The Working Class in Latin America : Some Theoretical Problems

Abstract

The failure of Latin American labour to create effective radical (not to say revolutionary) movements has been commented on often enough,l but at the same time a certain euphoria has often accompanied discussions of their revolutionary potential. Now that the optimist signs of the past ten years have been followed by reaction, with military coups replacing centre-left governments in all states except Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, Mexico and Cuba, it is useful to take stock and examine both the theories advanced to account for the Latin American labour situation and certain basic facts relevant to them.