Tin Miners Strike! Calls for Revolution Resound! Agrarian Reform! Universal Suffrage, And More!

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Bolivia is many things, but "politically stable" has never been one of them. Over 100 coups and revolutions have taken place since the country was born. So it really isn't that surprising that, come 1953, another one erupted. As usual, it began in the mines of Potosi and environs--still one of the world's great sources of silver, though tin had long since eclipsed it in scale. They had been a nexus of 'trouble' for years and the conflict between workers and management at Siglo XX had even turned into a massacre as recently as 1949.

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This year, however, there would be no massacre. Instead, the police joined the tin workers, as protests--organized by groups generally sympathetic to the MNR, ranging from liberals to christian democrats to trotskyites--spread throughout Bolivia. They were the worst in the mining areas, of course, but nowhere else was safe from them--largely because the police, and carabineri, have proven largely sympathetic to their nationalist, reformist cause in most of the country, with police either ignoring the protests or even actively joining and supporting them.

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This, however, was not the end of it, as it quickly became clear that the FSB was going to take advantage. While the FSB was absolutely right-leaning, the grating conservatism of the PURS had evidently not enamored them to their backwards views--the PURS had little interest in the kind of social progress and industrial and military strength that the FSB cared about. With protests increasing and the security services faltering, the FSB announced its plans to quit the coalition and join the NMR instead. Perhaps it's just a strong-arm tactic, but those close say that it's very real--they'd have to get one hell of a deal from PURS to stick to them in this mess. And the FSB are, worryingly, strongly supported within the police and army...

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Thus, Bolivia presently rests at a crossroads. It might attempt to preserve the oligarchic order--though it could come at the cost of many, many lives, including perhaps the lives of said oligarchs and generals. Or it could embrace the coming of the MNR, concede the democratic legitimacy it has, and embark on an ambitious period of reforms--universal suffrage, the nationalization of mines, and so on. Perhaps it will take some third, as of yet undetermined course. Whatever the future holds for Bolivia, it will certainly be interesting.