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Cotton Planters, The State, and Rural Labor Policy: Ideological Origins of the Peruvian Republica Aristocratica, 1895-1908*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Vincent C. Peloso
Vincent C. Peloso*
Affiliation:
Howard University, Washington, D.C.
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Extract

In the Treaty of Ancón ending the War of the Pacific, the government of Peru signed away two provinces on the south coast and much of the country's future guano income. The settlement stripped Peru's treasury bare and exposed the narrow, extractive and agricultural base of the country's economy. A few years later the same Peruvian government, led by the hero of the Chilean war General Andrés Cáceres, signed the Grace Contract whereby the foreign debt was canceled and railway development for the next 66 years fell under the control of the foreign-owned W. R. Grace corporation. The economic and political consequences of these decisions were deeply felt in Peruvian society. Economically, they placed renewed emphasis on export agriculture and mining at the expense of primary industrial development and made stronger demands upon the rural labor force. Led by these sectors, modernization of the economy proceeded in a regional form, with accelerated growth in the coastal valleys and a few highland areas and stagnation elsewhere. A shift of population from the highlands to the coast accompanied this process.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , October 1983 , pp. 209 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1983

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Footnotes

*

The research for this study was funded by the Howard University Faculty Sponsored Research Fund, OA-SRP 518. The author wishes to thank Thomas C. Wright as well as Thomas Davies, Jr. for critically reading it.

References

1 Recent studies of foreign involvement in the War of the Pacific which examine its meaning for the fiscal policy of the Peruvian state are: Bonilla, Heraclio, Guano y burguesía en el Perú (Lima, 1974)Google Scholar; Wilfredo Kapsoli, “El Perú en una coyuntura de crisis: 1879–1883;” and Zevallos, Enrique Amayo “Crisis y clase dominante: Perú, 1876–1879,” both in Réategui, Wilson et al., La Guerra del Pacífico Volúmen 1 (Lima, 1980), pp. 21–38,Google Scholar 39–89. The Treaty of Ancón was analyzed in Basadre, Jorge, Historia de la República del Perú, 1882–1933 (6th ed., 17 vols., Lima, 1968) 8, pp. 448–453.Google Scholar

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11 Kapsoli, “Covyuntura de crisis,” Castilla, Rolando Paches, “Impacto de la Guerra del Pacífico en las haciendas de lca, Chincha, Pisco y Cañete,” both in Réategui, , La Guerra, pp. 32,Google Scholar 208–210; Moreno, Pascual Ahumada, Guerra del Pacífico. Recopilación completa de todos los documentos oficiales, correspondencias y deḿas publicaciones referentes a la guerra que ha dado a luz la prensa de Chile, Perú y Bolivia (3 vols. Valparaiso, 1884), 1, p. 219.Google Scholar

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17 Ulloa, , Don Nicolás, pp. 315–318,Google Scholar points out that the 1896 electoral reform law was not implemented.

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19 Basadre, , Historia de la república, 10, pp. 170–173,Google Scholar analyzed the electoral reform favorably, but Ulloa, , Don Nicolás, pp. 301–336,Google Scholar noted that a secret ballot was not installed in Peru until 1931. Complaints over the conduct of municipal and congressional elections in the provinces appeared in El Comercio, January 16, 1897.

20 A number of Peruvian analysts viewed “scarcity of labor” as the major hindrance to agricultural modernization. Representative of them was Puga, Pelayo, Un proyecto de ley electoral. La falta de brazos para La Agricultura de la costa del Perú (Lima, 1903).Google Scholar A summary of these views appeared in Ulloa, Alberto y Sotomayor, , La organización social y legal del trabajo en el Perú (Lima, 1916).Google Scholar

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22 Macera, Pablo, Las plantaciones azucareras en el Perú, 1821–1875 (Lima, 1974),Google Scholar pp. xci-cviii.

23 Prominent analysts were led by the sociologist Lissón, Carlos, Breves apuntes sobre la sociología del Perú en 1886 (Lima, 1887), pp. 14–40,Google Scholar 88–96, who viewed a search for cultural harmony as a hopeless task and encouraged increased European immigration. The organic metaphor he used to criticize Peru, a device borrowed by many Latin American intellectuals from Auguste Comte and Gustav Le Bon in the late nineteenth century, was eagerly seized upon and applied by the “moralists,” among whom the following were representative: Copello, Juan and Petroconi, Luis, Estudios sobre la independencia económica del Perú (Lima, 1882)Google Scholar; Esteves, Luis, Apuntes para la historia económica del Perú (Lima, 1882)Google Scholar; Palma, Clemente, El porvenir de las razas en el Perú (Lima, 1897)Google Scholar; Soldán, Pedro Paz y Unanue, (de Arona pseud, Juan)., La inmigración en el Perú (Lima, 1891)Google Scholar; Pesce, Luis, Indígenas e inmigrantes (Lima, 1906)Google Scholar; and Tudela, Francisco, El problema de la pobalción del Perú (Lima, 1908).Google Scholar Leading the technocrats were García, Aurelio y García, , Derrotero de la costa del Perú (2nd ed., Lima, 1870)Google Scholar; Duval, Alfredo, Memorias sobre el cultivo del algodón en el Perú, presentada a la sociedad algodonera de Manchester (Lima, 1877)Google Scholar; Martinet, J.B.H. (Honorio Pinto tr.), La agricultura en el Perú. 1876 (Lima, 1977)Google Scholar; Moreno, Federico, Las irrigaciones en la costa (Lima, 1900)Google Scholar; Marie, Víctor, Producción del algodón en el Perú (Lima, 1904)Google Scholar; and Garland, Alejandro, Reseña industrial del Perú (Lima, 1905).Google Scholar

24 Pesce, , Indígenas, pp. 34–38,Google Scholar 44.

25 Copello, and Petriconi, , Estudio, p. 43.Google Scholar The full debate on this social issue was the subject of Davies, Thomas M. Jr., Indian Integration in Peru. A Half Century of Experience (Lincoln, 1974),Google Scholar Chapter 2. Herrera, José Tamayo, Historia del indigenismo cuzqueño. Siglos XVI–XX (Lima, 1980)Google Scholar unearths the intellectual history of the phenomenon at its source.

26 Copello, and Petriconi, , Estudio, pp. 35–38 Google Scholar; Tudela, , El problema, p. 13.Google Scholar Stabb, Martin S., In Quest of Identity: Patterns in the Spanish American Essay of Ideas, 1890–1960 (Chapel Hill, 1967), pp. 12–33,Google Scholar found that the organic metaphor ran throughout the thinking of Latin American intellectuals in the late nineteenth century, and he saw this as evidence of the influence of Comte and the racist Le Bon.

27 Tudela, p. 12.

28 Palma, , El porvenir, pp. 20–26.Google Scholar

29 Soldán, Paz, La inmigración, pp. 97–98.Google Scholar

30 Ibid., pp. 173–180. On the experience of Japanese immigrants, see Gardiner, C. Harvey, The Japanese and Peru. 1873–1973 (Albuquerque, 1975), pp. 22–34.Google Scholar

31 Martinet, , La agricultura, p. 154.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., pp. 84–85, 100–101; Moreno, , Las irrigaciones, pp. 2–5.Google Scholar

33 Martinet, , La agricultura, pp. 153–154 Google Scholar; Marie, , Producción del algodón, p. 31 Google Scholar; Leubel, Alfredo, El Perú en 1860 o sea anuario nacional. Primer año (Lima, 1861), pp. 154–157.Google Scholar

34 Basadre, , Historia de la república, 10, pp. 258–259.Google Scholar

35 Cf. Martinet, , La agricultura, pp. 113–117,Google Scholar 154–155; and Copello, and Petriconi, , Estudio, pp. 35–38.Google Scholar

36 Copello, and Petriconi, , Estudio, pp. 36–41 Google Scholar: Zulueta, José, “La misión social de los agricultores,” El agricultor peruano, May 26; 1906, pp. 7–10.Google Scholar

37 Thorp, and Betram, , Peru. 1890–1977, p. 51.Google Scholar

38 Marie, , Producción del algodón, pp. 14–16.Google Scholar

39 Puch, César Zapatero, “Estadística agro-pecuaria de la república. Informe relativo a las provincias de Chincha y Pisco,” Boletín del Ministerio de Fomento, 3:3 (March 1905), pp. 8–10.Google Scholar A study that highlights the political activities of arrendatarios in the highland Cuzco region is Fioravanti, Eduardo, Latifundio y sindicalismo agrario en el Perú. El caso de los valles de La Convención y Lares (1958–1964) (Lima, 1974), pp. 88–91,Google Scholar 119–136.

40 The problem of social division in rural society long has received attention from anthropologists. Recent helpful analyses include Mintz, Sidney W., “A Note on the Definition of Peasantries,” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 1:1 (October 1973), pp. 91–106 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Roseberry, William “Rent, Differentiation, and the Development of Capitalism among Peasants,” American Anthropologist, 78:1 (March 1976), pp. 51–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Studies of the specific conditions that have given rise to economic divisions in rural Peru are Fioravanti, cited above; Long, Norman and Roberts, Bryan R. (eds), Peasant Cooperation and Capitalist Expansion in Central Peru (Austin, 1978)Google Scholar; and Peloso, Vincent C., “La articulación del subdesarrollo y la transformación del campesinado. El caso del valle de Pisco, 1883–1925,” Allpanchis, no. 19 (forthcoming, 1982).Google Scholar

41 These concerns recurr frequently in the correspondence of plantations on the coast of Peru. See del Fuero Agrario, Archivo. Hacienda Palto. Cuentas y correspondencia, Administrator to the Lima office, June 4, 1894 Google Scholar; July 28, August 11, 1901; June 22, 1902 [hereafter AFA. Palto].

42 The Civil Code of Peru was promulgated by José Rufino Echenique on June 7, 1851. A prominent member of the committee which formulated the Code was the conservative intellectual Bartolomé Herrera, president of the Chamber of Deputies. The Code was revised only twice until the First World War, once in 1892 and again in 1905. On Herrera’s constitutional views and their impact on the Constitution of 1860, see Gleason, Daniel, “Anti-Democratic Thought in Early Republican Peru: Bartolomé Herrera and the Liberal-Conservative Ideological Struggle,” TAm 38:2 (October 1981), pp. 207–211,Google Scholar 213–217.

43 de la Lama, Miguel Antonio, Código Civil del Perú con citas, notas, concordancias y un apéndice. 1892(Lima, 1983),Google Scholar Articles 1541–1651; Perú. Código Civil. 1905, Apéndice 87, Articles3,9.

44 de la Lama, Código Civil, 1892, Arts. 2079–2082.

45 Aranda, Ricardo, La constitución del Perú de 1860 con sus reformas hasta 1893. Leyes orgánicas, decretos, reglamentos y resoluciones referentes a ellos. Coleccionadas y anotadas (2nd ed., Lima, 1905), pp. 112–113.Google Scholar

46 Peru, , Asamblea Constituyente. Sesiones y debates. 1884–1885. Vol. 2, p. 301 Google Scholar; Departamento de Ica. Archivo del sub-prefecto, Pisco. Registro de inscripciones. 1904.

47 AFA. Palto, Administrator to the Lima office, February 22,1886; March 22,1888; January 19, 1894; February 15, 1895.

48 Ibid., October 23, November 13, 1894; January 2, 1895.

49 Ibid., June 21, 1908.

50 Romero, Emilio, Historia económica del Peru (Buenos Aires, 1949), pp. 292–295 Google Scholar; Vanderghem, , Memorias, pp. 16–17 Google Scholar; Marie, , Producción de algodón, pp. 34–35,Google Scholar 40–41.

51 Asamblea Constituyente, Sesiones y debates, 1884–1885, Vol. I, pp. 163–164; Peru, Código de aguas, 1902; Cámara de diputados, Diario de debates [hereafter Diario]. Congreso extraordinario de 1901, pp. 320–325.

52 Diario, Extraordinario, 1901, p. 321. Also see Proyecto ley de aguas formulado por la comisión nombrada por suprema resolución de 19 de Setiembre de 1899. Actas (Lima, 1899), pp. 299–315.

53 Diario, Extraordinario, 1901, p. 321.

54 Ibid., pp. 321–322.

55 Ibid., p. 322.

56 Código de aguas, pp. 39–47.

57 Cotler, Julio, Clases, estado y nación en el Perú (Lima, 1978) pp. 130–135.Google Scholar

58 Debate on the relationship between the state and the planter-merchant sector of society has occurred recently between Weaver, F. Stirton and Berg, Ronald “Toward a Reinterpretation of Political Change in Peru during the First Century of Independence,” Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs, 20:1 (February 1978), p. 75,Google Scholar who discern a state rather independent of social forces by the end of the nineteenth century, and Gorman, Stephen M. “The State, Elite and Export in Nineteenth Century Peru,” Ibid., 21:3 (August 1979), pp. 404–418,Google Scholar who argues contrariwise that the planter-merchants were in full control of state affairs. My own view is that such control by the planter-merchants was precariously selective.

59 See the exchange of correspondence between cotton planter Antero Aspíllaga, Civilista congressional candidate for Pisco in 1906, and concerned citizens of the district, in AFA. Palto, February 22, 23, March 1, June 2, 1906.

60 Favre, , “Indian Peasant Society,” pp. 265–267 Google Scholar; Burga, Manuel, De la encomienda a la hacienda capitalista. El valle de Jequetepeque del siglo xvi al xx (Lima, 1976), pp. 165–172 Google Scholar; Mar, José Matos, Yanaconaje y reforma agraria en el Peru. El case del valle de Chancay (Lima, 1976), pp. 35–37,Google Scholar 65–72.

61 Quesada, Miró, Autopsia, pp. 363–379,Google Scholar places the blame for discord among the parties on the Partido Demócrata, while Dávalos, Pedro y Lissón, , Diez años de historia contemporánea del Perú. 1899–1908 (Lima, 1910), pp. 117–129,Google Scholar hints that the problem lay in a crisis of leadership among the Civilistas.