Red October Historical Materialism Book Series
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Red October Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen, Paris – Steve Edwards, London Marcel van der Linden, Amsterdam Peter Thomas, London VOLUME 29 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/hm Red October Left-Indigenous Struggles in Modern Bolivia By Jeffery R. Webber LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Webber, Jeffery R. Red October : left-indigenous struggles in modern Bolivia / by Jeffery R. Webber. p. cm. – (Historical materialism book series ; v. 29) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-20155-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Social movements – Bolivia. 2. Social change – Bolivia. 3. Social conflict – Boliva. 4. Indians of South America – Bolivia – Politics and government. 5. Indians of South America – Bolivia – Government relations. 6. Peasants – Political activity – Bolivia. 7. Bolivia – Politics and government – 21st century. 8. Right and left (Political science) – Bolivia. I. Title. II. Series. HN273.5.W44 2011 303.48’408998084 – dc22 2011012999 ISSN 1570-1522 ISBN 978 90 04 20155 2 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. For Tieneke, and my parents, Roger and Elaine Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... xiii Acronyms ........................................................................................................ xix Chapter One Politics of Indigenous Resistance and Class-Struggle .... 1 1.1 Social-movement theory ................................................................. 3 1.2 Liberal institutionalism and neoliberal multiculturalism ......... 11 1.3 Working classes as historical formations ..................................... 16 1.4 Infrastructure of class-struggle ..................................................... 19 1.5 Social-movement unionism ........................................................... 21 1.6 Defining ethnicity and what it means to be indigenous in Bolivia ............................................................................................... 21 1.7 Popular cultures of resistance and opposition ............................ 24 1.8 Combined-oppositional consciousness ........................................ 27 1.9 Neoliberalism ................................................................................... 30 1.10 The state, crisis, and repression ..................................................... 33 1.11 Structure of the book ...................................................................... 36 Chapter Two Indigenous Insurgency, Working-Class Struggle, and Popular Cultures of Resistance and Opposition, 1781–1964 .................... 37 2.1 Late colonialism and early republicanism: silver-capital, the state, and indigenous rebellion ..................................................... 38 2.2 The Federalist War of 1899 and early twentieth century ........... 44 2.2.1 Tin-capital, working-class formation, and indigenous- socialist alliances, 1900–32 .................................................. 46 2.2.2 Racial ideologies of the ruling class .................................. 47 2.2.3 The labour-movement ......................................................... 48 2.2.4 Indigenous-peasant resistance: the Chayanta Rebellion, 1927 ...................................................................... 51 viii • Contents 2.3 The Chaco War, left-party formation, revolutionary workers, and indigenous rebels (1932–52) .................................................... 52 2.3.1 The Great Depression and the Chaco War ....................... 52 2.3.2 Military socialism ................................................................. 53 2.3.3 The MNR and radical-left parties ...................................... 55 2.3.4 Working-class formation ..................................................... 59 2.3.5 Indigenous resistance: the 1945 National Indigenous Congress and the 1947 uprisings ....................................... 62 2.4 National Revolution, 1952–64 ........................................................ 65 2.4.1 The legacies of revolutionary nationalism ....................... 65 2.4.2 Developmental capitalism – a nationalist-populist régime of accumulation ....................................................... 67 2.4.3 The revolution moves rightwards ..................................... 68 2.4.4 The working class, 1952–64 ................................................. 70 2.4.5 The indigenous peasantry, 1952–64 ................................... 73 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 75 Chapter Three Authoritarianism, Democracy, and Popular Struggle, 1964–85 ............................................................................................................. 77 3.1 The legacies of Barrientos ............................................................... 79 3.1.1 The working class, 1964–71 ................................................. 81 3.1.2 The Asamblea Popular, 1971 .............................................. 85 3.1.3 The indigenous peasantry, 1964–71 ................................... 87 3.2 Political economy of Hugo Bánzer’s dictatorship, 1971–8 ......... 90 3.2.1 Santa Cruz and the new bourgeoisie ................................ 93 3.2.2 The working class, 1971–8 ................................................... 95 3.2.3 The indigenous peasantry, 1971–8 ..................................... 98 3.3 The struggle for democracy, 1978–82 ............................................ 103 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 110 Chapter Four Neoliberal Counter-Revolution, 1985–2000 .................... 113 4.1 From state-led developmentalism to neoliberalism ................... 115 4.1.1 Privatisation of the tin-mines ............................................. 118 4.1.2 The new world of labour .................................................... 120 4.1.3 Formation of the cocaleros’ movement ............................... 124 4.1.4 Formation of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) ....... 128 Contents • ix 4.1.5 Other indigenous-peasant struggle in the late-1980s ...... 130 4.1.6 The Acuerdo Patriótico .......................................................... 134 4.2 State-multiculturalism and Phase II of neoliberal restructuring, 1993–2000 .................................................................. 135 4.3 Privatisation ....................................................................................... 139 4.3.1 Natural gas ............................................................................. 139 4.3.2 Cochabamba’s water ............................................................ 141 4.4 Recession and state-crisis at the end of the 1990s ......................... 142 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 145 Chapter Five Left-Indigenous Insurrectionary Cycle, 2000–3 .............. 147 5.1 The Cochabamba Water-War, 2000 ................................................ 148 5.1.1 Usos y costumbres and oppositional consciousness .......... 148 5.1.2 Infrastructure of class-struggle ........................................... 150 5.1.3 Three battles and state-crisis ............................................... 157 5.2 The insurrectionary Aymara peasantry ......................................... 162 5.2.1 The CSUTCB and rural infrastructure of class-struggle ......................................................................... 163 5.2.2 Blocking roads: April, September–October 2000 and June–July 2001 ....................................................................... 168 5.2.3 Popular cultures of resistance and oppositional consciousness – Aymara radicalism ................................... 172 5.3 The 12–13 February 2003 Impuestazo ............................................... 177 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 181 Chapter Six Red October: Gas-War, 2003 ................................................ 184 6.1 A portrait of El Alto ......................................................................... 187 6.1.1 A city of migrant-labourers ................................................. 187 6.1.2 El Alto’s working classes as historical formations ........... 189 6.1.3 Popular cultures of resistance and opposition ................. 192 6.2 El Alto’s infrastructure of class-struggle ....................................... 196 6.2.1 FEJUVE-El Alto ..................................................................... 198 6.2.2 COR-El Alto ..........................................................................