Ecuador Anarchism

8/13/2019 Ecuador Anarchism

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Reinterpreting Labor Militancy: The Collapse of the Cacao Economy and the General Strike of1922 in Guayaquil, EcuadorAuthor(s): Ronn F. PineoReviewed work(s):Source: The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 68, No. 4 (Nov., 1988), pp. 707-736Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2515679.

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HispanicAmericanHistoricalReview 8:4Copyright 1988byDuke Universityressccc ooi8-2168/88/$1.5o

Reinterpretingabor Militancy:The CollapseoftheCacao Economyand the GeneralStrike f 922 inGuayaquil,EcuadorRONN F. PINEO

I NCREASING interestnLatinAmericanabor istoryn re-cent yearshas brought rowth o this till argely nder-developedfield.For sometime, nly fewU.S. scholarscovered the subject,mostnotablyRobertJ. Alexander.'But as unionsestablished larger ole nthepolitical rocess,many nstitutionaltudiesbegan to appear in English, especially n-the 196os, covering inglenations nd Latin America s a whole.2n 1977, HobartSpalding,ridinga tide ofrisingU.S. academic nterestn dependency heory, fferedforceful ew synthesis, rguing hatLatin America's ies to the worldeconomyplayed the critical ole n shaping abor'sdevelopment. pald-ing'swork parked lively ebate ndgeneratedncreased nterest.3 verthe astfewyears, everal tudies ave ppearedwhich ombine concernforbroadernational olitical ndeconomic rendswith ttentionoordi-narypeople in everydayife. Scholars uch as PeterDeShazo and JuneHahnerhave provided n-depth bservationsfworkers'ives, abor, nd

1. RobertJ. Alexander, rganizedLabor inLatinAmerica NewYork, 965); also seeMarjorieRuthClark,OrganizedLabor in Mexico Chapel Hill, 1934).2. Mois6s PobleteTroncoso ndBenG. Burnett,he RiseoftheLatinAmerican aborMovementNew York,1960); James . Pavne, Labor and Politics n Peru: The System fPoliticalBargainingNew Haven, 1965);JoeAshbv, rganized abor and theMexicanRevo-lution UnderLazaro Cdrdenas Chapel Hill, 1967);SamuelL. Bailv, Labor, Nationalismand Politics n ArgentinaNewBrunswick, 967);VictorAlba,Politics ndtheLabor Move-ment n LatinAmericaStanford, 968);MiguelUrrutia, heDevelopmentftheColombian

Labor MovementNew Haven, 1969).3. HobartA. Spalding,Jr.,OrganizedLabor inLatinAmericaNew York, 977). n acritique fSpalding,EugeneF. Sofer ontended hat ypulling ack o a globalperspective,Spaldinghad not nd could not see how ordinary orkers adparticipatednshaping heirworld. Sofer, Recent Trends n Latin American abor Historiography,"atin AmericanResearchReview,15:1 (1980), 167-176.


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708 IHAHR I NOVEMBER I RONN F. PINEOstruggles o organize, et against he context f argernational conomicand political hanges.4

Despite this activity,manytopics n Latin Americanaborremainneither dequately xplorednorwell understood.5ndeed, in some fieldswe have not yet moved beyond the general ssumptionsound n theearlier verviews rittenn the 960s. Ecuador s a nation hat ften eemsto have been excluded n the general dvanceof progress, nd this salsotrueofthe study f ts aborhistory. eyond yntheticverviewshatscarcelymention cuador, the nation'sworkers eceive ttentionn onlya fewforeign issertationsnd someextended ssayswrittenn Ecuador.6This body ofwork s ofuneven uality.There s much o do inEcuadorian aborhistory.ndeed,thehistoriog-raphys so underdeveloped hat he iteraturerovides onfusingnswersto even simple nformationaluestions, uchas, whatwas the name ofthe radical nascent aborfederationn the 1920s? Alexander alls themtheFederacionObreraRegionalEcuatorianaFORE), whileRichard eeMilk, nhisdissertation,Growth ndDevelopmentfEcuador'sWorkerOrganizations, 895-1944," sometimes ses the namesFederacionRe-gionalObreraEcuatoriana FROE) and SociedadRegional cuatoriana e

4. PeterDeShazo, Urban Workers nd Labor Unions nChile 1902-1927 (Madison,1983); JuneHahner, Poverty nd Politics:The Urban Poor in Brazil, 1870-1920 (Albu-querque, 1986).5. There are several rticleswhich urvev he iteraturen LatinAmericanabor.Alex-ander,"OrganizedLabor," n Latin American cholarship ince WorldWar II: Trends nHistory, olitical cience,Literature, eography,ndEconomnics,oberto squenazi-Mavoand MichaelC. Mever,eds. (Lincoln, 1971),155-171;Kennieth aul Ericksoni, atrickV.Peppe, and Spalding, "Researchon the UrbaniWorking lass anidOrganizedLabor inArgentina, razil nd Chile: What s Left o be Done?," Latitn mericatnesearchReviet,9:2 (Summer1974), 115-142;Judith vans,"Results nid rospects: omeObservations nLatinAmerican aborStudies,"nternationalabor andWorkting-ClassIistory, o. i6 (Fall1979),29-39; CharlesBergquist,What sBeingDone?: Some Recent tudies n theUrbanWorking lass andOrganizedLabor n LatinAmerica," atin AmericanResearchReview,16:2 (1981), 203-223; RonaldoMunck, Labor StudiesRenewal," atin American erspec-tives, 3:2 (Spring1986),108-114.6. Troncoso nd Burnett, iseofthe LatinAmerican abor Movement,6-87; Alba,Politics nd the Labor Movement, 6; Spalding,OrganizedLabor, 50, 58, 67-68; RichardLee Milk, "Growth nd Development f Ecuador's WorkerOrganizations, 895-1944"(Ph.D. diss., Indiana University,977); Lois JohnsonWeinman, Ecuador and Cacao: Do-mestic Responsesto the Boom-CollapseMonoexport vcle" (Ph.D. diss., UniversityfCalifornia,Los Angeles, 1970); PlutarcoNaranjo,La I Internacional n Latinoamnerica(Quito,1977);EliasMunioz icufia, l 15 denoviemnbree 1922 (Guayaquil, 978); sabel Ro-balinoBolle,El sindicalismon el Ecuador Quito, 1976-81);MuiiozVicuniand LeonardoVicuniazquierdo, Historia el movimientobrero el Ecuador resumen),"n Historiadelmovimientobrero nAmerica atina, 4 vols., PabloGonzalezCasanova, d. (MexicoCitv,1984-85), II, 201-275.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 709Trabajadores SRET). The group ctually alled itself heFederaciondeTrabajadoresRegionalEcuatoriana FTRE).7

To some, the study f Ecuadorianworkersmight ppear to be of nointerest.8Why s it importantfwe know ittle r nothing f Ecuadorianlabor, or if our general ssumptions egarding atin Americanworking-class history o notholdtrue n this ase? Whatwe learnaboutEcuado-rian workerss importantecause itcan deepenourappreciationfthecomplexityf abor'svariablepatternsfdevelopment,ould encourageus to continue o revise omeof heoldergeneral ssertions,ndmaypro-vide useful nsights obe applied n other ontexts. atternsn Ecuadorthusmight ighlightnd furtherelp us understandrends ound n otherparts fLatin America.The focusofthe present ssay s the November 922 general trikeinGuayaquil,Ecuador. For threedaysworkersroughthecity oa haltand held massivedowntown allies t a fever itch f energy nd excite-ment,onlyto see theirhopes disappear n a hail of police and militarygunfirehat eft t leastthreehundred ead.9The slim xistingiterature,especially he older, ynthetic orks n Latin American abor,generallyinterprets uayaquil's 922 general trike y emphasizing he leadingroleplayedby anarchists."' his nterpretationees events s partof thewave of narchist r anarcho-svndicalistabormilitanevn SouthAmericaduring heearlvdecades ofthiscenturv. uch an explanationmayhave

7. Alexander,Organiized abor, 124; Milk, "Growth nd Development," 3, 78 (al-thoughMilkusesthecorrect anmenp. 73); Para la historia: sposicionde la Federaci6nde TrabajadoresRegionalEcuatorian7aobre a actituidbrera en los mtiesese octubreynovieinbree milnovecientoseintid6s (Guavaquil, 923).8. Some scholars ave pointed p the need formore tudv f Ecuadorianworkersndofgeneral trikes, tuchs thatofGuavaqluiln 1922. For example, n a reviewof recentcontributionsoLatinAmericanlocialhistorv,usanMigden ocolow ingled utMichaelT.Hamerlv's tudy fGuava(quiilor artictularraise,butuniderlinedhe need to learn moreabout thepopulationnd workersnthecitv.Erickson, eppe,and Spaldingnoted hat noone has studied he urbanriotswhich hooknearlv verymajorLatini merican itvduringor just afterWorldWarOne." Socolow,"ThreeContributionso Latin American ocialHistory,"atin Amnerican esearch Revietc, 15:3 (1978), 233-237 (discussinglistoria socialy economica de la antigutarovincia eGuayaqtiil, yHamierlv,ranms.yNValter. Spurrier[Guavaquiil, 9731). rickson, eppe,andSpalding, Research nthe UrbanWorking lass,"115-142.9. As withmuch of Ecuadorian aborhistoriographv,here s considerable onfusionand even a lack of wareness egardinghis mportantopic. ndeed, Spalding ndiscussingpost-WorldWar working-classnrestmentions cuadorian trikesn 1917 and 1919 as themostnoteworthvvents, ut offers ot word n themucharger ndvastlvmore mportant1922 general trike. ee Spalding,OrganizedLabor,50,67-68.10. S. FannvSimon, AnarchismndAnarcho-SvndicalismnSouthAmerica," AHR,26:1 (Feb. 1946), 50; Alexander, rganized Labor, 124; Alba,Politics and the Labor Move-inent, 6; Milk, Growth ndDevelopment," 3; Weinman,Ecuador andCacao,"226.


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710 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEObeen patterned fter he abormovementsfArgentinand Brazil,wheresome ii,ooo,ooo immigrantsrrived rom urope n the yearsfrom 850to 1950, with mostcomingfrom taly and Spain, in both of whichthestrength f anarchistnfluence as long been recognized. ndeed, manylabor eaders n Brazil nd Argentina ere anarchists rom pain or taly.Brazilian nd Argentinenarchistsnd anarcho-syndicalistsormed nionsand federations f unions, nd published greatquantity f pamphlets,newspapers, nd leaflets, ll expressly mbracing he anarchist hiloso-phy.Previoushistorians f aborhave often oncluded hat oreignmmi-gration nd anarchismmaybe combined o understand he early wenti-eth-centuryra of abormilitancyn SouthAmerica."There are serious problems n applying his prevailingwisdom toEcuador, or in stressing he role of anarchistsn the Guayaquilup-rising f 922. There was nota high evelof mmigrationothecity, ndonlya handful f talians r Spaniards rrived.More importantly,hereis little videnceof narchistnfluence uch s the abundant narchistit-erature nd avowedly narchist nions ound lsewhere. imply ecauseanarchists avored eneral trikes t does not follow hatwhenever neoccurred hey ausedit,even f hey laimed redit or t.As a rule, historians refer ources hat re well organized, nd thussave time. As a result,nstitutions hichkept he best andmost rderlyrecordshavetended oreceivemore ttentionrom esearchers.n laborhistory, his has led to muchresearch n left-wingarties,unions, ndgovernmentaborreforms. owever, uch napproach verstateshe roleplayedbythese nstitutions,t theexpense f he pontaneous oleplayedbythe massofunorganized orkers. believe hathistorians ave accord-ingly ended to exaggerateheroleof eaders n labor uprisings. heseoccurrences,uchas the one that ookplace inGuayaquil,mayoften ebetter nderstood s examples f pontaneousemocraticnsurgency.Cacao and theEconomy

Guayaquil and its hinterlandxperienced apid economicgrowth nthe ate nineteenthndearly wentiethenturies. lessed with n excel-i1. Fullyhalf f hepopulationnBuenosAires nd Sao Paulowasforeignornby1914.See Spalding,OrganizedLabor andFannvSimon, AnarchismndAnarcho-Svndicalism,"57. On immigration,ee Alba, Politics nd the Labor Movement;Hahner, Poverty nd

Politics, 7; and JuliaKirkBlackwelderndLvmanL. Johnson,Changing riminal atternsin BuenosAires, 1890to 1914, Journal fLatinAmerican tudies, 4:2 (Nov. 1982), 363.On anarchists, ee SheldonL. Maram, TheImmigrantnd theBrazilian aborMovement,1890-1920," in Essays Concerning he Socioeconomic istory f Brazil and PortugueseIndia, Dauril Alden nd Warren ean, eds. (Gainesville, 977), 78-210 and James oll, heAnarchistsLondon,1964).


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 711lent natural etting or acao, coastalEcuadorresponded tronglyo thepull of theexpandingworldmarket.'2 uayaquil tands t the end oftheGuayasRiverbasin,a 55,ooo-square-kilometerowlandwithnear idealconditions orthe production fcacao: rainfalls ample but notexces-sive, temperaturesre warm ut notoppressive,nd t hasa thick lanketof rich Andeanalluvium.Anoutstandingluvial etwork lows ver theregion,with hemany ivers rovidingnexpensiveransport.he water-ways funnel outh ntotheportofGuayaquil, et on the western ankofthe broad,muddyGuayas River, 0 kilometers orth rom hePacificOcean.CoastalEcuador had longproduced acao, but n the nineteenthen-tury the world'sappetitefor t increasedenormously,speciallyafterSwissconfectionersnventedmilk hocolate andynthe 86os. Thevalueof Ecuador'scacao exports osemore han700 percent romhe1870s tothe 1920S. The nation oon relied ncacao tosupply hebulkof tsexportearnings, lacing t na position fdependence ncapriciousworldmar-kets. From the late nineteenthentury n, cacao accounted or t leastthree-fourthsfGuayaquil's otal xports.'3 ewcacao estates preadoutall along the rivers bove Guayaquil,withwealthy cuadoriansdomi-natingproduction.Guayaquildevelopedan export-nd service-relatedeconomy; ts leadingcitizenswere generally mporters, xporters,ndretailers. he fortunesfthesemenrosewith acao shipmentsbroad.Fora time, specially rom he ate189osuntilWorldWar , thepricefor acao stayedhigh, t around 0 sucresper quintal, nd theexchangevalue of the sucre remained olid,at roughly to a dollar.However,trouble oomedevenduring his raofprosperity,s energetic ewcom-petitors egan tocrowd n andchallenge cuador'spositions theworld's

12. The followingiscussions drawn rom onnF. Pineo,"The Economic nd SocialTransformationfGuayaquil,Ecuador,1870-1925" (Ph.D. diss., UniversityfCalifornia,Irvine,1987).13. This section s drawnfrombid., chap. 2. Whereas n 1898 Ecuador produced smuch s 30 percent fthe world's acao,by 1923 itgrew7 percent fthe world otal.SeeLinda Alexander odriguez, heSearchfor ublicPolicy:Regional olitics nd GovernmentFinances n Ecuador, 1830-1940 Berkeley, 984),97, 100, 103, 120, 147 and Luis AlbertoCarb6, Historiamonetariay cambiariadel Ecuador (Quito, 1978), 68, 97, 1o6, 107, 110;ShanonM. Eder, "Reportfor1878,"Mar. 15, 1879, "DespatchesfromU.S. Consuls inGuayaquil,1826-1909" (hereafteritedas "Despatches .. 1826-igog"),vol. IV, UnitedStatesNationalArchiveshereafter SNA),RecordGroup hereafter G) 59;VicenteGonza-les Bazo, Companiia acionalde cacao: Exposici6'nelnegociado Quito,1899); Chamber fCommerce fGuayaquil,Report, 900, 5; Gobernador elGuayas, nforme,901, 95-102;Cimara de Comerciode Guayaquil,Memoria, 904 andMemoria, 919, 19-20; CompaiiiaGuia del Ecuador,El Ecuador: Guia comercial gricola industrial e la reptiblica Gua-yaquil,1909), 897-898;Asociaci6n e Agricultoresel Ecuador,Memoria, 921; Victor .Estrada, Ensayosobre a balanza econ6mica el Ecuador Guayaquil, 922), 3; andWein-man, "EcuadorandCacao," 347.


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712 | HAHR INOVEMBER I BONN F. PINEOprincipal acao supplier.After912, GreatBritain's frican olony ftheGold Coast (Ghana) emerged s theworld'smain cacao producer.SaoTome,Brazil, he DominicanRepublic, ndTrinidad lso competed orshareofthe worldmarket, nd cacao became muchmore bundant.DuringWorldWar , marketonditions orsened. cuadorcould notreach ome argebuvers, uch sGermanvnd theNetherlands,nd othermajor purchasers eordered heirpriorities orwar and boughtfar esschocolate. n 1921, worldmarket onditions or acao took n even moresevereturn or heworse s globalproductionevels oaredwhiledemandsank.'4 Ecuador'stroubleswere part of thepost-WorldWar I recessionin theinternationalconomv nda general rend oward verproductionin primarv roducts, oupledwithweakeningworlddemand s popula-tioni rowth lowed n NorthAmerica nd Europe.'5 Pricesforprimarvproducts ike cacao began a steadvdownward lide.As export arningsdwindled,foreignurrencv ecame scarce nEcuador, ndthe sucrefellmarkedlx nvalue,from 1920 highof47 cents U.S.) toone sucre to a1923 lowof 16 cents U.S.) toa sucre. The pricefor acao hit bottomn1923, wlhenihe dollarpricefor acao dropped o half fwhat t had beenin theprosperous ears from 900 to 1913-and toone-fourthfwhat thad beenduring heephemeral oom hatmilarkedhe mmediate ostwarperiod ustthreevears arlier.'6Local coniditionisurtherxacerbated he lileimna fGuayaquilalndcoastal Ecuador.The spreadofvirulent lantblights )ecamea seriousconcern formanivgrowers. Cacao hladpreviouislv loturislhedo easilv intheGuavas Riverbasinthatmaijorro(ldlcersarely ook are of lhe rees.Thishaplhazardpproach oagricultureroved o be theundoing f omllegrowers,s monilia ungusin 1916) nd thenwitchbroomiiisease in 1922)swepttlhroughheuntended roves, educing hehealthv reentreesto

14. Bv 1917,Franee n(dGreatBritain ad both mposed ormalmportestrictionisndecurtailedmports rom cuador.See Rodriguiez.heSearchforPutblicPolicy, 02. From1903throuigih924. the eadingconistumiiersfcatcaowere: Uniite(dtates 36 percenit;Ger-many14 percenit); reat Britain14 percent); raineeii percent); id theNetherland(s8percenit). ee NManiutelalileos Naraijo, igoo iu (le sighloliauia(ueIi leGtuayaquiilGuava-(quil.1go9?); Asociaici(i6ne Agrictiltoreslel Ectiador.AIetno-ia.921; WVeinmian.cu.adorand1(1a.cao, :348.AlaniNliudletoniiotesni l)ivision ndCohesion n thie Workiiiglass:Artisanis nidWVaIgeabourers n Ecuia.dor,'ourn(al fLatinAmteiricantud(lies,4:1 Nav1982),179, thia.tfterWVorldar (reautBritainia'x iSxoredl statttisothe Gold Coast. Alsosee Pinieo. Econiomicnid Social Transformationf(oufCtavjquil,"ppendix .15. A. C. Keniwood n(l(A. L. Lotughieed.im,erowth fthe umterumtatioumalcoumouuty1820-1960 (Albanv.I (1.),140-14. 145.146,176.( 77, i78, 201.i6. Figures readjusted otake mitoonisidlerationhe redmedvalauefthe siuere. eeRodriguiez. heSearchforPublicPolicy, 20 andPimieo.EconomioiemidlocialTramisftormla-tioinfGuayaqumil,"ppend(lixnid chap.2.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 713drysticks.Ecuadorianproductionfcacao fell ffmarkedlyn 1923 and1924.17The cacao crisis ockedgovernmentinances. hiswas a critical low,forEcuador was not ngoodfiscal osition obeginwith, aboring nderan amazingly omplex ndhighlynefficientudgetary ystem.A nationdeeply dividedby regionalism, cuador had decentralized axing ndspending uthoritys a political xpedient.Autonomousuntashandledmuchof therevenues ndexpenditures,nd ealouslyguarded heirdo-mains. The nationalgovernmentn Quitooftenhad no idea how muchmoneywas coming n or going out, and had no way of finding ut.Strapped or unds, cuadorborrowedgainst hefutureuring hecacaoboomyears, aunchingmbitious ublicworks rojects, aying hemili-tary, nd evenspending or rdinary perations fgovernment ithbor-rowedmoney.As Linda AlexanderRodriguezhas shown n her recentstudyof Ecuadoriangovernmentinances, hese"unorthodox iscal r-rangements"ould work nly as long s cacao exports emained igh." 8In the 1920S, as theeconomic risisbroadened, henational overnmentcontinued o relyheavilyon loansfrom hebanks ofGuayaquil,espe-ciallythe Banco Comercialy Agricola.But the banksno longerhad theresources o supporthigh evels of officialorrowing. he governmenttherefore ecided to allowbanksto issuecurrencyn proportiono theamount fgovernmentebt and goldreserves eld. Thispolicyquicklyproved nflationary,urtherroding hevalue of he sucre.The Ecuadoriangovernmentttemptedorespond o thecrisisbvex-perimenting ith fixed fficial atesofexchange,which ctuallybeganwith the Ley Moratoria inconvertibility)n 1914.A crisisatmospheredeveloped, s peoplewho hadpreviouslyisplayedittle nterestnmone-tarypolicynowexpressed oncern.Alarm pread mongworkers nd inthe small middleclass.Governmentontrol ver urrencyxchange nditseffortsopropthesagging alue ofthesucrebecameone of themostimportantoliticalssuesof heday.

17. Decrease incacao production as also a result ftheswiftlvroppingworldprice,formany rowershose togetout of acao. See Weinman,Ecuador ndCacao," 02; Bulle-tinof the mperial nstitute, 9 1921), cited n Consulate fEcuador New York),Repuiblicof Ecuador (uly 1922), 22, included n GreatBritain, oreignOffice ecords hereafterGBFO), "Report o the ForeignOffice,"922, RG371;OsvaldoHurtado, olitical otwernEcuador, ist Eng. ed., NickD. Mills,Jr., rans.Albuquerque, 980), 82, 324; Rodriguez,SearchforPublicPolicy, ol; and LynneP. Phillips,Gender,Class andCultural olitics:ACase Study fRuralVinces,Ecuador" Ph.D. thesis,UniversitvfToronto, 985),37.i8. "Declines inexport arnings apidlv ranslatedntodecreases npublicrevenues,"for publicfinanceswereat themercv f fluctuationsn world acao markets." odriguez,SearchforPublicPolicy, 75; alsosee 99, 119, 122.


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714 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOEven large nations aced greatdifficultiess they ttempted o miti-gate the mpact fadverse hanges nthe world conomy. smallnation

like Ecuadorcoulddo littlewhen global conomic torm assedover.AsEcuadorianMinister fForeignRelations . Clemente once recognized,the country's conomic ollapsewas caused by "the universal ommer-cial and financial risis,"whichhurt even the governmentsfwealthynations."9Workers nd Guayaquil

The growth f Ecuador'scacao export conomy ad triggeredmpor-tant ocialchanges n Guayaquil nd the coast.Ascacaoestates ncreasedinsize, wavesofworkers looded ownfrom he mpoverishedierra,withmore nd morepeopledrawn oGuayaquiln thehopeoffinding betterlife. The citygrew nearly ivefoldn population,ncreasing rom 6,oooin 1877 to 120,000 by1925, a ratefaster hanmost ther outhAmericancitiesduring his ra of ncreasing rbanization.20Abundant mployment pportunitiesid not awaitthe migrants othe coast. Cacao production equiredvery ewworkers,nd thenchieflyfor he December andJuneharvests. urthermore,hecacao wealthofcoastal Ecuadorcreated nly limited conomic pin-offffect. lthoughthe coastal litecontrolled hebulk f acao earnings,hedomesticallye-tainedprofits ere not reinvestedroductively.ndustry asa poorbet,forGuayaquilhada relativelymallmarket, thinhinterlandopulation,and little ccess topossiblesierra ustomers, howere isolatedby thetoweringAndes. (Even thecompletionfa railway o the highlandsn1908-a remarkable,fextremely xpensive, ngineeringeat-did notlower ransportationosts nough oopenupthe ierra.) nstead, he elitediversifiedts economicholdingsn traditional ays, nvestingn ruraland urban real estate, mports,nd retail ales. Mostly,wealthyGua-yaquileiios penttheirmoney n personal onsumption:heypurchasedsummer omes t thebeach; importedlaborate omefurnishings,uto-mobiles, acehorses,yachts,iquor, nd the atest uropeanfashions;ndtook xtended rips broad, specially oParis.Mostofthefactorieshat eveloped nGuayaquil upplied hings hatcould notbe convenientlymported,uchas electricity,avingstones,

19. N. ClementePonce,ministerfforeignelations f Ecuador, o theBritishharg6d'affairesn Quito,Mr.Graham,ncludedn GBFO, Jan. 4, 1922, RG 371.20. Thissection nworkers ndGuavaquil s drawn rom ineo,"Economic nd SocialTransformation,"sp. chap. 1, 4, and 5. Even bv the 1920S, Guavaquilhad little ndus-trv.The smallestablishmentsncluded hose thatmadecigars nd cigarettes, oodlesandbiscuits, eer,milledflour, nd cut umber.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 715or ice. Guayaquiloffered ew obs in industry. or artisans nd skilledconstruction orkers herewere some obs in the smallmanufacturingand thebuilding rade ectors, ut mostmigrantsoGuayaquil ould onlyfind oosely rranged poradic mploymentn low-paid, sually ervice-related obs. When men foundwork t was usually s ornaleros, or daylaborers, arryingut variousmanual hores, uch as sorting, rying, rbagging acao, orhauling hip cargo.When womenfound mploymentit was typicallys seamstresses, ooks, aundresses,maids, or, udgingby police reports, s prostitutes. anypeople tried omake a living nitinerant etail ales, hawking mall mports, ruit, r otteryickets n thestreets f Guayaquil. Some workers urned o begging, thers o crime.Working-classiving onditionsouldbe grim. he city rew nto tangleofunnamed treets ndunnumbered ouses.Often ittlemore hanhovelsofcaneandthatch, ouses pread nto he altmarshes o thewest,upthesteepSantaAna and CarmenHills to thenorth,ndsqueezed ontovacantlots nthecity enter.The city'sgrowing opulation reated n increaseddemandfor er-vices, but Guayaquilcould not keep up. There was notenoughmoney.While thecommerce fthecacao region enerated hemainpartofthenation's ash wealth, he tax revenues rom his conomic ctivity ad tobe sharedwith ll ofEcuador.As a result, treet aving, ewer ines, ndpotablewater eldom eached ntoGuayaquilworking-classistricts. eo-ple disposed ofrawsewage,garbage, nd offalnditches, ourtyards,rwhereverhey ould.Heavyrainswouldflush utthewaste nd distributeitthroughouthecity.Providing dequate publichealth acilities asparticularlyifficult.tropical ort ity wamped y flood funacclimated ewcomersromhesierra,Guayaquilfacedspecial challenges.Working-classoverty urtherexacerbated onditions. hedirt loor wellingsf hepoorprovideddealcircumstancesor hespreadof uberculosis,he eadingkiller n thecity.Fouled drinking ater nd the ack ofsewage disposalmeant hatmanychildren iedofdiarrhea ausedby gastrointestinalllnesses.Mostpeoplesuffered rom ntestinal orms.Epidemicdiseases ikeyellowfever ndbubonicplaguehauntedGuayaquil, laiming undreds f ives in someyears.The city'sdeath rate reached as highas about 144 per i,ooo in1879-an exceptional ase-althoughitslowly eclined oaverage nthehigh 40S after he turnofthecentury. eath rates n mostotherLatinAmerican ities f his rawereusually uitea bit ower.2'To givevoice to theirneeds and concerns,working eople had long

21. This section s drawnfromPineo, "Economic and Social Transformation,"sp.chap.6.


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716 IHAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOemployed rregularmethods, or rdinary oliticswere closed to them.Ecuador restricted hefranchise o literatemales, 1 yearsor older. In1894, for xample, hismeant hat nGuayaquil, henwith populationofover50,000, it took nly ,000 votes owina seat on the city ouncil.22Only3.0 percent fthe population oted n i888, and the figure rew oonly .1 percent y 933.23 Elections eregenerallyo brazenlyorruptthateven the fewpotential oters aw little oint n bothering. s U.S.officialsommented,Soldiers .. [did] thevoting n Ecuador," nd theywere most industrious oters."24Successivenational overnmentssually gnoredworkersnd directedattention o other oncerns. n Ecuador,militarism,ersonalism,ndre-gionalism ominated olitics.Clear deologies ndstrong artieswereallbut unknown s rival ocalstrongmeniedover he poilsofoffice ndtheright o pass porkbarrel egislation o benefit riends. cuador sufferedfrom nearly easelessandlargely ointlessycleof ivilwars.The oftenenormous askof usttryingostay n inoffice otally reoccupiedmostadministrations.25Ecuador had neither emocracy or n abiding espect or ivilrights.Therefore, eople sometimes electedviolentmeans o express heirpo-litical iews.WorkersnGuayaquilhada long raditionfrural nd urbanconfrontationromwhichto draw.Ruralpeasantsbroughtwiththemahistoryf poradicmassprotest hen heymoved othecoast. Andwhiletheurbanpoorhadtended o gnore orbe ignored y) conventionaloli-tics,at times heywould takeadvantage fpolitical nrest o oin popu-

22. Edwin E. Erickson t al., Area Handbook or Ecuador (Washinigton,966), 243;U.S. Consul in Guavaquil, "Report,"Mar. 12, i888, "Despatches . . i826-io0"; BlairNiles, Casual Wanderingsn Ecuador New York, 923),113.23. RafaelQuinteroL6pez, Mito del populisino n el Ecuador: Analisisde los funda-inentos el estado ecuatorianomnoderno1895-1934) Quito, 1983), 105.24. Elections id not nvolvemost eople and were lmost everhonest.For exalmples,see U.S. Consul C. Weile, "Report," une 4 and Sept. 9, 1875, "Despatches . . i826-0gog9;The SouthPacificTimes, ept. 14, 1875, ited nWeile, "ClipFile Report," ept. 5,1875, Despatches .. 1826-9gog"; "Quarterlv eport#8,"Jan. , 1920, GeneralRecords fthe Dept. ofState Relating o thePoliticalAffairsnEcuador, 91o-1929 (hereafterRDS-PAE), USNA, RG 59;GBFO, British egationnQuito hereafter LQ), "Report," an. 18,1924, and "AnnualReport or1924," an. 30, 1925, RG 371; GallegosNaranjo, goofin desiglo almanaque de Guayaquil, 192; AngelF. Rojas,La novelaecuatoriana MexicoCitv,1948), i6, 45. Weinman, Ecuador and Cacao," adds: "Politics f thenineteentlhenturvwere managedbv local bosses who ruled their everalregions v force nd delivered hevoteat election ime" p. 34). Also see Georg Maier, Presidential uccession n Ecuador:1860-1969,"Journal fInter-Americantudies nd WorldAffairs, 3:3 and 4 (July-Oct.1971), 481, who similarlvoncludes hat hetop"twopercent f thepopulation . . haseffectivelyontrolledhe .. politicalife f hecounitrv."

25. On Ecuador'spolitical ulture, ee Rodriguez, earch or PublicPolicy;David W.Schodt,Ecuador: An AndeanEnigma Boulder,1987);and Pineo,"Economic and SocialTransformation,"hap. 2.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 717lar protestsnd punctuatehemwith ctsofextremeiolence.26omeworkersouighto expand heir olitical oleand improveheir conomicsituation yorganizingaborunions.However, he unionmovementhatdeveloped nEcuadorwasbothvery mall ndclosely ssociatedwith hegovernment.Government upporthelped in the early formation f artisan ndworker rganizationsn the late nineteenthentury. or example, thenationalgovernmentavethe SociedadHijos del Trabajo, n associationof Guayaquil rtisans, parcelof and at the society's oundationn 1896,and theConfederacion brera CO) and otherGuavaquil rtisan ssocia-tionsreceived ash grants rom he governmento supportworkers' ightschools.Nurtured y governmentid, Ecuadorian rtisans nd workersheld their irstongressn 1909.27The linkbetween rganizedabor nd the governmentad some prac-tical advantages orboth.Observing vents lsewheren SouthAmerica,Ecuadorianpolitical eadersknewoftheexplosive otential f organizedlabor. Likewise, heyunderstoodhe advantages fhaving he emerginglabor organizationslosely iedtothegovernment.or theirpart,politi-callyconsciousworkersnd artisans ecided thattheywere too few nnumber nd too disorganizedo be worried bout whether heirunions

26. SeeGBFO, BLQ, "Report,"an.0 andApr. 7(?), 1907, RG 71; "Report," MaI\27, 1912, GRDS-PAE; The SouthPacificTimes, ept. 14, 1i875, ited n Weile, "Clip FileReport,"Sept. 5, 1875," Despatches . . 1826-1o9g"; El Gritod1el uiebloGCuava(quil),Sept. 20, 1896; nd Friedrich assa;urek,outrearrs mionw,panish-AmericalnsNewYork,1867), 23-226; anidRojas,La iiovela.17-18.Peasants did not have to learnalboutmassprotestwlhenihey tame o the citv;thevalreadvknewhowtoprotest. ee MarkVanAken, TiieLingering )eath f ndiani ributein Ecuador," HAHR, 6i:3 (Aug.1981), 435. There wvere ianiviprisings n the ate 1700sand earlv i8oos. See RobsonTvrer, Economic ndDemographicHistorv ftheAudienciaof Quito" (Ph.D. diss., UniversityfCalifornia. erkeley, 976), 333. Otherexamples n-clude the 1893 peasantrevoltn ruralChimborazo rovince indlile 1920S taxprotest earRiobamba, nhighland cuador.In urban reas, political nirestouldonloccasioInarouise ctsof xtrelmeviolence fromithepopulation.See U.S. Minister o Ecuiador amesD. Tillmani,Report,"Junle2, 1895and June 9, 1896, "Despatchesfrom nited tatesMinisitersoEcuiador, 848-1906,"vol.XV, USNA, RG 59; GBFO, British onsul nGuavaq(luilartwriglit,Report o the BritishMinisternQuito,"Apr.9, 1910, includednthe"Millister's eport o theForeignOffice,"Apr. 6, 1910,RG 371.

27. JaimeDurAnBarba, ed., Pensamitientoopuilarciuatorian(oQuito,1981), 22, 104;Milk, "Growth nd Development f Ecuador's NVorkerrganizations,". Labor's ties togovernmentad a longtradition. s Milk notes p. 17), "dlurinigolonial imethe cabildosestablished,maintained,ndregulated uilds." ee GobernladorelGuavas, Iluform71e,9ol,145, regarding urther iationalovernimentupport orworker roupsn Guavas. AlsoseeAmerica ibre: Obra dedicada a connzemorarl centenario e la independencia ew uia-yaquil (Guayaquil, 920), 157 fordiscussion fgovernmeintupport or rtisan-runiiightschools;Ministro e lo Interior Policia,Beneficenicia,tc., nformtte,9oo; andMiddleton,"Divisions ndCohesion,"176, 177.


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718 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOwere to be independent r not. At the time,governmentelp appearedto be a blessing.28

In 1916,Congress assedseveral eforms,ncluding law establishingan eight-hour orkday.n 1921, Ecuador approved ssistance or hosewho suffered ork-relatedccidents.29lthoughmployers onored hesestatutesmostlyn theirbreech,the aws representedt leasta firsttepforwardor abor. n 1920, groups f rtisans nd workers eld Ecuador'sSecondWorkers' ongress,withgovernmentinancialupport elping omakethemeeting ossible.Becauseof tsclose tieswith he governmentand itstraditionalrtisanmembership,he congress roved obe a ratherconservative ody.At the close of ts deliberationst askedmodestly orgreater overnmentupport or ducation nd considerationf minimumwage law.30As morenonartisan orkerseganto appear nGuayaquil, very mallworkers' ederation, he Asociaci6nGremialdel Astillero, ormed n theearly 920S. Ataboutthe sametime, socialist ewsletter,he BanderaRoja, appeared and attacked hemoderateworkers' ongress. n 1922,independentworker roups reated new federation f theirown, theFTRE, with36 membergroups.3' hisgave Guayaquil's iny rganizedlabormovementn independentndradical rm.Giventheminor oleofworkersn thepolitical ystem, he ineffec-tiveness fprevious utbreaks fundirectedporadicviolence, nd theweakness r dependency fthe few aborunions,Guayaquilworkers ad28. Likewise n Mexico thelabormovement, rom tsearliestbeginnings n the latenineteenthentury,really epresentednattempt nthepart f hegovernmentopreventan undirected i.e., 'undirected' y thegovernment]orkermovement"Ashby, rganizedLabor, 4). JohnHart,AnarchismndtheMexicanWorking lass, 1860-1931 (Austin, 978),8o shares hisview.Hart notes hat heDiaz administrationad "nearly omplete ontrol"

over the labor movement v the 189os. See pp. 126-127 forHart's discussion f labor'sreasons or ccepting overnmentupport,ven t therisk f he ossof utonomy.eShazo,UrbanWorkers, rgues hatChileanworkers,ware f hehazards f uch ies, voided uchlinkswithgovernment. n the Ecuadorian ase, see alsoMilk, Growth ndDevelopment,"i8, 26. By1890,Guayaquilhad39 guilds.From1896to1914, 2 more merged.29. Munioz icufia, l 15denoviembre,7, 22. For brief iscussion f heproblems nimplementinghe shortened orkday,ee Ministro e lo Interior,Municipalidades, olicia,Obras Puiblicas, tc., Inforne, 917, 262. For a moreextended reatmentfgovernmentlaborreforms,ee Piedad Pefiaherrerae Costales nd Alfredo ostales amaniego,Historiasocialdel Ecuador, 4 vols. Quito, 1964-71), , chap. 4 and V,chap. 1. Also ee Middleton,"Division ndCohesion,"177.30. Glassworkers, ookbinders, rivers, ypesetters,arpenters, nd bakers, mong

others,had associations. y 1914,therewere15 groups, ncluding white-collarmploy-ees' association, s well as twogroups or eachers. ee Jos6 . Guzman,La hora trdgica(Guayaquil,1974), 16; Milk,"Growth nd Development," hap. 3; Intendencia e Policiadel Guayas,Boletin e informaci6n,904,55;Almanaque lustrado cuatoriano 914 (Gua-yaquil, 1914),71; andWeinman,Ecuador ndCacao," 13.31. MuiiozVicufia, l 15de noviembre,2; Guzman,La horatragica,1.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 719yetto find n effective ethod fvoicing heir oncerns.When economiccrisis came to GuayaquilafterWorldWar I, the anxieties nd frustra-tionsofworking-classamiliesmultiplied. he decline n cacao exportsbroughtn acute contractionnearningshatGuayaquil eliedontopur-chase imports.mports eclined towellbelow pre-WorldWarI levels,and in 1921were abouta third fwhattheyhad been ust the yearbe-fore.32 o ordinary eople in Guayaquil hiswas a seriousblow, for hecityhad developed pattern f xtreme ependence n importso supplyfood ndothernecessities.Now that oreignxchange ad become costlyand scarce,food tocks windled nd pricesrose,with urrencynflationaggravatinghelatter henomenon. he pricesof basic supplies uchasflour, ard, lentils, nions, ugar,rice, beans,and coffee ose steeply.33Rents quadrupled.The Guayaquilnewspaper l Guante reported hat"every rticle riplednprice."34 Britishbserverommented hat theprices of all primenecessities f ifehave been triplicatednd quadru-plicatedwithin he astfewyears."35 ndwhilepricesrose,employmentopportunitiesisappeared.To most f hosewho ived n Guayaquil, hismeant n increase n suffering.Railwaymenook ction.On October17, 1922 theydrewup a list ofdemands ndpresented hem o the U.S. companyhat wnedandman-aged the railroad.36he workers ad serious omplaints.n addition opresenting asiceconomic emands such s wagespaid ontime),workersalsofelt hatU.S. employeesnmanagementeceived pecialadvantagesdenied the Ecuadorian ndJamaican ork rews.The mencharged hatNorthAmericans eceivedbetter are from he company hysician, r.Max Meitzner.Workmen elped payMeitzner's alary, ut received it-

32. Figures re adjusted o take nto onsiderationhe reducedvalue ofthe sucre. SeePineo, "Economic nd SocialTransformationfGuavaquil,"Appendixes and4 and chap. 2.33. Weinman, Ecuador andCacao," 193. "Thehigh ost of iving s a heavvburdenon the poor,"wrotea U.S. observer, and has produced nvthing ut a friendlveelingamong the poorerclasses toward heAdministration,hich hevhold responsible or lltheir rouble." Quarterly eport#7,"Oct. 3, 1919, GRDS-PAE.34. El Guante Guayaquil),Nov. 922, cited nMunioz icunia, l 15de noviembre,8.Also see GBFO, BLQ, "Report n the President's nnualMessage to Congress,"Aug. 11,1923,RG 371. President amavodiscussed hegeneral ripling fprices n this ddress.Rodriguezprovides price ndexforQuito. Although he highland apitalcitvhad adifferentconomic ituation rom haton thecoast,thedoublingn theprice ndex from1913 to 1917 s still uggestive. odriguez, earch orPublicPolicy, 8, 171.35. GBFO, R. C. Mitchell,Report n theEconomic ndFinancial onditionsnEcua-dorSeptember, 923" hereafter itchell, Report"), ept. 25, 1923,RG371.36. The railroad rojectwas largely ompletedwithforeign apital,both British ndAmerican. his discussion f he railroadtrikesbasedon thefollowing: unioz icunia, l15 de noviembre,3, 24, 26, 27; Milk,"Growth nd Development,"1-73; U.S. MinisterBadin, "Quarterly eport#20,"Dec. 30, 1922 (hereafter adin, "Quarterly eport"), 2,13, GRDS-PAE; Mitchell, Report," ct. 31, 1922; andNiles, Casual Wanderings, o.


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720 1HAHR I NOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOtle medical care in return.Whenone Ecuadorianworker ost a hand ina dynamite ccident, Meitzner efused o travel o his assistance.Thisepisode and others ike t earned thedeep resentmentf manyworkers.Theydemanded hehiring f n Ecuadorian octor nd theestablishmentof auxiliarymedicalposts. Workers urtherought aymentn gold or indollars ike U.S. employees.Pride n the national urrencyside, thesemen knew how the sucre was slipping n value. Finally,workers alledfor15 days' noticebefore ll futureayoffsnd the rehiring f dismissedunionorganizers. n October gth, he railroadmen truck.General ManagerJ.C. Dobbie refused o negotiate nd broughtnstrikebreakerso run the railroad.But the workers tood firm.Groupedtogether n the townofDurain therailroad erminusn the other ideofthe riverfromGuayaquil), heyheldmeetingsnd painted nti-U.S.slogans n thewalls.Ecuador's mall rganizedabormovementhrewtssupportbehindthe strikers. he newlyformednd independent TREissued a manifesto acking he strikers. he older, government-backedCO sent a supportive elegram nd one thousand ucres. n Guavaquil,hundreds fworkers eld a rally oshow heir olidaritv ith he strikers.Studentsndworkersed similar emonstrationsn Riobamba.After tensefewdays,Dobbie at ast greed o negotiate nd acceptedthe railwaymen's demands. Dobbie planned o offset av raises withafarehike andapparently houghthatPresident uisTamayohadagreedto thisplan. Dobbie reasoned hathe had staved ff possiblerevolt vsettling he strike n theworkers'erms.But President amavodid notsee thismatternthesame ight, nd canceledthe rate ncrease.The factthatforeignerswnedthe railway o doubt madeiteasier forPresidentTamayo o stand sideduring hestrike, or hegovernmentooknostepsto repress he workers. o have done so would have ooked ikeunpatri-oticpandering o foreignnterests. iven he severityfEcuador'scrisis,Tamayo prudently ought o avoidbeingcast in therole ofsupportingforeign xploiters gainst cuadorians.The strikewas an unmitigatedictory or he workers.Dobbie hadpromisedbettermedical care at company xpenseand agreedto strictadherenceto theeight-hour orkdayaw.The company einstated iredworkers, greedto build better ousing or mployees,ndgrantedub-stantial ay ncreases.Across he river nGuayaquil,workers aidcarefulattention. o them, he railroad trikewas a clearexample fhowpeoplecouldbetter heir ot f heyheld firm nd actedtogether.37

37. Mitchell, Report,"Oct. 31, 1922; Mun-oz icufia, l 15de noviemnbre,4-42;Badin, "Quarterly eport," 2, 13; Milk, Growth nidDevelopment,"3-77.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 721General trike

Long-sufferingorkersn Guayaquil hared n the euphoriafnotthematerialbenefits f the railroadworkers' ictory. f workers n Durancould win pay increases ndmake fools f management, uayaquileniosbelieved thattheymight o the samething.On November , 7, and 8,1922, workers rom he trolley ompanies electric nd mule-drawn),heelectric ompany, nd the gas and waterworksmet n an ad hoc GrandAssembly.After ll-day essions hey ssued a set of demands.They hadwasted ittle ime n followinghe example f he railroadworkers.38WorkersnGuayaquilhadbeenhardpressedby the economic risis.Trolleyworkerswere especiallypoor, iving n bare subsistencewages.Conductors eceived .20 sucres day and drivers otonly lightlymore,1.50. The men eft omeforwork round :30 a.m.,andended their hiftsat 11:00 p.m. On topofthe onghours,drivers adthe addedobligationofkeepingan eye on thetrolley arson Sundays, heir nlydayoff.fanything appenedto the trolley,t came out of theirwages. Finally,employees omplained, hey ived nconstantreadofbeingfired.Although heyhad obvious reasonsforhostility,hetrolleyworkersdrewup fairlymild demands.Theywantedmoremoney,horter ours,greater ob security,aferworking onditions,nd to be treatedwithgreater espect.Specifically,hey sked for payraiseof8o centavos orconductorsnd i.6o sucresmore dailypayfordrivers. hey sought neight-hour aywith xtramoney or vertime.Workmengreedto con-tinuemakingheir wnuniformsnodoubt hewife's rmother'sob), butasked thatthecompany rovide hecloth.Workerswanted o be freedoftheobligation fguarding hetrolleysn weekends nd asked that tbecomethecompany's inancialesponsibilityf hevehicle ncurred am-age. In addition, he menrequested hat uspensions romworkneverrun onger hanfive ays.Finally, hey emanded trict ompliancewithalready xisting afety egulationsnd an end to all verbal buse. Therewere 28 demands nall,but all were rathermodest.39 owever,managersdid not hare hisview, ndwhen hey ejected hedemands, heworkersstruck.Employees nd managementgreedto talk.The employees elected

38. The followingources rovided nformationn thebeginnings f he strike: BFO,W. S. Urguhart,ctingBritish onsul n Guavaquil, Report," ov. 9, 1922 (hereafter rgu-hart, Report"),RG 371; U.S. Consul-General oding, Subject: nsurrectiontGuavaquil,"Nov. 25, 1922 (hereafter oding, "Subject"),GRDS-PAE, quoted nWeinman, Ecuadorand Cacao," 365-370; Milk,"Growth ndDevelopment,"8; Guzman,La horatrdgica, ,3; El UniversoGuayaquil),Nov. lo, 1922, p. 7; FTRE, Para la historia.39. El Universo,Nov. o, 1922, pp. 1, 7.


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722 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEODr. J. Jose VicenteTrujillo, noted young abor awyer rom heCO,and Dr. Carlos Puig, who had been the striking ailroadworkers' ttor-ney, o represent hem t the contract egotiations ith he ight, ower,and trolley ompanies.Also attending he meetingswere Jorge areja,the governor fGuayasProvince,GeneralEnriqueBarriga, egionalmili-tarycommander, nd Alejo Mateus, chief f police. These governmentofficialsaw the preservationf aw and order s theirprimary esponsi-bility.Workers ad shutdowncity ransport,ndrumors irculated hatthe drivers lanned o parkthe trolley ars acrossbusydowntownnter-sections.The officials'trongest earwas that he citywould be withoutlightduring he night, nd thatunderdarknessGuayaquilwould eruptintoworker iolence.Themilitaryransferredroops nto he city.40Over the nextfewdays,the strike atheredmomentum.Men em-ployed nmanufacturinghopsor factoriesould notwork, or herewasno power.The walkout ecamethe talk f hecity.Newspapers enteredtheir ditions round hestrike, ith ditorialpinionnthemajordailiesstressinghe reasonableness fworkers' emands.4'But nother uarters, empers rew hort.Whenthe railroadworkersdecidedtomove oGuayaquil nd oin the GrandAssemblyand broughtwith them over fivehundred ucresfor he strike und),General Man-ager Dobbie raged.He believed hathe had given n to the railwaymen'swhims,and nowexpectedhis employees o getback to work.Dobbieangrily ired ff sharply ordednote o themanagersf he transitom-panies nGuayaquil, ssuringhem hat fhis menwalked ut nsupportof the strike, e would hold thecompanies irectly esponsible or nylosseshe incurred.42As the strike athered orce, heworkers' pokesmen, speciallyAs-sembly resident dolfo illacres, ecognizedhat heir ower o restrainthe emboldened trikers asvery imited. he Society fPrinters,ctingwithout irect pproval rom illacres rtheassembly, anoff housandsof leaflets nviting nion and nonunionworkers rom ll overthe cityto oin in the strike.Not all who acceptedtheprinters'nvitation erewell behaved.A drunken and ofmenwandered oward hepowerplant,firingff heir uns nd otherwiseausing rouble. hesemen pparentlyintended o force heirway nto hebuilding o shutoff hecity's ights.

40. MufiozVicufia, l 15 de noviembre, 4, 49, 50, 54; Milk, Growthnd Develop-ment," 7, 8o, 85; Naranjo, a I InternacionalnLatinoainrica, 09.41. El Universo,Nov. io, 1922, p. 7, Nov. L, 1922, p. 1; U.S. Consul-General red-ericW. Goding, "Report n andTranslation f Official trikeReport f the Governor fGuayas,J. Pareja,theMilitary hief f heZone, E. Barriga, nd theChief fPolice, AlejoMateus,"' Dec. 7, 1922 (hereafter oding, Report"), -6, GRDS-PAE.

42. El Universo,Nov. 11, 1922, p. 7; Milk, Growth ndDevelopment," 9-83.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 723The assemblyhad to dispatch crewto roundup these troublemakersand pack themoff o ail. Still, twas clearly ecomingmoredifficultomaintain rder, specially s increasing opular supportdevelopedforthe strike.The assembly fworkers oongrewto some threethousandmembers, nd itbegantostage argeoutdoor allies.After xtendednegotiations,nd ustwhen a settlementeemedim-minent, he workers'ssembly eganto raise differentnd more eriousissue. There was notto be a quickend tothe strike. rom he beginning,manyworkmen adbelieved hat ayraiseswouldbe of ittle elp so longas the value of thesucre continued o deteriorate. hey wereright, orinflation ould quicklywipeout whatever ay gains hey ecured. Whatmanyworkers nd othersdesiredwas a return o theforeignxchangelawofJune o September 922, the ast nthe series ffutile ttempts oartificiallyropup the declining alue of the sucre. Undeterred y therepeatedfailure f uchmeasures,he trikers elpedtoresurrecthis ldidea.Artificialxchange atecontrolwas a notion hatwould not go away.Indeed, it remained very opular dea throughoutcuador.Supportersofthe measure eizedon President amayo's requentlyoiced but dubi-ous assertion hatunscrupulouspeculators ad driven ownthevalueofthe sucre, and that strict egulationf specie would easily remedy heproblem.This was a majormisunderstanding.he value ofthesucrefellbecausethe value of acaoexports ad hitbottom.Speculators" ad ittleto do with t. Countrieswhich xport ne primary roduct outinelyuf-fer conomicdepressionnd a decline ncurrency alue whenthepriceoftheir xport alls harply. hisexperiencewashardly niqueto Ecua-dor. Nonetheless, rtificialxchange ontrol ffered simple, f totallyunrealistic,olution o thenation's conomic ilemma.El Universo, neof hetwomajorGuayaquil ailies, alledfor attack-ingtheproblem titsorigin."43n a frontage editorial,hepapernotedthe close-at-handtrikeettlement,ndcalledfor esolutionfwhat tsawas therealcauseof aborunrest, heexchange ateproblem. l Universoheld thata renewalof theexchangemoratorium ouldslowly ronoutcurrency luctuationshatwere at present ompletely nregulatedandcontrolled ya fewplanters ithout eart rconscience." laming pecu-lators, hepapercalledon President amayo o end"monopolyontrol"overforeign xchange.44l Universo emanded hat recious oreignur-rency otbe squandered n thedecadent pulence f herich, ut nsteadbe used to build mportubstitutionndustriesnEcuador.

43. El Universo,Nov. o, 1922, p. 1.44. Ibid.,Nov. 2, 1922, p. 1.


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724 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOAlert o the trouble n Guayaquil, resident amayo nd his secretaryof interior epartedforthe coast, withreconsiderationf an exchange

rate moratoriumanking igh on their genda. Moreover,when white-collarworkers romGuayaquil's inancial istrictoined thewalkout, heybroughtwiththem desire to maketheexchange ate ssue one of theassembly's emands.The assembly oon began to consider ow to obtaina reduction n the exchange ate.45The moreconservative O, acting n itsown nitiative utsideoftheGrandAssembly,urtherropelled heexchange ate uestion othefore-front fdiscussion. t drafted petition alling or halt o specie specula-tion, nd asked for moratoriumn theexchange f ll foreign urrency.It circulated he petition nd appealed to President amayo, rguing hatthe previousJune o September 922 exchangerate aw had been theonlyeffectivemeasure n controllingpecie speculationbuses.The COpetition laimedthatEcuador had to takeprotectivemeasures ue to itsoverreliancen cacao exports,ndcalled forgovernmentontrol ver llforeignmoney.46The fourth ay ofthe strike roved obe theturning oint.Workersand managementeemed to have a contractettlementt hand,whilethe presidentwas on his wav fromQuito to discuss and no doubt ap-prove another pecie exchangemoratorium. epresentativesr. CarlosPuig and Dr. J. JoseVicenteTrujilloreturned o theassembly o gaintheworkers' pproval f the settlementnd to end the strike.However,managementad added a newstipulationor ettlement.hetrollev om-panies plannedto go before he citycouncil to get formal pprovalofa doubling n fares o offset he workers' av increase.WhenPuig andTrujillotold the assembly fthis new conditionhe menmoanedwithdisapproval.7A CO delegation lso wentbefore he assembly arrying hatgroup'spetition heyhad been circulatingor moratoriumnforeign pecieex-change.It arguedthat he workers' ssembly hould dopt the exchangemoratoriumssue as one of ts maindemands. Emboldenedby the en-thusiastic how ofworkerolidarityvidenced n theswelling ize of theassembly,moratoriumdvocatesurged he workers o press their dvan-tagebydemanding ctionon this ssue. Sincegovernmentnd manage-menthad alreadygiven nto most ftheotherdemands,whynot nsistononemore?Workers erealready roused nd authoritieseemed to be45. Ibid., Nov. 1i, 1922, p. 7.46. Ibid., Nov. 12, 1922, pp. 1, 7, 8; Miuioz ViCija, El 15 de nociembre,8.47. El Universo,Nov. 13, 1922, pp. 1, 2, 7; MlUfnoz icuifia,El i5 de nioviembre,59;Codinig, Report," .


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 725in a reasonablygreeablemood; thetimneeemedpropitious. he assem-bly eadership id notagree:Dr. Puig urged herank nd file o approvethe strike ettlement,arehikesand all. He pleaded for n end to thestrike,which,hedeclared, heworkers adalreadvwon. But theworkersremained nswayed.48Drs. Trujillo nd Puig had no choicebuit o relateto the authoritiesthat he ssembly adrejectedmanagement'settlementroposal nd thatinstead he strike ow ncluded new demand: n exchangemoratoriumll.To the officialshe moratoriumroposal ame as no surprise.Alsoconi-cerned about theexchange ate ssue, Governor areja promised osendalong the workers'moratoriumemand oPresident amavo.49The assembly ormallyresented tsexchangemoratoriumemandtoGovernor arejaandsuspended iscussion fpavraises ndtheratehikes.It would now focus oncern n themoratorium.he strikers roadenedthe demandto includegovernmentontrol f all foreignurrencv, halton paymentsmade withforeign rafts, nd governmentecognitionfaseven-memberxecutive ommittee, ithfour f themembers electedbytheworkers,ntrusted ith olving heeconomic risis, owering hecostof iving, ndregulatingheexchange ate.Workerseclared hat hegeneral trikewould endonlvafterhegovernmentcceptedall of thesedemands.50 he strikers addecided topress heir dvantage.Tuesday,November 4,1922was the sixth avof he walkout nd thefirst ull ayofgeneral trike. herailroad orkerstruckgain,most usi-nessesclosed, transportationalted, nd therewas no light, lectricitv,or gas. The strike ad all but shutdown this itvofover1oo,ooo.Withtheday off,workers oamed he streets nforcinghestrike. The CitvTrembles," l Universo's eadlineblared.5'Strikersmarched owntown,nd someparceledout eaflets rom heFTRE callingfor moratoriumnforeign urrencvxchange, n end to

48. El Universo,Nov. 12, 1922, p. 8, Nov. 14, 1922, pp. 1, 3; Mutfiozicufia, l 15de noviembre, 0; El Comercio (Quito),quotedin El Universo,Nov. 12, 1922, pp. 2, 3;Guzman,La hora tragica,3, 4; Milk, Growth nidDevelopment,"4; Goding, Report,"1, 2.49. El Universo,Nov. 14, 1922, p. 3.5o. During hegeneral trike f1916 inMexicoCitv, he ssueofprovidingight or hecitywas also a critical ne, as itproved o be inGuavaquil.See Hart,Anarchismn, 54. InMexico,"the restorationf electrical ower .. demoralized heworkers,nd ... provedtobe a major urning oint nthedefeat f he trike."nGuavaquil, heonlv ightsntownwerefrom he boats on theriver hatpartiallvitup thewaterfront.l Universo,Nov. 14,1922, p. 3; Munioz icunia, l 15de noviembre,4,66; Goding, Report," -3.51. El Universo,Nov. 14, 1922, p. i; Godinig, "Report," ; Milk, Growtthnd lDevel-opment," 3-85; L. E. Elliott, Land ofEquator sic],"Pan Amitericanlagazine, 6 (Fel).1923),57-63; Goding,"Subject," uoted inWeinimani,Ecuador and Cacao," 367; Badin,"Quarterly eport,"1-22.


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726 | HAHR INOVEMBER I RONN F. PINEOsalt nd tobacco axes nd the bolition f hegovernmentugarmonopoly(forms f regressive axation), rotection ornascentdomestic ndustry,the creation f a program or urningverunusedfarm and to landlesspeasants, nd opposition o the proposed rolley arehikes.52hat after-noon'sgiantdowntown emonstrationseemedto reaffirmo participantsthebroad upport f heir ause.Beyond his, he nthusiasmf heralliesserved s a profound onfirmationftheworkers' ommitment.President amayo, s he madehiswayfrom uito,had kept breast fthe situation ia telegraph.53he CouncilofStategranted im extraordi-narypowersto deal with he crisiswhichhe thendelegated o GovernorPareja n Guayaquil, he morning fNovember 5, 922. Tamayo lso ap-pointeda commissionn Guayaquil o drawup the moratoriumecree.He had issued such a decree before.He was willing o try gain.Meeting arly hemorningfthe15th t thegovernor'suilding, hecommissionncludedgovernmentuthoritiess well as representativesfthe workers' ssembly. y 1:00 p.m. theyhaddrawnup the new mora-torium,with the agreement f all parties.They mmediately ired thetextof the decree toTamayo ndwaitedforhisassent.Meanwhile, hegovernor,nstilledwith pressingenseofurgency,ought oregain on-trolofGuayaquil. n view of the accord nowreached,Parejawanted oend the strike nd send workers ome.Parejaaskedfor ommissionp-proval o ssue a proclamationeclaringhat hepresident ould oon ignthe moratorium ecree andforbiddingtrikers rom taging nyfurthermarches r rallies.Worker epresentativesrujillo nd Puig convincedGovernor arejatodelay ssuinghisproclamationo that hey ouldhurryack nd nformthe assembly f the settlement. t 2:00 p.m. the governor eceived anote from he GrandAssembly.t would neither ancel the rally or hatafternoon orhaltthegeneral trike ntil amayo ctually igned he newlaw. Pareja, havingheardnothing rom resident amayo, t 4:oo p.m.decided to go ahead and issue his proclamationnyway. ythen twastoo late,for ventshad spun completelyut of control n the streets fGuayaquil.Thatmorning,Wednesday,November 5, 1922, had found situa-tionprimedfor xplosion.Without ight ince Monday, he city ackedbread, meat,milk, nd most ther ssentials. arly nthemorning,manyworkers tarted ilteringowntown,nticipatinghe argerally o be held

52. Munioz icufia, l 15de noviemnbre,6-67; Goding, Subject," uoted nWeinman,"EcuadorandCacao," 366-367; Milk, Growth nd Development," 5-86. "La Aurora, afeministroupof ome85women, lso oined themovement.53. Badin, "Quarterly eport,"1; Milk, GrowthndDevelopment," 5-87.54. Goding, Report," , 4.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 727at 3:oo p.m. On theirway nto he ity enter,men hecked n at the hopsthey assedto make urethatno one was breaking he strike. hosefoundat labor receivedsharporders o oin thewalkout.By 1:oo p.m., aboutthe timethe commission inished rawing p the moratoriumecree,asizablecrowdhad already egunto fill hecity's owntownrea.Thiswasby far he argest emonstrationet.The crowd fchildren,women, ndmennumberedround0,000o.5The strikersxhibited reat nergynd excitement. t3:oo p.m. thecrowd ammedup against hegovernor'suilding o see about the ex-change decree. As always,theyraised spirited houts. "Long live thestrike "Lower the exchange ate " eeking o restore ome emblance forder nd control, r. Puig spoke o theboisterous, oisy athering.uigdeclaredthat heyhada settlement,utthestrikers ad heardthisfromhim before.He saidthat hemoratoriumecreehad been drawn p, andas he readitto them, eople respondedwith heers.Puig toldthe crowdthatthenextmorninghegovernment ouldannounce ts agreementotheirdemands.The rally eganto takeon theairof victory elebration.When Dr. Trujilloproclaimed hat he governor adagreed to free twoof the labor eaderswhohad previously een jailed, thecrowdbecameexuberant. To thepolicestation "hey ried.And withDr. Trujillo ndthe governoreading heway, hey et offor hepolicedepot fewblocksaway.Thiswas a mistake.At the police stationwere army roops,who had been brought oGuayaquil ngrowing umbers incethebeginningf he strike. omeofthetroopshad become edgy;soldierswatchednervouslys the swollenprocession pproached heirpost. "To thepolice station o the policestation "A jumpysoldierfiredhisweapon,and thenanother ollowed.Atfirst, erhaps, hey hot nto he air.But as thepeople screamed ndpushed, panicked ndtried oflee, hesoldiers irednto he crowd.Once the gunfire egan, it generated momentumf ts own. Thepent-up ensions,o carefullyestrainedn thepreceding ays,nowweregivenfull xpression. he crowdran n terror. he troops rokeup intopacks,pursued, nd fired.Aneyewitnessnvolvedntreatinghe njuredsaid, "[O]n each blockwe had to stopand mendwounds"ofthosewhohad fallenn the streets. he soldiers shot teverythinghey aw." t waslike a "tremendous unting arty."""he strikersresented leartargetsin theirwork lothes nd redbandanas.Ofcourse, ome oldiers xercised

55. J.R. Barrera, ara la historiaGuayaquil, 922), 1o. This pamphlet resented hegovernment'sersion f vents. ee also El Telegrafo, ov. 17, 922, p. 1; Guzmin,La horatrdgica, .56. Guzmin,La horatrdgica, .


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728 | HAHR I NOVEMBER I RONN F. PINEOrestraint. otably, heMontuifarattalion onfinedtseffortsorestoringcalm. It roundedup prisoners nd escorted hem o ail. Unfortunately,Montuifaras an exception.Once the violencebegan,the soldiers ener-allybehaved n a ruthlessnd wantonmanner.After he shooting tarted, fewpeople beganbreaking nto stores,someseeking placeto hide, ome earchlingor uns, nddoubtless omedeciding to takeadvantage f the chaos to steala few tems.Whateverthereason, his ctivity rovided heprincipal ationale or he massacreofworkers hatfollowed.The Cazadores de Los Rios trooptrapped25people inside of one store.Theyshotandkilledevervone here. Therewere numerous imilar pisodeseverywhere. ne evewitness ecountedtheevents t another tore,where oldiers adchased a groupofpeopleontotheroof. Theyfound ronfences hatpreventedheir escent....When they truggledoseparate he ronbars, he bullets rrived. 57To be sure,at anotherhopsome ooters scaped."Thestore fGonzalezRubiowas left ull fold shoes that he strikerseft n exchange or . .new ones."8Themilitary illedmanynnocent eople. Butothersoined nslavingworkers. omewealthy eople tookpart.Watching rom heirbalconiesas thestrikers entby n thestreets,omeof he ffluentecided to evela fewshots t thosepassingbelow.59 ne individual t thescenetold ofperhapsthemosthideous ct ofviolence hatdav,which ccurred t thernalecon. Frightenednd horrifiedeople ranand hidbehinda wallbvtheriverbank,but "soldiers usheddownwithbavonets n theirrifles.I saw a man kneelandput up hishands . . [,but]a soldier truckhimwith bayonetn theback nd .. threw im into heriver]."Manypeople ran nto he water oescape,"butthey hot hem," ntil heriverliterallyanred.6"

The gunfire eganto thinout around5:00 p.m. Police and soldierscounseledquiet:"To yourhouses almlv,"Tosleep ladies,tosleep.' At6:oo p.m.,with rder argely estored,hetroopsmarclhedownAvenida9 de Octubrethrough he centerofGuavaquil. Some ofthewealthierfamilies penedthewindows f heir alconies ndbegan applauding ndofferingriesof pproval. Longlivethe saviors fthe city." he soldiers57. Barrera, ara la historia, 3; Munioz icufia, l 15 de noviembre,9-80.58. Barrera, ara la historia,3.59. Jos6AlejoCapelo Coello, El crimendel zS novie7nbre922 (Guavaquil, 922), 4.6o. Guzmin,La horatragica, , 6; Goding, Subject," uoted nWeinman, Ecuadorand Cacao," 365-370; Badin,"Quarterlv eport,"1-22; Milk, GrowthndDevelopment,"89-90; Goding,"Report," ; New YorkTimes,Nov. 19, 1922, I, part , p. 8 and Dec. 5,

1922, p. 8.6i. Barrera, ara la historia,3.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 729responded,Long ivethecountry "62olice nd soldiers atrolledhecity hroughhenight. ccasionally,shot ouldbe heard, utfor hemost art hebloodlettingad nded.Therewas a great ealofdamage, ith everal tores eportingeartotal osses.63urprisingly,ost f hedamage opropertyame romiflefire. lthoughnestore laimedt ost 50revolvers,ot ne soldier addied.A soldier's orsehad beenkilled,o to 15officials,oldiers,ndpolicemenufferednjuries,utnot neof hemosthis ife.fi4The strikersid not are s well.No onecould alculate xactly owmany eople haddied,for oo many actors uddled hebody ount.Therewere hosewhowere hot nthe iverndwhose odies adfloatedaway.Therewerethosewhodied nout-of-the-waylaces. Fourdayslater,hepolicewere till urningpbodies f hose illed nthe15th.Therewere adaversumped y oldiersnto heGuayas iver t night.65And herewas he ommonravetthe emetery.witnesseportedhatflat arspulledup carrying"mountainfdead."Soldiers tacked hebodies nthe treet ornerike cordwood," nd"threwhismountainofwounded nddead ndhalf livento hepit nthe emetery."6 Later,troops ad toguard he ommonrave opreventeople rom ryingoidentifyhenamelessuried. t minimum,oldiersilledhree undredpeople.67It is difficultoexplainwhy hemilitaryehaved oviolently. ostarmyfficersamefromhe better"amiliesf he ierra,ndthe om-manderstationednGuayaquil ere monghefirstohortograduatefromhenewmilitaryollegenQuito."' herefore,tmighte arguedthat he lassdifferencesnd he egionalealousiesf ierra fficerson-tributedothebloodshed. n theother and, hefirsthots ppear ohave ome pontaneouslyromhe ower anks, hose lassbackground,atleast,wasquitedifferent.heonly hinglear bout he oldiers'e-actions that ossible eelingsf olidarityith heworkersfGuayaquilwere vershadowedy he ense fbeleaguermentndfear sthey aceda crowdhatwasvastlyuperiorn numbersven fnotnarms.Theday fter he ragedy,hemoratoriumommitteeentPresident

62. Cited bid.,24; and discussed nCapeloCoello,El crimitenel15 novie-mbre 922, 4.63. "Gonzilez Rubio & Co. (native),EnriqueRibas Spanish),Cassinelli Hnos. (Ital-ian),Miguel Enrich Spanish) ndGonzalezHnos. (Italian)weretheworst ufferersn thelooting."Urguhart,Report."64. Capelo Coello,El crimen el 15noviembre922; El Tel6grafo, ov.18, 922, p. 2.65. El Telegrafo, ov. 0, 1922, p. 1.66. Guzman,La horatr6gica, .67. The British onsulateplaced the number t two hundred,with three hundredwounded Urguhart,Report").68. Weinman, Ecuador and Cacao," i51; Rodriguez, earch or PublicPolicy, 24.


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730 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOTamayothe following able: "Dr. Tamayowe are in the telegraph ffice.... The situationn Guayaquil s perfectlylear: f heorder or he mora-torium rrives mmediately e will be able to obtainquiet in the city."Tamayodid not act. The committeeent nother elegram: Dr. Tamayo:In the name of Guayaquilwe ask for he decree today, omorrow ill betoo ate. Yesterday ost300 victims. 69Finally,Tamayondicated hathe would issue the aw, with fewmodifications,hat vening.At a fewminutes eforemidnight e made themoratoriumecree. t now seemedlittlemore han n empty fterthought.70After hemassacre, heworkers'ssembly nd thegeneral trike rokeup. Assembly eadershad neverexercised ffective ontrol ver theirdiffuse rganization,nd now thatmanyworkerswanted to return otheirobs, therewas no stopping hem. Some remainingn theassem-bly bravely owed to stayon strike ntilmanagementmet the demandsofthe trolleynd power employees, heoriginal trike roups.But theprotest ad run ut ofmomentum.xceptfor he lectric ndmule-drawntrolleys, ll of thecity's ervicesbegan againwithin couple ofdays.7'Even the railroad mployees ave up andwentback to work.At ast,onNovember1, 1922, workersnd managementfthe rolleyompaniessettledtheir trike.The workers ot pay raises, horter ours, nd theotherprincipal emands,but thetrolley ompanies nactedthe fare n-creases. Unlike the railroad trike, heGuayaquilgeneral trikewas atbest a very imited nd bittersweetictory.o manyhad been killed, olittlehad been accomplished.72The moratorium, eantto help protect he workers' ay increases,failedmiserably,f ourse.TheMoratoriumommissionried ohold theexchangerate at 3.8o sucresto thedollar,but thisplan provedutterlyunrealistic. he sucre'sreal value wascloser o 5.00 to one dollar.Actu-ally,the moratoriumnly got Ecuador into deeper financial rouble sforeign urrency ecame so unobtainablehatmostmajorGuayaquil m-porters ould notpaytheir ills.73 o Britishompany eceivedpaymentfor xports oGuayaquil fter heexchange ecree,due toEcuador'sgov-

69. El Universo,Nov.17, 1922, p. 3, Nov.18, 1922, p. i; El Telhgrafo, ov.17, 1922,p. 1.70. Badin, "Quarterly eport," .71. El Guante,quoted n Munioz icunia,l 15 de noviembre,2-83; El Teltgrafo, ov.72. Badin, "Quarterly eport,"2; Milk, Growth nd Development,"o-91.

73. The firmsffectedncludedSola & Co., LeandroCarrera& Co., Wing Wo Tay& Co., Sociedad Continental .A., and V. E. Illingworth Co. GBFO, BritishMinisterto Ecuador or the British onsul in Guayaquil hereafter ME), "Report,"Jan.4, 1923,"Report," ec. 12, 1923, "Report," an. 7, 1924, "Report," une , 1924, RG 371; Mitchell,"Report," ept. 25, 1923.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL, 731ernmentalontrolf ll foreignurrency.74laims or aymentlsofloodedin from rench nd German epresentatives.75

Whether hegovernmentandled llforeignxchange r not,Ecuadorstill earned too littleof t, and its costremainedhigh.76peculatorsnforeign urrencywere not, as President amayo o frequentlylaimed,thecause ofhighforeign xchange rices.The cause was Ecuador's everetrade mbalance, rimarilyesulting rom he collapseoftheworld acaomarket.Hence,thegovernmentouldnot olve heproblem y nstitutinganofficialxchange atebeneath heprice stablished n theopen market,and the currencyxchange egulationsenactedNovember6, amendedDecember 5 and againon December9) proved ompletelynsufficientnaddressing cuador's foreign xchange ilemma.At ast thegovernmentgave up on the dea, and even President amayo dmitted hatdomesticcontrol f peciewas ineffectivenstabilizinghe priceof urrencyet byworldmarket orces.77n October15,1924, xactly year nd 11monthsafter he violence n Guayaquil, resident amayo igned bill abolishingforeign urrency ontrol.78he exchangerate remainedhigh, nflationcontinued,pricesfor mports oared including he cost ofGuayaquil'scrucialfoodimports),nd people continued o suffer.79he strikehadfailed o bring elief o thehard-pressed orkers.Beyond hefailure fthemoratorium,hemeagernessfthe workers'pay raises, nd theheavy oll n lives,thestrike roughttill ther ostsfor heworkers. he strike ad subjectedmany eople to indiscriminatepolice violence,caused themgreathardships,nd later eft hemwithhigher rolley ares.Formany t was hardto see how theyhad benefitedfrom he movement.80 oreover, fter he events n{Guayaquil,criticsattacked he abormovementnd thegovernmentithdrewtssupport.The violencehadgreatlylarmed cuador'spoliticaleaders.Thegovern-mentroundedup all themajor abor eaders nd forced hem ntoexile;PuigandTrujillo idnotreturn or woyears.8'74. GBFO, BME, "Report," an. , 1924,RG 371.75. GBFO, BME, "Report," ec. 30, 1923,RG371.76. GBFO, BME, "Report," ct. 29, 1924,RG371; Badin, Quarterly eport," -1o.77. GBFO, Mitchell, Report n the President'sMessage oCongress," ug.11, 1923,RG 371.78. GBFO, BME, "Report," ct. i8, 1924,RG371.79. Badin,"Quarterly eport," -1o.8o. SheldonMaram, Urban Labor and SocialChange n the 1920S," Luso-BrazilianReview,16 (Winter1979),220 notesthatpolice repression iscreditedhegeneral triketactic n Brazil. To manyworkers, he strategyeemed too confrontationalnd yieldedmeagerreturns.81. Badin, "Quarterly eport," 2.


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732 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOAuthoritiesabeled the abor movements "bolshevik,"nd pronetoviolence.82 espite clear evidence to the contrary,he governmentnd

the militaryried o whitewash heir wn role n the Guayaquilviolence.Theyplacedthe blame squarely n "bolsheviks"nd "anarchist[s]."83heprogovernmentersion f hemassacre ointed aguely o "certain oreignand pernicious lements," agents frevolution" hohad ed theworkers'movement stray. hisview claimed hat t was a "Soviet"plot,with iesin Riobamba nd Quito, nd charged hat adicalworkers ad attackedhesoldierswithguns, rocks, ndknives.Only ooters nd communists adbeen killed nthe gunfire,he officialersionmaintained.84We are surethat he sane and good workers" eturnedotheir omes, ndonlyrevo-lutionariestayed utinthe streets ndgotshot.85 he militaryeceivedcredit-fromTamayoand others-forsavingthe nationfrom "crimi-nal furor."86reviously,hegovernmentad bankrolled he unions ndwooed worker upport.The Guayaquilbloodshed hanged thatpolicy:the governmentow became openlyhostile o organized abor.The nascent abormovement ell part.FTRE brokeup and theGre-mial del Astillero isbanded.Organized aborbecametimid, owed, andcould not serveas an aggressive oice forworkernterests.87he labormovementn Ecuador became one ofLatinAmerica'smost eeble.Conclusions

Previous nterpretations,speciallythosefound n older, syntheticlabor historyverviews, avegenerallyoncluded hat narchistsespe-cially European immigrants)layeda critical rganizingnd leadership82. Barrera, ara la historia; lsosee Urguhart,Report."83. Barrera, ara la historia.84. Ibid., 10, 12, 20.85. El Comiiercio,uoted bid.,26.86. Ibid.87. GBFO, Mitchell, Report n the President's nnualMessage to Congress,"Aug.

11, 1923,RG 371. A Britishccount f hebloodletting ent longwith his nterpretation,claiming hat hetroopsbegan firingnlv"when n overwhelmingumber fthe strikers... assumed threateningttitude,"nid hat "revolutionarvovement"ad been "nippedinthebud. "Since the1s5thfNovember,922," itnoted, therehavebeennofurtherlabour movements."Mitchell, Report,"Nov. 21, 1922. See also GBFO, BLQ, "AnnualReportfor1923,"Dec. 31, 1923,RG 371; Badin,"Quarterlv eport," 3-14; Weinman,"Ecuador and Cacao," 242, 243; Milk,"Growth nd Development,", 95-96; Middleton,"Division ndCohesion,"178.Railroad ompanvmanagement rote, After everaldavsof rioting n GuavaquiltheGovernmental orcesfinallv erminatedhe whole affair v killing nd wounding everalhundredpersons.This drastic ctionhad a verv alutarv ffect nd resulted n a distinctclearing f heatmosphere."922 Report fPresident otheDirectors ftheGuayaquil andQuito RailwayCoinpanyforheyear ndedDecemlberz, 1922 (Huigra,Ecuador, 1923),7,included nGBFO, BLQ, "Report," ec. 1923 (?),RG371.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 733role in Latin America's ost-WorldWar general trikes,ncluding hatof Guayaquil.But whilethis nterpretationayhave somevalue nothercontexts,tdoes nothold true n Ecuador.In Guayaquil,mostpeople were internalmigrants ho had drifteddown from he tradition-boundural ierra. Guayaquilhad fewimmi-grants, nd almostnonefrom urope. In 188o,out of Guayaquil's otalpopulationf 6,000, therewere ut 50 ItalianndSpanishmmigrants,many fwhomwerewealthymportersnd their amilies."' ven40 yearslater, mmigrantseretoofewfor oreign-bornnarchistso have playedthe rolethattheymay have played elsewheren South America.To besure,anarchisteadersdid notnecessarily aveto be imported.n Chile'scase, for xample,PeterDeShazo hasrecentlylaimed hathome-grownanarchists nd anarcho-syndicalistsed the risein labormilitancyur-ing the earlytwentiethentury. ucking he prevailing iew that thesocialists nd Chile's nitrateworkerswere largely esponsible orearlyChilean labormilitancy,eShazo in 1983 argued hatChilean-bornn-archistsfromSantiago nd Valparaiso ed the movement.While somecommentatorsold thatDeShazo oversells is thesis, thers dmitthathe offersn "numbing etail" nough vidence o support is reinterpre-tation.89 herefore,f Chile coulddevelopa home-grown,narchist-ledlabormovement, hynotEcuador?Ecuador's economy nd resulting mploymenttructure ere quitedifferentrom hoseof Chile. Chile's successful itrateconomv reatedmany obs, notonly n mining,but also in roundsof new urban con-struction undedby risinggovernmentaxrevenues rom xport ales.Chile also witnessed hedevelopment fan importantndustrialectorand, by the earlytwentieth entury,he emergence f a recognizablymodernworking lass. In Ecuador, however, heexport conomygen-eratedvery ittle ncrease n labor demand. Cacao growers ad limitedlabor needs, while in Guayaquil lmostno industrializationook place.The bulkofGuayaquilworkersoundmploymentn oosely rranged aylabor obs, especiallyn theservice ector. cuador's ircumstanceseemmuchtoodifferentrom hile's forus toexpect similar ourseof aborhistory. eighboringeruand Colombiamightwellprovidemore ppro-priate omparisons;ut t still eemsbest not oexplainGuayaquil'sabor

88. Pineo,"Economic nd SocialTransformationfGuavaquil," hap. 4.89. The phraseis fromFredrickB. Pike's reviewofDeShazo, UrbanWorkers,nHistorian, 7:3 (May 1985), 455-456.Historians iffer ver the roots of labor militancyn Chile duringthisperiod. SeeSpalding,OrganizedLabor,9; Bergquist, abor in LatinAmerica: omparative ssaysonChile, Argentina,Venezuela, nd Colombia Stanford, 986), 59. For a discussion ftheliterature,ee DeShazo, UrbanWorkers, , 289.


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734 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOdevelopment y suggesting hat tnecessarilyollowed atterns oticedelsewhere.90

Caution is particularly arranted orGuayaquilbecause there s solittle vidence ofanythingesemblinganarchisteadership" f the 1922strike.While Guayaquilworkersid form t eastoneradical aborfedera-tion, he FTRE, itwas far maller han heolder, overnment-backedO.Andwhile the FTRE stronglyupported he strike, t did not ead theGrandAssembly fworkers. autious ndmoderatessemblyeaders ndspokesmen id not upport hepositions aken ythe FTRE. Neither idGuayaquilhaveanyunambiguouslynarchist nions.A few ntellectualsmet nan anarchisttudy roup, ndperhaps ne or twoof hecity's ineor so small abornewspapers adanarchistympathies,ut this carcelydemonstrateshe existence fan anarchistabormovement.9'narchistsgo. On Peruvian abor history, lbaand Alexander oth tend to view the anarchistsas the "primemovers" f the earlytwentieth-centurvabor movement nd leaders of the1919 general trikesn Lima and Callao. These authors imilarlvnterpret olombia's arlvtwentieth-centuryabor history, ighlightinghe role of anarchists.Alexander nd Albaofferedroadgeneral verviewsnd reassertedmanv revious ssumptions.Peter Blanchard ecently ooka closer ook at the origins f Peru's abor movement.He notedthat t times he anarchistminoritvouldnudgeworkers oward ecomingmoreassertive, s for xampleduring he general trike or he eight-hour orkdavn Lima andCallao in Jan. 919, butthat verall hey layed very imited ole. Few workers elonged oany abororganization,nd among hesmallgroup hat idonlv fraction ere anarchists.At times,Blanchard mphasizes, heanarchistminoritv lavedno role at all and almostcompletely isappeared.He describes Peruvian abor movement othvervconservativeand quite dependent n thegovernmentor upport,withworkers evoting heir nergiestomutual id and petitioninghegovernment.UrrutiandBergquist oth tudied heColombian abormovementn somedetail.Thevagreethatduring he firstwodecadesof thetwentiethenturv lso, the abor movementwas very mallevenby LatinAmericantandardsndthatradicalphilosophies, speciallvanarchism, ad very imited ppeal. To Bergquist, olombianworkers hanneled heir rus-trationsntoeither raditionalolitics, iving heir upport o the Liberalor Conservativeparties, r personal conomicgain, plowing heir nergiesnto offee roduction.Urrutialikewiseholdsthat unlike .. other ountriesn LatinAmerica, . . the unions rganizedin the second decade of thiscenturvwerenotcontrolled v the anarchists." olombianworkersdid not doptforeigndeologies," xceptfor fewriverworkers rawn o commu-nism Urrutia, evelopment f ColombianLabor, 55-58). Nevertheless, oth Urrutia ndBergquist nterprethe 1918strikes n the Caribbeanports s being "organized" nd "di-rected"bytheanarcho-syndicalists.t couldbe that he Jan. 1918 strikesn Barranquilla,Cartagena, nd SantaMarta harewith heGuayaquilgeneral trike f1922 the need forreinterpretation.See Alba, Politics nd the Labor Movement,65-266, 270, 271; Alexander, rganizedLabor, 112-113, 132-133; PeterBlanchard, he Origins f hePeruvian abor Movement,

1883-lzg91gPittsburgh,982); andBergquist, abor inLatinAmerica, 31. Hahner's ecentconsiderationfearlyBrazilian aborhistory, overtyndPolitics, lso tends oemphasizethe imited ppeal of radicalphilosophiesnd the imited eachof unionorganization.eeespeciallyher discussion fthe1917general trikenSao Paulo 279-280).91. Alba, Politics nd the Labor Movement,6; RobalinoBolle,El sindicalismon elEcuador,85.


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COLLAPSE OF THE CACAO ECONOMY IN GUAYAQUIL 735inGuayaquil mounted o ittlemore han handfulfromantics. erhapssome future istorianwilluncover videnceofa central narchistnflu-ence,but until nd unless uchproofsfound,heviewthat narchistsedthe1922 general trikenGuayaquil anonly e supported ith ssertionsanddubious nalogies.Areview f heeventsnGuayaquiln1922 highlightsheneed toposita differentnterpretation.rinters-not heGrandAssembly r ts eaders-decided to ssue eaflets alling or llto ointhewalkout. he assemblyleadersrepeatedly ad topleadwithworkers okeepthecity's ights nat night.The older nd moremoderateworkerrganization,heCO, notthe assembly r ts eadership, rought orwardheexchange atemorato-riumproposal, nd passed around petition or t without rior ssemblyapproval.When thetrolley ompanies equired farehikeas partofthefinal ettlement,hestrike egotiatorsccepted tbuttheworkers idnot.Even afterDr. Puig begged the workers o acceptthe settlement,heyrefused. Also,while Puig negotiated ith fficials, orkers ook t uponthemselves o raise noisy heersfrom he streets elow, and onlyPuig'srepeated entreaties ot themto quiet down.) Later, despite the coun-sel of the strike eadership, he workers ecided to shutoffGuayaquil'slights.The FTRE passed out radical nd unauthorized andbills t thedowntown ally f he14th.The workers hiftedheir emandsustwhenit appeared that heirnegotiators ad gotten hemwhattheyhad askedfor riginally.ven after hegovernmentccepted he newdemands, heassembly hose, again cting gainst he dviceof heireadership,ocon-tinue on strike ntil heyreceivedformalwrittenonfirmationrom hepresident. inally,whenthe strike rokeup, nothing he eadership aidcouldstoppeoplefrom oingback to theirobs in defeat.What ll of hisshows s that hegeneral trikewasessentially leaderlessmovement-ademocraticnsurgency.92This was not a unionmovement. ewGuayaquilworkers elonged ounions.Rather,workersesponded pontaneouslyo the everedownwardslide ntheir tandard f iving nd took heir ues from heexample f hesuccessful trike n Duran. Byviewing hegeneral trike s an exampleof a spontaneous opularuprising,we canperhapsbetter nderstandtsstrengthsndweaknesses. ndeed,thestrengthsf the movement ereitsveryweaknesses.In a spontaneousmassmovement,f he ausesremain neffectnd themovements notquickly rushed y repression,tshouldgather trength

92. These thoughts n democraticnsurgencies ere suggested y LawrenceGood-wyn, "The CooperativeCommonwealth OtherAbstractions:n Search of a DemocraticPremise,"Marxist erspectives, :2 (Summer, 980), 8-42.


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736 | HAHR INOVEMBER IRONN F. PINEOand display ome mposing owers. t cannot e ignored. t must ither erepressed-and thismaynotbe easy, rthepolitical ostsmaybe toohigh-or its demandsmust e addressed.Moreover,f he movement btainssome early concessions, ts enthusiasm illsurely row.Emotional ealis, after ll, the key trengthf uch movement. owever, he powerofa spontaneousmovement,lthough hreateningor time, s erratic ndshort erm.The movementan onlyhope to attack pecific nd clear-cutgrievances nd cannot ong maintaints fever itchof emotions.Whenthe level of enthusiasm rops, the movement o longer xists.Hence,vigorous epressionmaytake the spirit ut of a spontaneous emocraticinsurgency,nd completelyefeat t.SeeingtheGuayaquil prisingn thisway llowsusto understand othwho could be recruitedndwhy,without ostulatingnexaggeratedolefor hemovement'seaders.Peopletook othe treetsnresponse odirectand readily omprehensible egative onditions.Workers id not needto be sold on some misty isionofa utopian omorrowywell-tutoredrevolutionaries.nstead,they nlyneeded to lookaround nd recognizethat heir ituation ad becomeradically orse, nd thenbegingrumblingabout it withotherworkers.Recruitmentor hisspontaneous prisingwas possiblewithout vanguard frevolutionaryeaders.The movement's reat popular supportmeantthat t could not beignored, ut its ackof formal rganizationrpermanencemeant hat twas not able to monitor ompliancewith he concessions t won.As onepolitical bserver oted,whenthegovernmentbolished hemoratoriumlaw in 1924, "not a voice was raised n its defense ither n Guayaquilor elsewhere."9'3he uprising anonpassionate nergynd enthusiasm-bothofwhich ollapsedwhenpolice repressionook he heart utof themovement.

In Guayaquil,workers esponded pontaneouslynd democratically,ifultimatelyneffectively,o thecollapseof the cacao export conomy.This was not the onlySouthAmerican ity oexperience opularunrestin the early twentiethentury. s studyprogressesn LatinAmericanlaborhistory, erhaps heGuayaquil xamplewillhelptosuggestways oreconsiderheexperiencesndstrugglesfother rdinary orkers.93. GBFO, BLQ, "Report," ct. 29, 1924, RG 371.

Ecuador Anarchism

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