Ruralism (Uruguay)

Uruguayan ruralism can be traced back to the 19th century, despite its largest extent was achieved in the 20th century. The movement has been placed by scholars among the liberal-conservative opposition to the social reforms of José Batlle y Ordóñez. Ruralism sees the large Uruguayan countryside as the main comparative advantage of the country in the global market. Therefore, the movement considers rural development as the ideal economic model for the country and rejected the import substitution industrialization program promoted by the 20th-century governments. Ruralists are fiscally conservative and hold positive views of the early Uruguayan fiscal policy, in which there were almost no direct taxes except for a rarely collected property tax. Ruralists firmly opposed the various tax reforms enacted by Batlle, most of which were mainly focused on rural landowners and greatly increased the governmental revenue. The movement was also against progressive taxation, considering it immoral and calling it "fiscal larceny".Montevideo, epicurean and materialistic, official residence of the Colegiado, fatal headquarters of that legislature that keeps imposing taxes (...), nest of predacious politicians (...) Montevideo, egoist and sensuous, that does not want to see the terrible evils the countryside is suffering, that disdains its pains (...) Just then shall Montevideo wake up from its comfort and the oligarchs shall understand (...) that their pleasures are at risk! '' of Mr. Rodolfo del Pino (1910) Ruralism is radically against any sort of redistributive land reform and defends the traditional estancia land ownership model, as well as the right to property. Ruralists hold a favourable view of cattle ranchers, defending their economic and social role, and consider livestock production as a positive activity both for the national economy and those who practise it, contradicting the developmentalist projects that tried to promote intensive farming. Ruralists denied the existence of class conflict in the countryside, considering that the presence of a unifying "rural culture" made estancias into a harmonious "great family" with no conflicting interests between peons and landowners. Herrera summed up his beliefs on the topic by describing the estancia of his parents:We were an ordered and discrete family. Our doors were guarded by old criollo traditions, that are the honour of the Hispanic people. We lived happily on our austere averageness. The employer was the best friend of his workers. They were united by the love for work. The children of the peons of old were risen among those of the estanciero, calling each other "tú" (Spanish informal pronoun); and so it would be always on every scale of life. Those poor were less poor than they are now, but there was less display. We believed in order and in happy abundance, without surprises at our hearts and no fevers in our bodies. But then the reformists came, and after laughing out loud of that patriarchal composure, which they saw as a sign of backwardness and imbecility, they started to break it up. == History ==

Militarism , dictator of Uruguay (1876–1880)The development of capitalism in Uruguay in the late 19th century was a complex and slow process due to the heavy political turmoil the country had experienced since its independence. Despite most of the countryside belonged either to individual landowners or to the state, the boundaries between different estancias were unclear and the constant civil wars hindered the country's agrarian modernization and rural investment. After the economic devastation caused by the Revolution of the Lances (1870–1873), most of the Uruguayan economic elite and Blanco caudillos supported a coup d'état by president Pedro Varela and colonel Lorenzo Latorre with the aim of establishing a militaristic government that would impose social peace and modernize the national economy. Latorre finally took power in 1876, starting a period known as Militarism. During the dictatorial rule, the state implemented an economic model based on the export of primary goods, using the military apparatus to stabilize the country and secure the right to property. The birth of a new system started the political involvement of rural ranchers, who actively collaborated with the regime to defend their interests. The introduction of sheep farming and of selective breeding improved exports and national income, making extensive farming the most common productive activity in the country. Lastly, the development of a wage labour system strengthened rural capitalism. During its early years, the Association supported scientific research in the Uruguayan countryside and founded its own laboratory in 1898. The guild also owned a library with more than 3,000 tomes. The following governments after the end of the military dictatorship gradually distanced themselves from the Association. Saravia opposed the reformist policies of the government, and supported the preservation of an economic model based on the countryside. Saravia had triumphed in a previous revolt in 1897 in which he had taken control of the local police, what gave him a large military strength. Unlike most of the Uruguayan ranchers, who had demilitarized their territories since the modernization, Saravia was able to rise a powerful army at his northern estancia "El Cordobés", The Blanco Party had formed an organized army with a strong hierarchy oi the previous years, but a fair amount of the revolutionaries were not associated with the party and were mere peasants expulsed from their lands after the modernization. Many soldiers used the mottos "Aire libre y carne gorda" (lit: free air and fat meat) or "Patria para todos" (lit: fatherland for everyone) as a display of social discontent. The revolution was not limited to political causes, but was mostly motivated by the desire of the impoverished rural population to improve their conditions of living. and remains one of the most important historical figures of the Blanco Party. Rural Federation and La encuesta rural In 1915, during the second presidency of Batlle y Ordóñez, ruralist hardliners created the Rural Federation (Spanish: Federación Rural) as a way of taking a more confrontational approach against the government. According to Luis Alberto de Herrera, one of its founders and most relevant members, the conservative "alliance of ranchers" was founded with the objective of opposing the "jacobin" policies of batllists, and promote "agrarian nationalism". Ruralists saw batllism as "the worst enemy" that "severed the country" trying to harm the countryside from the "fallacious and deceitful city of the south". Democratic Union In 1919, the leading figure of the Rural Federation José Irureta Goyena founded the Democratic Union (Spanish: Unión Democrática), despite being originally opposed to the creation of a ruralist party. The party was strongly linked to the upper class, what undermined its possibilities of becoming a mass movement. The party failed completely in the following election and did not get a single a deputy, what led to its dissolution. Described as a right-wing populist figure, Nardone was the host of a radio program at CX4 Radio Rural where he broadcast the local news, gave economic advice to rural enterpreuners and expressed his political opinions. Using a folksy and irreverent language, Nardone presented a dichotomy between the "botudos" (lit: boot-wearing), who were the rural workers and small farmers, and the "galerudos" (lit: top hat-wearing), the powerful landlords that directed the Rural Federation. The movement was dissolved soon after Nardone's death in 1964. Herrero-Ruralism . Ruralism formally rose to power for the 1959–1963 term through an alliance with Herrerist nationalists. The new government sought to put an end to the import substitution model and to go back to a system based in the export of primary goods. Despite their traditional anti-partisan positions, ruralists were easily introduced into the Blanco Party due to their shared contempt towards state industrialization and favourable views of the countryside. The alliance eventually broke and ruralist leaders were expulsed from the party, but their legacy and influence over blanco ideology remained. In 2018, a ruralist organization called Un Solo Uruguay was founded in opposition to the economic policies of the Tabaré Vázquez government. The movement acquired widespread reputation after organizing a demonstration with more than 60,000 protestors at Durazno. Some of the USU protests were endorsed by political candidate and future president Luis Lacalle Pou. Most of the movement uses an anti-political rhetoric, despite minor factions have proposed to create a political party. == See also ==