History of Rosario - 20th Century

20th Century

The population doubled again in about ten years, and yet again in less than two decades; by 1926 Rosario had 407,000 inhabitants, 47% of them foreign, many brought from Europe in the wake of World War I. Most of them were Italian, and among them, a majority from the north-western region of Liguria.

In 1943 the local scholar Juan Álvarez wrote a seminal History of Rosario, which reaffirmed the thesis of Rosario as a "self-made-city", born after the modern capitalist fashion and developed by its own people's work, in contrast with other cities (like Santa Fe) with a traditional, colonial, aristocratic past. (The largest public library in the city now bears the name of Biblioteca Argentina Dr. Juan Álvarez in homage.)

In 1946 Rosario massively supported Juan Perón's rise to power on a populistic platform; 58% of rosarinos voted for him in the presidential elections. Thus Rosario got the nickname of "Capital of Peronism". It received the benefits of the nationalization and subsidizing of many industries, and the more favourable labour laws passed by the government.

After the fall of Perón in 1955, Rosario experienced the hardships of dictatorial rule. In May and September 1969 workers and students massively took the streets to protest against the dictatorship of President Juan Carlos Onganía. This was later known as the Rosariazo, and was triggered in part by the murder of a student by the police, and the repression of labour unions, combined with a general unrest throughout the country. During the September episode, the police were overwhelmed by at least 100,000 protesters, who took the resistance to the peripheric barrios. The Army was given the order to intervene, and violently suffocated the opposition until regaining control of the city.

During the National Reorganization Process (started in 1976), hundreds of citizens were killed or "disappeared" by the de facto government. Rosario hosted some matches of the Football World Cup 1978, which was used by the military junta as a distraction for the populace, to cover up illegal repression and human rights abuses.

In 1983 Argentina returned to democratic rule. About 400,000 rosarinos attended the final campaign meeting of the Radical Civic Union, which won locally (with the election of Mayor Horacio Usandizaga) and nationally (with President Raúl Alfonsín).

The Ludueña Stream caused great floods in the north of the city in 1986. After several years, popular pressure achieved the goal of damming and piping the stream to avoid future problems of the kind.