Marxist Jewish Schools in Buenos Aires (1921-1936)

NERINA VISACOVSKY

Annali di storia dell'educazione e delle istituzioni scolastiche

Editrice Morcelliana

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2021 vol. 28 p. 62 - 81

1723-9672

In the heat of the Russian Revolution, immigrants from the Jewish left in Argentina pushed a series of activities to enlighten the working class. These included Yiddish language schools, informal and complementary to compulsory state education. In 1930, the coup government of José Félix Uriburu outlawed communism and persecuted workers´ organizations. These policies continued in 1932, under Agustín P. Justo, as repressive actions by police agencies. In that context, schools were closed, their belongings confiscated, teachers and activists imprisoned, and accused of propagating "dissolving ideology”. During this process numerous materials were captured and translated into Spanish and, in 1932 and 1936, conservative Senator Matías Sánchez Sorondo used them to justify his Law of Repression of Communism and Trade Unions (Ley de Represión al Comunismo y Sindicación Gremial). In the documentary corpus of antecedents, the contents taught in those schools were highlighted and exposed by the legislator, to argue about the "great level of organization" of the Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy, which endangered the interests of the Argentine nation. This paper analyzes the circumstances that gave rise to this imaginary construction by conservative nationalism, the real scope of this project, and the pedagogical value of these experiences as a basis for further educational proposals developed in the country.