[Marxism] Bolivia discussion

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Revolutionary Workers' Party (Bolivia)


>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 


Bolivia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia> 



This article is part of the series:
Politics of
Bolivia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Bolivia> 

        
        


The Revolutionary Workers' Party (Spanish): Partido Obrero Revolucionario,
POR) is a Trotskyist   political party >  in Bolivia . At its height in the
late 1940s and early 1950s, the POR was one of the few Trotskyist parties in
history to gain a mass working-class
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_class>  following.


Contents



*       1 History
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%28Bolivia%29#H
istory>  

        *       1.1 Beginnings
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%28Bolivia%29#B
eginnings>  
        *       1.2 Bolivian National Revolution
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%28Bolivia%29#B
olivian_National_Revolution>  
        *       1.3 1960s to the Present
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%28Bolivia%29#1
960s_to_the_Present>  

        *       2 External link
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%28Bolivia%29#E
xternal_link>  
        *       3 See also
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%28Bolivia%29#S
ee_also>  
        *       4 Further reading
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%28Bolivia%29#F
urther_reading>  

        

[edit
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%2
8Bolivia%29&action=edit&section=1> ]


History

[edit
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%2
8Bolivia%29&action=edit&section=2> ]


Beginnings


The POR was founded in December 1935 at a congress in Córdoba, Argentina
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina> , called by Gustavo Navarro
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gustavo_Navarro&action=edit>  and
other Bolivian radicals who were in exile because of the Chaco War
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaco_War> . The congress formally merged
three Bolivian exile groups based in Argentina, Chile  , and Peru
respectively. Under the advice of José Aguirre Gainsborg
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jos%C3%A9_Aguirre_Gainsborg&actio
n=edit> , the leaders of the new POR affiliated with Leon Trotsky's
International Left Opposition
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Left_Opposition> . When the
Chaco War ended in 1936, the POR leaders returned to Bolivia. The leaders
disagreed over whether to maintain a strict Trotskyist party or form a broad
socialist movement.

As Bolivia passed through a series of short-lived military dictatorships ,
the POR began to enter the emerging labor movement  . In 1947 the party's
activists formed the Bloque Parlamentario
Minerstitle=Bloque_Parlamentario_Minero&action=edit>  caucus in the newly
formed miners' union (the FSTMB
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federaci%C3%B3n_Sindical_de_Trabajadores_Miner
os_de_Bolivia> ), which was to become the most active and militant union in
Bolivia. Along with the populist Revolutionary Nationalist Movement
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Nationalist_Movement>  (MNR) it
became one of the two most influential parties in the mineworkers' movement.
Although the FSTMB's president, Juan Lechín Oquendo
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Lech%C3%ADn_Oquendo> , was an MNR member,
he maintained good relations with the POR. In November 1946, the FSTMB
adopted a program known as the "Pulacayo Thesis" that was heavily influenced
by the POR's ideology.

[edit
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revolutionary_Workers%27_Party_%2
8Bolivia%29&action=edit&section=3> ]


Bolivian National Revolution


After a military coup  nullified the results of the 1951 elections (which
gave the MNR a plurality), the MNR, POR and FSTMB led workers' militias that
stormed army barracks and forced the military junta   to surrender on April
2 ,1952 . Following the "Bolivian National Revolution," the MNR took over
the government, but the populist party failed to enact major social reforms
because of pressure from international agencies.

The POR played a leading role in the creation of the Central Obrera
Boliviana <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Obrera_Boliviana>  (COB), a
new federation of labor unions <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_unions> ,
in 1952. However, when the POR began to criticize the moderation of the
MNR-led government in October 1952, the MNR removed key POR leaders from the
COB and FSTMB. As the MNR's power grew at the cost of the POR, in-fighting
increased among the Trotskyists. In 1954, the POR split into two factions,
one led by Guillermo Lora <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Lora>  and
the other by González Moscoso. In 1963, a large number of POR members left
the party to join Juan Lechín's new Partido Revolucionario de la Izquierda
Nacionalista
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partido_Revolucionario_de_la_Izquierda_Naciona
lista>  (PRIN).



1960s to the Present


The faction of the POR led by Guillermo Lora continued its activity in the
COB and FSTMB during the 1960s and 1970s, when the country was ruled by a
series of short-lived military juntas. Lora's POR worked closely with FSTMB
president Juan Lechín during these, when the labor movement largely operated
clandestinely.

Lora's POR continues to exist to the present day, though it has been
eclipsed by other radical parties such as Evo Morales
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales> ' Movement toward Socialism
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_for_Socialism_%28Bolivia%29>  (MAS).
It publishes a regular newspaper, Masas



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