Red October : left-indigenous struggles in modern Bolivia

400 Pages·2011·3.212 MB·English

by  Webber, Jeffery R

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,
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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 ........................................................................... 199
6.2.3 Dialectics of popular power ................................................ 200
6.3 Infrastructure of the formal working-class and
social-movement unionism ............................................................. 203
x • Contents
6.4 Narrative of the Gas-War: dialectics of state-repression and
mass-radicalisation ........................................................................... 204
6.4.1 Indigenous-peasant revolt and urban tremors in
September .............................................................................. 212
6.4.2 The collective frame of gas .................................................. 214
6.4.3 State-massacre in Warisata and the radicalisation of
left-indigenous struggle ....................................................... 216
6.4.4 The formal working class steps in ...................................... 219
6.5 ¡El Alto de pie! El Alto on its feet! Democratic insurgency,
state-repression, and élite-fractures ............................................... 220
6.6 Middle-class moment: Goni’s resignation ..................................... 224
Conclusion .................................................................................................. 227
Chapter Seven Carlos Mesa and a Divided Country: Left-Indigenous
and Eastern-Bourgeois Blocs in the Second Gas-War of May and
June 2005 .......................................................................................................... 229
7.1 Carlos Mesa and a divided country: left-indigenous and
eastern-bourgeois blocs .................................................................... 231
7.2 Nationalisation-frame, class-infrastructure, repertoir of
contention ........................................................................................... 238
7.2.1 The collective frame of gas-nationalisation ....................... 238
7.2.2 Infrastructure of class-struggle and the left-indigenous
bloc .......................................................................................... 240
7.2.3 Repertoires of contention ..................................................... 240
7.3 Narrative of the May–June Gas-War ............................................. 241
7.3.1 Tensions mounts in early May ............................................ 241
7.3.2 Élite-ruptures ......................................................................... 243
7.3.3 Moderates and radicals ........................................................ 244
7.4 The Second Gas-War begins: the marches of 16 May .................. 245
7.4.1 The absence of lethal state-repression and further
élite-ruptures ......................................................................... 247
7.5 The new hydrocarbons-law ............................................................. 248
7.5.1 Left-indigenous bloc responds to new hydrocarbons-
law ........................................................................................... 249
7.5.2 Revolutionary consciousness grows within
left-indigenous bloc .............................................................. 251