“If Mao Were Argentine, He Would Be a Peronist”: A First Approach to the Positions of Perón and Peronism towards Mao Zedong (1949-1975)

Peronism and Maoism have attracted extensive scholarly attention over the decades. While anchored in different national realities –Argentina and China respectively–the interest in their connections seems to have been prompted, amongst other reasons, by the fact that they are political expressions that emerged from the Third World and by the fact that Argentina experienced considerable Maoist presence and influence during the 1960s and 1970s. In this article, we propose a first systematization exploring the range of positions that Juan Domingo Perón and various sectors of the Peronist movement held toward the leader of the People’s Republic of China between 1949 and 1975. We examine the changes that occurred in these positions and analyze the dialogue they implied with national and international contexts at each historical moment.