¹ Beals, R., ‘Acculturation,’ in Social Anthropology, Nash, Manning, ed., Vol. VIGoogle Scholar of Handbook of Middle American Indians, Wauchope, Robert, gen. ed. (Austin, TX, 1967), 449–68, esp. 466.Google Scholar

² Wasserstrom, R., ‘Revolution in Guatemala: Peasants and Politics under the Arbenz Government,’ Comparative Studies in Society and History, 17:4 (1975), 443–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³ Smith, C., ‘Local History in Global Context: Social and Economic Transitions in Western Guatemala,’ Comparative Studies in Society and History, 26:2 (1984), 193–228; and G. Lovell, ‘Surviving Conquest: The Maya of Guatemala in Historical Perspective,’ manuscript copy in my possession.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴ Wolf, E., ‘Closed Corporate Peasant Communities in Mesoamerica and Java,’ Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 13 (Spring 1957), 1–18.Google Scholar

⁵ Wolf, E., ‘Types of Latin American Peasantry,’ in Tribal and Primitive Economies, Dalton, G., ed. (New York, 1967), 501–23.Google Scholar

⁶ Peláez, S. Martinez, La Patria del Criollo (San José, Costa Rica, 1979), 450–55.Google Scholar

⁷ For a discussion of the Bourbon reforms see Wortman, M., Government and Society in Central America (New York, 1982).Google Scholar For discussions of the effects of the reforms of the early Liberals and the Carrera period, see R. L. Woodward Jr., Class Privilege and Economic Development, (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1966); Woodward, ‘The Economic Development of Guatemala in the Nineteenth Century,’ paper presented to the Social Science History Association meeting, Toronto, 28 October 1984; and his ‘Liberalismo, conservadurismo, y la actitud de los campesinos de la montana hacia el gobierno de Guatemala, 1821–1850,’ Anales de la academia de geografia e historia de Guatemala, 56 (1982), 195–210;Google Scholar H. M. Ingersoll, ‘The War of the Mountains’ (Ph.D. diss., George Washington University, 1971). The most forthright argument about the way in which Liberal measures decapitalized highland villages is in McCreery, D., ‘Coffee and Class: The Structure of Development in Liberal Guatemala,’ Hispanic American Historical Review, 56 (08 1976), 438–60;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and his ‘Debt Servitude in Rural Guatemala, 1876–1936,’ Hispanic American Historical Review, 63 (11 1983), 735–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also Cambraes, J. C., Coffee and Peasants in Guatemala (Stockholm, Sweden, 1985).Google Scholar

One way in which the pressure on highland villages is evident is in population changes during the period. The six highland departments made up almost 39 percent of the population of the country in 1893 and 31 percent in 1950. The two departments of Sololá and Totonicapén—the most Indian and in the core of the highlands—declined from 11.8 percent in 1893 to 6.5 percent in 1950. Between 1923 and 1950 they actually lost population, falling from 198,363 to 182,275 people. Censo General de la Repúlica de Guatemala, Feb. 1893, 189; Censo de la Repéblica de Guatemala, 1921, 18: Sexto Censo de Población, 1950, xxxii.

⁸ For a discussion of the overthrow of Ubico see J. Handy, ‘Revolution and Reaction: National Policy and Rural Politics in Guatemala, 1944–1954’ (Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1985), 77–92. One good example of the attitude these politicians held towards rural Guatemala can be gleaned from the importance of such people as Jorge Garcia Granados and Miguel Angel Asturias and from Arevalo's own writings on rural society. During the 1920s both Garcia Granados and Miguel Angel Asturias had been prominent members of a group of student reformers—the generation of 1920—advocating a number of changes in Guatemalan society. Garcia Granados had suggested shipping Indians en masse to the Petén, while Asturias' El problema social del indio was a sympathetic yet clearly positivist assessment of Indian society. His ultimate answer for the ‘Indian problem’ was to bleach them out through miscegenation. See Asturias, M. Angel, El problems social del Indio (Paris, 1971), esp. 72, 101–13Google Scholar and Pitti, J., ‘General Jorge Ubico and Guatemalan Politics in the 1920s’ (Ph.D. diss., University of New Mexico, 1975), 226–27.Google Scholar Also see Arévalo, , Memories de aldea, 2nd ed. (Guatemala, 1973).Google Scholar

⁹ Diario de sesiones: asamblea constituyente de 1945 (Guatemala City, 1951), 24 02 1945, 503–19; ‘Constitución, 1945,’ Article 83, Article 137, par. 15. On the Instituto see Diario, 18 May 1945. Carlos Giron Cerna, ‘La nueva paz del indio,’ Universidad de San Carlos, 4 (July-September 1946), 60–111, esp. 69, 72.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Diario de sesiones, 464–72; R. Woodward, second secretary of the U.S. embassy to State, 15 June 1945, General Records of the Department of State in the National Archives, Record Group 59, Decimal Series 714 and 814 (hereinafter SDA); Diario de sesiones, 117–127. Also see Imparcial, 19, 30 January, 2, 3, 6, 7 February 1945 for debate on who should get the vote. ‘Ley electoral, decreto numero 255,’ is reprinted in Alerta!, 31 August 1946, 494–506, 30 September 1946, 93–95, 20 October 1946, 171–75. For the debate concerning municipal responsibilities see Diario de sesiones, 663–70. ‘Constitución, 1945,’ Articles 210–205. The ‘Ley de municipalidades, decreto numero 226’ is reprinted in Revista de la Guardia Civil, 16 June 1946, 99–100; 30 June 1946, 179–182; 31 July 1946, 331–35; 15 August 1946, 413–21.Google Scholar

¹¹ The Goubaud Cernera quotation comes from Marroquin, A., ‘Panorama de indigenismo en Guatemala,’ América Indigena, 32:2 (1972), 291–317, at 302. Also see ‘Incorporación indígena,’ Bolean del Instituto, 1, (12 October 1945).Google Scholar

¹² ‘Lo que son las misiones culturales,’ Revista de la Guardia Civil, 2, (30 11 1946), 230–31; Diario, 13, 15 November 1947; and Arévalo, ‘Al asumir la presidencia,’ 1 March 1945, in Discursos en la Presidencia, 1945–1948 (Guatemala City, 1948), 16–17.Google Scholar

¹³ Imparcial, 24 October, 30 November 1944. See Handy, ‘Revolution and Reaction,’ 229–32 for fuller discussion.

¹⁴ Schlesinger, Jorge, Revolucióon comunista: Guatemala en peligro (Guatemala City, 1946).Google Scholar

¹⁵ lmparcial, 24 February, 11 May, 24 September 1945, 26 July 1946; Hodgman to State, 25 January 1946, SDA. On El Tumbador see Imparcial, 2, 5–8, 16, 29 January, 3–4 February 1948.

¹⁶ Diario, 29 September 1945; Imparcial, 5 October 1945; Woodward to State, 15 January 1946, SDA: ‘Ley de trabajo agricola,’ reprinted in Revista de la Guardia Civil, 2, (15 December 1946), 306–307. The quotation comes from Imparcial, 2 August 1946.

¹⁷ Jorge Garcia Granados in memorandum of conversation between Garcia Granados and Spruile Braden, 19 May 1947, SDA.

¹⁸ On military action against strikers see Imparcial, 9 December 1946, 2, 3, 4, 14 January, 10 April 1947); Stines to State, 2, 27 January 1947, SDA. For AGA quotation see Imparcial, 20 May 1948.

¹⁹ For a discussion of elections and the role of the FPL in the early years of the revolution see Nash, M., Machine Age Maya (Chicago, 1958) 87–96;Google Scholar and McDowell, P. V., ‘Political and Religious Change in a Guatemalan Community’ (Ph.D. diss., University of British Columbia, 1974), 280–81.Google Scholar Also see Gitlin, J., San Luis Jilorepéque (Guatemala City, 1958), 205–206.Google Scholar

²⁰ Quotation taken from Impartial, 8 January 1948. For PAR protests about the election see Imparcial, 21 January 1948. Also see letter to secretary general of PAR from Carlos Estrada Cuevas, 23 February 1948, in Guatemalan Documents in the Manuscript Collection of the Library of Congress, box 6 (hereinafter, GD.).

²¹ Censo agropecuario, 1950, Tomo 1, 17–34, Tomo 3, 117–26.Google Scholar

²² The Committee of Labour Unity's recommendation for an agrarian reform was enclosed in P. Davenport to State, 13 October 1949, SDA.

²³ Imparcial, 20 February 1950.

²⁴ Most speeches from the Arbenz campaign were reprinted in SDA. See, for example, J. Fisher to State, 9 June, 11 July 1950, SDA. Discursos del doctor Juan José Arévalo y del teniente coronel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, en el acto de transmisión de la presidencia de la república, 15 de marzo de 1951 (Guatemala City, 1951), 26–27.Google Scholar

²⁵ Octubre, 15 May 1952.

²⁶ Decreto 900: ley de reforma agraria, (Guatemala City, 1952).Google Scholar

²⁷ Arbenz, J., Informe al congreso … 1953 (Guatemala City, 1953), 6, 11.Google Scholar

²⁸ For details of the spread of rural workers' affiliates the best source is Octubre from January to December 1951.

²⁹ For formation of the peasant league see Diario, 22 February, 19 July 1950. For a list of local affiliates recognized by government by February 1951 see Sintesis de las labores desa?rollados por cada uno de las ministerios de estado y sus dependientes durante el ano de 1950 (Guatemala City, 1951), 290–94. For background on the various conflicts that led to its organization see Handy, ‘Revolution,’ 218–31.Google Scholar

³⁰ Diario, 3 February 1951; Schoenfeld to State, 21 August 1951, SDA: public letter from C. Tones Moss, 9 October 1952, in GD, reel 50; Tribuna Popular, 2 February 1954. For the various estimates see Murphy, Brian, ‘The Stunted Growth of Campesino Organizations,’ in Crucifixion by Power, Adams, R., ed. (Austin, 1972), 418; and Neale Pearson, ‘Confederación nacional campesina de Guatemala and Peasant Unionism in Guatemala’ (M. A. thesis, Georgetown University, 1964), 41.Google Scholar

³¹ For examples of these activities by the two leaders see Castillo Flores to Minister of Public Works, 9 June 1953, GD, box 10; Castillo to Minister of Health, 5 January 1952, GD, reel 50; Castillo to Minister of Agriculture, 1 February 1954, GD, box 10; Castillo to chief of Agrarian Department, 10 June 1954, GD, box 10; letter to Castillo from secretary of Local Agrarian Council, Nenton, Huehuetenango, 19 March 1954, and Castillo's reply, 6 April in GD, reel 52; Castillo to Colonel Enrique Díaz, chief of the armed forces, 12 March 1954, GD, box 10; Gutiérrez to sub-director of the Guardia Civil, 31 July 1952, GD, reel 3.

³² Tiburcio Castenada to Castillo Flores, 7 July 1953, and Castillo's reply to PAR, 15 July 1953, GD, reel 50.

³³ Secretary general of the local PRG, Chichicastenango to Castillo Flores, 27 May 1954. Castillo forwarded the complaint to the PRG, 7 June 1954, GD, box 10.

³⁴ ‘Report of the Meeting of the National Democratic Front,’ 18 May 1954, in GD, box 6.

³⁵ For a fuller discussion of factionalism in Guatemalan villages with the implementation of the agrarian reform see Handy, ‘Revolution and Reaction,’ 310–25. Also see the discussion of the revolution in Cantel, in Nash, , Machine Age Maya, 87–96, 130–35; and McDowell, ‘Political and Religious Change,’ 280–81.Google Scholar

³⁶ Letter to Castillo Flores from Alfredo Tki Cucul, CAL, Carch´, Alta Verapaz, 30 October 1953, GD, box 10; telegram to Castillo Flores from secretary general of the peasant affiliate Santa Ana Huista, Huehuetenago, 7 November 1952, GD, box 10; telegram to Castillo Flores, from Finca Santa Rita, Villa Canales, 17 March 1954, GD, reel 51; letter to CGTG from sindicato, Finca Morelia, Santa Sofia, Escuintla, 9 September 1952, GD, reel 3; Octubre, 3, 17 July 1952; Tribuns Popular, 5 January 1954.

³⁷ Kreig to State, 14 May 1954, SDA; Imparcial, 22, 23, 26 January 1953); Tribuna Popular, 5, 15 January 1954.

³⁸ For examples of local affiliates of both federations that invaded property against the wishes of the national federation see letter to Gutiérrez from secretary general of the sindicato Hacienda Buena Vista, 24 January 1953, GD, reel 9; telegram to Castillo from president of the CAL, Escuintla, 5 October 1953, GD, reel 50; telegram to labour federation from secretary general of the federacéon campesina, Suchitepéquez, 28 January 1953, GD, reel 4; and telegram to labour federation from sec. del campesinado, Buena Vista, (Jan. 8, 1953), GD, reel 4.

³⁹ Reina, ‘Chinautla,’ 539. Also see Wasserstrom, ‘Revolution,’ 443–78; and E. Tones-Rivas, ‘Crisis y conjuntura crítica: la caída de Arbenz y los contratiempos de la revolución burguesa,’ Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 41 (January-March 1979), 297–323; both articles concentrate on this aspect of the unrest accompanying the reform.

⁴⁰ For some examples of this type of conflict over the expropriation of private land see Tribuna Popular, 6 September 1954; statement of the departmental agrarian council, Izabel, 6 June 1954, and the Governor of the department to Arbenz, 7 June 1954, in GD, reel 20; telegram from Gustavo Adolfo Solares, governor of Chimaltenango, to Gutiérrez, 26 May 1954, GD, reel 16; telegram from Diego Lares Bocel and companeros to deputy of the department of Chimaltenango, 31 March 1954, GD, reel 52; Simón Morales to Castillo, 12 April 1953, GD, reel 51; and peasant league affiliate, Senahú, Cohán, to Castillo, undated, GD, box 10.

⁴¹ Report of Rubén Castelano Fuentes, inspector agrario, (Aug. 7, 1953), and Simón Pérez, of the Local Agrarian Council, El Naranjo, (undated), both in GD, reel 2; Amulfo García Juárez, secretary general of peasant league affiliate to Castillo, 10 May 1954, GD, box 10; Octubre, 28 February 1952, Tribuna Popular, 11 September 1953.

⁴² Dirección general de estadística, Mensaje Quincenal, number 28, December 1951; Mensaje Quincenal, number 30, February 1952. For a discussion of the role municipally controlled land played in the economy of close to one hundred villages during this period see the ‘Síntesis socioeconómico de una comunidad indígena,’ unpublished studies of Guatemalan villages located in the Archivo de materiales culturales of the Instituto Indigenista Nacional, Guatemala City.

⁴³ For background on San Pedro see Censo agropecuario, 1950, tomo 3, 137; VI Censo de población, 100, 111; Imparcial, 26, August 1947. For reports of other communities where a few people were able to monopolize municipal land and struggles over it became violent during the revolution see Imparcial, 26, 28 August 1947; Octubre, 6 December 1950; Solomá PAR members to Gutiérrez, 21 May 1954, GD, reel 19; Tribuna Popular, 29 April 1954.

⁴⁴ This total is obtained by summarizing the Caratulas para expedientes, of the Departmento Agrarlo Nacional, located in the Archivos generales del Instituto Nacional de Transfo?macion Agraria (hereinafter INTA). It should be noted that Paredes, J., in Reforma agraria: Una experiencia guatemalteca (Guatemala City, 1963), 113 came up with a figure of 400,000 manzanas from the same documents.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ File on expropriation in Municipal Lands section, Sololá, INTA. Quotations taken from Actas de la municipalidad, 17 September 1953.

⁴⁶ Report of the Junta Agraria Departmental for Sololá, 15 June 1956 in Municipal Lands, Sololá, INTA.

⁴⁷ See, for example, the letter from alcaldía of Smeta Clara la Laguna to Local Agrarian Council, 9 October 1953, and report of the Departmental Agrarian Mission, 4 November 1953, in Municipal Lands, Sololá, INTA.

⁴⁸ See, for example, the proceeding to divide the municipal land of San Luis Jilotepéque, Jalapa, in Minicipal Lands, Jalapa, INTA.

⁴⁹ Municipal Lands, Baja Verapéz, INTA. The quotations come from the denunciation of the unión campesina, 28 August 1952, and testimony before the Departmental Agrarian Commission, 9 June 1952.

⁵⁰ Municipal Lands, Sololó, INTA. Quote comes from the report of the Departmental Agrarian Mission, 1 June 1953.

⁵¹ Municipal Lands, Quezaltenango, INTA. The quotation comes from a letter to Arbenz from the vecinos of Salcajá, 15 January 1953.

⁵² Municipal Lands, Baja Verapéz, INTA.

⁵³ Municipal Lands, Huehuetenango, INTA.

⁵⁴ Municipal Lands, San Juan Sacatepéquez, INTA. The quotation comes from a letter from vecinos to the chief of the National Agrarian Department, 5 August 1953. Also see G. A. Moore, ‘Social and Ritual Change in a Guatemalan Town’ (Ph.D. diss., Columbia, 1966), 329–50.

⁵⁵ Municipal Lands, Chiquimula, INTA. The quotation comes from the complaint of members of the union to the Local Agrarian Counsel, 6 January 1954.

⁵⁶ Departmental Agrarian Commission ruling, 19 December 1952, Municipal Lands, Guatemala, INTA.

⁵⁷ For an example of a community where the revolutionary political parties ran slates that fit the traditional requirements see Nash, , Machine Age Maya, 87–96, 130–35. By the 1950s it is clear from the records of the various revolutionary organizations involved in rural areas that this was no longer a major consideration for their choice for alcalde. See, for example, C. Torres Moss, ‘Los alcaldes y gobernadores frente e1 decreto 853,’ 17 April 1952, GD, Box 10, in which he warns peasant affiliates not to vote for the old ‘caciques.’Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Mendelson, E. Michael, Los Escéndolos del Maximón (Guatemala City, 1965), esp. 65–79; report of Manuel Monroy Flores, secretary general of the federación campesina, Sacatepéquez, to Castillo, 12 August 1954, GD, box 10.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Imparcial, 10 April 1952.

⁶⁰ Octubre, 17 July 1952.

⁶¹ P. McDowell, ‘Political and Religious,’ 290–93.

⁶² McDowell, ‘Political and Religious,’ 115, 278; Hinshaw, B., Panajachel in a Thirty Year Perspective (Pittsburgh, 1975), 44; secretary general of the FRDT, Zona Fria, San Marcos to Amur Velasco, 2 July 1952, GD, reel 50; Castillo Flores to alcalde, Tejutla, San Marcos, 2 June 1954, GD, reel 50.Google Scholar

⁶³ Calculations from the Carátulas para expedientes, INTA, indicate that over 770,000 manzanas of land were expropriated from more than 800 private fincas and divided among more than 70,000 beneficiaries. If those people receiving land from National Fincas and integrated into cooperatives under the law were included, the agrarian reform would have given land to over 100,000 peasant farmers or rural workers. Carátulas para expedientes, INTA.