To Lead As Equals: Rural Protest and Political Consciousness in Chinandega, Nicaragua, 1912-1979 / Edition 1

by Jeffrey L. Gould

Overview

This book is a carefully argued study of peasants and labor during the Somoza regime, focusing on popular movements in the economically strategic department of Chinandega in western Nicaragua. Jeffrey Gould traces the evolution of group consciousness among peasants and workers as they moved away from extreme dependency on the patron to achieve an autonomous social and political ideology. In doing so, he makes important contributions to peasant studies and theories of revolution, as well as our understanding of Nicaraguan history.

According to Gould, when Anastasio Somoza first came to power in 1936, workers and peasants took the Somocista reform program seriously. Their initial acceptance of Somocismo and its early promises of labor rights and later ones of land redistribution accounts for one of the most peculiar features of the pre-Sandinista political landscape: the wide gulf separating popular movements and middle-class opposition to the government. Only the alliance of the Frente Sandinista (FSLN) and the peasant movement would knock down the wall of silence between the two forces.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807842751
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	09/14/1990
Edition description:	1
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Jeffrey L. Gould is assistant professor of history at Indiana University.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Students of Nicaragua will find this book useful for its documentation of the emergence of the Somoza regime, and its striking revisionist portrayal of the relationship between the Somoza power elite and popular struggles for land, workers' rights, and gradually, political power.—Latin American Anthropology Review



A rare book... an engaging ethnohistorical study of rural political protest in northwestern Nicaragua during this century.—American Ethnologist



In rich and extraordinary detail, Gould has presented a previously unexplored aspect of Nicaraguan political history, the existence of an active tradition of rural resistance … The view from Chinandega casts new light on both the Somocista state and on the Sandinista Revoulution, but most importantly, it introduces us the extraordinary lives and struggles of the campesinos ... This is a worthy companion to John Womack's Zapata and the Mexican Revolution.—William Roseberry, in International Labor and Working Class History



Essential reading for anyone interested in Third World peasant or labor movements, and it makes a valuable contribution to understanding the origins of the Nicaraguan revolution.—American Historical Review



To Lead as Equals reconstructs, virtually from scratch, major features of modern Nicaraguan history with the use of oral testimony, sugar estate and newspaper records. . . . A remarkable achievement.—Lowell Gudmundson, University of Oklahoma



This is an outstanding piece of historical research and writing. The author has great sensitivity and respect for local ideology and culture. His use of oral historical sources is impeccable.—Florencia E. Mallon, University of Wisconsin-Madison



A welcome addition for students of both Nicaraguan history and of rural protest in Central America and beyond.—Journal of Development Studies



[Offers] new and compelling interpretations of key events and watersheds in Nicaraguan history.—Journal of Latin American Studies



Jeffrey Gould's beautifully written and passionate work, To Lead As Equals, brings the rural people of the northwestern Nicaraguan department of Chinandega to life. . . . One of the most original studies of twentieth-century Latin American agrarian movements to be found.—Journal of Peasant Studies

Editorial Reviews

ÝOffers¨ new and compelling interpretations of key events and watersheds in Nicaraguan history.

"Journal of Latin American Studies"

[Offers] new and compelling interpretations of key events and watersheds in Nicaraguan history.

"Journal of Latin American Studies"

A welcome addition for students of both Nicaraguan history and of rural protest in Central America and beyond.

"Journal of Development Studies"

Gould's beautifully written and passionate work . . . brings the rural people of the northwestern Nicaraguan department of Chinandega to life.

"Journal of Peasant Studies"

Students of Nicaragua will find this book useful.

"Latin American Anthology Review"

From the Publisher

A study of peasants and labor under the Somoza regime, focusing on the economically strategic area of Chinandega in western Nicaragua. Gould (history, Indiana) traces the evolution of group consciousness as peasants and workers developed a social and political ideology separate from that of the patrons. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews