Peronist anti-Bolsheviks: Russian immigrants from the Suvorov Union

Abstract

Although Russian immigration in Argentina was very important in numerical terms during the first half of the 20th century, what is known about it remains very little. Created in 1948 in Buenos Aires by a group of white Russians who had integrated the Soviet army during World War II, the Suvorov Union set itself to gather anti-Communist Russians (in every aspect) who had emigrated to Argentina. The Suvorovists were framed within the Westernist tradition that held a long and fiery debate with the Slavophile current. The Suvorov Union forged its official body, the Suvorovets newspaper, from which it channeled its nationalist military project aimed at fighting international communism. Our hypothesis is that, despite its overt political disregard, Suvorovets sought to transcend the military terrain, adopting a position of permanent denunciation of the Soviet State. The ignited anti-communism it proclaimed soon became the center around which the Suvorov Union revitalized its action. The application of the intense anti-communist state policy under Perón’s government captured the attention of its members who, from the beginning of its foundation, found the most reliable ally in the Argentine president.