Revolutionary Union
Unión Revolucionaria
Supreme ChiefLuis A. Flores[1]
FoundedJuly 30, 1931 (1931-07-30)
Dissolved1945 (1945)
IdeologyFascism
Militarism
Anti-Asian sentiment
Political positionFar-right
Colors 
Party flag

Revolutionary Union (Spanish: Unión Revolucionaria, UR) was a fascist political party in Peru that lasted from 1931 to 1945.

History

The party was founded in 1931 by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro and became the governing party that same year. It took part in elections in 1931 and 1945.

In 1933 the leadership was taken over by Luis A. Flores. The party was anti-democratic, supporting fascism, nationalism and populism.[2] Revolutionary Union started its own Blackshirts paramilitary arm as a copy of the Italian group[3] and would also use the Roman salute, similar to the Nazi salute and other fascist groups.[2]

The Union first achieved its political victories in the 1930s.[4] It formed the National Democratic Front coalition beside APRA and the Reformist Democratic Party, resulting with José Luis Bustamante y Rivero becoming president.[4] After losing support in the 1936 Peruvian general election, the party would see its supporters move to the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood of José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma.[2]

On December 7, 1945, the group's headquarters, located at the Casa Tenaud, was attacked by sympathisers of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance, who used incendiary devices and dynamite to attack the building and later made it difficult for firemen to carry out their duties and put out the flames.[5] Consequently, the unsalvageable building[5] was later demolished, being replaced by the 20-storey Anglo–Peruvian building.

References

  1. ^ Tauro del Pino, Alberto (2001). Enciclopedia ilustrada del Perú: FER-GUZ (in Spanish). Lima: Empresa Editora El Comercio S. A. p. 993. ISBN 9972401499.
  2. ^ a b c Gunitskiy, Vsevolod (2011). From Shocks to Waves: Hegemonic Transitions and Democratization in the Twentieth Century. Columbia University. pp. 271–272. The most prominent fascist movement in Peru was the Union Revolucionaria (UR), which used the fascist salute and developed a party militia called the Black Shirts. The UR, modeling themselves after Mussolini's Italy, were anti-democratic, populist, and nationalist, but after a failed bid in the 1936 elections the party gradually lost support. Following its demise, the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood became the major outlet of Peruvian fascism, led by the former prime minister Jose de la Riva-Aguero y Osma. While the group initially received some support, it quickly faded after Peru entered the war on the side of the Allies.
  3. ^ Basadre Grohmann, Jorge (2014). Historia de la República del Perú [1822-1933] (PDF) (in Spanish). Vol. 15. Lima: Producciones Cantabria S.A.C. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-612-306-353-5.
  4. ^ a b Villanueva, Victor; Crabtree, Peter (Summer 1977). "The Petty-Bourgeois Ideology of the Peruvian Aprista Party". Latin American Perspectives. 4 (3): 73. In the elections of 1939 APRA stood ready to ally with ... the fascist Union Revolucionaria (UR) whose leader, Luis A. Flores, described himself as a "fascist by temperament and conviction" ... APRA allied itself to Manuel Prado, ... Apristas who had already voted for Prado, and his triumph was due to this support and to the electoral fraud effected by Benavides. In 1944 APRA formed part of the reformist Frente Democratico Nacional (FDN) ... including the fascist UR, ... The triumph of the FDN made Dr. Bustamante y Rivero the new President; he belonged to the ultra-conservative sector ... In the elections called in 1950 ... the Aprista Party supported the candidacy of the ultra-conservative General Ernesto Montagne, an ex-minister in the Sanchez Cerro and Benavides dictatorships.
  5. ^ a b Terrorismo-APRA: organizaciones terroristas del APRA (in Spanish). Ministerio de Gobierno y Policía, Dirección de Prensa y Propaganda. 1949. p. 68.


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