Rebellion in Patagonia. Osvaldo Bayer

he was facing one of the most dangerous offensives against the labor organization: internal division. Between the victorious conclusion of the first strike and the coming tragedy, Soto must wage a relentless struggle against the union leaders sent from Buenos Aires by the syndicalist FORA and against a faction of workers that have broken away from the Workers’ Society to organize non-aligned unions.

      The mighty are delighted by this split in the Río Gallegos labor movement and they encourage this sectarianism as best they can. At the beginning of April 1921, La Unión prints an exultant article titled nothing less than “Signs of Backlash”:

      Some unionized workers in Río Gallegos have decided to form an independent organization, allowing them to more spontaneously make decisions that serve their own interests in the trade union struggles in which they are engaged.

      The first group to leave the Workers’ Society is the printers’ union, led by Amador González, whose disagreements with Soto we have already seen. To raise funds for their union they organize a festival, which is promoted in the conservative newspaper. This same newspaper will later run a story on the event, describing it as:

      An enjoyable party that has proven to be a great success, judging by attendance, and whose eminently humanitarian purpose is a faithful reflection of the societal ideal that this union is pursuing through its honorable independence from the systematized tyranny currently observed in many other unions. This attitude can be seen in their statement of principles, which speaks with measured eloquence on the standards that must be met by the new organization, which has already won some concessions and which subscribes to the principle of harmony and concord between workers and bosses.

      The good workers, in other words. The launch of a “free” trade union triggered the first split from the anarchists of the Workers’ Society. The bosses have high hopes: they see the free trade unions as a way to put the rebels in check. As La Unión writes, “the attitude of the printers will soon spread to many other unions once we can objectively appreciate the results of their efforts.”