Descamisados

Descamisado (Spanish pronunciation: [deskamiˈsaðo]) is a Spanish word that literally means "without shirt" or "shirtless".

The term was originally used by the narrator in Victor Hugo's seminal 1862 novel Les Misérables to refer to the revolutionary Spanish masses. Following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo, the French (Bourbon) monarchy was restored to power. The Bourbons acted to prop up the Spanish monarchy against the popular forces of the Spanish social revolution in the Spanish War of 1823. Hugo's character is commenting on the use of the term by the supporters of the French Bourbons. The word was used pejoratively and in direct comparison to the derogative term applied to the French popular masses, the sans-culottes of the French bourgeoisie revolution of 1789.

In the 20th century, it was also used as an insult by the elite of Argentina to describe the followers of Juan Perón, who served as president of Argentina from 1946 until 1955, and then again briefly from 1973 to 1974. The term was later reclaimed as a term of pride, with Juan Perón and his wife Eva Perón affectionately referring to their followers as "descamisados". And during his 1945 campaign for president, Juan Perón toured the country on a train that he named El Descamisado.

However, the first usage of the term in the history of Argentina dates back to the 19th century. Tomás de Iriarte described in his memories a time when he was walking with Carlos María de Alvear and found Manuel Dorrego with dirty and broken clothes. Iriarte wrote that "Excusado es decir que esto era estudiado para captarse la multitud, los descamisados." ("Needless to say, this was planned to captivate the multitude, the shirtless.")

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