The Justicialist Party is a Peronist political party in Argentina that was founded by Juan and Eva Peron on 21 November 1946. The party supported Peron's brand of populism, and it consistently held the support of the trade union movement in the country. Peron ordered the mass nationalization of public services, strategic industries, and the farm export sector, while enacting progressive labor laws and social reforms and investing in public works. The party was supported by the working and lower classes due to its populist views, and its alienation of the upper and middle classes and its loss of support from the Catholic Church led to Peron's overthrow in a 1955 coup. During Peron's exile, the party became a big tent party united only by its desire to see Peron return to power. The PJ had a place for both the communist Montoneros and the anti-communist Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, and the party developed large left and right wings. During the 1970s, hundreds of Peronists were killed by the United States-backed military dictatorship. During Carlos Menem's presidency (1989-1999), the Justicialist Party's right-wing held power, liberalizing the economy. In 2003, Nestor Kirchner and the left-wing of the party took control of Argentina, turning around the party's former, rabid anti-communist and economic liberal views. The party's views mixed socialism, left-wing nationalism, and radicalism.
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