Andrew Sage

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Hello and welcome to It Could Happen Here. I'm Andrew Sage. I'm on Andrewism over at YouTube. And I'm not on YouTube right now. I'm on It Could Happen Here. And I'm joined by the disembodied voice of the one and only... Garrison Davis.

There might be. But today, I want to continue our journey through Latin American anarchisms and their histories. Now, compared to all the other countries I've discussed so far, such as Peru and Chile and Argentina and Brazil and Cuba, this one had a bit less information about anarchism in its past.

So this will be a sort of a smaller sandwich anarchist history, perhaps fitting of the country that is sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil. I'm speaking, of course, about Paraguay, known for its fraught history of warfare, politically volatile landscape, series of dictatorships, and indigenously intertwined cultural and social fabric.

Anarchism took root in this rather unique setting, and thanks to the work of Angel Capileti and a few other scattered sources, I've been able to piece together the history of anarchism in Paraguay. Without further ado, nos comencemos.

For much of its early history, Paraguay's identity was distinct within South America, from its time as a Guarani settlement to its formation as a Spanish colony in the 16th century. Spanish Jesuit missionaries wielded significant influence, and for over a century, Paraguay was a self-sustained colony with a rigidly hierarchical system based on the Spanish casta system.

Paraguay's economy primarily revolved around agriculture and cattle herding, unlike the mining economies in other Spanish territories. The Guarani people had a significant cultural impact throughout Paraguay's history, and their language and traditions remained central even as Paraguay evolved through the centuries.

Even today, most of the population speaks some variety of Guarani alongside Spanish. Fast forward to the early 19th century, as South American nations began declaring independence from Spain, Paraguay took a unique approach.

Rather than aligning with the neighboring revolutionary movements, Paraguay, under the leadership of José Gaspar Rodríguez de la Defensia, declared independence in 1811 and adopted an isolationist authoritarian path. Francia ruled as the country's supreme dictator for nearly three decades, envisioning a self-sufficient, hermetic society.

He strictly controlled foreign influences, banned European migration, and restricted trade. By the mid-19th century, Paraguay had built up a significant state infrastructure under Francia's successor, Carlos Antonio López.

However, this era of economic development was short-lived as Paraguay entered the catastrophic War of the Triple Alliance between 1864 and 1870 against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay over territorial disputes. This conflict proved disastrous for Paraguay as they suffered staggering losses. Nearly 70% of its population died, its economy was shattered, and its territory was significantly reduced.

And yes, you heard me right, nearly 70% of its population perished, including most of its male population. In the war's aftermath, Paraguay was plunged into political chaos, economic ruin, and a period of foreign interventions. Due to the economic devastation of the war, the country became indebted to British creditors.

And with that leverage, Britain pushed for the development of a free market economy and privatization, which brought Paraguay into closer contact with the global economy and eventually led to a more pronounced class divide and establishment of an exploitative agricultural export system.

Land that had once been communally managed was swiftly privatized, driving indigenous communities and small farmers off their lands and into the workforce of larger estates. On those estates, workers would find themselves in debt bondage. Tied to the estates are small debts that workers owed to landowners would spiral into insurmountable debts that would become nearly impossible to repay.

Labourers, called peonies, were typically paid in vouchers or scrip that could only be redeemed at the estate store, where prices were exorbitantly inflated. Any attempt to leave or challenge the conditions was met with violent repercussions from estate managers, creating a cycle of economic entrapment that was essentially slavery by another name.

Paraguay became a country of ever more wealthy and powerful landowners with a struggling rural working class. As the 20th century approached, the labour struggles and social divisions within Paraguayan society were glaring.

Crone inequality, exploitative working conditions, and the dislocation of indigenous communities created fertile ground for radical ideas among rural campesinos and urban workers. European immigrants fleeing political repression brought with them some rather radical ideas that began to resonate with Paraguayan workers who were desperate for a way out of their circumstances.

For a people who had survived centuries of oppression and authoritarian rule, anarchism had a unique appeal. By the 1880s, workers in Paraguay had begun organizing mutual aid societies, and one such society of typographers would organize themselves into a union, the first in the country's history, by 1886.