History
Julio Alberto Irazusta
(Gualeguaychú, 1899-1982)
Was a hero of Argentinian intelligence and politics. Moreover, he was a nationalist guidance journalist who cooperate closely with his brother: Rodolfo Irazusta. In 1922, he graduated as a lawyer in the lawschool of Buenos Aires. Betweeen 1923 and 1927, Irazusta travelled through Europe, where he could studied Latin and Philosophy.
Back to Argentina, he devoted himslef to journalism and political activism. He also cooperated in the first place, in the magazine Criterio and then, along with his brother Rodolfo, in La Nueva República, funded in 1927, according to the model of Acción Francesa. This is how, since the late 1920s, professed his undemocratic and nationalisc opinions openly, criticizing progressive idiologies, resulting from the French Revolution and and Bolshevism.
Starting in the mid 1930s, Julio Irazusta showed an intense activity as essayist and political historiographer, publishing many books and journal articles and, particularly, becoming in one of the leaders of the school of historial revisionism. In the early 1970s, Irazusta was elected as a member of the National Academy of Argentina. In that moment, aided the extreme right magazine Cabildo, which was a fervent supporter of the military dictatorship (1976-1983).
Irazusta not only did not bow to the Peronista regime, but also he accused it of being “presudo-nationalism”, claiming that it was a facist version of the former subervient regime.
He got married in 1960s with the educator Mercedes Aguilar Vidart de Irazusta (1924 -1993) born in the same province and 25 years younger than him, whom supported all the initiatives, especially the ones related to special education, thanks to her interpersonal skills en the cultural and academic field. During the lasts years of his life, he lived in “Las Casuarinas”, which is a farm of almost four thousand hectare where wheat and flax was produced. He wrote some pieces of his work there and libreary.
He died on may, 5 of 1982, when the Malvinas deed had begun. His remains rest in the Gualeguaychú’s north cementery, in the pantheon of the family.