Workers' Control in Latin America, 1930-1979

by Jonathan C. Brown (Editor)

Overview

The years between 1930 and 1979 witnessed a period of intense labor activity in Latin America as workers participated in strikes, unionization efforts, and populist and revolutionary movements. The ten original essays AEMDNMOin this volume examine sugar mill seizures in Cuba, oil nationalization and railway strikes in Mexico, the attempted revolution in Guatemala, railway nationalization and Peronism in Argentina, Brazil's textile strikes, the Bolivian revolution of 1952, Peru's copper strikes, and the copper nationalization in Chile--all important national events in which industrial laborers played critical roles. Demonstrating an illuminating, bottom-up approach to Latin American labor history, these essays investigate the everyday acts through which workers attempted to assert more control over the work process and thereby add dignity to their lives. Working together, they were able to bring shop floor struggles to public attention and--at certain critical junctures--to influence events on a national scale. The contributors are Andrew Boeger, Michael Marconi Braga, Jonathan C. Brown, Josh DeWind, Marc Christian McLeod, Michael Snodgrass, Andrea Spears, Joanna Swanger, Maria Celina Tuozzo, and Joel Wolfe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807860595
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/09/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	344
Lexile:	1430L (what's this?)
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Jonathan C. Brown teaches Latin American history at the University of Texas at Austin. He is author of Oil and Revolution in Mexico and the prizewinning A Socioeconomic History of Argentina.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface
Introduction. What Is Workers' Control? / Jonathan C. Brown
1. To Relieve the Misery: Sugar Mill Workers and the 1933 Cuban Revolution / Michael Marconi Braga
2. Acting for Themselves: Workers and the Mexican Oil Nationalization / Jonathan C. Brown
3. Rehabilitating the Workers: The U.S. Railway Mission to Mexico / Andrea Spears
4. Maintaining Unity: Railway Workers and the Guatemalan Revolution / Marc Christian McLeod
5. As You Sow, So Shall You Reap: Argentine Labor and the Railway Nationalization / María Celina Tuozzo
6. Topics Not Suitable for Propaganda: Working-Class Resistance under Peronism / Michael Snodgrass
7. There Should Be Dignity: São Paulo's Women Textile Workers and the "Strike of 300,000" / Joel Wolfe
8. Struggling for Emancipation: Tungsten Miners and the Bolivian Revolution / Andrew Boeger
9. Continuing to Be Peasants: Union Militancy among Peruvian Miners / Josh DeWind
10. Defending the Nation's Interest: Chilean Miners and the Copper Nationalization / Joanna Swanger
Conclusion. Workers' Control in Latin America / Jonathan C. Brown
Selective Bibliography of Twentieth-Century Latin American Labor History
Notes on the Contributors
Index

Illustrations
Plowing a field for sugarcane in Cuba, 1928
Mexican workers drilling an oil well, 1938
Mexican workers cleaning up following a train wreck, 1946
A Mexican engine crew on the National Railways, ca. 1946
Guatemalan railway workers on strike, 1951
Argentine railway workers, ca. 1948
Striking Argentine workers, 1951
Middle-class opponents celebrating the fall of Perón, 1955
Miners sharing coca and camaraderie underground at the Chojlla mine, 1992
Peruvian miners' poster calling for nationalization of American mines, 1971
Chilean workers refining copper at the El Teniente mine, 1964

Maps
1. The Rionda Company sugar mills in Cuba, 1933
2. The oil fields and railways of Mexico, 1940
3. The railways and ports of Guatemala, 1952
4. Major railways of Argentina, 1948
5. São Paulo state, Brazil, 1953
6. The Chojlla Tungsten Mine of Bolivia, 1952
7. The Cerro de Pasco Mining Corporation of Peru, 1968
8. The copper mines of Chile, 1970

Figures
1. Labor Strikes in Mexico, 1930-1979
2. Labor Strikes in Argentina, 1930-1979
3. Labor Strikes in Brazil and Chile, 1930-1979
4. Value of Cuban Sugar Harvest, 1915-1938

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Affirms its contributors' belief in the ability of working people to overcome setbacks and repression, and quite rightly draws our attention to historical patterns of resistance to underline the importance of workplace struggles in our neoliberal age.—Labour History Review

These essays provide a touchstone for evaluating the trajectories and fates of national capitalist experiments in Latin America.—International Labor and Working Class History

Demonstrate[s] a profound sensitivity and deep understanding of workers' day to day concerns, the nuances of their political philosophies, and the goals of their collective actions. No one has done a better job in recapturing the authentic voices of rank and file workers; no one has done more to place workers' struggles into the larger historical narrative.—The Americas

Fascinating reading, . . . essential for all scholars of Latin American workers' movements.—Labor History

An excellent work in all categories, a book for scholars or general students and for anyone interested in the social issues of Latin America.—Choice

Contributors to this volume have uncovered new information on workers' pivotal political role in the histories of a wide range of Latin American countries.—Charles Bergquist, University of Washington

At a time when the Latin American labor movement is at a low ebb, Workers' Control in Latin America offers a rich reminder of the scope, variety, and vicissitudes of Latin American labor during a crucial period of political and economic change: from the onset of the Great Depression to the twilight of the internal development model (desarrollo hacia adentro) in the late 1970s. The book ranges more widely than 'workers' control' in the strict sense; it deals with strikes and shop floor demands, political mobilization, and questions of gender, ideology, social control, and foreign relations. It also embraces eight countries (Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Chile, Peru, Argentina) and five major industries (mining, textiles, railroads, oil, and sugar). Maps, tables, and illustrations enhance the chapters which, deeply researched and engagingly written, offer a perceptive analysis of the 'lives of labor,' combining grassroots ('subaltern') perspectives with due regard for macro-political and -economic contexts. The book—which successfully blends the work of established scholars with that of a generation of young labor historians—will be essential reading for those interested in comparative labor studies and Latin American social and political history in general. And it stands as a salutary testimony to a diverse labor movement possessed of a rich, often radical, and surely unfinished history.—Alan Knight, Latin American Centre, St. Antony's College

Editorial Reviews

[E]ssential for all scholars of Latin American workers movements.

"Labor History"

[R]ightly draws our attention to historical patterns of resistance to underline the importance of workplace struggles in our neoliberal age.

"Labour History Review"

An excellent work in all categories, a book for scholars or general students.

"Choice"

No one has done a better job in recapturing the authentic voices of rank and file workers.

"The Americas"

These essays provide a touchstone for evaluating the trajectories and fates of national capitalist experiments in Latin America.

"International Labor and Working Class History"

ÝE¨ssential for all scholars of Latin American workers movements.

"Labor History"

ÝR¨ightly draws our attention to historical patterns of resistance to underline the importance of workplace struggles in our neoliberal age.

"Labour History Review"

"An excellent work in all categories, a book for scholars or general students.

"Choice""

From the Publisher