Sosism (Spanish:Sosismo) was a short-livedcorporatist political movement in Uruguay, led byJulio María Sosa.
The movement was one of the threeColorado factions that opposedJosé Batlle y Ordóñez and tried to realign the party to theright-wing position along withRiverism andVierism.[1]
Sosists ran for the elections under the name of "Colorado Party for Tradition" (Spanish:Partido Colorado por la Tradición"). They directed the "La Razón" newspaper inMontevideo[2] and "La Cruzada" inTreinta y Tres.[3] The movement was also known as "Traditionalism" (Spanish:Tradicionalismo).[4]
Sosism was deeply influenced byclassical fascism, as Sosa was an outspoken supporter of the Italian corporate state.[2]
Sosists were favourable tolabour rights and criticised political opposers as reactionaries or conservatives. Despite their authoritarian positions, sosists saw themselves as defenders of "progress".[3]
Sosa was in favour of astate corporatist regime, as well as of the abolition of the presidency and its replacement by adirectorial system.
The sosist newspaper "La Razón" stated in 1928:[2]
The general conviction is beginning to spread that Parliaments are only instruments of purely electoral interests, of bureaucratic designations, conducive to greed and the predominance of mediocrity (…) The system of government must be transformed. It is necessary to consider the country's main interests (...) The livestock industry, the agricultural industry, the manufacturing industries, the intellectual classes must have their own representation in the positions of authority. The Parliament must be an organ of useful energies and not of adventitious conveniences. All modern politics is economic policy. Economic factors dominate the world, in international relations and in relationships within every country.[2]
Sosism vindicated theDefense Government and the historical actions of Coloradocaudillos such asJoaquín Suárez orVenancio Flores. Nevertheless, the movement was deeply critical of theCatholic Church and of theupper class. Sosism also had a belligerent rhetoric towards riverists andblancos.[3]
Julio María Sosa had originally been a radical batllist. His service at theNational Council of Administration, however, got him close to entrepreneurial figures and landowners who influenced his political beliefs. Sosa initially drifted towardsclassical liberalism during the 1920s decade, similarly to riverist opposers to Batlle y Ordóñez, and founded his own faction (the Colorado Party for Tradition) as a way to distance himself from reformism. After coming into contact with authoritarian ideas, Sosa became a supporter of Italian fascism.[2]
This corporatist shift of originally liberal-conservative politicians has been seen as a consequence of the economic crisis the country was suffering, as well as the rampant political corruption and inefficiency in the country.[2]
Due to his widespread prestige, many batllists supported Sosa's presidential candidacy, but the rejection of the project by Batlle y Ordóñez definitively vetoed the project. This led Sosa to separate completely from batllism and the Colorado Party in order to run for the presidential elections by himself, but failed and was not elected.[5]
The movement split from batllism in 1926 and published a manifesto in 1927.[6] Sosists added a project for a corporatist constitutional reform to their party platform in 1928.[7]
Julio María Sosa died in 1931, and the leadership of the faction was assumed by deputy Alberto Mañé Algorta. Mañé supported Gabriel Terra's candidacy and served as minister during his government.[8] Later sosists would afterwards support the 1933 coup d'état and the subsequentMarzist regime.[1]
