The May's People in October: The construction of the Peronist people in the commemorations of October 17. 1946 - 1954

Abstract

October 17th, 1945 in Córdoba seems not to be a rupture in the political sphere, but a point of inflection that allowed this province to put the bases of a process that would lead it to mark the history of the whole country. This fact points out a series of problems that will guide our work. First of all, to understand the process that made October 17th a date that assimilated mobilization in the streets with people’s actions. This leads us to question the relation established among those who were taking part of these actions in public space. Finally, we will analyze the form in which this construction was spread and shown in Cordoba. To answer these questions we will focus on the observation of symbols and collective images of a community at work, that takes us to the core of our proposal: to consider the process by which a human group is recognized by itself and turns into a particular community: the “people”. We think that answers may be to considered to be, first of all, the irruption of a new social actor to support a new institutional order. Secondly, the contradictory evaluations of the presence of this political actor in the streets. Finally, the use of mass media to extend celebrations to the rest of the country that strengthen the idea of people in collective memory.