Anarchism In Peru feat. Andrew

Andrew is joined by James to discuss anarchism in the Andes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All the media.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to Karapen here. I'm Andrew Sage from the YouTube
channel Andrewism and I'm joined.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Today by James. It's me Hi Andrew, So James.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Just before the show we were talking about it a
couple of different places that we've either been to or
would like to visit. Have you ever been to the Andes?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
No, anything I have, Actually I'd like to I like mountains.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, the Andes is one of my bucket list destinations
for sure. They've always enticed me, you know, as a
place of settlement, a center of culture, a place of
political struggle. So, you know, I had to do an
episode on the development of anarchistsinicalism in Peru. So they're
continuing along with my previous research on anarchism and other

(00:47):
parts of the group. Much information I've gathered as thanks
to the work of Stephen J. Hush and Ducent founder Wald,
particularly anarchism and synicalism in the colonial and post cleaner
world Easy seventeen nineteen forty. And you know, people don't
usually think of Peru when they think of anarchist clinical struggles,
not even in the context of Latin America. Folks familiar

(01:10):
with that history would quicker consider Brazil or Argentina as
sites of anarchist cynicalism. You know, in Brazil the roots
of anarchism could be traced back to the late nineteenth century,
to the influence of European immigrants, and at the early
twentieth century had anarchist ideas keen interaction across the work
in class, with the establishment of various associations and newspapers
like the Brazilian Workers Confederation found that in nineteen oh

(01:34):
six anarchists would play, of course a crucial role in
the general strike of nineteen seventeen, and then unfortunately, with
the rise of Jitulio Vargas and his Estado Novo regime
in the nineteen thirties, there was a very severe oppression
of anarchist activities. In Argentina, you also had anarchism taken
route in the late nineteenth century, again largely due to

(01:56):
the influence of European immigrants, and by the early twenties
entry Buenos Airess had become a hub of anarchist activity,
with numerous anarchist newspapers, clubs and unions. The Argentine Region
of Workers Federation, foundated nineteen oh one, was a leading
Anachosynicus organization that advocated for workers' rights and direct action. Sadly,

(02:18):
the movement reached its peak during the first two decades
of twentieth century, and fortunately, similarly to Brazil, due to
the repression they endured, particularly during the infamous Tragic Week
in nineteen nineteen, where a major workers strike led to
violent clashes and a crackdown on anarchists and labor activists,
the overall movement went into a decline. Peru during this

(02:39):
period was predominantly an agrarian society with a large and
economically marginalized indigenous population. It hardly resembled a nation in
the throes of industrialization. So though there was significant capus
growth in Peru's export sectors, chiefly mining, sugar, cotton, and wool,
fast areas of the country remained largely unaffected by these

(03:02):
capitalist changes. Aside from Lima and its adjacent port city, Callao,
which served as the nation's administrative, commercial and financial hub,
sizeable urban economies were conspicuously absent. This lack of urban
centers typically associate with industrial growth post a unique challenge
for the development of a robust labor movement, but labor

(03:23):
one would still arise. The working class in limaclaw would
emerge beginning in the eighteen nineties and early nineteen hundreds,
spurred by the export boom that invigorated the urban economy.
Profits from the export sectors were reinvested into new financial institutions,
infrastructure projects, utility companies, and consumer goods industries by native

(03:43):
and foreign capitalists, and this economic growth led to a
dramatic rise in the urban labor force. In Lima, the
number of manual workers grew from about nine thousand in
eighteen seventy six tony twenty four thy nineteen oh eight,
making up seventeen percent of Lima's estimated one hundred forty
thousand residents. In Kalao, the workforce grew at a slower pace,

(04:06):
doubling in size betree nineteen oh five nineteen twenty to
around eight thousand out of a total population of fifty
two thousand. So this is not a bustling industrial heartland
by any means, and peasant based society is are not
exactly known for their cyndicalism, But despite its unlikelihood, Peru
was indeed also a place of anarchistinicalism, though most notably

(04:29):
within Lima and Kalao. The nineteen tens and twenties were
the Heydi of syncalism Peru, as anarchist ideas and publications
were circulated by a small handful of radical immigrant intellectuals,
alongside the labor organized and efforts of craftsmen and machine
tenders who were inspired by Prudon, Bacunin, Kropotkin, and Manchester.
Thanks to their efforts, anarchistinicalism would come to dominate the

(04:52):
still fledgling labor movement in Peru, spreading its influence beyond
Limacalau to the working classes along Peru's northern coast and
central and southern highlands. Workers in factories, crafts transportation, and
rural settings all found appeal in the ideals and practice
of the ideology. Of course, at the size of the
movement of the time, the anarchists may have dominated the movement,

(05:15):
but the movement itself and the anarchists within it constituted
a minority of Peru's urban and rural working classes. Keeps
that in mind as we proceed stea emerging Peruvian working
class was highly diverse. He had workers of different origins, gender, race, ethnicity, age,
skill level, and despite these differences, They all were dealing

(05:36):
with long working hours after beteen twelve to sixteen hours
a day in poor conditions for meager wages the barely
covered basic living expenses. Seeking to improve their die working
and living conditions, workers began to turn to anarchism because
the elite dominated political system in Peru was simply not
taking them on. But there was a handful of sympathetic

(05:56):
dissolution deletes like Manuel Gonzalez Prada and upper class intellectual
who became an anarchist after interacting with French and Spanish
anarchists during a self imposed European exile between eighteen ninety
one and eighteen ninety eight. Gonzales Prada founded the first
anarchist publication, Los Parias in nineteen oh four, and this
was soon followed by other anarchist newspapers like Lasimier and

(06:18):
ter Roja, Elambriento, Umanidad and Oprimido. Anarchist slogans like Kropotkins
liberties and not pistowed They're seized were prominently featured in
these newspapers, and these publications mainly produced by radical intellectuals
such as Clicerio Tassara and hil Arihi Cali Carlos del

(06:39):
Barrizo and Ino Sincio Lombarosi introduced workers to European anarchist
ideas and perspectives on the state, the Bouchoisi, the church,
property and class relations. Anarchist study circles further promoted these
ideas among workers, operated by both workers and radical intellectuals.
Groups like the Center of Socialist Studies First of Me

(07:00):
in Limo and Love and Light in Calau provided spaces
for discussing anarchist principles, and these study circles, like the
Anarchist Press, emphasized workers self emancipation and cultural advancement. And
somehow this man manages to come up in practically every
single one of my explorations of anarchist history, that being

(07:21):
the Spanish anarchist Francisco Ferrer. He was the guy who
kickstarted the modern school movement in Spain and led to
the creation of anarchist schools worldwide, and he was also
unjustly executed by the Spanish state.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
YEA, for there is like a guy I like to
a lot I like to. If you're in Barcelona, you
can visit him, along with Ascaso and de Rudy on
much week. They're in the cemetery there they have like
a little little area with the three of them.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
I was wondering for a second therese he said, oh,
you could visit him. I was like, well, really, yeah,
I'm pretty sure he's six feet under he's.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Immortal, like they've reanimated him.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
It's like zombie for there. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
I feel like the Simpsons did an episode of that
with Lenin.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Fortunately, I'm trying to think. I'm pretty sure that anarchids
have we have spared the world the embalming of our leaders.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Fortunately. Yeah, fortunately, I mean his death. Though despite not
being embalmed, his death still continues to refuberate across these
historical episodes across the world. Upon his death, anarchists went
out in their numbers to protest his execution, and Peru
was no different. On October seventeenth, nineteen or nine, the

(08:35):
Center of Socialist Studies First of Me organized a public
protest in response to the execution of perrer A by
the Spanish government, and these sorts of demonstrations were not
new to the workers in Peru at the time. In
the previous year, an anarchist musical group associated with the
Center held a performance to commemorate the nineteen o seven
massacre of Chilian mine workers and for the more annual

(08:57):
media celebrations in honor of the Chicago Martyrs were also
supported by these study circles and the anarchist press. The
first May Day celebration in Lima, organized primarily by the
Federation of Bakery Workers Star of Peru, took place in
nineteen oh five, highlighting international working class solidarity and the
struggle for the eight hour workday, while honoring Peru's first

(09:19):
worker martyr and to the dedication of anarchist leaders, publications
and study circles, the early years of Peruvian anarchism and
labor organization laid the groundwork for a movement committed to
justice and dignity for all workers. We can say that
by nineteen eleven anarchist cynicalism had truly firmly taken route.

(09:40):
Why because this was the year of the first general
strike in Peru by the urban working class, spearheaded by
anarcho synicalists. In March nineteen eleven, five hundred workers at
the US owned Vitarde cotton Mill initiated a strike demanding
higher wages, a reduction of the work day from thirteen
to ten hours and the elimination of the night shift.

(10:02):
And I found these demands very interesting because I'm imagining
even know people back then saying, you know, how lazy
can you be? You know, you only want to work
ten hours? Like, come on, some of us, some of
us are putting in sixteen, seventeen, eighteen hours, pick up,

(10:23):
pick up the slack.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah, And it's always like these early anarchist demands. You
just realize the unfathomable misery of being like part of
the industrial working class in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yes, like can you can you ease the boot off
my neck for like two seconds a day? You know?

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Yeah, it's people fighting and dying right to work, like
the amount of hours that most of us are awake
in a day. They would work that much without taking
care of any of their family or personal or other needs.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Like can I please see my family more than an already?
Absolutely not, no youth, And then the Pinkerton's come out
and yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yes, exactly, like, yeah, people are asking for sixteen hour
day and their response is to send out someone to
murder them.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, it's ridiculous, Yeah, but I am impressed by their
tenacity you know, yeah, absolutely, even with the what I
would consider to be rather soft demands, I mean a
ten hour worth, the higher wages, and the elimination of
the night shift. I mean those are things that some
people take for granted today, right, Yeah, but that's what

(11:35):
they had to fight for. And their strike lasted twenty
nine days.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Oh wow, that's very impressive. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
This has reminded me of like, I'm working on a
book right now, and I've been reading this biography of
Duluti for a while. The able pass wrote and it
passes book where de Ruti goes into exile for a
way too and turn travels across South America and these
these anarchist schools are being set up along the modern
system as envisaged by Jess fel Air. And they don't

(12:04):
have any funding, right because everyone's so dirt poor that
like that, there isn't much surplus to contribute to their
children's education. And they have once they have taken care
of their subsistence needs. And there's this line in the
book which, for whatever reason, it's just like a line
I aspire to write something this beautiful. It's de Ruty
was very fond of children, and so he risked his

(12:25):
life robbing banks to fund their education, which is like
I just love the pivot from like he liked kids
and therefore he conducted on bank robbery throughout the world.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah yeah, it's like you know, put the money in
the bag and maybe some textbooks while yeah at it.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah yeah, and like he at this time, like the
anarchists were so pure at this time, and like in
their sort of aspirations and in their actions in many ways.
In other ways, not of course that they could not
rid themselves to some of their gender assumptions, but they
would make an accounting of everything they stole, which is

(13:03):
really not like if if you're involved in crimes and
you're listening, it's not a good.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Idea, yeah, exact.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, but he would do it to to like prove
sure everyone that he wasn't stealing for his own personal benefit.
He'd be like, we get this to this school, and
we bought some textbooks and like that. You know, they
needed school lunches, so we got some sacks of rice
and bananas, and like, as you can see, the entire
money from this bank heightst has been redistributed, and we're
off to another country to do the same.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Now, I'm just imagining this guy like he's keeping all
these records because the anarchist auditor is going to come
and you know, check all.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like I'm not sure who would like
doubt the commitment of the man traveling around the world
robbing the banks. But apparently they felt that, like no
one should be above approach, which is admirable.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, yeah, you know what's not admirable, Andrew ads.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, it's our obligation to include products and services in
these podcasts, but we have to.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
So here we go.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Okay, we're back, and yeah, you're telling me about their
twenty nine day general strike or that strike rather not
general strike.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah, the strike, but you're close because the strike started
in March as a regular strike, it last twenty nine
days and then eventually escalates into a general strike on
April tenth, bring in Lema's business and transport to a
complete halt. And so the following day, President Leguya intervened
and forced the mills management to meet the workers' demands.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
That's a win.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
It is a way of a ten hour workday, but
a win.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
Nonetheless, Yeah, I guess it's approved that you can force
them to change and you can you can continue from there.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
Yeah, yeah, And so to save safeguard their heart won victories,
textile workers in Vitality established the Textile Workers Unification of
Ititarate in May nineteen eleven, dedicators to defending the rights
of all workers. Inspired with Ytart's example, workers at other
major mills and Lima began forming their own resistance societies

(15:12):
dedicated to serving and defending the right of the proletariat
in general and the textile workers in particular. The movement
continued to gain momentum in nineteen twelve nineteen thirteen. In
October nineteen twelve, the that protester group succeeded in forming
the first Workers Regional Federation of Peru, uniting various worker
resistance societies modeled after Argentina's Workers Regional Federation. The FORP,

(15:35):
as it was also called, advocated for both immediate improvements
and long term social revolution, aimen to unite workers across Peru. Unfortunately,
as is the case with many workers struggles in this time,
economic instability and state hostelsy during World War One led
to the dissolusion of the FORP in nineteen sixteen. Thankfully,

(15:56):
this setback was temporary, between nineteen sixteen and nineteen nineteen,
anacosynicalis redouble their efforts, focusing on organizing both urban and
rural workers. Following the death of Manuel Gonzalez Prada nineteen nineteen,
work around union presses emerged, spreading anachosyniclust ideas and replace
in earlier anarchist publications. This renewed activity strengthened the labor movement, theadnity,

(16:18):
establishment of new labor federations and the revival of the FORP.
And with the deteriorating conditions during the war years and
real wages fallen sharply, they had to be a wave
of strikes in nineteen eighteen. The most significant strike occurred
in December nineteen eighty, when nearly twenty nine hundred textile
workers demanded an eight hour workday. Finally we're making some progress.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get in there.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
What I find so interesting about the demand of an
eight hour workday is if we look at their first
demand nineteen eleven, they fought to reduce their work day
from thirteen hours to ten hours, right, and then a
mayor seven years later eleven to nineteen eighteen, I mean
seven years.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Later, Yeah, they go them down to eight They go.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
From ten hours to eight hours. And by the way,
by January nineteen nineteen, they organized a general strike. They
moved on to general strike to let to street clashes
and business shutdowns, and despite the arrests and the torture
of strike leaders, the strike continued until president they were
conceded to the eight hour weekday. So in seven years
they went from ten hours to eight hours. Yeah, and

(17:27):
then we've all collectively as a global society been stuck
on eight hours for the past century, over our century
this point, I mean it's twenty four this was nineteen nineteen.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah. Wow. Putting it that way, that is blake.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
We should we should be down to on hour this point.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Yeah, yeah, we give it extrapolate, right, we take two
points and draw the line. That's what happened when like
they see the success of the people in the street
train and they know they had a power and they
can keep going.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah yeah, because they wouldn't have felt so boll demand
the eight hours if they didn't fight and win that
that's in hours at first, just a couple of years before.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
Yeah, Like it's why we have made a versus International
Workers Day, right, Like because like the number of rights
that we enjoy visa VI, our employers and the state
were all fought for and won by people who sometimes
died in the process, and like, yeah, we ought to
remember that. I think like sometimes now organizing forgets how

(18:26):
hard fought those were, but also like they won. Yeah,
we have not had many dubs in the in the
intervening period, of course, the state, like the state has
grown exponentially stronger.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean the situation has changed. We have
to acknowledge that. Yeah, but it's just it is very fascinating,
you know that the way that you know, these small
wins was able to embolden bigger wins yeah, later down
the line, and that keeping that momentum really is vital.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Hmm, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
It still works that way when I like, you know,
in the last couple of years, I've been to Rajava
and to Mian Mahar, Like, they have done things that
would have seemed inconceivable to them ten years before they
did them. And in both cases it's by staying in
the streets, right or staying in the jungles or the
mountains or wherever you're fighting them, and then refusing to
like accept that the state can tell you what to do,

(19:21):
even when the state tries to bring its coercive violence
against you. And like that's how all of these these
winds occur. But it doesn't happen without organization, without community,
without like all the things that they had built in Peru,
right like before they did their first strike, they had
to have confidence that their strike would succeed, and presumably
a strike fund and a means to collectively support the

(19:43):
people who weren't getting paid, and they had to build
all that and then like these things can kind of
cascade once the once the movement has a strong base.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Exactly. There's the reason that I'm going through these histories.
You know, these are the sort of lessons I want
people to be able to glean.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah, totally.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
I think it can be frustrating Otherwise, like it can
be frustrating to be people. I'm not saying people right
now aren't trying, because people do a lot and they're
working hard, But it can be frustrating until you see
that it takes years of building that base and then
things things can seem to come quickly, but it does
years of work sort of behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
That has happened first.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Absolutely, so In the months following the general strike, workers
continue to protest the rising costs of living. Organizers like
ad Alberto Funken Nicolas Gutara formed the Committee for the
Cheapen Enough of Prime Necessities, mobilizing thousands. I think we
definitely need a Committee for the Cheap Enough of Prime
Necessities today.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
It's an amazing group. Like I've just what a great thing.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, fantastic name. When the demands were ignored, you know,
here we go again. A general strike was declared in
May nineteen nineteen, resulting in violent clashes with the state
and the arrests of Kutara and another figure, Carlos Barper.
Upon their release, resolve unshaken, Gutara and Barba defiantly addressed

(21:05):
President Leaguya, stating in part that the populace of today
was not the team one of yesterday, which had silently
borne all terrannees.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Sounds like a threat, yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
Two days later, FORP was reactivated with a mission to
dismantle capitalism and create a society based on mutual aid
and equality. Serocosilicus' movement had dissolved any linkering passivity among
Leemaclau's workers. The passion hunger and aggression towards state and
employer threats had reached a crescendo by this point. For example,

(21:38):
in September nineteen twenty one, textile workers seized el Inca
mill in response to management's plans to close the factory.
Although they were eventually dislodged by troops, their active resistance
demonstrated their determination and boldness. And it isn't that fascinating
that these workers were willing to seize the mill they
had worked at because the margin and plan and closing

(21:58):
it down. They were willing to take control of that
place and work at it, and you contribute to the economy.
But the troops were mobilized ensure that they did not
exercise autonomy as workers to self organize their own labor.
It's either you're under management or out of a job.

(22:18):
There's no working for yourself or working as a collective.
Also in nineteen twenty one, the FORP was replaced by
the Local Workers Federation or fol which lashed out against
the government's legal rules against strikes. So in nineteen twenty

(22:39):
President Leaguiya put forward a new constitution with very strict
provisions to regulate this wave of strikes and to put
the labor conflicts under arbitration by the state, and so
the Local Workers Federation the FOL, which had replaced the
FORP in nineteen twenty one, lashed out at this government's

(23:01):
legal rules and vowed to completely ignore it. At the time,
as well, alongside the labour struggles, anaqual syncalists were struggling
to transform culture. Contrary to the idea that the FOL
neglected cultural issues, evidence shows that they actively developed a
distinct working class culture. Their strategy was a war of

(23:21):
position against rule elites, even to create a counterculture that
challenged the dominant bourgeois values. At the nineteen twenty one
FOL Congress, workers affirmed the importance of both economic improvements
and cultural uplift, which led to the estalient of initiatives
like a worker's daily newspaper, a popular library, and various
cultural associations. One key example was the central musical Obrero

(23:44):
de Lima, founded in nineteen twenty two, which used music
to promote workers' rights and solidarity. Workers also participated in
social events like the Fiesta de la planter, a secular
festival designed to compete with Christian holidays and promote class unity.
They also held media celebrations and organized tributes for foreign comrades. Moreover,

(24:05):
the fol supported the creation of popular universities to educate
workers and foster cultural and political awareness. Meanwhile, also in
the late nineteen tens and nineteen twenties, the southern highlands
of Peru saw the emergence of a dynamic network of
anarchostynicalist movements. The network thrived amid the bursioning will export economy.

(24:25):
The will trade's expansion spurreed economic links and infrastructural development,
which turned Arakeeper into a key economic center and the
hub of the anarchistyndicalist network in the region. Anacosynicalism and
araqueper was influenced by four major factors. A radical liberal press,
the labor movement and Lema, immigrant anarchists, and cross border

(24:46):
connections with Chilean Anaquascynicalists influenced by thinkers like Manuel Gonzaldees Prado,
intellectuals and artistans critique Arakeepers conservative society through radical publications
such as Lariete and Bandera Roja. These radical ideas burned
significant actions like atta keepers first major strikes in nineteen
oh two, the inaugural media celebration in nineteen oh six,

(25:07):
and the establishment of pivotal organizations such as the Workers'
Social Center of Arakeeper and the Worker Coalition of the Neighborhoods.
The labor movement in Lima, along with influences Argentina and Chile,
further inspired at Keepers workers. By December nineteen eighteen, motivated
by reports of workers struggles abroad, Artisans and Workers and
Arakeeper founder of Society of Workers and Mutual Assistants the

(25:30):
SOS in July nineteen nineteen, following Lema's example, at Keeper's
main labor organizations establish a committee to combat the rising
cost of living. When the demands were ignored, they too
launched a general strike, which lasted eight days and received
widespread support. While some wage and benefit demands were met,
many of the committee's requests remained unaddressed. So after the

(25:53):
general strike, at Keeper's workers founded the Atrakeeper Worker Federation
to advocate for their rights and demands. Further, that federation
was one of numerous unions and federations, either being the
local Worker Federation of Atkeeper or Fuller, which emerged between
nineteen nineteen to nineteen twenty six. In response to calls
from the FRPEAT enhanced the worker's capacity for direct action

(26:14):
against capitalist and state depression. Like their counterparts in Lima, Atkeepers,
anarchysynicalists employed direct action to achieve both immediate and long
term goals. The protests against a railway tariff hike in
nineteen twenty three pressure the government enough to suspend the increase,
but nineteen twenty five was perhaps their most pivotal year
because the Popular Workers Assembly, which was an ad hoc

(26:36):
coalition of anarchisticalist groups to Atkeeper and Lima, called for
a general strike against the Road Conscription Law, which required
adult males to register and to work on unpaid state
infrastructure projects for upward of twelve days per year. For
the Assembly, this was more than just an unfailed law.
This was a symbol of the state's utter disregard for
the working class. As a strike unfolded, the authorities sought

(27:00):
to crush the movement, arrest in labor leaders and attempting
to dismantle the anarchist organization's influence. But even with only
a small industrial sector and a relatively small population, at
a Keeper's labor movement demonstrated a remarkable level of class
consciousness and solidarity beyond strikes, to use the variety of
methods to build solidarity and consciousness among workers, from worker

(27:22):
libraries to football clubs. One key figure in this movement
was Ramon Rossignole, a Spanish architect and passionate anarcho syndic list.
Arriving an arakeeper in nineteen nineteen, Roussignole turned his office
into a hub of anarchist thought at activism. His influence
was profound as he trained future leaders like Justine do

(27:43):
Leendo and Francisco Ramos, who would become central figures in
the labor movement. Roussigno's efforts extended beyond traditional activism. He
also founded a popular university in the footsteps of Francisco Frere,
and it still as a place for workers to receive
education and become politically conscious. In Moyendo, a key port
city in Peru, the influence of the International Workers of

(28:06):
the World was particularly strong. Louis Armando Trevigno, a key
chile and IWW leader, published a series of influential articles
in a newspaper called Labor Testa in nineteen twenty two.
He extolled the virtues the IWW's methods and called for
international solidarity among workers. He was best received right in Moyendo,

(28:27):
where by early nineteen twenty five maritime workers from Chile
had established close and secretive tie to the local Peruvian
workers under the cover of darkness the health clandestine meetings
and an old house at Ailey Street. These meetings would
lead to the formation of a local iww branch right
in Moyendo. But it wasn't just a meeting of the minds,

(28:48):
but of the shared struggles and victories of the workers
that's event to these ties. In February nineteen twenty five,
a popular general strike in Moyendo saw workers fighting back
against unjust practices by British owned companies. The strike was
a massive success, and the solidarity from Chile and IWW
members bolstered the proved workers' resolve. The government's response the

(29:10):
anarchistynicalist movement was severe fear in the spread of what
they saw as Bolshevik ideas. They cracked down hard on
the Moyendo labor movement. Security forces were deploy to suppressed
protests and activists were arrested or reported to Chile. Of course,
government repression efforts were not fully successful due to resilience

(29:31):
of loose, flexible and decentralized organizing. The seeds of Anarchisynopust's
thought had already taken root. Throughout nineteen twenty six and beyond,
the labor movement and Moyendo continued to be a site
of struggle and resistance. Workers engaged in protests and work stoppages,
driven am by the ideas of direct action and social
justice that had been nurtured through the interaction with Chilean wobblies.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Do you know what was almost certainly not nurtured through
interactions with Chilean wobblies. Andrew ads Yeah, and we are
back from that break.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Beyond the cities, anachistinicalism had a profound impact on the
rural indigenous communities in Cusco and Puno. Internal migration and
the exchange of ideals led to the rise of a
new political consciousness among the peasantry. Carlos Condorina, an indigenous
presidant from Puno, became a key figure in the Tejuante

(30:33):
Suio pro Indian Rights Central Committee the Secret where he
championed indigenous labor rights and the struggle for better work
and conditions. His work, along with that of other provincial
migrants like Skeel Or Viola, bridged the gap between the
urban anarchosynicalists and the rural Indigenous communities. Reviola was a

(30:53):
passionate advocate for both indigenous rights and the broader anarchostnicalist course,
pushing back against the paternalism of this date toward indigenous
community and connecting the struggles of workers and peasants alike.
He spoke out against bourgeois pigs yankee imperialism, all while
encouraging pride in one's indigeneity. Alongside with Yola, Salazar and

(31:13):
Ayulo were also guide the sept and Approve Young Regional
Indian Workers Federation toward anarchost syndicuist ideology, organization and tactics.
Even after this untimely death in nineteen twenty five, with
Viewler's legacy continue to inspire anarchists and indigenous movements. Indigenous
leaders and activists have being grown fed up with the

(31:35):
abuse of practices of local authorities and the gaminalyists, the
rural bosses who exploited the peasants. Pedro Jose Rada Igama,
the Minister of Government and Police at the time blamed
these uprisings on known agitators. He claimed that these agitators
were convincing the indigenous people that they road conscription law
and other municipal laws were designed to oppress them, even

(31:58):
though the indigenous people could see themselves the effects of
the law. Both the anarchists and the indigenous organizers had
laid the crown work, but it was the people themselves
who chose not to accept such state impositions. Uprisings broke
out across Cusco and Puno District. Authorities had to suspend
the conscription in several provinces due to the intense resistance.

(32:21):
The shaer force of the crackdown was so extreme that
the city mayor and the municipal council had to appeal
to Presidentallyguya for the suspension of the law, and they
succeeded at least temporarily until July nineteen twenty six, and
as soon as the laws reinstated, the Popular Assembly reignited
the resistance. They even went as first issuing direct threats

(32:44):
the officials enforced in the law, noting that they had
the home addresses of the conscription Council and was not
responsible for any potential consequences of their actions.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
That's definitely a threat.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
That's definitely out there. Yeah. They also said, delegates to
Lima to organize a nationwide campaign against the law, which
led to their arrest and sparked even more protests in
Atkeeper and Lima throughout late nineteen twenties. Despite increasing state repression,
the anarchists anarchisyndicalists did not let up for as long
as they could, so over the first three decades of

(33:21):
the nineteen hundreds, anarchist syndicalism in Peru spread thanks to
a mix of factors, the distribution of radical ideas through publications,
the influence of activists from other countries, and most importantly,
the work of local organizers, most prominently in Lima Kalau.
Despite facing immense challenges and a significant decline by the

(33:43):
end of the nineteen twenties, the movement laid the groundwork
for future labor politics. Former Arachas cynicalists joined new political
parties in an effort to carry forward their ideas, compromising
a long way, so the influence didn't fully disappear, but
it did transform. Still, their spirit lived on somewhat in

(34:06):
the ongoing fight for justice and equality in Peru, one
that continues to this day.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
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