Acción socialista: publicación quincenal [Socialist action: a bi-weekly publication], nos. 1–19 (all published)

Buenos Aires: Editorial Marinoni, 1919–1920. Octavos (18.2 × 13.6 cm). Somewhat later leather boards; all original illlustrated front and rear wrappers bound in; most issues 30–36 pp. Restoration to binding; some toning and light soiling throughout; overall about very good. A complete run in nineteen issues of the short-lived Argentinian socialist journal, published from July 1919 through April 1920. Each issue features a single longer essay or text on social, political, and economic issues. The first issue presents the Spanish translation of the "Communist Manifesto" ("Manifiesto del Partido Comunista"). Other texts include: "Los Instigadores" by Filippo (truncated) Turati; "La Acción Económica de la Clase Trabajadora" by Juan B. Justo; "Salario Minimo y Trato Colectivo de Trabajo" by Dr. Enrique del Valle Iberlucea; "La Carestia de la Vida" by Dr. Nicolas Repetto; "Revolución Invariable y Eterna" by Enrique Villarreal; "El Socialismo y el Problema Militar" by Dr. Antonio de Tomaso; "Sindicalismo y Anarquismo" by Robert Hunter; "La Religion del Capital" by Pablo Lafargue; and "Socialismo y Libertad" by Juan Juarés.

The translation of the "Communist Manifesto" is the first translation, by José Mesa, which was first published in Madrid in 1872 in six issues of the newspaper "La Emancipación". A second translation by Rafael Ormaechea (1876–1938) was published in 1906, also in Madrid. Marx's foundational work "Das Kapital" was not published in Latin America until 1918, in a translation by the leading Argentine socialist politician Juan B. Justo (one of the volumes contains works by him). The present publication of the "Communist Manifesto" is one of the earliest stand-alone editions of the full text of the Manifesto in Latin America. The Mexican socialist newspaper "El Socialista" printed a translation by Juan Mata Rivera in 1884. Other publications came much later. For instance, the first Chilean edition did not appear until 1931 (see Horacio Tarcus, El Manifiesto comunista en Chile: circulación y edición).

The Partido Comunista de la Argentina (PC) was founded on January 6, 1918, initially with the name International Socialist Party. Almost immediately the PC aligned with and supported the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, including during its Stalinist era, earning criticism from other leftist political groups. The PC Second National Congress was held in May 1919, two months before publication of Acción Socialista began.

Scarce; as of February 2023, OCLC locates only holding in North America, of only one single issue. (Inventory #: 51759)