This chapter explores how the Sociedad Argentina de Escritores (SADE, established in 1928) and the Sociedad de Escritores de Chile (SECh, established in 1931) became actively involved with antifascism in relation to national and international processes connected to the rise of fascism, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War. Each association’s trajectory was specifically shaped by each country’s context. In Argentina, SADE’s politicization unfolded under military regimes, conservative fraudulently elected governments, and Juan Perón’s regime (1946–55). In Chile, SECh’s politicization developed in the context of the governments of the Popular Front (1938–52) and the relative strength of leftist parties. This comparative analysis reveals convergences and differences and highlights the networks that connected writers at multiple levels, providing a new angle on the local and transnational frameworks for the antifascist struggle in the 1930s and 1940s and its transition to Cold War-era divisions.

This chapter examines a second uprising that erupted in July 1785 against a company of the Spanish Regiment of Extremadura that arrived in Chuquisaca to replace the Savoy company. Although the violence was perpetrated mainly by the lower classes, especially by members of the militia, it stemmed from tensions that affected the entire population. Sparked by the death of a patrician in a brawl with a soldier, as in 1782, the underlying cause of the unrest this time was the order to disarm the salaried urban militias that had remained active since the great rebellion of 1780–1781. The disbanding of the militias deprived the mestizos and cholos who comprised them, as well as the creole officers who commanded them, of an important means of livelihood (the daily pay they received) and of what they considered a rightful privilege and symbol of social prestige earned through their service to the king. The chapter examines the violent clashes between the rioters and the Spanish army as well as the ensuing political conflicts between the city council, as the representative body of both patricians and plebeians, with the highest colonial authorities in Chuquisaca and the viceregal court in Buenos Aires.

The introduction provides an overview of the volume’s key theoretical concepts and empirical cases. It emphasizes that there have been a variety of antifascisms in Latin America and the Caribbean that were not merely derivative of European antifascism or the product of European exiles. Rather, there were homegrown Latin American and Caribbean antifascist movements forged in the interplay between local, regional, and transnational processes. By placing Latin American and Caribbean antifascists in relation to the broader historiography on antifascism, the introduction illuminates their specific heterogeneous agendas, strategies, and styles as well as their class, racial, ethnic, and gendered dimensions. Latin American and Caribbean antifascists participated in exchanges from the Global South to the Global North and within the Global South. They resembled and yet differed from other Global South antifascisms regarding race and imperialism. The introduction ends by providing an overview of the chapters by placing them within the book’s theoretical framework.

This chapter explores how the gradual deterioration of monarchical institutions at the local level both intensified and diversified in the early nineteenth century, especially in the wake of the irreparable erosion of viceregal authority caused by the British invasions of Buenos Aires in 1806–1807. I contend that the effect of the fall of the Spanish monarchy that followed the French occupation of Spain in 1808 was to open up an unprecedented array of questions and uncertainties that endowed those medium- and short-term antagonisms with far-reaching resonances: the tutelage of royal sovereignty, the source of the colonial magistrates’ authority, the relationship between capital and subordinate cities, and the proper handling of alternative dynastic claims. Two overarching conclusions emerge from the analysis: first, the imperial crisis was preceded by a crisis of governance that undermined the most basic routines of obedience to superiors; second, the raucous power struggles between high-ranking royal and ecclesiastical officials constituted only one facet, and by no means the most significant, of a politicization that cut across the entire social body. The conflicts leading up to the events of May 1809 involved a variety of actors with a distinct set of interests, values, and repertoires of collective action.

This chapter examines the attempts of the high Spanish officials in Chuquisaca and Buenos Aires to suppress Chuquisaca’s vibrant political sphere in the aftermath of years of open confrontation, both violent and through the courts. Royal magistrates came to believe that the city’s public life posed formidable challenges to the colonial administration. This was not necessarily due to prevailing feelings of outright opposition to Spanish rule or even because the urban lower classes had violently clashed with the military garrison. The problem lay in the unyielding refusal to submit to authority. While some grievances, such as the suppression of the tobacco monopoly or the rejection of Spanish troops, were more radical than others, such as ceremonial controversies or the endowment of chairs, the greatest threat came not from the demands themselves but from the systematic act of demanding, from the continuous collective assertion of views about governmental affairs through an interwoven array of legal and extralegal, violent and nonviolent political practices. If the legitimacy of the Spanish rule was not strictly speaking in question, the governance certainly was. Without directly challenging the colonial regime, the routines of political contestation undermined its basic operating principles.

Chapter 7 explores the reasons why Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela experienced relatively stable authoritarianism during the early twentieth century. All three countries professionalized their militaries during this period, which helped bring an end to the frequent revolts that had undermined their prospects for democracy in the nineteenth century. None of the three countries developed strong parties, however. The absence of strong parties impeded democratization in several ways. First, party weakness allowed presidents to concentrate authority and extend their hold on power in some cases. Second, and even more importantly, the weakness of opposition parties meant that the opposition had little chance of winning elections or enacting democratic reforms, particularly in the face of widespread government electoral manipulation. As a result, the opposition frequently abstained from elections, which only deepened authoritarian rule in these countries. In some instances, the opposition also encouraged the military to intervene to overthrow the president, which undermined otherwise mostly stable authoritarian regimes.

Chapter 3 argues that the professionalization of the armed forces played a key role in the emergence of democracy in the region by bringing an end to the opposition revolts that had plagued the region in the nineteenth century. It employs an original database on historical revolts in South America to analyze the evolution of political violence in the region. It shows that revolts were frequent in the nineteenth century and undermined the prospects for democracy by overthrowing elected governments and provoking state repression. Most of these revolts came from opposition groups and other forces outside the state apparatus. At the turn of the century, however, most South American countries professionalized their armed forces with the assistance of foreign missions, which led to a dramatic decline in revolts in the region and helped pave the way for democracy. Nevertheless, a few South American countries failed to take sufficient steps to modernize their militaries and, as a result, they remained highly unstable. A series of regression analyses show that increases in military strength and professionalization are correlated with a decline in outsider revolts, but not insider revolts, during this period.

Since the early 1900s in Brazil, futebol has been an instrument of nation building, used to articulate a proud, masculine national identity. During the culture wars of the 1930s and today, the sport has served as a tool for fascists insisting on gender differentiation and masculine displays of strength. Conversely, gender dissidents have formed futebol teams as part of their antifascist struggles for rights and recognition. This chapter explores the creation and visibility campaigns of one such group: the Meninos Bons de Bola, Brazil’s first trans soccer team. I examine the team’s strategic use of nude images (2016–18), amidst the rise of ultra-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro. Drawing on two semi-naked photoshoots with the MBB, and on an oral history with team’s founder, Raphael H. Martins, this essay asserts that the Meninos’ defiant disrobing during this period of governmental change reveals their resistance to the machinations of Brazilian fascism.

This chapter analyzes the participation of the University of Charcas in public affairs. It shows that following the Jesuit expulsion in the 1760s, the claustro (academic senate) became a center of university life. This body held annual elections to appoint the rector and allocated academic chairs on the basis of public tenders. The faculty forcefully defended its newly acquired autonomy from ecclesiastical and royal authorities, and its representative practices were instrumental in consolidating a culture of dissent that helped destabilize the unanimity principle underlying the monarchical imaginary, a principle that deemed nonconforming opinions a social pathology incompatible with the sovereign’s will and the common good. The chapter delves into the highly acrimonious election of the main local leader Juan Jose ́Segovia as university rector in 1785. The dispute stemmed from two sources of conflict that had been engulfing the university and the city at large. The first was a contest between religious and secular sectors vying for control of the university. The second was the political conflicts between the city council and the audiencia of Charcas and the Buenos Aires viceroy that followed the July 1785 riot. The chapter shows that there was an inextricable connection between the two confrontations.

The Conclusion summarizes the main arguments in the book and discusses to what extent the factors that shaped regime outcomes in the early twentieth century mattered post-1929. It also examines the broader theoretical implications of the book, analyzes the extent to which the arguments work in Mexico and Central America, and lays out an agenda for future research on historical democratization.