The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota, 1832-1919 [Hardcover]

David Sowell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 1992

David Sowell traces the history of artisan labor organizations in Bogota and examines long-term political activity of Colombian artisans in the century after independence. Relying on contemporary newspapers, political handouts, broadsides, and public petitions, Sowell analyzes the economic, social, and political history of the capital's artisan class, a middling social sector with very significant social and political strengths. This is the first study in English of nineteenth-century Latin American artisans and one of the few treatments that spans the whole of nineteenth-century Colombian history. The rise and late decline of artisan class political activity coincided the Colombia's integration into the world market. Initially petitioning for tariff protection, Bogota's craftsmen in time mobilized to address numerous issues, including industrial education, internal trade order, credit, and better health and educational facilities. Sowell traces the transformation of Colombia's economy and the (mainly negative) effects its evolution had on bogotano artisans. By the end of the nineteenth century, the artisans class was fragmented, their labor leadership replaced by workers associated with industrial production, transportation systems, and the production of coffee. David Sowell is Assistant Professor of History at Juniata College.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This important study is...a major contribution to Latin American labor historiography, which has focused not on 19th-century artisans but on industrial workers in the 20th century."
—Charles Bergquist, University of Washington-Seattle

From the Publisher

A unique history of political activity by nineteenth-century Colombian artisans

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 269 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press; First Edition edition (October 29, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877229651
• ISBN-13: 978-0877229650
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,307,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars An important road map of the labor movement in Colombia, September 16, 2003

By 

Bert Ruiz "Author" (Pleasantville, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota, 1832-1919 (Hardcover)

"The Early Colombian Labor Movement: Artisans and Politics in Bogota, 1832 - 1919," by David Sowell is an important road map of the political and economic rise and fall of the artisan movement in Bogota. Sowell relies on newspapers, public petitions and hard to find political handouts to offer a vivid insight to the strategy and mobilization of early labor organizations in Colombia. The author also provides a strong examination of the struggle for political power among members of the Conservative and Liberal parties. Moreover, the author documents how partisan competition contributed to endemic political violence and repeated conflicts at the local, regional, and national levels.

Sowell also features the work of scholars Charles W. Bergquist and Frank Safford in this text to explain long-term economic trends and the impact of institutional power networks. Overall the author explores early constitutional reforms and the origin of clientel relationships within the Colombian two-party political system. The liberalization of the economy united artisans. However, industrialization led to urban violence and the downfall of the artisans as a strong political voice in Colombia, according to the author.

The lives and organized activities of Colombian artisans have both historical and contemporary importance. Take for instance the life of early labor organizer Ambrosio Lopez, born in 1809 to Jeronimo Lopez and Rosa Pinzon. Jeronimo was a tailor in the employ of the viceroy and Rosa made "chica," a maize-based low-alcohol veverage. Ambrosio's son Pedro, became an important banker and his grandson, Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo served as president of the Republic of Colombia in the 1930's. Another important aspect of this book is the examination of how extreme partisan competition lead to many bloody civil wars in Colombia.

Bert Ruiz