THE BREAKDOWN OF PROVINCIAL URBAN POWER STRUCTURE AND THE RISE OF PEASANT MOVEMENTS

Abstract

It has long been recognized that the study of peasant movements requires two basic methodological rules for its proper understanding: first, the focus of the study must be both on the interaction process which binds the peasantry to its overlord and the social forces that impinge upon both poles of interaction; second, such study must necessarily deal with the historical contexts within which the interaction process between lord and peasant develops. The main purpose of this paper is to apply these two methodological rules to a case study of a) the transformation of a regional power structure and b) the origins and development of a peasant movement that swept an intermountain valley of Peruvian Central Sierra dominated by the hacienda system, transforming it into a region of Indian communities. A second purpose of the paper is to derive certain theoretical generalizations from the empirical case which can be relevant for the development of a theory of political peasant movements. Finally, a third objective of the paper is to discuss in the light of the empirical information at-hand the role of successful peasant movements in the development process of dependent, unequally developed societies, like Peru