Transnationalizing the Guatemalan Spring: From Argentine Krausismo to Spiritual Socialism, 1916–63

President of Guatemala from 1945-1951, Juan José Arévalo, the reformist predecessor of Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, developed a political philosophy he called “spiritual socialism,” which perplexed U.S. officials and has been characterized as esoteric, unique, or imitative of the New Deal.  Drawing on Arévalo’s writings and archival research in several countries, this paper finds Arévalo’s ideology was grounded in the political philosophical ideas of the 19^th century German legal philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, as translated by Spanish Republicans, which Arévalo had absorbed during his long years in Argentina.  Krausismo was a Latin American interpretation of Krause’s thought seeking actionable ideas for fostering a non-hierarchical society that could harmonize antagonistic forces for the greater good while preserving liberty and peace among nations, calling not for the atomized existence produced by liberal individualism, but for social solidarity.  Once he returned to head Guatemala’s democratic revolution in 1944, Arévalo implemented krausist ideas, advocating a form of democratic socialism to empower workers through social welfare, enfranchisement, popular education, and labor rights, while recognizing private property rights within the national interest. He championed a transnational anti-imperialism in books like The Shark and the Sardines and through his political work in exile.  By 1963, when Arévalo prepared to return to Guatemala to run again for the presidency, declassified documents show that Kennedy green-lighted another coup to prevent Arévalo from winning the election the CIA predicted he would win by a landslide.  As the path not taken (in part because it was twice thwarted by the United States), spiritual socialism may have offered a third way between revolutionary class struggle and military authoritarianism, one deeply rooted in Latin American philosophy, envisioning a harmonious nationalism grounded in ethical relationships.