Trade Unions in Argentina - The FORA

The FORA

The Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA) was created in 1901. It split in 1915 between the FORA IX (of the Ninth Congress) and the FORA V (of the 5th Congress), the latter supporting an anarcho-syndicalist stance. In January 1919, the FORA notably called for demonstrations after police repression, during the Tragic Week, while it latter organized protests in Patagonia, which led to harsh repression by Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration (the disturbances were known as Patagonia rebelde).

Following the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the founding of the Profintern, the Argentine Syndicates' Union (USA) was created in March 1922. Although more radical than FORA IX, the USA did not join the Profintern and remained independent from any international affiliation. Meanwhile, the FORA V was in steady decline, and was dissolved shortly before the installation of José Félix Uriburu's dictatorship, which opened up the years of the Infamous Decade.