Bolivia

Bolivia, officially the Socialist Republic of Bolivia is a Marxist state established during the Bolivian Snap Elections of 1930. It borders the FTSA to the south and southeast, Peru to the northwest, and Brazil to the northeast.

# **History**

## **Before the revolution**

Socialism began as a labor movement in the country during the bloodless 1920 coup by Bolivian Republicans against the Liberal Party, which had long controlled the Bolivian government. Inspired by the German Revolution, various indigenous laborers in Sucre decided to strike until their demands were met, but this attempt was unsuccessful. In the end however, while the strikers were suppressed and fired they would go on to form what is known as the “Rights for Labor”, an organization that would grow immensely popular over the next few years and would advocate for the rights of indigenous laborers and classifies itself as a syndicalist organization.

Bautista Saavedra, who ruled Bolivia from 1921-1925 was always a popular ruler and had the support of the middle class. During this time, fringe socialist political groups formed and while small at first they would be the bedrock to the revolution just a few years later. These movements were helped by the legalization of the right to strike, and for the first time Indigenous peasants saw a growth of support, culminating in a revolt by them along the rural Bolivian countryside. They might have been small in numbers but they were a thorn in the side of the Bolivian government, and wouldn’t ever be truly suppressed or stopped until the revolution.

Saavedra and the last president of the republic (1926-1930) Hernando Siles Reyes brought the Bolivian economy under the American sphere of influence and began to rely more and more on Washington, a decision both men would later come to regret.

1 year before the Great Crash and Great Depression, the Party of Workers were formed out of the fringe but growing socialist and labor movements. The PW gave aid and support to the Rights for Labor which allowed them to strengthen and expand their base of operations across the country.

### **The Great Depression**

In October of 1927 the London Stock Market crashed shortly followed by the New York stock exchange which resulted in the worst global economic catastrophe of the 20th century. The Bolivian economy was decimated, further exacerbated by the debt that was quickly growing on Bolivia, unable to pay back their loans to America. Thousands became unemployed while the Party of Workers voiced their concerns and bashed Reyes and his administration for not handling the crisis effectively. As more people became unemployed, more pressure was put on Reyes to liberalize the economy and give into various demands by trade unions to protect those who couldn’t hold down a job because of the state of the economy.

Unable to please any side pressuring him, he in January 1930 stepped down and a provisional government was put in his place and a snap election was called.

## **The 1930 election and consolidation**

The snap election began 1 month after Reyes stepped down and social/political unrest grew exponentially. The provisional government, in fear of a military coup curtailed the power of the military momentarily until the election was over. Several candidates ran for office, but in total the Party of Workers, backed by the now influential Rights for Workers won by popular election, garnering about 51% of the total votes. This came as a big shock to the rest of the world, as socialists gained power, not by revolution but by popular vote in electoral politics.

While the socialists won, the military did not like the idea of socialists coming to power and mutinied in La Paz and seized the city, forcing the socialist government to flee. However, the population of La Paz did not accept the military revolt and undermined their authority. For the next few weeks the city stayed under military occupation, while the Bolivians outside of the city assembled to crush the revolt. With minimal support and besieged with waning supplies, the socialists struck back, dealing a decisive blow to the military, with fighting taking place street by street. Finally, after one week of battle the divisions who fought against the socialists made peace and disbanded, and La Paz was taken after 8 days of intense fighting. This war also guaranteed socialist hegemony over the country, as Tristán Marof was summoned as the next leader of Bolivia.