The Road to the Eight-Hour Working Day in Peru and Bolivia, 1905-1930

Abstract

In 1905, workers in Peru and Bolivia commemorated the May 1st for the first time. They were taking the initial step that would lead them, years later, to conquer the eight-hour working day. Based on an extensive documentary corpus, which includes periodicals, union, and legislative documentation, in the present article, we propose to reconstruct this path, in which Peruvian and Bolivian anarcho-syndicalism had an outstanding presence and performance. Using the comparative method, we will address the different stages of this process and the main social conflicts that preceded that conquest. In so doing, we manage to reveal the similarities and differences between the cases. Not only concerning the eight-hour struggle and the significant libertarian experience developed there during the first decades of the 20th century but also about the process of configuration of the labour movement in both countries of the Andean region.