Detail of Lenin in the work “Man at the Crossroads” (1934), by Diego Rivera. Mural in permanent exhibition at the Palace of Fine Arts of Mexico City. Image: Jaontiveros /Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.
One should not blame the reemergence of populism solely on a revitalization of the extreme right wing. Populism may be addressed either as a conceptual tool or as a political and social phenomenon, as a structural or a conjunctural phenomenon. As a consequence, one must acknowledge that there exists varieties of populisms and that Latin America may serve as an example in this respect. For populism in Latin America, as I understand it, is both structurally and conjuncturally determined, being fueled by recurrent crisis of all sorts. As is known, the rhetoric of crises is intrinsic and constitutive of populism. Let’s then keep in mind that the repertoire of populisms is rather broad. This is not only a mark of the radical right, though rightwing populism may be particularly alarming.
Populism has been a major feature of Latin American politics and economic development ever since the 1940s. Peron in Argentina, Vargas in Brazil, Haya de la Torre in Peru, Velasco Ibarra in Ecuador, Cárdenas in Mexico or Gaitán in Colombia – to cite those leaders who held office during the first wave of import-substitution, that period when state interventions were key in promoting capitalist relations through state-led industrialization. Protectionism (not only to boost national sectors but also in protecting people from the elites), and some attempts to develop social insurance as a way to conform a new proletariat were in the menu. Most of these leaders pursued nationalist policies and some of them also pursued limited redistributive social policies, incorporating into the “nation” those segments of the population which had previously been excluded from it, moving from heterodox to liberal policies according to the context, governing either according to democratic principles or, most often - let’s not forget it - also applying authoritarian rules.
