Bolivian Regime Kills Land Reform

Juan Rey

Labor Action, 18th August, 1952

[...] Of course, I had been quite certain, on the basis of theoretical principles, that the “democratic revolution” was not to be expected [contrary to the Stalinist teachings of the PIR, the Stalinist party, and the semi-Stalinist theory of the “Trotskyist” POR]. But I should like to have been proved wrong; I should like to have seen a minimum of reforms carried through in the country; I should like to have seen that, despite my criticisms, the “Trotskyist” POR was doing a little revolutionary work.

Social Convulsions

Nothing of the sort is going on in Bolivia. The country is suffering social convulsions, civil wars and a coup d’etat, because the feudal structure is absolutely obsolete. The masses of workers and peasants want a social revolution, and for many years they have listened to the revolutionary Marxist doctrine of the “left” parties, even if in the distorted forms supplied by the Stalinists and reformists. But the “left” Stalinist or Trotskyist parties are incapable of conquering power, because of the international counter-revolution which centres in Moscow, and because of the imperialist supremacy of the United States.

Therefore, as a consequence of the bankruptcy of the traditional right wing parties, the Nationalist party came to power, and it must give lip – service to the revolution so as to get the ear of the masses. The real necessity for social revolution in Bolivia is replaced by social demagogy, by empty phraseology, by charlatanry, because the petty bourgeoisie is not only incapable of achieving the national revolution but even of any progressive democratic reforms – above all, the distribution of the land to the Indian peasants, the emancipation of the Indians, and their real incorporation into the economic and political life of the country.

The “Trotskyist” POR also speaks in empty revolutionary phrases about the “workers’ revolution” of April 9th, about the fight between the “left” and “right” wings of the Nationalist party, and about the “revolutionary maturity of the Bolivian proletariat” – while trade union elements protest against the “Jewish oppressors’ class” and demand “freedom of pogroms”. And this is against a few Jewish small industrialists, owners of little factories – this is the “maturity” of the Bolivian proletariat, which entirely backs the Nationalist party while the Trotskyist POR backs not only the “left wing” of the MNR led by Lechin, but also the government of Paz Estenssoro.

Unstable

The “Indian Day” was, in fact, the mobilization of the Nationalist reaction against the working class of Bolivia and their aspirations towards social revolution. The regime is very unstable, and an incident embroiling the military and the police can be the occasion for a new coup d’etat. Paz Estenssoro is threatened by the police forces, which want more power – that is, a police dictatorship – and he looks for support from the workers against the police, and from the peasants against the workers. And yet the naive POR believes that Paz Estenssoro is against the Nationalist right wing and for the “national revolution”.

We repeat that Bolivia needs a social revolution, but, because of international reaction and the incapacity of the petty bourgeoisie for revolutionary action, the country is living through an empty revolutionary farce, an imitation of the social revolution, under the Nationalist party, which is incapable of any progressive reforms.

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