Coup, A Story of Violence and Resistance in Bolivia
Linda Farthing , Thomas Becker, Haymarket 2021
This is a fascinating, infuriating, well written account of the overthrow of Evo Morales in Bolivia in 2019. It also goes into the background and aftermath. It comes at this issue from a leftist viewpoint, very much in support of the mass movements in Bolivia. It does not state explicitly Marxist conclusions but presents all the analysis necessary to draw those conclusions.
One interesting aspect is the parallel with the U.S. The ouster was nominally precipitated by allegations of voter fraud. It almost seems like the Trump campaign to overturn the 2020 election was a copy of the 2019 coup in Bolivia. There are parallels too in internal ruling class relations. In both countries there are divisions in the ruling class. In Bolivia the right wing is in the east among the petroleum and agricultural sector. But even this section is divided between the very conservative and the hard core right wing sector. The latter thought they could pull off the coup and keep up the intense repression against MAS(The Movement Toward Socialism) to the extent of destroying it. This is somewhat analogous to the millionaire wing of the Republicans allied with the petit-bourgeois Fascist and quasi-Fascists who physically attack Democratic politicians and poll workers. In both cases, these forces are/were confident that they could shift the whole political system in their direction. Bolivia was more extreme in part because the coup was initially victorious. In both cases the bulk of the ruling class finally decided the time was not ripe for this extremity. In the U.S. case, the ruling class and state still saw “ normal” bourgeois democracy as the best way to rule. In Bolivia, the continued mass movement shifted the balance in the ruling class back toward bourgeois democracy rather than the complete destruction of opposition forces.
One very important parallel is the role of racism. In Bolivia, the anti-indigenous motivations were even more open and clear than racism in the U.S. In both cases, the hard right dehumanized oppressed sections of the population. They didn’t want them to vote and believed they could not be rational voters. In the U.S., this took the form of voter suppression laws, challenges to voter ID, fraudulent electors, January 6 etc. In Bolivia, there was even more direct repression.
The authors are excellent in seeing the connection of MAS and movements. The mass labor and indigenous movements put MAS into power. However , the government was able to coopt those movements and divide them where necessary to carry out anti-environmental and extractivist policies. This meant that when the coup took place, the movements were not strong enough initially to stop it. The authors go into this dynamic with the warning that movements need to maintain their independence. VERY important point.
Another related political point is that Evo Morales made a strategic error in running again. Most people liked MAS policies of distributing some of the increased hydrocarbon revenues to the masses. However, the right wing cry that Evo was becoming a dictator had more and more resonance — -hence the close vote in 2019 that could be challenged. After a year of the Anez rightist government, even soft opponents of Morales had decided they hated the right wing more than Morales’ party, MAS. In the 2020 election MAS won about 5% more than in 2019 for a solid presidential victory , since Evo was not the candidate. The authors feel it was a blunder by MAS not to develop new layer of leadership and a new candidate in 2019.
The authors discuss the social policies of MAS and their limitations. Those policies were based on high hydrocarbon revenues not a structural transformation of the economy. MAS at some points had decent relations with the right wing of the ruling class which was profiting well during the commodities boom. This ended in about 2014 as prices for raw materials fell. This spurred the right wing of the ruling class into opposition. The end of the commodities boom also undermined revenues for social programs and lost MAS some popular support. The other issue that alienated MAS from the workers and indigenous people was extractivism. These issues created the political conditions necessary for the coup.
The authors talk about the current prevalence of soft coups. In the past ,the military would often just oust the government straight out as in Brazil in 1964, Guatemala in 1953, Chile in 1973 etc. Now the pattern is cooperation between the military and right wing politicians to perform “ constitutional coups” — the ouster of Rousseff in Brazil, Zelaya in Honduras backed by the U.S. under Obama, and the current struggle in Peru . This approach can win more political support by seeming to be legal. If Trump had pulled off his overturn of the 2020 election, this would have been an example. From this book, it seems like the Anez government achieved little in terms of changing MAS policies though it succeeded in massive repression. It seems like it was trying to clear the decks of opposition before implementing its program.
The struggle in Bolivia was and is inspiring! People were willing to fight and die to overturn the coup and restore democracy. Despite repression, they were ultimately successful.
The authors conclude with lessons learned from the coup and its defeat:
Coups come in all shapes and sizes , on “constitutional coups”
Authoritarians make for strange bedfellows! We cannot win democracy by allying with authoritarians. Too many people who were opposed to Morales’ retention in power were willing to ally with anyone opposed to him. This is a lesson for those who supported “Rage Against the War Machine” on Feb.19,2023.
“The 2019 coup serves as a powerful lesson in how by working with racists sexists and homophobes, the anti-Morales struggle gave legitimacy to illegitimate groups and enabled extremists to hijack the political narrative. It also set the stage for a leader to seize power under the veil of “restoring democracy” and served to whitewash a year of widespread abuses” (210)
Social Movements are the Drivers of Change. Their cooptation by even “progressive” government undercuts change.
“ .. what facilitated the MAS’s failure to push a more radical agenda in 2009, when it controlled the legislature , was the winding down of the protest cycle that had lasted from 2000 to 2005. With those voices ebbing, there was a growing tendency to turn the change process over to officials and the state bureaucracy.” (211)
Political Education —
“to solidify social change, a population must maintain a robust political consciousness. However the MAS neglected to prioritize Bolivian’s ongoing political engagement.” (212)
Leading by Obeying: Addressing Caudillismo and Concentrations of Power
“..the left has too often failed to control the charismatic leadership needed to win elections.”(213)
Confronting Structural Challenges
Here the authors discuss the problem of international intervention in Bolivia and the position of Bolivia in the world economy.
These lessons are excellent. However, the authors don’t spell out some conclusions that flow from them. They seem to be radical critics of MAS and the popular movements rather than presenting a completely different set of politics. Jeffrey Webber and others who have written on Bolivia draw out these conclusions more explicitly:
To lead a revolution in Bolivia , or anywhere, there needs to be a mass revolutionary party that sees the need to smash the bourgeois state rather than use it to bring reform. This means that though elections can be used tactically, they cannot in themselves bring socialism. What was/is needed in Bolivia is not just a left critique of MAS but a party with an alternative revolutionary goal. Secondly, Bolivia especially as a poor country cannot establish socialism on its own. It needs to be part of an international revolutionary socialist revolution that can end the exploitation and oppression of Bolivia.
With these limitations, this book is an excellent contribution to developing a Marxist analysis of the Coup in Bolivia and is well worth the read!
