Labour Gathering Party

The Labour Gathering Party (Spanish: Partido Concentración Obrera) was a political party in Argentina, led by José Penelon. It emerged from a dissident wing of the Communist Party of Argentina in the late 1920s. The party would exist for decades, mainly based in Buenos Aires, but its influence waned over the years.

The split

The party was formed as Communist Party of the Argentine Region (Partido Comunista de la Región Argentina), founded after a split in the Communist Party of Argentina.[1] Penelon and his followers were expelled from the Communist Party in 1927.[2] The Penelon group began publishing Adelante ('Forward') in that year.[3][4] The Communist Party of the Argentine Region was founded in January 1928.[5]

Most of the cadres of the Communist Youth Federation sided with Penelon in the split.[1] Penelon also won over a large chunk of the Workers Sport Federation.[4] Penelon's followers labelled people the Communist Party as 'radishes' (red on the outside, white on the inside) and those from the Workers Communist Party as 'police agents'.[5][6]

Appeals for a United Front

Penelon argued for unification of the trade union movement, a line the Communist Party denounced as 'capitulation' to reformists. He opposed the policy of 'dual unionism' put forth by the Communist International.[7] At the time of the 1928 elections, Adelante argued for a united front with the Socialist Party and the trade union centres.[5] Likewise the party also appealed to the Socialist Party, the Independent Socialist Party, the Argentine Anti-Imperialist Alliance, the Red Argentine Anti-Imperialist Alliance and the autonomous trade union centres for a unified May Day celebration.[8]

Communist Party of the Argentine Republic

The party soon changed its name to the Communist Party of the Argentine Republic (Partido Comunista de la República Argentina).[9] The change of the name was caused by a decision of the Central Electoral Junta.[10]

Uriburu period

In 1930 general José Félix Uriburu came to power in Argentina and the party lost its legal status.[11] The party changed its name to Partido Concentración Obrera, and was thus able to regain legal status in a period of repression.[1][12] The party would cease to be a communist party as such.[6][13]

In the City Council

Penelon was re-elected to the Buenos Aires City Council in 1932 (he had previously been the sole Communist Party member in the council).[6][14] The party maintained some influence in the suburbs of Buenos Aires until the 1940s.[9][15] Penelon remained in the City Council until 1954.[2]

Later period

Penelon ran for Vice President of Argentina in the 1951 election. He obtained merely 3,183 votes.[16] Ahead of the election the Trotskyist Revolutionary Workers Party had begun 'entryism' into Concentración Obrera, but pulled out after the meager election result.[17] After the fall of Perón in 1955, the party was closely linked to the Democratic Socialist Party (the right-wing tendency in the socialist movement).[6] The party merged into the Democratic Socialist Party in the early 1970s.[18]

References
  1. Gilbert, Isidoro. La Fede: alistándose para la revolución : la Federación Juvenil Comunista, 1921–2005. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 2009. p. 1923
  2. Munck, Ronaldo, Ricardo Falcón, and Bernardo Galitelli. Argentina From Anarchism to Peronism : Workers, Unions and Politics, 1855–1985. London: Zed Books, 1987. p. 104
  3. Todo es historia, Eds. 152–157. Todo es Historia, 1980. p. 72
  4. Alabarces, Pablo, Roberto di Di Giano, and Julio David Frydenberg. Deporte y sociedad: selección de los trabajos presentados ante las 1 jornadas nacionales "Deporte y Ciencias Sociales" ; entre el 21 y el 23 de agosto 1997, Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires: Inst. de Investigaciones Gino Germani, Fac. de Ciencias Sociales, UBA, 1998. p. 80
  5. Biagini, Hugo E., Arturo Andrés Roig, and Carlos Alemián. El pensamiento alternativo en la Argentina del siglo XX. Buenos Aires: Editorial Biblos, 2004. pp. 282–283
  6. Redding, Forest William. Latin American Political Parties: Agents of Modernization. Thesis (A.M.)--Indiana University, 1967. p. 396
  7. Alexander, Robert Jackson. The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s. Westport: Conn, 1981. p. 274
  8. Vargas, Otto. El marxismo y la revolución argentina, Vol 2. Buenos Aires: Editorial Agora, 1999. p. 391
  9. Puiggrós, Rodolfo. Historia crìtica de los partidos políticos argentinos. Buenos Aires: J. Alvarez, 1965. p. 94
  10. Corbière, Emilio J. Orígenes del comunismo argentino: el Partido Socialista Internacional. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina, 1984. p. 79
  11. Filippo, Virgilio. El monstruo comunista; conferencias Radiotelefónicas irradiadas el año 1938, los domingos a las 13 horas, desde L.R. 8 Radio Paris de Bs. Aires. Buenos Aires: Editorial Tor, 1939. p. 195
  12. Paso, Leonardo. Historia de los partidos políticos en la Argentina, 1900–1930. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Directa, 1983. p. 539
  13. Silveyra, Carlos M., Adolf Hitler, and Carlos M. Silveyra. El comunismo en la Argentina: origen, desarrollo, organización actual. Buenos Aires: [Editorial "Patria"], 1936. p. 41
  14. Walter, Richard J. Politics and Urban Growth in Buenos Aires, 1910–1942. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 173
  15. Concheiro, Elvira, Massimo Modonesi, and Horacio Gutiérrez Crespo. El comunismo: otras miradas desde América Latina. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2007. p. 173
  16. Esto es, Eds. 87–105. 1955
  17. Biagini, Hugo E., Arturo Andrés Roig, and Carlos Alemián. El pensamiento alternativo en la Argentina del siglo XX. Buenos Aires: Editorial Biblos, 2004. p. 298
  18. Alexander, Robert J. Political Parties of the Americas: Canada, Latin America, and the West Indies. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1982. p. 67
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