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Anarchism in Peru emerged from thePeruvian trade union movement during the late 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century.
The beginnings ofanarchism in Peru can be traced back to 1870. In the craftsmen's guilds at the end of the 19th century, a certain anarchist orientation began to gain influence.[1] In 1904 the first anarchist organizations began to appear, with forming the "Star of Perú" Federation of Bakers (FOPEP), founded by the libertarian militants Fidel García Gacitúa, Urmachea and Manuel Caracciolo Lévano; that year they carried out their first strike. On May 1, 1905, a commemorative event for theHaymarket Martyrs was held for the first time. In 1907, Anarchists participated in strikes at the port ofCallao, the repression that followed took the life of Florencio Aliaga.[1] In 1906 the newspaperHumanity appeared inLima, and in 1910 it publishedFree Pages by the Francisco Ferrer Rationalist Center. In 1907, the brothers Lévano, Romilio Quesada, Luis Felipe Grillo and the publishing group of "Humanity" founded the "Primero de Mayo" Center for Social Studies. The anarchist Julio Reynaga (1841–1923), one of the organizers of theTrujillo sugar workers.[2] In this city, an anarchist group was formed by some Italian immigrants like Inocencio Lombardozzi. Reynaga was editor of "El Jornalero", whose offices were located in the premises of the "Unión y Energía" Center for Social Studies. During these years, the main libertarian newspapers, in addition to those mentioned, were El Ariete (Arequipa), La Abeja (Chiclayo),La Antorcha andEl Rebelde (Trujillo),El Hambriento andSimiente Roja, andLos Parias (Lima), directed by González Prada between 1904 and 1906.[citation needed]
In 1911, the first general strike in the textile industry was launched by anarchists. Then, in 1912, thePeruvian Regional Workers' Federation (FORP) arose from theanarcho-syndicalist movement.[3] In 1913 the anarchists participated in thegeneral strike called by theUnion of Day Laborers, with the aim of achieving the 8-hour workday. Among the participating groups were the Peruvian Regional Workers Federation and its affiliated guilds and resistance societies, "Luchadores por la Verdad" (led by the bricklayer Abraham Guerrero), "Luz y Amor" (Callao) and the publishing group of the newspaper "La Protesta", the main anarchist newspaper in Peru (founded by A. Guerrero in 1911, edited until 1926).[3] The 8-hour day was granted by theJosé Pardo y Barreda government in January 1919. Months later, the "Pro-cheapening of Subsistence Committee" was created, led by the joiner Nicolás Gutarra, the purpose of which was to lower the prices of food, clothing, transportation,rent, andtaxes. After theLeguía coup and the liberation of labor leaders from prison, in July 1919 the Peruvian Regional Workers' Federation was re-constituted with a declaration of anarcho-syndicalist principles.[4] This stage of Peruvian anarchism was strongly influenced by the experiences of theArgentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA), and ofItalian andSpanishlibertarian immigrants.[citation needed]
In those years, some libertarian workers met regularly at the Lévano house (located inLa Victoria District, Lima) where they "spoke like doctors. Backing up their opinions, they displayed their knowledge as they quotedPeter Kropotkin,Mikhail Bakunin,Anselmo Lorenzo andErrico Malatesta".[5] There were also some students who were sympathetic to libertarian ideas, such as Juan Manuel Carreño and Erasmo Roca.[citation needed]
Among the prominent militants of the time were Manuel C. Lévano,Delfín Lévano, Carlos Barba, Nicolás Gutarra, Pedro Cisneros, Adalberto Fonkén, Eulogio Otazú, Christian Dam, andManuel González Prada. González Prada was the author of important and influential texts: Free Pages (1894) and Hours of Struggle (1908).
González Prada was concerned with the ethnic-class relationship, exposing the exploitation of indigenous people and the different manifestations of "racial" discrimination. This remarkable writer, admired by Mariátegui, who took his indigenista flags and combined his peasant activity with various tasks in the labor movement.
— Luis Vitale[6]
In the 1910s and 1920s, in the town of Vitarte (east of Lima), there was a solid anarchist nucleus, linked to the workers at the local textile factory. One of the first propagandists of anarchist ideas and a member of theLa Protesta group was the spinner called Juan Híjar Salazar. Other anarchists from Vitarte included Celso Soto, Gumercindo Calderón, Antonio Patrón, Noé Salcedo, Fernando Borjas, Esther del Solar, Miguel Pasquel, Augustina Araníbar and A. Fonkén. Julio Portocarrero, a prominent socialist trade unionist, was prone to libertarian ideas in his early youth, as he distributed the newspaper "La Protesta" for several years at the Vitarte factory.[7] An important cultural tradition, promoted by libertarians in Vitarte, was the so-called Plant Festival, which emerged in the early 1920s, with the aim of becoming a proletarian alternative to the Christian holiday of Christmas. The first Feast of the Plant was held on December 25, 1921. The Libertarian Women's Center was one of the organizations that participated, along with several delegations.[citation needed]
During the 1920s, the Union of Civil Construction Workers emerged, publishingEl Nivel andEl Obrero Constructor. During these years, government repression was felt strongly, closing printing presses and stores, in addition to murdering many anarchists. In Trujillo, anarcho-syndicalists participated in a workers' uprising, which would be capitalized on by theAmerican Revolutionary Popular Alliance (APRA). The decline of anarchism due to repression caused anarchists to lose positions in the labor movement. Some activists were deported, in the case of Gutarra, who was deported toColombia in the early 1920s, and then on toPanama in 1924.[citation needed]
In theAnarchist Federation of Peru was formed by some of the militants who continued the libertarian tradition gathered. They republished "La Protesta" for 2 years and edited documents until the 1960s, when it disappeared entirely. Teobaldo Cayetano was a baker worker who belonged to the "Arm and brain", a libertarian cell of the "Star of Peru" . He wrote inLa Protesta, during the 1940s. In 1957, he was appointed defense secretary of the "La Estrella" Huancayo Society of Bakers. In the early 1960s, he was elected regional secretary of Lima by this union.[citation needed]
The Institute of Studies and Research of Cooperatives and Communities (Indeicoc) was a center of libertarian inspiration, which came into operation in the first half of the 70s. It claimedself-management andlibertarian socialism as pillars of a free society: “Self-management or democratic management of the means of production, where the worker acquires a double condition: producer and manager of the company. He ceases to be a salaried worker and becomes a free and associated producer."[8] Members of Indeicoc included Jaime Llosa Larrabure, Víctor Gutiérrez Saco and Gerardo Cárdenas.[citation needed]
Libertarian activity reappeared with some notoriety towards the end of the 1980s linked to theunderground music movement of Lima, which acquired a gradual politicization and radicalization of its positions. The repressive climate generated by antiterrorist laws limited the growth and evolution of these anarchist groups, which were striving to differentiate themselves from theguerrilla left. In the early 1990s, anarchist groups less linked to the underground music scene began to appear. InLima the anarcho-syndicalist groups "Proletarian Autonomy" and "Collectivization" emerged.[citation needed]
In 2001, after many years, an anarchist newspaper "Disobedience" began to be printed in Lima, which continues to appear to this day, maintaining a perspective of critical anarchism. The Libertarian Workshop was formed, which brought together activists from different generations, including Víctor Gutiérrez, Ch. Zénder and L. Villavicencio. In 2008, the bimonthly newspaperHumanity was founded by five libertarian activists. It took a combative and analytical style, within the guidelines of classical anarchism. Members ofHumanity later founded the newspaperDirect Action, with ananarcho-communist tendency.[citation needed]
Within theespecifist andplatformist current is theLibertarian Socialist Union, a continuation of theQhispikay Llaqta andEstrella Negra groups. Within theautonomist current is the "Anarchist Group La Protesta", the "Arteria Libertaria Collective", the "Yacta Runa Autonomous Collective" and the "Active Minority Collective" fromArequipa. Within theanarchopunk andcounterculture spectrum there is theAnarkopunk Social Center,Anarchopunk Resistance,Anarchopunk Youth Collective of Tacna in Struggle, the bandAsteroids 500. mg,Axión Anarkopunk and the bandsGeneración Perdida,Autonomía,Feria Libertaria Kallejera andMen and Women in Our Anarchist Struggle.[9]
