Document Type

Book Chapter

Editor

James M. Malloy

Richard S. Thorn

Publication Title

Beyond the Revolution: Bolivia Since 1952

Publisher

University of Pittsburgh Press

Publication Date

1971

Publisher location

Pittsburgh, PA

First Page

301

Last Page

339

Abstract/ Summary

Bolivia's National Revolutionary party (MNR) seized power in April 1952 and a year and a half later in August 1953 promulgated the agrarian reform law, which redistributed the land of the haciendas to the former Indian tenants and others. This comparative economic study of the haciendas and ex-haciendas in the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia and Peru was undertaken to answer three important, but largely unresolved, questions about land reform: (1 ) Which land-tenure system-large estates or small peasant farms-affords the agriculture laborers and cultivators the greater freedom of mobility, opportunity, income, and education? (2) Did the Land-tenancy conditions of a typical latifundio ("large landed estate") land-tenure system border on serfdom and preclude freedom and was this system largely responsible for the low standard of living and education of the rural population in a traditional agrarian economy? (3) Is there any validity to the contention that "land reform is not only a reform of the way land is held but just as much reform of the man who tills the land?"

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Burke, M. (1971). Land reform in the Lake Titicaca region. In J.M. Malloy & R.S. Thorn, Beyond the Revolution: Bolivia Since 1952. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Publisher Statement

© Copyright 1971 by the University of Pittsburgh Press

Version

other

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