SOCIAL CONFLICT AND POLITICAL CONFLICT IN ARGENTINA'S LIBERAL AGE: THE PORT STRIKE OF 1902 AND THE PASSING OF THE RESIDENCE LAW

This paper analyses the November 1902 port strike and the passing of the Residence Law. Traditionally, these events have been depicted as a result of the clash between the rising power of organised labour and Argentina's rigid, oligarchical political order. This article suggests that in order to fully understand these events, social conflicts have to be placed within the framework of larger and more relevant disputes among the political & eacute;lites. The paper also suggests that the workers' open rejection of the Residence Law was a product of their integration, not their alienation, into the fin -de -siecle socio-political order. In sum, analysis of the 1902 crisis helps us to revise deeply rooted ideas about the nature and political orientation of the workers' organizations, the place of workers in the oligarchic political order, and the way in which the ruling class dealt with popular demands.