Julio Irazusta

Julio Alberto Gustavo Irazusta (23 July 1899 – 5 May 1982) was an Argentine writer and politician who was one of the leading lights of the nacionalista movement of the 1920s and 1930s. He collaborated closely with his older brother Rodolfo Irazusta throughout his career.

Early years Irazusta was born close to the Rincon del Cura area of Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos into a family noted for its support of radical politics.

Move to the right From 1923 to 1927 Irazusta travelled extensively in western Europe. During his time in the United Kingdom he studied Latin and philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford. Such was his opposition to socialism that he argued a civil war would be preferable to a left-wing government in Argentina.

In 1929 he joined his brother, Palacio and Juan Carulla in establishing the Liga Republicana, a group that sought the establishment of an authoritarian conservative regime under the leadership of military strongman General José Félix Uriburu. He was an admirer of Adolf Hitler, describing him as "an eminently sensible man, the complete opposite of the intolerant and presumptuous megalomaniac that his detractors paint him as".

The brothers' best known work was their 1934 book Argentina y el imperialismo británico: Los eslabones de una cadena 1806-1833 which accused the United Kingdom, which had supported Argentina in its attempts to gain independence from Spain, of doing so for ulterior motives i.e. opening up new trade markets and ensuring that the newly independent state would have to rely on them for loans. The book was central to their nationalist, corporatist vision, although it has subsequently become a standard for both left and right. It also played a pivotal role in the development of Argentine claims to the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands by suggesting that taking the Falkland Islands was one of the ways in which the UK had exploited Argentina.

Rosas scholarship Becoming more involved in academic scholarship after 1935, Julio Irazusta wrote and lectured extensively on Juan Manuel de Rosas who was the subject of revisionism from the far right from 1930, when a hagiographical biography by Carlos Ibarguren appeared, resulting in Rosas being characterised as a model of leadership. Irazusta believed that Rosas was the last great Argentine statesman and he became noted as an expert on Rosas, editing four volumes of his political papers between 1941 and 1950. whilst in 1940 he established a new journal, Nuevo Orden, with his brother. Irazusta's 1956 work, Peron y la Crisis Argentine, was a diatribe against Peron, accusing him of breaking with Argentine political traditions by following a pro-British policy. With Rodolfo he established another political party, the Republican Union, in 1955 but by this time he had lost interest in the political arena and concentrated on writing instead.

He published his Memorias in 1975 and retired to his home town of Gualeguaychú, where he died in 1982.