An Ideology of Modernization: The Case of the Bolivian MNR

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Miami is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Inter-American Studies. AN IDEOLOGY OF MODERNIZATIONThe Case of the Bolivian MNR he coming to power of the Bolivian National Revolutionary Movement (Movimento Nacionalista Revolucionario-MNR) marks a major break in Bolivia's continuity of development, a major recasting of her social order. As a result of the 1952 Revolution the political and economic power of the traditional elite, which rested upon its ownership and control of most of the nation's land and natural resources, was substantially eliminated; power passed into the hands of new groups, including an emerging middle class, which was primarily responsible for the 1952 Revolution, and the Indian population, which for the first time acquired a considerable measure of economic independence and the opportunity to participate in national politics.The reformation of Bolivian society was primarily the result of three reforms carried out by the MNR after it achieved power: (1) universal suffrage, which extended the electorate from approximately 200,000 to 1,600,000; (2) nationalization of the Patinio, Aramayo, and Hochschild mining enterprises, Bolivia's primary source of export trade, and (3) agrarian reform, which by 1962 resulted in the distribution of over ten million acres, the land of 5,515 large estates, to 126,000 families. JOURNAL OF INTER-AMERICAN STUDIESRevolution that these reforms are now in principle supported by all of the major Bolivian political parties.The history of the MNR prior to 1952, especially the party's ideology, is a subject of vigorous and continuing controversy. Alberto Ostria Gutierrez stresses the alleged anti-democratic origins of the MNR, its pro-Nazi orientation during the 1940's, and its alliance with the Bolivian Communist Party in the presidential election of 1951.2 Robert Alexander, on the other hand, emphasizes the commitment of the MNR leadership to a democratic, reformist ideology, and largely dismisses the influence of fascism.8The attitude of the United States government toward the MNR has varied radically. During World War II the U.S. stigmatized the MNR as a Nazi-oriented, Nazi-supported group, and the American Republics (with the exception of Argentina) refused to recognize the Villarroel government, which came to power in December of 1943 with the support of the MNR, until all of the MNR leaders holding high positions in the government were purged. Ten years later the U.S. Department of State described the MNR as "Marxist rather than Communist," and launched a massive program of economic assistance in order "to prevent displacement by more r...

Claiming belonging, constructing social spaces: Citizenship practices in an Afro-Bolivian town

“…According to this new interpretation, rather than muddling the boundaries necessary for the maintenance of a clear social order, the mixing of Indian and white races would combine the best characteristics of both and produce a new, modern national character. The goal was to create a third, uniquely Bolivian, racial type, homogenous enough that it would serve as the basis for a uniform Bolivian nation, sufficiently white as to be modern, and yet still rooted to a (national) place (Gildner, 2012; Sanjines, 2004; Weston, 1968). The Yungas region of La Paz – home to my research site, the town of Chicaloma – with its large Afro-Bolivian population, fits awkwardly into this national discourse, and the presence of Afro-Bolivians has usually been ignored or treated as a local anomaly.…”