The Visible and Invisible Liga Patriótica Argentina, 1919-28: Gender Roles and the Right Wing1
R IGHT-WING nationalist groups have long fascinated scholars and observers of twentieth-century Argentina. Yet the Liga Patriotica Argentina, once described as "the most powerful political association in the country" between 1919 and 1922, has not received the attention that its size and influence warrant.2 The Liga's campaign against workers in the post-World War I years merits study not only because it weakened the labor movement, but also because it foreshadowed the antileftist tendencies of fuiture nationalistic leaders, including Juan Domingo Peron. Another important reason for examining the Liga is that it does not fit the image of the Argentine right that historians have created. According to most of the literature, the right wing has consisted exclusively of men; and it has devoted itself to ideological formulations, political maneuvers, and, on occasion, violence. The