Argentina's 1919 Tragic Week: The Birth of State Violence

In January 1919, Buenos Aires erupted in a wave of strikes, shootings, and state repression that left hundreds dead. Known as la Semana Trágica, this week-long conflict saw the first use of military and paramilitary forces against civilian workers, setting a pattern that would haunt Argentina for decades. Hosts Lucas and Luna explore the causes: the anarchist-led strike at the Vasena metalworks, the brutal police response, and the formation of the Liga Patriótica Argentina, a far-right vigilante group. They trace how President Hipólito Yrigoyen's government, fearing revolution, unleashed General Luis Dellepiane and his men, who turned the streets of Once and other working-class neighborhoods into battlegrounds. The episode also examines the role of the Federación Obrera Regional Argentina (FORA) and the tragic legacy of the Casa del Pueblo fire. More than a labor dispute, the Tragic Week was a crucible that forged Argentina's modern security state and fractured the country along class lines—a story that resonates from the 1919 massacre to the state terror of the 1970s.

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