participants in the revolution of the previous year, exiled in Uruguay and Chile or who were in hiding or prisoners.
In the years that followed, radicalism grew in support among sectors of the incipient middle class of the Federal Capital and the interior, especially among those young professionals, children of immigrants. The social composition of the radical leadership also changed with respect to that of the 1890s. The majority of its leaders seemed to come mainly from families who had arrived in the country recently and who had had little or no participation in politics. In comparison to that after the Park Revolution, where its leaders came from traditional families of the country.
The political system was also changing in those years, when a sector of the ruling class decided to open up and transform the rules of the political game. The reformists led by President Figueroa Alcorta believed in the need to promote an electoral reform that would establish a truly representative government. And the electoral reform finally arrived, in 1912, at the hands of Roque Sáenz Peña. Four years later, on October 12, 1916, the leader of the 1905 revolution, Hipólito Yrigoyen, took office as president of the Nation.