Ricardo Rojas and the Fate of Proscription: Liberalism and Democracy in the 1930s.

The present article seeks to highlight the concept of "proscription" within the works of Argentine intellectual Ricardo Rojas, fostering a dialog between liberalism and democracy. The concept of proscription, though recurrently visible in political speeches of Rojas from the democratic breakdown of 1930, recalls the volume "Los proscriptos" of his book Historia de la literatura argentina, in which he analysed the works of the exiled intellectuals during the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas. This article is divided into three parts. Firstly, we replenish the interpretation of Rosist period, emphasizing the analogy Rojas establishes between that historical moment and his present. Secondly, we recover the participation of Rojas in the Radical Civic Union and his interpretation of the political situation in terms of the proscription the party suffered. Thirdly, we restore the proposal of Rojas for a social democracy, arisen as a reply to the new reality of the twentieth century. We conclude stating that Rojas strains the classic doctrines of liberalism and that the linkage between liberalism and democracy within his works enables us to discuss the common idea of a disagreement between both traditions in the Rio de la Plata.