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Indians, Workers, and the Arrival of "Modernity": Cuzco, Peru (1895-1924)
Author(s): Thomas Krüggeler

Source: The Americas , Oct., 1999, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Oct., 1999), pp. 161-189
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1008111
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The Americas
56:2 October 1999, 161-189
Copyright by the Academy of American
Franciscan History
INDIANS, WORKERS, AND THE ARRIVAL OF

"MODERNITY": CUZCO, PERU (1895-1924)*
This article is about the relationship between the early labor movement
of the Andean town of Cuzco and a local student movement that
emerged during the first two decades of the twentieth century an
which produced some of Peru's most distinguished indigenistas. At the tu
of the century signs of "progress" and "modernity" made their appearance
the city of Cuzco and both indigenistas and labor leaders were fascinated
these vague liberal concepts. The article seeks to explore the role these t
groups played in local urban society and to analyze forms of cooperation
conflicts that characterized relations between them. Indigenistas of the ear
twentieth century did not invent what frequently has been called Peru'
"Indian Question," but they pushed the issue to the forefront of regional a
even national debates contending that solving this key problem could he
unify the country and develop a more solid sense of national identity.
The central theme of this study is how Cuzco's leading labor organizatio
of the early twentieth-century, the Sociedad de Artesanos (Artisan Societ
constructed and represented its idea of a strong working class in an urb
society, which was undergoing a process of significant social change, but
which ethnic categories, to a large extent, still determined social status. H
much importance did workers and labor leaders attach to ethnicity as an e
ment of their own social and political identity? Was the "Indian Question"
serious issue for labor representatives? And how can we characterize the
relationship between the labor organization and indigenistas? These ques
tions aim at the problem of how "class" and "ethnicity" were related to ea
other in a town of the Peruvian hinterland and they require a close look
processes of group formation and at patterns of social interactions betwe
* I gratefully acknowledge that research on this article has been made possible by a Summ
Research Grant of the Joint Centers of Latin American Studies of the University of Chicago and the U
versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I also wish to thank the three anonymous readers for their v
able and encouraging comments.
161

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162 INDIANS, WORKERS, AND THE ARRIVAL OF MODERNITY
these groups. During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries nei-

ther the conventional model of dividing urban societies into gente decente
and gente del pueblo nor any rigid theory of class formation can fully
explain the complexity of many "secondary" cities of Latin America.'
In contrast to other geographical regions in Andean studies authors tend
not to distinguish clearly between "ethnicity" and "race." Sometimes these
terms are used synonymously, but over the last twenty years the concept of
ethnicity has largely replaced the one of social race. Only recently anthro-
pologists have suggested that the category of race should be re-considered
in the Andes. They argue that the social discourse over inequality is heavily
loaded with references to racial categories (e.g. bodily comportment, purity)
and racist arguments and that ethnicity "fails to capture the physicality and
comprehensiveness of 'race.'9"2 According to Mary Weismantel and Stephen
F. Eisenman, in the Andes historians and anthropologists should pay as
much attention to race as an analytical category as to class or gender. The
discussion Weismantel and others try to provoke over this issue is innova-
tive. Indeed, racist ideas and attitudes can easily be detected in early-twen-
tieth century Cuzco and the reader will encounter some examples in this
article. However, I do not believe that racism was a dominant element in the
interplay between class and ethnicity in the Andean city. Therefore, I will
continue to use the term ethnicity when referring to the social distinction
between Indian, mestizo, and white.3
Latin American labor history does not offer many insights into the rela-
tion between ethnicity and class, particularly with respect to provincial labor
movements. In recent years methodological and theoretical progress has
been made mostly by authors who study working classes of dynamic eco-
nomic centers (usually export-oriented enclaves).4 But historians tend to
I On overlaps and intersections of different categories of social stratification see Kathleen Canning,
"Gender and the Politics of Class Formation: Rethinking German Labor History," The American Histor-
ical Review 97:3 (June 1992), 737-768. The article presents a profound discussion of the culturalist
attempts of re-defining the concepts of class and class formation. The term "secondary cities" refers to
James R. Scobie, Secondary Cities of Argentina. The Social History of Corrientes, Salta, and Mendoza,
1850-1910 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988).
2 See the special issue entitled "Race and Ethnicity in the Andes," Bulletin of Latin American
Research, 17:2 (May 1998), particularly the article by Mary Weismantel and Stephen E Eisenman, "Race
in the Andes: Global Movements and Popular Ontologies," 121-142. The quote is taken from p. 122.
3 A superb discussion of ethnicity and racism in Peru is Nelson Manrique, La piel y la pluma.
Escritos sobre literatura, etnicidad y racismo (Lima: SUR Casa de Estudios del Socialismo, 1999).
4 Charles Bergquist, Labor in Latin America. Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela,
and Colombia (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986); Bergquist, "What is Being Done? Some
Recent Studies on the Urban Working Class and Organized Labor in Latin America," Latin American
Research Review, 16:2 (1981), 203-223; John D. French, The Brazilian Workers' ABC. Class Conflict
and Alliances in Modern Sdo Paulo (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992); James

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THOMAS KROGGELER 163
avoid studying emerging labor movements o

difficult to distinguish between urban and r
wage and non-wage laborers.
Thriving economic centers, where proce

have pleased social historians, were not exac
before 1930. In most regions, rural as well a
oped slowly and usually they did not obe
assumptions of class formation and the deve
We have not yet properly addressed the qu
social divisions based on ethnicity and rac
provincial movements and it remains to be
played in factories, trade unions and artisan
trast how the issue of ethnicity was presen
and what role it played in everyday-life situ
Decoding the way labor dealt with ethnici

light on workers' political and ideological or
ical projects and, most importantly, demonst
izations were shaped by the structures and
ety from which they emerged. Cuzco can s
broader patterns of how concepts of class a
relations in provincial urban societies. Towa
century a modern urban middle class emerg
economic upswing between the 1890s and
economic and social change strongly influ
interacted as constituent elements of social
relationship between artisans and middle-clas
opment of the notions of class and ethnicity in
about nationalism and progress.
Cuzco is well suited for this project, becaus

ica did the development of a regional labor
with the appearance of indigenista ideas in t
nowhere else was labor more directly force
nicity. I will show how workers and their re
Daniel, Resistance and Integration. Peronism and the Argen

Cambridge University Press, 1988); Michael Hall and Hoba
and Early Latin American Labour Movements, 1880-1930,"
IV, c. 1870-1930, Leslie Bethell, ed. (Cambridge: Cambrid
Spalding, "New Directions and Themes in Latin American
pler," Journal of Latin American Studies, 28:1 (1993), 202-

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coming to terms with establishing their own identity as "progressive" and

"modem" workers and dealing with the "Indian Problem."
A TASTE OF "PROGRESS" AND "MODERNITY": ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

DURING THE PERIOD OF RECOVERY (1895-1920s)
At the turn of the century the city of Cuzco reflected the increasing
dynamics of the regional economy, the more optimistic attitude of certain
groups of local society, and these people's ardent desire to make Cuzco a
more "modem" city.5 The completion of a railroad line between Cuzco and
Arequipa in 1908 perhaps best symbolizes this transformation. The city's
population had grown very slowly over the final decades of the nineteenth
century, but it is likely that the annual growth rate increased after 1900. In
1920 the province of Cuzco counted an estimated 37,000 inhabitants and in
1940 the population had grown to almost 55,000.6 According to a census of
1912, whose absolute figures are questionable, 22.1 percent of the urban
population were still considered Indians, while 54.8 percent were mestizos
and 22.5 percent white.7 Quechua, the Indian language, was spoken every-
where in town and many people had no command of Spanish. Even mem-
bers of elite families made use of Quechua when they addressed their work-
ers or domestic servants.
Many people interpreted the presence of the Indian language as obvious

proof of Cuzco's "backwardness," but city officials, intellectuals, and busi-
nessmen tried to underline Cuzco's course toward modernity. Attempts at
expelling chicherias (taverns), the main meeting place of Cuzco's lower
classes, from the inner city failed." But the plaza de armas, the city's heart
5 On Cuzco during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries see: Magnus Mdrner, Notas sobre el
comercio y los comerciantes del Cusco desde fines de la colonia hasta 1930 (Lima: IEP, 1979); Jos6
Tamayo Herrera, Historia social del Cuzco republicano (Lima: Editorial Universo, 1981); Nils Jacobsen,
"Free Trade, Regional Elites, and the Internal Market in Southern Peru, 1895-1932," in Guiding the
Invisible Hand. Economic Liberalism and the State in Latin American History, Joseph. L. Love and Nils
Jacobsen, eds. (New York: Praeger, 1988), pp. 145-176; and Thomas Kriiggeler, "Unreliable Drunkards
or Honorable Citizens? Artisans in Search of their Place in the Cuzco Society (1825-1930), (Ph.D. diss.,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993). Luis E. Valcaircel provides an impressive description
of Cuzco during the early-twentieth century in his Memorias, Jos6 Matos Mar, Jos6 Deustua C., and Jos6
Luis Renique, eds. (Lima: IEP, 1981).
6 On the demographic development of Cuzco from the late-colonial period to the early-twentieth cen-
tury the literature presents contradictory and often false data. For a synthesis, see Thomas Kriiggeler "El
mito de la despoblaci6n: Apuntes para una historia demogrifica del Cusco (1792-1940)," Revista Andina
16:1 (July 1998), 119-137.
7 Alberto A. Giesecke, "Informe sobre el censo levantado en la provincia del Cuzco el 10 de setiem-
bre de 1912," Revista Universitaria. Organo de la Universidad del Cuzco, 11:4 (March 1913), 2-51.
8 See numerous articles and municipal decrees on this topic in local newspapers between the 1890s
and the 1910s.

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THOMAS KRUGGELER 165
since Inka times, was remodeled and inaugu

years later an electric power plant was buil
electric street lights illuminated the city's m
though only for a few hours."'
By 1920 more factories were operating in

commercial center of the southern Andes. To a certain extent this was due to
Cuzco's favorable geographic position. It was located far away from any
entry port of foreign goods and its provinces were able to supply raw mate-
rial for industrial production (wool, barley, cocoa, hides, etc.). The urban
market was still quite small, but started to grow in the second half of the
1910s. However, entrepreneurial enthusiasm slowed down in the 1920s,
when trade conditions became unstable and profit margins of merchants
decreased.
Yet, Cuzco was not on its way to becoming a strong industrial center. The
small group of investors that on the surface appeared to be an industrial
bourgeoisie was, in fact, composed of merchants and landholders. The
elite's vision of the economic future was based mostly on expansion of agri-
cultural production and international trade, either through Arequipa or
through direct access to the Atlantic coast. In an article published in 1990
Magnus Mimrner sharply criticizes the Peruvian historian Jos6 Tamayo Her-
rera for labeling the period 1895-1945 as "la primera etapa de modern-
izacirn."" Mmrner's main argument is that Cuzco did not show any signs of
"autonomous growth" during the early twentieth century. According to the
author, the region's economic recovery was based only on a temporary
alliance between the regional elite and foreign business interests and on
favorable international market conditions. During the first half of the twen-
tieth century in Cuzco "the process of production continues to be primitive
and deficient" and what Tamayo calls modernization, Mmrner concludes,
had little or no impact on the rural society.12 Of course, a modest regional
economic upswing did not turn the area's agricultural sector into thriving
capitalist enterprises and deeply rooted Andean gamonalismo (bossism) as
well as abuse of Indian peasants continued to characterize rural Cuzco. By
modernization Tamayo clearly means such developments as the arrival of
9 La nueva Plaza de Armas de la ciudad del Cuzco. Tributo de gratitud al Sefior Prefecto Don Juan
Jose Ndfiez. Movimiento de la Tesoreria del "Comite de Ornato. " Homenaje Social (Cuzco: Imprenta de
El Comercio, 1912).
10 See Tamayo Herrera, Historia social, p. 108; and Luis E. Valcarcel, Memorias, p. 37.
11 Magnus MSrner, "Alcances y limites del cambio estructural: Cusco, Peru, 1895-1920," Peru: El
problema agrario en debate, SEPIA III, Alberto Chirif (et.al.), eds. (Cuzco: CBC, 1990), pp. 137-156,
especially pp. 152-54.
12 Ibid., p. 154.

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the railroad, moderate urban industrialization projects, or changing con-

sumption patterns of more affluent sectors of regional society. Although his
use of the term might not satisfy economic historians, it corresponds to the
notion of progress and modernity of contemporary cuzquehios and it cor-
rectly refers to a process of social and economic change. Local newspapers,
for instance, clearly reflect this atmosphere of hope and optimism.
The changes Cuzco experienced between the late nineteenth- and the
early twentieth-centuries are more than cosmetic modifications of a hope-
lessly "backward" society. They reflect patterns of social change that could
be found in many secondary cities of Latin America and their hinterlands.
Between 1890 and 1920 at least forty-seven newspapers were founded in the
department's capital alone, covering a spectrum from conservative Catholic
to anarchist thought. Though many of these papers were rather short-lived,
the existence of an active press gives an idea of how intense local political
and ideological debates were. During the same time-span about twenty civic
organizations were founded, not counting labor organizations and branches
of national political parties. Besides the famous "Centro Cientifico del
Cuzco" the list includes the prestigious and elite-dominated "Club Cuzco,"
the "Club Sur," a development promoting organization of merchants and
landholders, but also the "Sociedad Filantropica-Literaria," and the "Club
Tiro al Blanco."" These organizations, some of which proved to be quite
active, as newspaper articles show, fulfilled a crucial role in the urban soci-
ety. They offered a public space where men (and to a much lesser extent
women) would meet to establish business contacts and to cultivate social
relations. Many people, particularly those of the emerging middle class,
needed such clubs and civic association to create or secure their position in
local society.'4 Some of these organizations were clearly dominated by the
elite, but many aimed at a broader range of possible members. Para-military
clubs of riflemen, for instance, allowed patriotic artisans to compete with
hacendados, who were experienced hunters. Others approached cuzquefios
and cuzquefias who were concerned about moral conditions of the town to
join their anti-alcohol campaign. Members of these institutions were among
those who sponsored public projects such as the remodeling of the city's
main square in the early 1910s, by donating material or money. These devel-
opments had a significant impact on urban society, and they show the com-
plexity of its internal structures and its increasing dynamics. In short, a civic
13 These civic organizations have not received much attention so far. Only the Centro Cientifico has
been analyzed in the context of the development of indigenismo. See Jose Deustua and Jos6 Luis
R6nique, Intelectuales, indigenismo y descentralismo en el Peri 1897-1931 (Cuzco: CBC, 1984).
14 On the Cuzco middle-class, see the informative article "Al Margen de la Campagfia Obrera," El
Sol (June 23, 1919).

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society took shape in Cuzco that went much

Cuzco as a place dominated by the conflict
aristocracy and an exploited Indian sector."
Ethnicity remained a key element of socia

eth century Cuzco and it constantly penet
Nevertheless, the somewhat rigid dichotom
or gente decente) and common people (pleb
prevents us from looking at significant pr
city of Cuzco modest economic growth
intense debates over regional and national
development of an urban middle strata com
managers, private and public employees, m
labor movement, though still small in num
ment also became vital elements of the loca
the interplay between concepts of class and
cated. Of course, master artisans, office cle
backward, and they had long defined the c
Their main concern was economic progress
fortably with their own status as mestizos.
15 The anthropologist Marisol de la Cadena, a leading s

identity in the Andes, presents the concept of decency as t
between different groups in urban Cuzco of the 1920s.
Cuzquefios to define the limits of individual ascent through
damental notion of ethnicity. (... .) Being mestizo or white
'level of decency' relative to the other person, and was in
attributes, which could or could not exist." De la Cadena'
of social control and stratification is fascinating, indeed. H
different layers of the Cuzco society, in my view her analy
division between gente decente and gente del pueblo. Soci
a concept of decency or social criteria based on ethnicity. S
of class played a significant role in urban society. Marisol d
indigenistas del Cuzco en los afios veinte," Revista Andin
16 A good discussion of urban social structures in Latin A
James R. Scobie, Buenos Aires. Plaza to Suburb, 1870-1910
chapter 6. He divides the society of Buenos Aires into gent
edges that the latter group becomes more and more differen
argument is that until 1910 the elite of Buenos Aires succes
aristocratic circles by questioning their family background
like Buenos Aires is quite different from a provincial town
provincial aristocracy whose prestige is mainly based on lan
more vulnerable to "modern" qualities like technical knowle
mopolitan elites of bigger cities. For the context of the pr
A superb study of the urban middle class in Lima is David S
Collar Workers and Peruvian Society (University Park: Pe
his discussion of gente decente and gente del pueblo in chap

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class society in which elements of the aristocratic concept of decency to

define borderlines played only a secondary role.
THE DISCOURSE OF THE "GENERATION OF 1909"
In places like Cuzco the discussion about the moral and economic condi-
tions of the lower classes meant dealing with the "Indian Question," an issue
that plagued Peru since Independence.17 Almost any newspaper of the nine-
teenth century that dreamt about a "modem" Cuzco had touched this topic,
but the debate became more intense and voices in defense of the Indian
became more numerous in the 1870s.'8 This discussion undoubtedly laid t
foundation for Cuzco indigenismo of the early twentieth century. Luis E
Valcaircel was the most prominent member of the "Generation of 1909."
After he had moved to Lima in the 1920s he became a respected author an
anthropologist and a close friend of Latin America's first major Marxist,
Jos6 Carlos Mariaitegui. Valcaircel's middle-class family background w
somewhat typical for Cuzco indigenistas. His family had moved from th
coastal town of Moquegua to Cuzco in 1891, where his father established
successful business selling coastal goods (olives, wine, etc.) and import
consumer items. Luis Valcaircel spent a comfortable childhood and learne
Quechua from his playmates-the children of his family's domestic se
vants. His mother was a devout Catholic, but his father was more liberal
minded, and influenced his son's intellectual development.19
F6lix and Gabriel Cosio were also fervent indigenistas, but their famil
had belonged to the regional aristocracy for generations. The Cosio fami
was from the province of Paruro, where it owned several haciendas. Jos6
Gabriel and Felix knew the social reality of the Andes better than most
their fellow urban students and they were truly bilingual, speaking Quech
as fluently as Spanish.20 Both, the sons of the landed aristocracy and of t
urban middle class, were fascinated with the Inka past of Peru and tried t
17 Charles Walker, "Voces discordantes: Discursos alternativos sobre el indio a fines de la coloni
Entre la ret6rica y la insurgencia: Las ideas y los movimientos sociales en los Andes, siglo XVIII, Charl
Walker, ed. (Cuzco: CBC, 1996), pp. 89-112.
18 El Rodadero (1877-78) and El Popular (1877) are two of the periodicals in which articles
defense of the Indian can be found. The latter one was highly influenced by the Cuzco university pr
fessor and bookstore owner Pio B. Mesa, who is sometimes called an "early indigenista." See also J
Tamayo Herrera, Historia del indigenismo cuzquenio, siglos XVI-XX (Lima: Instituto Nacional de C
tura, 1980) and Nils Jacobsen, "Civilization and Its Barbarism: The Inevitability of Juan Bustaman
Failure," The Human Tradition in Latin America. The Nineteenth Century, Judith Ewell and William
Beezley, eds, (Wilmington, Delaware: SR Books, 1989), pp. 82-102.
19 Jos6 Luis R6nique, Los suei~os de la sierra. Cuzco en el siglo XX (Lima: CEPES, 1991), p. 49.
20 Valc.ircel, Memorias, p.147.

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develop models of how to reconcile Cuzco's

for economic and social progress.
The label "Generation of 1909" was giv

because many of them belonged to the lead
students who in 1909 founded the Asociaci6n
then organized a strike in which they deman
and a basic reorganization and modernization
Abad. The success of the strike, that occurr
famous student strike in the Argentine cit
appeal of the new president, the America
young men into dedicated and hard-working
in Cuzco's Indian past and presence was
another American. In the early 1910s, Hiram
from Yale University "rediscovered" and ex
Machu Picchu, raising students' historical c
Indigenistas praised the glorious pre-His

respect for Andean culture, welcomed the si
ery and promoted a high degree of regional
decentralization. The state of the Indian sect
trast to the optimistic outlook of the region
young intellectuals vigorously studied Cuzco
and their university theses in history, anth
tered on the "Indian Problem." Titles lik
timiento indigena," by Timoteo Flores Ayal
tiva del ayllu," by F61ix Cosio (1915) wer
works produced by the early indigenistas.21
Students defended Andean culture and i

those who still viewed Indians as the centra
They recognized that blaming the Indian for
countryside was not much more than a flim
economic failure of those who controlled rural Peru. Hacendados who
dreamt about modernity, but who acted more like feudal lords than like
italist entrepreneurs, had no right to lament about allegedly lazy Indi
Students produced works on the Indian community as a social system (l
interpreted by some as the foundation of Andean socialism) and tried
explain how Indian peasants struggled against the exploitative haci
system. They presented solid arguments against the old claim that the In
community was synonymous with backwardness:
21 Tamayo, Historia del indigenismo, p. 181.

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Indian communities do not slow down progress (... .). They represent a system
of agrarian exploitation that is increasingly productive, because of commer-
cial incentives, which force them [the Indians] to produce more than their own
region can consume. At the same time, communities do not produce second
class land, as privately owned haciendas do, due to the rotational system [of
land use] they rigorously employ. Besides, the control of the group over com-
munity land makes it more difficult for the gamonal to invade it ( . .).22
In contrast to other segments of society, indigenistas had confidence in the

rural population:
The Indian is an excellent worker, as long as he works for his own or for his
community's benefit. He does not show the same enthusiasm if his effort
serves his tyrannical lord. Then he works listlessly.23
The "Generation of 1909" was in a serious dilemma. Students struggled

with their conviction that regional development meant preparing Cuzco for
the industrial age and their honest desire to preserve Andean culture and to
make Indians a part of modem Cuzco. To be sure, this contradiction was
never resolved and it had to do with the positivist academic environment.
The strongly positivist character of the work of the Centro Cientifco del
Cuzco was felt long after this organization had ceased to exist in 1907. Key
members of the Centro like the medical doctor Antonio Lorena, a specialist
on public hygiene, were respected university professors and strongly influ-
enced their students. Young men who studied under these professors easily
lamented about the "social deficiencies" of Indians.24
22 Felix Cosio, "La propiedad colectiva del ayllu," Revista Universitaria. Organo de la Universidad
del Cuzco, V: 17 (1916). The quote is taken from Marfil Francke Ballve, "El movimiento indigenista en
el Cusco," in Indigenismo, clases sociales y problema nacional. La discusirn sobre el "problema indi-
gena" en el Perui, Carlos Ivan Degregori, Mariano Valderrama, Augusta Alfajeme, and Marfil Francke
Ballve, eds. (Lima: Ediciones CELATS, n.d.), pp. 107-186.
23 Valcarcel, El problema del indio (1926), (Lima: Biblioteca Amauta, 1976), p. 15.
24 In her article mentioned above, De la Cadena presents a radical critique of Cuzco indigenistas. She
states: "Resulting from the influence of the everyday notion of decency, more than protecting the Indi-
ans, indigenismo became a pillar of the defense of Cuzquefio gentlemen, including those hacendados
against whom the Indians themselves were struggling. It thus lost its modernizing potential and instead
supported a chimerical provincial aristocracy that had long ago disappeared, but that elite Cuzquefios
kept recreating." Such devastating criticism lacks the necessary sensitivity for the ideological, social, and
political environment in which any historical actor is embedded. Indigenistas were indeed caught in the
set of values and the ideological concepts of the aristocracy. Most indigenistas were no revolutionaries,
but they sincerely struggled with the contradiction between their ideas of modernity and the dizzying
question of what "indianess" was all about. Indigenismo was highly paternalistic and its weakness was
that it did not develop out of the Indian world itself, but that it was a creation of young urban intellectu-
als. Nevertheless, accusing indigenistas of simply perpetuating the elites ideology falls short of explain-
ing a complex historical reality. De la Cadena, "Decencia y cultura polftica." De la Cadena further elab-

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Cuzco students were no Marxists and their

encrusted local society never took the form
First of all, they shared their parents' basic
modernity. As a matter of fact, Valcaircel w
en el Cuzco" about the need to industrialize
and to prepare people appropriately.25 "Pro
exploitation and abuse. Students viewed Ind
cisely, because Indians apparently did not car
because they were poorly prepared for it. It
like Jos6 Carlos Mariitegui to solve this pro
needed theoretical frame for conclusively c
tion." He replaced the fruitless discussion o
backwardness by a more solid economic analy
THE EARLY CUZCO LABOR MOVEMENT
Founded in 1870, the Sociedad de Artesanos del Cuzco, had become a

respected local institution by the 1890s, with an estimated two to three hun-
dred members. The Society aimed at re-establishing quality standards of
artisan work, above all by improving skills and administering examination
procedures, as professional structures had declined after the breakdown of
the colonial guild system. The artisan sector at large did not enjoy a good
reputation in urban society. While more affluent masters could count on a
certain degree of social respectability, most craftsmen were known for
spending more time in taverns than in their workshops. Therefore, the Arti-
san Society urged masters of all trades to do quality work, to control their
employees' professional and moral conduct and to contribute to the reputa-
tion of the artisan sector. Mutual aid activities (e.g. financial assistance for
members in case of accident, illness, or death), though part of the Society's
functions, were not central. At the founding ceremony in 1870 the need for
mutual assistance was not even explicitly mentioned.27 The major goal of the
Artisan Society was preparing craftsmen for the challenges that lay ahead.
orates on her argument in "Silent Racism and Intellectual Superiority in Peru," Bulletin of Latin Ameri-
can Research 17:2 (May 1998), 143-164.
25 See Luis E. Valcarcel, "La cuestion agraria en el Cusco," Revista Universitaria. Organo de la Uni-
versidad del Cuzco, 111:9 (1914), 16-38. This journal, which was founded in 1911, best reflects the intel-
lectual discussions of Cuzco students.
26 See one of the author's most famous works, Jose Carlos Mariitegui, Siete ensayos de inter-
pretaci6n de la realidad (1928) (Lima: Biblioteca Amauta, 1978). Literature on Mariategui is over-
whelming. As an introduction to the topic, see Alberto Flores Galindo, La agonia de Maridtegui (Lima:
Instituto de Apoyo Agrario, 1989), 3rd edition.
27 See, "Acta de fundaci6n de la Sociedad de Artesanos," El Sol (June 10, 1936).

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The closer the railroad inched to the city and the sweeter the talk about the
allegedly vast opportunities of the department's semi-tropical areas became,
the more important the Society's mission appeared. Leading members were
convinced that skills, quality work, reliability, and diligence were indispen-
sable attributes, if artisans wanted to play an important part in the region's
modernizing process.28
The Society's fervent patriotism was at least as important for improving

artisans' public reputation as all efforts of re-organizing the city's artisan
sector. Its patriotism went far beyond rhetoric. Many of Cuzco's craftsmen
lost their lives on the battlefields of the War of the Pacific (1879-83), while
others returned home as decorated soldiers. President COiceres acknowl-
edged artisans' heroic service by donating an assembly hall (the former
Jesuit chapel "Ignacio de Loyola") and a considerable lot of land at the city's
main square to the Artisan Society. Participation in the war opened doors for
organized craftsmen, doors that they had been so eager to unlock since the
foundation of their association. From this point on, labor would be repre-
sented in the city council, where artisans proudly cooperated with large
landholders, respected professionals, and wealthy merchants. Now their
demands for establishing a trade school could be presented more forcefully
and craftsmen became better integrated in municipal affairs.
Relations with the city council became much more formal, almost semi-
official during the 1890s. The council supported attempts by the Society to
revitalize artisan guilds and by the end of the century at least a dozen of these
artisan organizations functioned in the city. Of course, they did not have
much in common with their corporate predecessors of the colonial period and
the first half of the nineteenth century. New guilds did not enjoy any legal
recognition. For the Artisan Society they formed a network of sub-organiza-
tions controlled by loyal members. The city council, on the other hand,
viewed them as instruments that facilitated the control over the city's largest
economic sector. The municipality frequently requested membership lists of
all local guilds from the Artisan Society, insisted on regular meetings and
held officials of the Society responsible when complaints about cheating and
unreliable craftsmen threatened public order. In 1903 the sub-prefect of the
city demanded that the Artisan Society "implement whatever measures nec-
essary to moralize journeymen of all workshops as soon as possible, that they
fulfill their contracts as required and that masters apply repressive measures
if needed."29 Receiving this kind of letter was somewhat embarrassing to
28 See, Krtiggeler, "Unreliable Drunkards?," chap. V.

29 Archives of the Sociedad de Artesanos del Cuzco, "Carta del Sub-prefecto, 11 de Agosto de 1903,"
Libro Anual, 1, 1902-1903.

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responsible master craftsmen, but, at the s

administration had recognized the Society a
ARTISANS AND THE "WORKING CLASS"
In Cuzco, as in most Andean towns, the number of industrial workers was

low at the end of the nineteenth century. Only a couple of hundred laborers
of the two or three local breweries and perhaps of some tanneries worked
under factory-like conditions. Thousands of skilled and semi-skilled artisans
as well as unskilled day laborers and other poor folk clearly dominated the
local labor market. Few artisans and workers could count on stable employ-
ment and many were even forced to migrate between the town and the coun-
tryside as dictated by employment opportunities. Only after World War I and
during the early 1920s, when the first textile factories opened and electric
energy became available, did a small industrial proletariat develop, broad-
ening the spectrum of the urban labor force. But militant trade unions and
factory-based mutual-aid societies emerged only gradually. Among tradi-
tional craftsmen a relatively small group was organized in the Artisan Soci-
ety. Most members of this institution were self-employed masters, and rela-
tively wealthy entrepreneurs who did business with import-export
merchants and ran shops in the center of town dominated it. This leading
group of craftsmen consisted of no more than fifty men, but it represented
the uncontested voice of Cuzco laborers.
The term "working class" and all its variations (clase obrera, obreros,
proletariado, el pueblo, etc.), which could be frequently found in newspaper
articles since the 1870s, were ill-defined and only the social or political con-
text in which these terms were used determined their specific meaning.
Leading members of the Artisan Society also used the term at their own dis-
cretion. In a historical situation, in which a working class did not yet exist
as a "social fact," and it was not even clearly developed as a form of "social
identity," the term could refer to skilled and organized artisans on one occa-
sion and to the urban poor at large on another.30
The Artisan Society actively constructed an image of workers as honest,

hard-working and honorable people, who were ready to serve Cuzco in the
region's modernizing process. According to the Artisan Society, workers
were proud men who-in contrast to many professionals and bureaucrats-
30 On the discussion of class as a social fact or a social identity see Canning, "Gender and the Poli-
tics of Class Formation."

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earned their daily bread by the "sweat of their brows."31 The image of the
hard-working artisan indirectly included a sideswipe at one of the elite's
most important components of decency: the rejection of manual labor. The
Society made clear that modernity and progress requested the readiness to
roll up one's sleeves. Therefore, artisans and workers were no danger to
society. Quite the opposite, they were a vital element of the modem age and
deserved political support and social recognition.32 With moderate financial
aid for public housing and trade schools and the educational and moralizing
efforts of organizations like the Artisan Society, people of the lower class
could be turned into productive members of society. This frequently
repeated message was effective.33 It pleased ambitious masters, could not be
publicly denied by the elite, and kept large segments of the urban lower
classes somewhat loyal to the organization.
Of course, in the early-twentieth century labor representation was neither

militant nor did it center on the idea of class struggle in the Andean hinter-
land. Until 1917/18 the political goal was integration not confrontation.
Patriotic master craftsmen were best suited to present the honorable
demands of the "working class" and to bridge the social distance between
the urban lower class and the elite. More radical voices, which were influ-
enced by anarchist or socialist thought and which blamed workers for put-
ting their own affairs into the hands of their masters, could rarely make
themselves heard during the first two decades of the twentieth century.34 The
Society's success was based on its ability to present itself to the local elite
as the institution that could best handle the task of "civilizing" the lower
classes while, at the same time, it maintained some credibility among the
lower classes as "their" organization.
Although groups such as the Circulo de Obreros Cat6licos (Circle of

Catholic Workers), founded in 1899 and very popular among artisans and
31 "Espiritu y necesidad de asociaci6n," El Artesano. Organo de la "Sociedad de Artesanos" del

Cuzco, 2 (October 25, 1920).
32 The political agenda of artisans can be found in numerous articles in El Artesano. On the presen-
tation of "workers" and the "working class" as progressive elements of society in the context of the early
European labor movement, see Jiirgen Kocka, "Problems of Working-Class Formation in Germany: The
Early Years, 1800-1875," in Working Class Formation: Nineteenth Century Patterns in Western Europe
and the United States, Ira Katznelson and Aristide R. Zolberg, eds. (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1986), pp. 279-351.
33 See reports from numerous public speeches held by labor representatives in local newspapers and
El Artesano.
34 Tamayo claims that Manuel Gonzalez Prada became popular in Cuzco only after his death in 1918.
In the early 1920s the Cuzco youth was heavily influenced by the anarchist's work. See Jose Tamayo
Herrera, El Cuzco del Oncenio. Un ensayo de historia regional a traves de la fuente de la revista
"Kosko " (Lima: Universidad de Lima, 1989), pp. 18-19.

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workers, were considered "sister organiza

demanded a leadership role. Firmly establis
and public institutions helped secure its do
mandate from Cuzco workers or the lower
no trade unions challenged them, the Arti
the main representative of the Cuzco work
The struggle of the Artisan Society was

debate about progress and industrialism, w
last quarter of the nineteenth century. Thi
common with the European controversy
accompanied regional and national industria
It is interesting to note that in the Latin Am
labor appeared before industrialization act
about exploited factory workers and over
contaminated industrial towns. Instead, it
allegedly ignorant, lazy, and immoral labo
any kind of economic modernization ef
reflected common concerns and demanded
Take care of the workers and Indians. More w

cating every single one of them to appreciate
ures to regenerate our social life .... By rejec
working and saving we will find the wealth,
noble people should look for. ... Artisans of
further, be aware of the future, and if you don
doors of the rich: Work!35
The theme of this article was closely linke

"moral inferiority" of Latin American low
academic racism and Social Darwinism.
as the solution to the problem in some pa
serious option for Cuzco. Modernization so
local people-most of whom were Indians
INDIGENISTAS, LABOR LEADERS AND TH

AND MODERNITY
The discourses of indigenistas and labor leaders were not identical, bu

they clearly crossed each other and overlapped in the shared view that n
35 "Trabajo (primera parte)," La Gaceta Popular (November 27, 1901). "Trabajo, (segunda par
was published in Ibid. (December 9, 1901).

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ther Indians nor workers were ready for the industrial age. Ignorance,
lethargy and a pre-capitalist work ethic stood in sharp contrast to the require-
ments of progress, civilization, and a modem society. Both groups more or
less openly acknowledged that the "backwardness" of Indians and workers
was a serious disadvantage of the Cuzco region. Students and middle-class
oriented master craftsmen agreed that the social groups they claimed to rep-
resent needed to become prepared in order to be able to take advantage of
the benefits the future held ready.
However, indigenistas and labor leaders dealt with this central problem in
very different ways. While students readily admitted the "social deficiencies"
of Indians and demanded judicial protection and educational reforms in order
to overcome the problem, the Artisan Society was much more cautious. Its
leading members avoided any public critique of workers' professional or
social conduct. They insisted strongly on their carefully constructed image of
the honest workingman. Any public complaints about lazy workers or any
lamenting about excessive alcohol consumption would have undermined this
positive image. On the other hand, labor leaders did not directly object when
clients or public authorities expressed their frustrations about workers' con-
duct. Working men and their delegates sincerely applauded the city's mayor,
Jose Frisancho, when he addressed Cuzco workers on Labor Day of 1917 and
urged them to be more responsible. According to Frisancho indifference had
to be replaced by a commonly shared sense of duty: "Fulfilling one's obliga-
tion is patriotism. The humble worker is more patriotic if he carries out his
duty."36 Indigenistas and labor leaders agreed with such opinion, because for
them developing a sense of duty was one of the main requirements for turn-
ing lower class people into responsible citizens.
Although it is important to be aware of the similarities between the two

groups' discourses, one should not conclude that indigenistas and working
class leaders were "natural allies." To my knowledge there is not a single
speech, newspaper article, or any other statement available before 1917 in
which members of the Artisan Society acknowledged any link between the
Cuzco labor movement and the "Indian Problem." It is no coincidence that
it was the Mayor who suggested that "Cuzco workers should expand their
activities to save the Indian from oppression, they should redeem him from
exploitation."37 It would not have crossed most masters' minds to make sim-
ilar remarks.
Labor leaders were rather flexible when it came to defining the bound-
36 "La fiesta obrera," El Sol, (May 2, 1917).

37 Ibid.

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aries of what they called the Cuzco workin

ethnic considerations to penetrate the worl
Society ignored the presence of the Indian
lowed the increasingly dominant view that
the Indian, while the urban environment, in
mestizos. In the city the labor organization
along class instead of ethnic lines. Artisans
accepting that they were considered mestiz
not be Indians.38 The main reason why labo
tion between the world of labor and the Indian World was that the Indian
sector represented the backwardness of the region, while, according to labor
leaders, workers belonged to the modern age. Unlike Indians, workers sup-
posedly had an idea of what industrialism was all about and they did not
hamper development. It was hard enough to fight the poor reputation arti-
sans and workers enjoyed among the urban population anyway; an alliance
with the Indian sector would only have threatened what the Artisan Society
had achieved since the War of the Pacific.
However, the rise of the indigenista movement and the academic and
political enthusiasm that characterized the University after the strike of 1909
made it increasingly difficult for the Artisan Society to avoid the "Indian
Question." As early as 1911, the Asociaci6n Universitaria (University Asso-
ciation) formally invited the Society to participate in public events as the
"representative of the Cuzco working class and an important progressive
force." Although individual artisans may have accepted these invitations,
official delegations were not nominated.39 During the 1910s craftsmen did
not go much further than sharing students' fascination with Cuzco's Inkaic
past, and cooperation was limited to inviting Luis E. Valcaircel to give talks
about the glorious history of Cuzco.
INDIGENISTAS, LABOR LEADERS AND THE MIDDLE CLASS
The growing urban middle class provided the social and political arena
for indigenistas and labor leaders to present themselves as (self-proclaimed)
representatives of Indians and workers. However, students and master
craftsmen neither shared the comfort of this social background to the same
extent nor did they have the same political agenda. While indigenistas, many
of whom were sons of middle-class families, were securely integrated in this
38 See "La coca y nuestra raza indigena," El Artesano, no. 3.

39 The first invitation I found referred to the general assembly of the association, August 13, 1911.
Archive of the Sociedad de Artesanos, "Libros Anuales," 2, 1905-1912.

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social class, the position of artisans remained fragile. Students enjoyed the
privilege of being able to put their fingers on the sore spots of society, with-
out putting their social reputation at risk. Representatives of labor organiza-
tions, on the other hand, constantly worked on improving and stabilizing
their social position. Furthermore, indigenistas who aimed at cooperation
with the Artisan Society may have underestimated to what extent craftsmen
and laborers of all ranks were burdened with racial prejudices that were
present in the Cuzco society. I will demonstrate that these prejudices were
stronger than labor's suggested reputation as a "progressive political force."
Most university students belonged to families of merchants and profes-

sionals who perceived economic wealth and aristocratic concepts of decency
as significant criteria of social stratification. The middle class hoped that
Cuzco would turn into an economically dynamic region and a modern city,
without seriously questioning neo-colonial economic and social conditions
of the region's agrarian sector. The foundation of the Asociaci6n Universi-
taria and the student strike were clear signs that the sons of middle-class
families recognized the need for substantial change and they began fighting
for the opportunity to develop their ideas of Cuzco's future. Parents did not
view their sons' growing activism as rebellious behavior, but more as an
admirable effort to move things ahead. For example, Eliseo Araujo, the pres-
ident of the university in 1909, could not count on much local support when
students demanded his removal from office.40
It is characteristic of most Cuzco indigenistas that they never broke with

the social class from which they had emerged. Though they did not care
much about the Catholic Church and many of them had read-or would
soon study-the work of Peru's most ardent revolutionary thinker and most
outspoken critic of the Peruvian aristocracy, Manuel Gonzailez Prada, the
majority of the students did not turn their backs on the middle class. On the
contrary, as students became more educated, the issues they raised received
more recognition and their voices became more respected.
Artisans were not as firmly rooted in the Cuzco middle class. Few of
them were important tax payers and membership in the city council was not
so much due to their economic success but to their achievements as soldiers
and militia men or as leaders of the Artisan Society. The rather moderate
family background of most craftsmen did not serve as a social buffer either.
Even in 1910 their middle-class position was still somewhat delicate. The
image masters had of themselves as dynamic entrepreneurs was not as
40 Even the Catholic Church welcomed students' activism and encouraged them to organize. See
"Mucho depende de la juventud," La Union, 1232 (March 24, 1909).

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solidly established in the public as artisans

very much overshadowed by the traditiona
respectable men of the lower social ranks. T
for any opportunity to demonstrate its sinc
and to express its competence in managing
1902 members felt honored when the Prefect of Cuzco invited the President
of the Artisan Society to join the newly established Junta General Consul-
tiva, which aimed at promoting the city's general progress.41 In contrast to
the city council, where artisans served as individual citizens, on these meet-
ings they formally represented the Sociedad de Artesanos and received as
much recognition as the president of the Liga Patri6tica and representatives
of other honorable institutions. Another opportunity to enhance the Society's
status emerged in 1908, when two leading artisans, Evaristo Calder6n and
Claudio Perez, served on the committee which was in charge of organizing
public festivities for the arrival of the railroad.42
The need to emphasize their social respectability and to look for social con-
tacts with other middle-class members and the elite explains why such organ-
izations as associations of riflemen were crucial to provincial artisans. Quite
apart from the fact that many artisans were good marksmen, these clubs
offered the chance to socialize with other members of local society and served
as a platform to break open encrusted social structures to a certain extent. The
development of clubs and associations demonstrates the increasing dynamics
of urban society. In Cuzco the first of these clubs of riflemen, El Club Inter-
nacional del Tiro al Blanco, was founded in 1896 and members met regularly
for practice at Bancopata, a hillside on the outskirts of the city. One of the
main objectives of the clubs was "to create a center which would stimulate and
create a spirit of sociability-so much in decay in our country." Participation in
this semi-military organization helped stimulate the "most noble parts of a
man's soul.""43 These clubs formed master artisans' favorite social environ-
ment. Their practical skills helped them to stand their ground and the club
offered many opportunities to discuss business and political issues.44
Cooperation with indigenistas could only go so far without putting these

crucial social ties at risk. When students went beyond describing the great
Inka past of Cuzco and began criticizing the contemporary repression of the
Indian by rural gamonales (bosses), many artisans did not follow. After all,
41 "Junta General Consultiva," La Integridad Nacional, 2 (May 20, 1902).

42 "Para la Recepci6n del Ferrocarril," La Unidn, 1022 (July 6, 1908).
43 "Club Internacional Del Tiro Al Blanco," La Gaceta Popular, 164 (June 16, 1902).
44 The archive of the Artisan Society of Cuzco contains dozens of letters exchanged between the
Society and associations of riflemen, proving the key role artisans played in these clubs.

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a student could elaborate on the problem of gamonalismo at length without

provoking serious reactions. But for craftsmen who met with hacendados in
the city council and at the shooting-stand, this was a delicate topic, one they
refused to touch. Also, a university student could recite the writings of
Gonzailez Prada at length and it sounded academic, but from the mouth of an
artisan it could easily sound subversive.45
Besides, artisans were of course very much caught up in the sets of ideo-
logical constructions and racial prejudices that prevailed not only in Cuzco
but also in Peru at large.46 Master artisans marked their own social distance
from the lower classes by discriminating against cuzquefios they considered
Indians. It is revealing to see what kind of role ethnicity played in workers'
everyday life and to compare it with the public discourse of labor organiza-
tions, where the "Indian Question" and any ethnic division among workers
was ignored until around 1920. Although labor leaders were concerned with
the situation of the poor and the exploitation of the working class, for many
of them the Indian sector was culturally and socially inferior. In fact, key
members of the Artisan Society were even accused of being involved in seri-
ous cases of Indian abuse.
It is impossible to reconstruct the social norms that dominated Cuzc

workshops and factories in the early-twentieth century, but there is no doubt
that in workers' everyday life ethnicity was much more a factor than labor
leaders' public discourse might suggest. Masters frequently used swea
words based on racial prejudices to insult their employees and workers
would not hesitate to use the same terms to offend each other. In public a
master presented his journeyman as a responsible workingman, but in the
more private sphere of the workshop the employee could turn into a "bloody
Indian," if he was lazy or did not fulfill the employer's expectations.
Apprentices, journeymen and workers were usually less burdened with any
worries about their public repute than masters and they moved freely
between the workplace and their neighborhood's chicherias. But from the
viewpoint of the master any involvement of their workers in scandals that
occurred in the Indian-dominated environment of cheap taverns could harm
the reputation of their workshops and the artisan sector at large. The cases
of the shoemaker Juan Villafuerte, who was sentenced in 1904 to six month
in prison for seriously injuring the Indian owner of a chicheria and of th
tailor Santos Cano, who two years later was put in jail for fifty days afte
45 On the relation between the debate over the "Indian Question" and the regional power structure,
see R6nique, Los sueihos de la sierra, p. 59.
46 See Weismantel and Eisenman, "Race in the Andes."

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committing a very similar offense to anoth

examples of the kind of incidents masters gr
When representatives of the Artisan Socie

office they held, they often targeted Indians. E
tributed more than twenty different posit
nors" (e.g. inspector of public hygiene or go
hood) among its members and some gave
officials. When in 1899 Martin Mendoza was
governor of San Pedro, Dionicio Rios, w
Sociedad de Artesanos, he replied: "What do
take advantage of your public office again. W
borhood sent you the last time, you took m
again." Mendoza got into trouble for furious
Even more serious was the case of Juan Pabl
one of the best known representatives of t
twentieth century. In 1907 the local newspap
which the author accused Villafuerte of "a thousand humiliations" of Cuzco
Indians and of misconduct as the governor of the central parish of Cuzco.
The author described the craftsman as abusive and arbitrary and presented a
whole list of incidents in which he accused him of cheating and abusing
Indian peasants.49
Artisans and labor leaders were not enlightened and democratic defend-
ers of any principle of racial equality. Their political project was to become
involved in the modernization of the Cuzco economy and to receive recog-
nition as responsible middle-class citizens. The refusal to link working-class
issues to the "Indian Question" shows that many labor representatives more
or less openly shared basic prejudices that dominated the urban society. Inte-
gration into local power structures (e.g. participation in the city council)
combined with ethnic prejudices corrupted individual labor leaders, which
47 See "Lesiones, Juan Villafuerte," Archivo Departamental del Cuzco, Archivo Oscar Zambrano,
Legajo 109 (1904) and "Lesiones, Santos Cano," Ibid., Legajo 122 (1906). It is interesting to note that
in judicial documents I rarely found any reference to the racial status of an individual involved in a court
case. Only the term "quechua" which in exceptional cases is put after the name of a person identifies a
particular individual as being considered Indian.
48 See "Maltrato, Martin Mendoza," Archivo Departamental del Cuzco, Archivo Oscar Zambrano,
Legajo 74 (1899).
49 "El Gobernador del Cusco," El Sol, 1907. The 1907 volume is not available in the archive of El
Sol. A copy of the article is attached to the court case, Archivo Departamental del Cuzco, Archivo de la
Corte Superior del Cuzco, "Abuso de la libertad de imprenta," Legajo 130 (1907). Following Villa-
fuerte's request, the court forced the author, Tomais Soto, to retract his article. Only in 1923 he was
expelled from the SdA on the basis of similar accusations.

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helps explain why artisans were involved in cases of discrimination against

Indians. Applauding the progressive sounding speeches of young students,
who spoke about the glorious past of Peru, did not contradict their otherwise
indifferent attitude towards Indians. Celebrating indigenistas was appropri-
ate, because it only showed one's modem and future-oriented attitude.
TOWARDS A TEMPORARY ALLIANCE OF LABOR AND INDIGENISTAS

(1917-1924)
The Oncenio (the dictatorship of Augusto B. Legufa from 1919 to 1930)

and its project of Patria Nueva, which was based on the development of a
more dynamic capitalist economy, coincided with an increasing skepticism
towards capitalism and the appearance of alternative political models. The
Cuzco press had informed its readers regularly about World War I and its
aftermath and the Mexican and Russian revolutions made headlines in
papers from Argentina (a major source of information in the southern P
vian city) and Lima, which reached Cuzco with some delay. Knowle
about Marxism was only rudimentary and vague even among most inte
tuals in the 1920s. Cuzco radicalism was mainly based on the biting cri
cism of Gonzdlez-pradismo, which lacked any guidance for real poli
action.5" But during the 1920s indigenistas gradually disassociated them
selves from their fathers' notion of progress. Students and university profes
sors interpreted Andean culture as the base of Peruvian identity. Some s
elements of socialism in Andean culture (e.g. Valcaircel) while others trie
understand "lo Andino" beyond the postulations of western civilization.
no group favored any type of immediate revolutionary change." Impre
by the activism and apparent success of labor movements in other par
the world, some Cuzco artisans and workers began viewing such organi
tions as the Artisan Society and the Circle of Catholic Workers as anac
nistic and as too deeply involved in local politics. They favored a more in
pendent and politically active labor movement.
In 1917 some labor leaders took the first steps towards closer cooperat
with the University Association and indigenistas. In May of that year
tailor Asencio Carrasco declared his candidacy as deputy senator for Cu
accompanying the students' candidate for a senator seat, Romualdo Agui
The announcement was made during a meeting at the assembly hall of
Artisan Society with representatives of all guilds and "numerous youngs
of the University Association" present. At this occasion, which according
50 See Tamayo Herrera, El Cuzco del Oncenio, chap. III.

51 R6nique, Los suei~os de la sierra, chap. 4.

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newspaper articles impressively showed the

intellectual class," an ad hoc committee was
campaign the next day.52 Of course, neither
chance to seriously challenge elite candidate
less, newspapers joyfully celebrated the new
the allegedly "tight unity between students
coverage of the initial collaboration between
that for some papers these steps were overdu
Cooperation between artisans and stude

increasingly aggressive political rhetoric of
Palomino, leading member of the Artisan S
cal Siberia of Peru," which was ignored and
by its own senators and congressmen. He con
ers should have a close look at any candidate
of falling for some empty promises.54 Juan
activist, argued along similar lines, when h
queria" (political favoritism) and blamed peo
strategy of "caudillaje" (leadership of a poli
should insist on political and moral principle
These critical remarks of representatives o

during the years of economic turmoil, when
ers increased and students intensified their
prices had gone up dramatically on the urb
had culminated in a local riot in 1917.56 Sti
during the following years, because of a dram
national markets. Cuzco's working class g
"Huascar" was opened in 1918 and some sma
city. Students' activism led to a national con
diantes del Peru (Federation of Peruvian Stu
directing junta of the Artisan Society was in
event after having received several letters fr
which students suggested intensifying collab
tion and "the people.""'
52 "El movimiento obrero en el Cuzco," El Sol (May 16,

53 "El movimiento estudiantil-obrero," El Sol (May 18, 19
54 "La evoluci6n obrera," El Sol, (April 13, 1918).
55 "Vida obrera: Un discurso interesante," El Sol (May 15
56 See Kriiggeler, "Unreliable Drunkards?," pp. 220-21.
57 See several letters in Sociedad de Artesanos del Cuzco
group of students who tried to gain the support of Cuzco

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By 1920 the Cuzco working class had become more "real" and was
clearly identifiable. This social group was less patient and more self-confi-
dent than the poorly defined "working class" master artisans had claimed to
represent and had tried to manipulate for their own purposes. It became
increasingly clear that some segments of the lower classes were in the
process of liberating themselves from master artisans' tutelage. People like
Jara Vidal6n and Palomino realized that the Artisan Society would soon lose
its role as Cuzco's prime labor organization, if the leadership of the organi-
zation did not react. In the early 1920s, the shoemaker guild counted on 300
hundred members of all professional ranks and it explicitly stressed its inde-
pendence from the Artisan Society. Workers of the railroad, construction,
and textile industries also formed their own organizations with only limited
ties to the Artisan Society. The political goal of forging these groups into one
political force made some labor leaders cooperate with students. Further-
more, they saw that the strategy of cooperating with merchants and hacen-
dados in return for more political participation and social integration did not
really pay. Lack of capital had excluded artisans from any local moderniza-
tion project of considerable size and social or political privileges were only
of cosmetic value if they were not backed by economic success.58
That is why young labor leaders gradually moved towards moderate

political confrontation, searched for new political allies and aimed at setting
up labor as a more independent force in the urban political arena. The Uni-
versity Association was the appropriate political partner to demonstrate
labor's reorientation. Of course, there was no abrupt shift in the political and
social course of the Artisan Society. Most leading members continued to
prefer a limited cooperation with indigenistas. Sponsoring expositions of
Inca art and celebrating distinguished indigenistas as important representa-
tives of Cuzco and as friends of the labor organization was still as far as they
were willing to go.59
The wave of Indian rebellions that swept through the southern Andes
between 1920 and 1925 was provoked by the dramatic decline in wool
prices in 1920/21.60 All over the wool-producing regions, Indian peasants
linked their anger over falling prices of their products with conflicts over
Torre, the man who later founded the Accidn Popular Revolucionaria de America (APRA) and who was
one of Peru's most influential politicians of the twentieth century. Haya, who had spent some time in
Cuzco between 1917 and 1918, was disappointed by what he interpreted as a conservative attitude of the
local labor movement.
58 See Krtiggeler, "Unreliable Drunkards?," chap. VI.

59 See numerous articles in El Artesano on Luis L. Valcircel.
60 See R6nique, Los sueifos de la sierra, p. 68, and Nils Jacobsen, Mirages of Transition. The Peru-
vian Altiplano, 1780-1930 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 344-53.

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land ownership and complaints of abuse. Indians

or less well-organized rebellions and scared publi
land. The "official indigenismo" under Presid
shape, and between 1922 and 1925 members of th
with hundreds of Indian complaints in the Cuzco
the Indian Race." By then the discussion of the "I
national dimensions and the central political rol
artisans and workers to think about their attitud
In 1921 or 1922 some artisans and workers had founded a rather short-
lived Federaci6n Obrera Local Cuzqueiia (Local Workers' Federation)
which published an equally transitory periodical with the ambiguous title
"Obrero Andino" (Andean Worker). The federation pushed for a Workers'
Congress of the Department of Cuzco in 1922. First planned for the month
of May, later postponed to the Independence-day holidays in July, the event
was finally canceled for unknown reasons. Nevertheless, the program of the
congress was published. Point three of the agenda addressed the difficult
relationship between rural and urban workers:
a) How should we classify workers? According to the nature of their

work and the topographic situation of their place of living? Who are
the peasant workers or rural workers and how should they be organ-
ized; and who are the urban workers or citizens?
b) Shall we continue tolerating the denunciative and reactionary propa-
ganda which makes them [peasants] believe that they themselves are
not workers and therefore shall not demonstrate solidarity with urban
workers?
c) Shall we destroy the propaganda of racial disunion planted by those

who exploit the Indian and for whom unity would constitute a social
risk? Shall we instead consider them [Indians] workers with the same
rights as all citizens?
d) Is it necessary to set up peasant federations and who should sponsor
them?61
This clumsy presentation of a very serious issue, that highlights newly

emerging terms like "el obrero quechua" (the quechua worker) or "el obrero
del campo" (worker of the countryside), also demonstrates that Cuzco labor
organizations were unprepared for the activities of radical Indian peasants.
No doubt, peasant activism had caught labor by surprise and some leaders
were impressed by Indian radicalism. The struggle of the countryside
against exploitation and abuse forced Cuzco labor leaders to consider Indi-
61 "El pr6ximo congreso obrero departamental," El Sol, (March 22, 1922).

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ans as serious political players and it became clear that relations between
urban and rural workers had to be reconsidered. From the viewpoint of some
labor leaders the allegedly backward Indian had turned into a pioneer of
class struggle.
At the time when Cuzco Indians rose up the Artisan Society was hope-
lessly divided. Animosities between leading members, political factional-
ism, and disputes over the future course of the institution split it into hostile
groups. Occasionally, police were forced to intervene when the Society's
assemblies were on the brink of public fistfights.62 Of course, internal con-
flicts had a lot to do with the radicalization of some leaders and the conser-
vatism of others. When the university professor and president of the "Centro
Manuel Gonzdlez Prada," Luis Velasco Arag6n, in a public speech, charac-
terized the political system of Peru as a "systematized lie" or as "lying
turned into business" and called members of the parliamentary system
"rabble," some members of the Artisan Society were disgusted by such anar-
chist remarks. Others enthusiastically carried the speaker around the city's
main square.63
The temporary influence of more radical forces within the Artisan Soci-
ety not only led to the discovery of the "obrero quechua" as a political
factor. For the first time, in 1923, the Society attacked the social and politi-
cal conditions of the countryside, disregarding of the repercussions it might
produce. The killing of nine Indian peasants in the village of Chinchaypucyo
(Anta province) provoked an unusually strong response. Not only did local
newspapers publish a letter of protest in which the Society stated that the
death of these "sons of Cuzco" demanded a swift response on the part of
public authorities, artisans even telegraphed the letter to the Minister of the
Interior in Lima.6
Collaboration between artisans, workers, and students reached its peak

with the foundation of a people's university. Although the project was devel-
oped during the student congress of 1920, the "Universidad Popular
Gonzdlez Prada" was founded in Cuzco only in early 1924. Counting
around 100 students it was designed to enlighten and to better organize arti-
sans and workers.65 Although in Cuzco organizers insisted in the purely aca-
62 See, for example, "Tumultuosa seci6n de la Sociedad de Artesanos," El Sol, (April 13, 1923).
63 The speech was published as Luis Velasco Arag6n, La verdad sobre el fango. Conferencia leida
ante un comicio popular por el escritor Luis Velasco Arag6n el 22 de Abril de 1923 (Cuzco: H.G. Rozas,
1923). Tamayo Herrera claims that after the event Velasco Arag6n was enthusiastically celebrated by his
audience. Tamayo Herrera, El Cuzco del Oncenio, p. 18.
64 "La masacre de Anta: En6rgica protesta de la Sociedad de Artesanos," El Sol, (March 15, 1923).
65 Tamayo Herrera, El Cuzco del Oncenio, p. 68.

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demic character of the university, in Lima th

versity, Jos6 Carlos Mariaitegui, made clear
objective was to develop people's class con
seemed to agree with the Lima Marxist w
workers as "comrades" in the inauguration sp
Artisan Society.67
Many respected Cuzco citizens were most cr

tion and they did not trust the organizers' ta
fore, it was unlikely that the cordial relationsh
sity and the Artisan Society would last. Mo
underestimated the strength and determinati
the labor organization. The Catholic bishop,
for his sympathies for indigenistas, strongly c
to the popular university, an enterprise that in
ist project. Conservative artisans responded i
bishop's accusation they came together and put
They officially terminated any cooperation wit
dents further access to the Society's locale.68
The conflict over the popular university pe

in the history of the Cuzco labor movement
more organizations popped up (among them
in 1927) and the Artisan Society continue
labor-oriented local newspaper, soon accused
narrow-minded and demanded, again, that ar
Cuzco Indians as a political problem.69 In
Departamental del Cuzco formally unified t
artisans could only politely applaud its found
CONCLUSION
The city of Cuzco looked rather different

the 1890s. Factories were functioning, a railr
nity, electricity was available, and the s
improved. The traditional division of the lo
versus gente del pueblo had burst open and
66 See Jeffrey L. Klaiber, "The Popular Universities and

panic American Historical Review, 55:4 (1975), 693-715.
67 "La universidad popular y la solidaridad estudiantil-ob
68 Tamayo Herrera, El Cuzco del Oncenio, p. 67.
69 "Vida Obrera: La Sociedad de Artesanos y su actual evo

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social classes gained importance. However, the old social order proved to be
robust and it was not easily replaced by a typical urban class system. But
numerous civic organizations, political clubs, and an active press reflected
the diversity, internal conflicts, and dynamics of the local society. And
although standard procedures of measuring historical processes of modem-
ization ( per capita income, patterns of capital investment etc.) may fail to
detect this social change, it is nevertheless significant and revealing.
Relations between indigenistas and the Artisan Society of Cuzco, on the

surface, seemed to be friendly and cordial until around 1920, but they had
never been tight. Artisans were pleased to be considered a "progressive
political force" by indigenistas and in return they patiently listened to stu-
dents' talks on the magnificence of the Inca empire. But generally the labor
organization tried to maintain a certain distance because artisans insisted
that a modem working class consisting of ostensibly future-oriented and
hard-working men had little to do with allegedly backward Indians. Master
craftsmen envisioned that for them modernization meant economic expan-
sion and a comfortable position in the urban middle class. "Civilizing" the
lower classes and taking care of the working class served this central pur-
pose. Whenever indigenista rhetoric or action threatened to undermine the
artisans' goal, conservative masters backed off.
The way the Artisan Society presented a vaguely defined local working
class and utilized this social concept for its own interests even before indus-
trialization had reached the Andean town typified early labor organizations
of many Latin American cities. However, the complicated interplay between
class and ethnicity can only be found in cities where elements of Indian cul-
ture (or Black culture in other regions) remained strong. In these cities the
worker could be presented as a class-conscious activist in public and could
be called an Indian scamp in the workplace.
The transformation of Cuzco from a society divided into an aristocracy

and a plebeian sector dominated by ethnic criteria of social stratification, to
a class society where ethnicity was replaced by class-consciousness, was
nowhere near completion. During the 1920s the discourse of labor leaders
became more radical and some representatives discovered Indian peasants
as possible allies in a revolutionary class struggle. On the other hand, a
strong contradiction between labor's public discourse and the social reality
remained. Regardless of unquestionable change Cuzco was still a city in
which the landed aristocracy maintained power and influence. The degree of
industrialization was significant, but it never turned the Andean city into a
factory town. And elements of the Andean Indian world from language to
consumption behavior continued to characterize the urban environment.

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Workers could wave a red flag during a pol

and talk quechua in their tavern an hour late
elements of class and ethnicity influenced
ment of social hierarchies simultaneously (an
they continue to do so today).
University of Bielefeld THOMAS KROGGELER

Bielefeld, Germany

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Indians, Workers, and the Arrival of "Modernity": Cuzco, Peru (1895-1924)

Author(s): Thomas Krüggeler

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1008111

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INDIANS, WORKERS, AND THE ARRIVAL OF

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these groups. During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries nei-

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avoid studying emerging labor movements o

Thriving economic centers, where proce

Decoding the way labor dealt with ethnici

Cuzco is well suited for this project, becaus

Daniel, Resistance and Integration. Peronism and the Argen

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coming to terms with establishing their own identity as "progressive" and

A TASTE OF "PROGRESS" AND "MODERNITY": ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

Many people interpreted the presence of the Indian language as obvious

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since Inka times, was remodeled and inaugu

By 1920 more factories were operating in

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the railroad, moderate urban industrialization projects, or changing con-

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society took shape in Cuzco that went much

Ethnicity remained a key element of socia

15 The anthropologist Marisol de la Cadena, a leading s

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class society in which elements of the aristocratic concept of decency to

THE DISCOURSE OF THE "GENERATION OF 1909"

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develop models of how to reconcile Cuzco's

The label "Generation of 1909" was giv

Indigenistas praised the glorious pre-His

Students defended Andean culture and i

21 Tamayo, Historia del indigenismo, p. 181.

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In contrast to other segments of society, indigenistas had confidence in the

The "Generation of 1909" was in a serious dilemma. Students struggled

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Cuzco students were no Marxists and their

THE EARLY CUZCO LABOR MOVEMENT

Founded in 1870, the Sociedad de Artesanos del Cuzco, had become a

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The Society's fervent patriotism was at least as important for improving

28 See, Krtiggeler, "Unreliable Drunkards?," chap. V.

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responsible master craftsmen, but, at the s

ARTISANS AND THE "WORKING CLASS"

In Cuzco, as in most Andean towns, the number of industrial workers was

The Artisan Society actively constructed an image of workers as honest,

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Of course, in the early-twentieth century labor representation was neither

Although groups such as the Circulo de Obreros Cat6licos (Circle of

31 "Espiritu y necesidad de asociaci6n," El Artesano. Organo de la "Sociedad de Artesanos" del

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workers, were considered "sister organiza

The struggle of the Artisan Society was

Take care of the workers and Indians. More w

The theme of this article was closely linke

INDIGENISTAS, LABOR LEADERS AND TH

The discourses of indigenistas and labor leaders were not identical, bu

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Although it is important to be aware of the similarities between the two