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Revolutionary Union Unión Revolucionaria
Abbreviation	UR
Supreme Chief	Luis A. Flores
Founded	July 30, 1931 (1931-07-30)
Dissolved	1956 (1956)
Headquarters	Casa Tenaud, Lima
Newspaper	Acción
Youth wing	Legión Juvenil Fascista
Paramilitary wing	Black Shirts (1933–1934)
Ideology	Sanchezcerrismo Nationalism Populism Conservatism Anti-capitalism Anti-communism Anti-Asian sentiment Militarism Fascism (from 1933)
Political position	Far-right
Colors	Black
Slogan	"Perú para los peruanos" (unofficial) (lit. 'Peru for Peruvians')
Party flag
Politics of Peru Political parties Elections

The Revolutionary Union (Spanish: Unión Revolucionaria, UR), was a nationalist political party in Peru founded in 1931 by Luis M. Sánchez Cerro, former president of Peru. The party was formed following the coup with which Sanchez Cerro overthrew the eleven-year dictatorship of Augusto B. Leguía. Initially an authoritarian-populist organization, the party later transitioned towards fascism following the assassination of its founder, with Luis A. Flores assuming leadership in 1933 and consolidating this ideological shift.

As a mass movement, the UR drew significant support from many different groups in Peruvian society, included rural communities, individuals from the Andean and southern regions, women, the unemployed, marginalized groups (lumpen), as well as former civilistas and conservatives. In the elections of 1931, Sánchez Cerro obtained more than 150,000 votes, allowing the aforementioned candidate to lead a second government. The party maintained a populist and nationalist character, and displayed a staunch opposition towards communism and the APRA, organizing armed groups to combat said movements. The UR organized impoverished social sectors in both urban and rural areas. It carried out extensive work among poor women, urban marginalized groups and yanaconas.

The assassination of Sanchez Cerro at the hands of an aprista militant and the assumption of power of the party by Luis A. Flores lead an ideological transition towards fascism. Highly inspired in Italian fascism, the party adopted a similar paramilitary branch called the Legión de Camisas Negras ("Blackshirt Legion"). The UR openly advocated for an armed struggle against leftist forces, under the slogan that fascism means “religiosity, conservatism, and right-wing conduct”. By 1936, the UR had at least 6,000 members among their armed groups. In the elections of that year, Flores lost in second place against Luis Antonio Eguiguren, although the elections were later annulled by the government of Óscar R. Benavides, who would reform the 1933 constitution to extend his term by an additional three years.

The UR saw a loss of support after failure in the elections of 1936. Following the extension of the Benavides’ government, some of the most prominent leaders of both the UR and the APRA would be deported. Deprived of charismatic leadership and overshadowed in popular favour by the new regime's achievements, the UR began a decline that ultimately led to its disappearance in 1956.

History

The party was founded in 1931 by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro and became the governing party that same year. It took part in elections in 1931 and 1945.

In 1933 the leadership was taken over by Luis A. Flores. The party was anti-democratic, supporting fascism, nationalism and populism. Revolutionary Union started its own Blackshirts paramilitary arm as a copy of the Italian group and would also use the Roman salute, similar to the Nazi salute and other fascist groups.

The Union first achieved its political victories in the 1930s. It formed the National Democratic Front coalition beside APRA and the Reformist Democratic Party, resulting in José Luis Bustamante y Rivero becoming president. After losing support in the 1936 Peruvian general election, the party would see its supporters move to the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood of José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma.

On December 7, 1945, the group's headquarters, located at the Casa Tenaud, was attacked by sympathisers of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance, who used incendiary devices and dynamite to attack the building and later made it difficult for firemen to carry out their duties and put out the flames. Consequently, the unsalvageable building was later demolished, being replaced by the 20-storey Anglo–Peruvian building.

References

Notes

1. Tauro del Pino, Alberto (2001). Enciclopedia ilustrada del Perú: FER-GUZ (in Spanish). Lima: Empresa Editora El Comercio S. A. p. 993. ISBN 9972401499.
2. Molinari 2006, p. 332.
3. González 1994, p. 234.
4. ^ González 1994, p. 236.
5. Chanamé 2021, p. 402; Molinari 2006, p. 333; Payne 2003, p. 343.
6. Molinari 2004, p. 17.
7. Ciccarelli 1990, p. 425.
8. Young 2006, p. 515.
9. Molinari 2006, p. 339-340.
10. Molinari 2004, p. 182.
11. Molinari 2006, p. 322; Gunitskiy 2011, p. 271; Villanueva & Crabtree 1977.
12. Molinari 2006, p. 338.
13. González 1994, p. 233.
14. ^ Haya de la Torre 2005, p. 212.
15. Molinari 2006, p. 321-322; Ciccarelli 1990, p. 408.
16. ^ Chanamé 2021, p. 402.
17. ^ Haya de la Torre 2005, p. 213.
18. Molinari 2006, p. 336; Vargas Murillo 2017, p. 56.
19. Chanamé 2021, p. 410.
20. Payne 2003, p. 343.
21. González 1994, p. 237.
22. Gunitskiy 2011, p. 271-272: "The most prominent fascist movement in Peru was the Union Revolucionaria (UR), which used the fascist salute and developed a party militia called the Black Shirts. The UR, modeling themselves after Mussolini's Italy, were anti-democratic, populist, and nationalist, but after a failed bid in the 1936 elections the party gradually lost support. Following its demise, the Peruvian Fascist Brotherhood became the major outlet of Peruvian fascism, led by the former prime minister Jose de la Riva-Aguero y Osma."
23. Basadre 2014, p. 143.
24. Gunitskiy 2011, p. 271-272.
25. Villanueva & Crabtree 1977, p. 73: "In the elections of 1939 APRA stood ready to ally with ... the fascist Union Revolucionaria (UR) whose leader, Luis A. Flores, described himself as a "fascist by temperament and conviction" ... APRA allied itself to Manuel Prado, ... Apristas who had already voted for Prado, and his triumph was due to this support and to the electoral fraud effected by Benavides. In 1944 APRA formed part of the reformist Frente Democratico Nacional (FDN) ... including the fascist UR, ... The triumph of the FDN made Dr. Bustamante y Rivero the new President; he belonged to the ultra-conservative sector ... In the elections called in 1950 ... the Aprista Party supported the candidacy of the ultra-conservative General Ernesto Montagne, an ex-minister in the Sanchez Cerro and Benavides dictatorships.."
26. Villanueva & Crabtree 1977, p. 73.
27. Gunitskiy 2011, p. 272.
28. ^ Terrorismo-APRA: organizaciones terroristas del APRA (in Spanish). Ministerio de Gobierno y Policía, Dirección de Prensa y Propaganda. 1949. p. 68.

Sources

• Basadre, Jorge (2014). Historia de la República del Perú [1822-1933] (PDF) (in Spanish). Vol. 15. Lima: Producciones Cantabria S.A.C. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-612-306-353-5.
• Molinari, Tirso (2004). La Unión Revolucionaria, 1931-1939 : una aproximación a la historia del fascismo en el Perú (PDF) (Master's thesis). Lima: Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
•  ———  (2006). "El Partido Unión Revolucionaria y su proyecto totalitario-fascista. Perú 1933-1936" (PDF). Investigaciones Sociales (16): 321–346.
• Gunitskiy, Vsevolod (2011). From Shocks to Waves: Hegemonic Transitions and Democratization in the Twentieth Century. Columbia University.
• Chanamé, Raúl (2021). La República Inconclusa (5 ed.). Lima: Fondo Editorial Cultura Peruana. ISBN 978-612-4182-35-8.
• Villanueva, Victor; Crabtree, Peter (Summer 1977). "The Petty-Bourgeois Ideology of the Peruvian Aprista Party". Latin American Perspectives. 4 (3).
• González, Eduardo (1994). "La derecha latinoamericana en busca de un modelo fascista: la limitada influencia del falangismo en el Perú (1936-1945)" (PDF). Revista Complutense de Historia de América. 20. Madrid: Editorial Complutense.
• Young, Ron (2006). "Peru". In Blamires, Cyprian P. (ed.). World fascism: a historical encyclopedia. California: ABC-CLIO, Inc. ISBN 1-57607-940-6.
• Haya de la Torre, Agustín (2005). "La difícil construcción de la comunidad política" (PDF). Investigaciones Sociales. 15. Lima: National University of San Marcos: 201–233.
• Vargas Murillo, Alfonso (2017). "Los Orígenes del Sanchezcerrismo en Tacna (1931-1934)" [Sanchezcerrismo's Origins in Tacna (1931 - 1934)]. La Vida & la Historia. 4 (6): 54–65.
• Ciccarelli, Orazio (1990). "Fascism and Politics in Peru during the Benavides Regime, 1933-39: The Italian Perspective". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 70 (3): 405–432. doi:10.2307/2516615.
• Payne, Stanley G. (2003). "Fascism Outside Europe?". A History of Fascism 1914–1945. Routledge. ISBN 0-203-50132-2.

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