Roberto de Laferrère

Roberto de Laferrère (10 January 1900, Buenos Aires - 31 January 1963, Buenos Aires) was an Argentinean writer and political activist. He was one of the leading figures in the nationalist movement active amongst a group of leading intellectuals in the 1930s

De Laferrère came from one of Argentina's leading patrician families. He was of partial French descent although on his mother's side his ancestors included Encarnación Ezcurra, the wife of Juan Manuel de Rosas.

He was a strong critic of democracy, denouncing the trust it placed in ignorant masses. He was one of the main developers of the belief within Argentine nationalist thought that liberalism was merely a prelude to communism, arguing that "democracy hands us over unarmed to these forces of extreme socialism and anarchy". He wrote widely for La Fronda, a conservative nationalist journal. Like many of the nationalist leaders de Laferrère was an academic and in 1938 he joined the likes of the Irazusta brothers, Carlos Ibarguren, Manuel Gálvez and Ernesto Palacio in establishing the Instituto Juan Manuel de Rosas. The Instituto soon became a centre for the publication of highly conservative scholarship in which historical revisionism about Argentina's past loomed large.

Along with Rodolfo Irazusta he established the Liga Republicana youth movement around 1927, the aim of which was to undermine the government. The group was united by the members hatred of Hipólito Yrigoyen although significant elements within the Liga were inspired by the fascism of Benito Mussolini as well as the ideas of Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marquis of Estella. De Laferrère was insistent that the Liga should not become a political party and he clashed with Irazusta over the issue when the latter suggested presenting a list for the 1930 election. De Laferrère and Juan Carulla's idea, that the Liga should support the Independent Socialists, was endorsed and Irazusta resigned from the movement.

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