Juan Bautista Alberdi

Alberdi, Juan Bautista 

Born Aug. 29, 1810, inTukumán; died June 18,1884, in Paris. Argentinian political figure.

He was one of the founders of the secret society Young Argentina (1838, Buenos Aires), the aim of which was to overthrow the Rosas tyranny. He lived abroad in exile from 1839 to 1852. After the Rosas dictatorship fell (1852), he worked in the diplomatic service for many years. In his chief work Bases and Points of Departure for the Political Organization of the Argentinian Republic (1852), Alberdi expressed the desire of democratic groups for the establishment of a broadly representative federal democratic republic in Argentina. In his book The Crime of War (Russian translation, 1960) Alberdi condemned war as a criminal offense and argued for the responsibility of a government for unleashing war. Condemning the principles of aggression and force in the mutual relations of states, Alberdi criticized the Monroe Doctrine. Alberdi’s economic works contain remarkable conjectures on the inevitability of economic crises under capitalism, surplus value, and the reign of labor in the future.

WORKS

Obras completas, vol. 1–8. Buenos Aires, 1886–87.
Escritos postumos, vols. 1–16. Buenos Aires, 1895–1905.

REFERENCES

Rojas Paz, P., Alberdi, el ciudadano de la Soledad, [2nded.]. Buenos
Aires [1945]. Popolizio, E. Alberdi. Buenos Aires [1947].

V. I. ERMOLAEV