Before the Shining Path : Politics in Rural Ayacucho, 1895-1980

From 1980 to 1992, Maoist Shining Path rebels, Peruvian state forces, and Andean peasants waged a bitter civil war that left some 69,000 people dead. Using archival research and oral interviews, Before the Shining Path is the first long-term historical examination of the Shining Path's political, economic, and social antecedents in Ayacucho, the department where the Shining Path initiated its war. This study uncovers rural Ayacucho's vibrant but largely unstudied twentieth-century political history and contends that the Shining Path was the last and most extreme of a series of radical political movements that indigenous peasants pursued. The Shining Path's violence against rural indigenous populations exposed the tight hold of anti-Indian prejudice inside Peru, as rebels reproduced the same hatreds they aimed to defeat. But, this was nothing new. Heilman reveals that minute divides inside rural indigenous communities repeatedly led to violent conflict across the twentieth century. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Map......Page 14 Introduction......Page 18 1. Small Towns and Giant Hells: The Politics of Abandon in Rural Ayacucho, 1895–1919......Page 32 2. To Unify Those of Our Race: The Tawantinsuyo Movement in 1920s Ayacucho......Page 59 3. We Will No Longer Be Servile: Peasants, Populism, and APRA in 1930s Ayacucho......Page 88 4. When the Ink Dries: The Politics of Literacy in Midcentury Ayacucho......Page 113 5. The Last Will Be First: Trotskyism and Popular Action in the Belaúnde Years......Page 137 6. Unfinished Revolutions:Ayacucho and the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces, 1968–1978......Page 165 7. Abandoned Again: 1978 Onward......Page 190 Conclusion......Page 208 Notes......Page 218 Bibliography......Page 250 Index......Page 260 From 1980 to 1992, Maoist Shining Path rebels, Peruvian state forces, and Andean peasants waged a bitter civil war that left some 69,000 people dead. Using archival research and oral interviews, this book is a long-term historical examination of the Shining Path's political, economic, and social antecedents in Ayacucho, the department where the Shining Path initiated its war. This study uncovers rural Ayacucho's vibrant, but largely unstudied twentieth-century political history and contends that the Shining Path was the last and most extreme of a series of radical political movements that indigenous peasants pursued Small towns and giant hells : the politics of abandon in rural Ayacucho, 1895-1919 To unify those of our race : the Tawantinsuyo Movement in 1920s Ayacucho We will no longer be servile : peasants, populism, and APRA in 1930s Ayacucho When the ink dries : the politics of literacy in midcentury Ayacucho The last will be first : Trotskyism and popular action in the Belaúnde years Unfinished revolutions : Ayacucho and the revolutionary government of the armed forces, 1968-1978 Abandoned again : 1978 onward. From 1980 to 1992, Maoist Shining Path rebels, Peruvian state forces, and Andean peasants waged a bitter civil war that left some 69,000 people dead, the overwhelming majority of whom were indigenous men and women from rural Andean communities. This book traces nearly 100 years of historical processes that prefaced the conflict. It is the first long-term historical examination of the Shining Path's political, economic, and social antecedents