The Rural Movement of Catholic Action in Chaco (1964-1972). A historical reconstruction in an agrarian key.

Abstract

The thesis addressed the political organization process experienced by small and medium-sized cotton producers in the province of Chaco during the 1960s and early 1970s. The organization of these producers was possible thanks to the work of the Rural Movement of Argentine Catholic Action (hereinafter MR). After a first stage of internal organization, they emerged into public life participating in massive mobilizations and direct actions in the cotton region of the province. Throughout this process, the MR was formed as a social movement that had its own identity that exceeded the Catholic one. Its identity was also defined by the territorial social organization that it developed, the defense of agricultural production and commercialization, and by the age range of the majority of the participants.

Furthermore, the MR was a social actor where a gender current began to crystallize that attempted to make the work of rural women visible and that stimulated their training and political participation. Finally, in 1972, when the mobilization of the MR was considered excessive for the ecclesial hierarchy, it made the decision to expel him from Catholic Action.