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 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

FROM THE REPUBLICA ARISTOCRATICA TO PAN GRANDE

GUILLERMO BILLINGHURST AND POPULIST POLITICS
IN EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY PERU

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Jose Luis Huiza

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A DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty

of the University of Miami
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in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for

the degree o f Doctor of Philosophy

Coral Gables, Florida

May, 1998

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 UMI Number; 9824554

Copyright 1998 by
Huiza, Jose Luis

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© 1998
Jose Luis Huiza
All Rights Reserved

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 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

FROM THE REPUBLICA ARISTOCRATICA TO PAN GRANDE:

GUILLERMO BILLINGHURST AND POPULIST POLITICS
IN EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY PERU

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Approved:
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31
Dr. Steve Stein Dr. Steven G. Ullman
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Professor of History Interim Dean of the Graduate

Chairperson of the Dissertation School
Committee

Dr. Robert M. Levine Dr. Thomas Abercrombie

Professor of History Assistant Professor o f History

Dr. William C. Smith Dr. Hugh Thomas

Professor of Political Science Associate Professor o f History

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 HUIZA, JOSE LUIS (P h .D ., H isto ry )

From the Republica Aristocratica to Pan Grande: (May, 1998)

Guillermo Billinghurst and Populist Politics in
Early Twentieth Century Peru

Abstract o f a doctoral dissertation at the University of Miami.

Dissertation supervised by Professor Steve Stein.

No. of Pages in text: 374.

The presidential election of 1912 was a milestone in modem Peruvian political

history. That year, the masses abruptly appeared on the political scene by supporting the

candidacy of Guillermo Billinghurst, a wealthy, upper-class businessman. A scant twenty

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days before the elections, Billinghurst announced his candidacy and asked Pern’s

President, Augusto B. Leguia, to postpone the elections. Leguia refused. In response,

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workers’ organizations went on a general strike. Following four days o f street
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demonstrations and violence, Leguia was forced to concede and cancel the elections. In

September, 1912, radical workers compelled Pern’s Congress to elect Guillermo

Billinghurst as the new President of Peru. Following his election, Billinghurst

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strengthened his relationship with the popular sectors by passing labor legislation in their

favor. While labor clearly supported Billinghurst’s government, Pern’s traditional

oligarchy, fearing working class radicalism, called on the military to intervene and save

the republic. In February, 1914, Guillermo Billinghurst was ousted in a military coup

d ’etat and exiled from Pern. This dissertation analyzes the social, economic, and political

conditions that led to Billinghurst’s successful candidacy. It also focuses on the reasons

behind the ultimate failure of his populist government.

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 Para Miriam, Isabel y Carolina, y a la memoria de mi madre.

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1X1

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 Acknowledgements

Many thanks go to those who supported, encouraged, and helped me in completing

this dissertation. The members of my committee, Professors Robert M. Levine, Thomas

Abercrombie, William C. Smith, and Hugh Thomas deserve special appreciation for their

patience and valuable comments. In particular, I want to thank my committee chair,

Professor Steve Stein, for his guidance, critiques, confidence, and support, not to mention

the marvelous collection of research materials to which he exposed me in preparation for

this dissertation.

I would also like to extend my appreciation to Douglas Trefzger for his invaluable

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assistance in translating, formatting, proof-reading, and preparing my dissertation for its
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final submittal to the Graduate School.

An especially heartfelt thank-you goes to Mrs. Lenny Del Granado, from both me
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and my family. Lenny’s constant and unfailing encouragement motivated me to complete

this dissertation, even when it seemed like there was no light at the end o f the tunnel.
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She has my eternal gratitude.

My thanks to my long-time friend and colleague, Michael LaRosa, for his constant

encouragement and support. Michael is indeed one-of-a-kind.

Finally, this dissertation would have been impossible without the love and support

of my wife, Miriam, and our two daughters, Carolina and Isabel. This work is dedicated

to them and to the memory of my mother.

iv

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 Table of Contents

List o f Tables and Figures vi

Chapter I Introduction 1

Chapter II Political Power and Society: The Aristocratic Republic

The Gentlemen: Landholders, Exporters, Businessmen,
Bankers, Industrialists, Professionals and Politicians
or Everyone at Once 26

Chapter III The Popular Sectors 147

Chapter IV The Aristocratic Republic’sFirst Crisis:Presidential

Succession in 1912 and the Election of Guillermo
Billinghurst 273

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Chapter V Conclusions 366

Bibliography 370
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 List of Figures

Page

Figure 1: Lima: Inter-Census Growth, 1876-1920 185

Figure 2: Lima 1900-1930: Gross Natality Rate (GNR) 187

Five-Year Rates

Figure 3: Lima 1900-1930: Gross Mortality Rate (GMR) 190

Five-Year Rates

Figure 4: Lima 1900-1917: Deaths Caused by Tuberculosis 193

(Percentage of total deaths)

Figure 5: Lima 1876-1920: Racial Groups as a Percentage of

Total Provincial Population according to Census

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Data 202

Figure 6: Provincia de Lima: Population by Race according

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to Censuses 207

Figure 7: Provincia de Lima: Literacy o f the Population

Older than Six Years, according to Censuses 208
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Figure 8: Lima: Population Classified by Economic Activity 213

(Total numbers and percentages)
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Figure 9: Growth of the Occupations o f the Lower Sectors:

Lima, 1908-1920 217

Figure 10: Population of Lima without a Determined Occupation,

1908 (According to Race and Sex) 221

Figure 11: Lima: Living Expenses by Category and Percentage 251

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 Chapter I

Introduction

At the beginning o f May 1912, the Peruvian people prepared to elect a new

President. The country was going through a period o f political stability, having enjoyed

three consecutive elected civilian governments. There was every reason to believe that

the current elections would occur without difficulty, le g itim izin g, once again, Peru’s

democratic system. During the final months his presidency, Civilista Augusto B. Leguia

(1908-1912), as was customary for the out-going head o f state, had named his candidate

and successor. Leguia’s choice had been Antero Aspillaga, a well-known politician and

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ranking member of the Partido Civilista. A northern hacendado connected to the sugar
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industry and a wealthy businessman, Aspillaga had occupied almost every high-ranking

post in the national polity, from party president to president o f Congress. Now he aspired
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to the national presidency. Aspillaga’s campaign had begun several months earlier, when

he had been chosen and his party’s electoral machinery placed at his disposal. Knowing
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that nothing could prevent his triumph, the official candidate waited confidently and

quietly for the moment when he would tie on the presidential sash.

Aspillaga had every reason to feel confident. The government -- that is, his

political party — controlled the electoral system and its organization. The party named

the Electoral Board and controlled the entire electoral process. The opposition,

conversely, found itself dispersed or virtually non-existent and certainly unable to present

a candidate capable o f competing with Aspillaga. His election, it seemed, was assured,

and the upcoming balloting promised one of the most boring elections in years.

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 2
Nonetheless, on May 4, a mere twenty days prior to the elections, Guillermo

Billinghurst stunned the electorate by announcing his candidacy for the presidency. A

prominent member o f the Partido Demdcrata, ex-Vice-President of Peru and ex-mayor

o f Lima, Billinghurst ~ who had retired from politics and distanced himself from his

party —surprised many by launching his campaign as an independent candidate, aligning

himself with no party. Billinghurst’s candidacy generated rapidly growing support within

almost every political and social sector of the country -- including within Aspillaga’s own

Partido Civil.

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A couple of weeks later, on May 19, Billinghurst led a massive demonstration --

so massive that it would gain notoriety as the biggest political demonstration ever seen
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in Peru and a milestone in Peruvian history. In short order, Billinghurst managed to

mobilize some 20,000 people, who marched fervently throughout the city, calling for a
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postponement of the elections.1 The demonstrators carried about a giant loaf o f bread

which bore the inscription, "This will cost five cents if Billinghurst is elected"; another
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loaf of bread followed, this one much smaller and bearing the inscription, "This will cost

twenty cents if Aspillaga is elected."2

Leguia’s government, in an effort to undermine the opposition’s possibilities for

success by denying it time to sufficiently run a campaign, decided to offer no special

'This statistic is shocking of one considers that the official candidate, counting on the
complete apparatus o f both the government and his party, could attract a mere two-
thousand participants to the meeting held on May 19.

2This was the famous demonstration of the "Pan Grande," a nickname by which
Billinghurst would later be known.

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extensions and carry out the elections on May 24 and 25, as planned. Nonetheless, during

those days, the pro-Billinghurst popular sectors, relying for strength on political clubs and

labor associations, carried out a series o f mobilizations and a general strike in the city --

the first general strike in Peruvian history. They took to the streets in force, attacking the

words and actions of the table chairmen named by the government, sacking and destroying

the voting tables. Defiantly, Billinghurst’s supporters filled the streets with forceful

demonstrations, attacked the governing party’s local offices, and succeeded in frustrating

the elections.3 The masses had demonstrated their preference: they wanted Guillermo

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Billinghurst to be their President.

Confronting the popular onslaught,4 and faced with Aspillaga’s candidacy (within
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some elite political circles, Aspillaga was considered a manifestation of continuismo, and

a spurious and antipathetic candidate), Congress assumed the obligation of electing Peru’s
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new President.5 Hence, in September 1912, Guillermo Billinghurst was proclaimed

President by a congressional majority and began his government. For the first time in
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Peru’s history, a member o f Peru’s lofty elite took governmental control thanks to the

3Paradoxically, the so-called "seizure of the tables" had been a practice utilized by the
traditional parties to win elections, as they literally stole the votes of their rivals.
Although many of them did not vote, the members of the popular sectors participated in
such "seizures," stirred up by party delegates and forming the brunt of their force.

4Possibly because they still had recent memories of the bloody popular response to
the coup staged by the Gutierrez brothers in 1872, not to mention their militant support
for Pierola during the civil war of 1895.

5In January 1912, important members of the Partido Civil, who opposed Leguia’s
government and Aspillaga’s candidacy, had divided the party, creating the Partido Civil
Independiente, and immediately becoming part of the anti-Leguia opposition. More than
an aversion to Aspillaga’s candidacy, their hatred for Leguia guided their actions.

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 4

decided and combative support of the popular sectors.

His government would demonstrate a clear inclination toward resolving the

problems of the working class, which would remain his base of political support.

Billinghurst would actively participate in favor of labor, as he tried to create labor laws

which would better their situation. Because of this, he awakened great expectations from

among the workers and their organizations, and from among the popular sectors in

general. But this very proximity would also generate doubts and fears from within Peru’s

dominant class.

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Feeling protected by the President, labor radicalized its demands, carrying out a

series of strikes which, at times, paralyzed the city. The dominant sectors felt besieged
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and under attack. From Congress, the opposition grew impatient and, countering its anti­

militaristic postulates, the Partido Civil and the other traditional parties conspired with the
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military —their enemy incarnate —to carry out a coup d ’etat which would restore them

to power. This conspiracy succeeded, despite the fact that scant months earlier it would
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have been considered impossible given the historical antagonism between both groups.

Arguing that the President sought to close Congress and arm the people, on February 4,

1914, the Peruvian army intervened once again in national politics, staging a coup d ’etat.

Almost completely abandoned by those who had just supported him, Billinghurst was

deposed and sent into exile in Chile, where he died a few months later. The coup d ’etat

placed Colonel Benavides in the national palace, who would return the reins of

government to civilian control a short time later. As such, the civil-military coup d ’etat

would end one of the first attempts in Latin America to establish a populist government.

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 5

Guillermo Billinghurst’s presidency marked what has come to be known as the

first crisis of the Aristocratic Republic, the name given for the political and social system

that characterized the 1895-1919 period. This chapter in Peruvian history, however, has

received very little attention. Hence, we confront an immediate problem: the lack of

either an abundant or precise bibliography on the subject. A review of Peruvian

historiography reveals that while Billinghurst’s government has been mentioned -- more

often than not in anecdotal form —little effort has been dedicated to its study. In general,

studies of the so-called Aristocratic Republic, and histories of Peru at the beginning of the

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twentieth century, represent an historiographical void, a major gap in the study of Peru’s

structure during those years. In effect, great attention has been paid to the War of the
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Pacific (1879-1883), from which a giant leap is made to Leguia’s second government, the

so-called oncenio (1919-1930). Exceptions to this rule include Jorge Basadre (Peru’s
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deacon of history), who dedicates a fair number of pages to Billinghurst’s government in

his general history of Peru, and a pair of pages on Billinghurst, written by the historian
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Ernesto Yepes. Focusing on the first years of the current century, Yepes mentions

Billinghurst’s government as the "first great fissure" of the Aristocratic Republic. Aside

from these, nothing else has been written in the country on this government.6

Outside of Peru, the situation is similar. We only have Peter Blanchard’s 1980

article, in the Journal o f Latin American Studies, which was later included in his book on

6See Jorge Basadre, Historia de la Republica del Peru. 1823-1932. Lima: Editorial
Universitaria, 1970. Especially, Volume 12, Chapters CLV and CLVI. See also, Ernesto
Yepes, "El desarrollo peruano en las primeras decadas del siglo XX," In Nueva Historia
General del Peru. Carlos Aranibar, editor. Lima: Mosca Azul Editores, 1981; especially
pp. 151-154.

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 6
the history of Peru’s labor movement.7 This is not to say that Billinghurst’s government

has not caught the attention o f scholars. Generally, history texts mention him, albeit only

in passing, without explaining him or offering greater detail, as a government with broad

popular support -- nothing else.

Both Basadre and Yepes frame this government as the first political crisis of the

Aristocratic Republic.8 Basadre originated this idea. In his voluminous work, previously

mentioned, and under the same title, "The first crisis of the Aristocratic Republic," he

dedicates two chapters to Billinghurst’s government. Coinciding with this version, Yepes

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conducts a more or less balanced analysis of the first years o f the twentieth century, in

an effort to describe the dynamics of the country’s capitalist development. Concerning

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the achievements and the significance of Billinghurst’s government, Yepes proposes a

position with which we agree: that his government did not represent a break in the
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structure of existent social relations within the country during the period, although it

certainly readjusted the dynamic of the country’s capitalist development. That is to say,
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everything that happened during his government -- those measures against the

establishment of a railroad to Ucayali, the incorporation of labor into the political game,

labor laws, and, above all, strikes -- affected imperialist capital, above all, because of the

7Peter Blanchard, The Origins of the Peruvian Labor Movement. 1883-1930.

Pittsburgh: University o f Pittsburgh Press, 1982. Chapter 6. An earlier version of this
chapter appeared as "A Populist Precursor: Guillermo Billinghurst." In the Journal o f
Latin American Studies 9, 2, 251-273.

8This is the generally accepted notion by historians and political scientists. The
second crisis occurred with Leguia’s second government (1919-1930), which brought the
Aristocratic Republic to an end.

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 7
climate of instability that resulted.

Basadre was the first to explain Billinghurst’s ample popular support, the source

of his ascent. According to this author, Billinghurst’s popularity among the workers

originated during his work as mayor, when he demonstrated a preference for solving the

problems of the popular sectors, winning their sympathy. From this image emerges the

historical characterization of Billinghurst that appears in the majority of Pern’s historical

biographies -- namely, that of a leader who came to power with popular support, thanks

to his work as a mayor.

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This version is always repeated. However, it explains little when we take into

account the fact that other personalities from the dominant sectors had carried out

praiseworthy work in favor of solving social problems. Without going off on too far a
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tangent, during the period Jose Matias Manzanilla took great pains to struggle for pro­
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labor legislation, often leading him to confront Congress. Luis Miro Quesada, another

distinguished member of the oligarchy, elaborated a noteworthy study on labor problems,

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which he distributed to every tribunal, calling with urgency for labor legislation. And

Federico Elguera, a popular and influential personality and the mayor of the city for some

years (1901-1908), not to mention a true activist in the city’s transformation, was known

well by workers. Indeed, their organizations elected him as their representative to

Congress. Nonetheless, none o f these men awakened the same popular sympathy and

influence that Billinghurst did.

This is particularly noteworthy because Billinghurst’s achievements as mayor have

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been exaggerated in most studies.9 For example, Billinghurst’s alleged zeal for building

houses for workers has often been cited as one of the biggest reasons for winning their

support. Yet, we know that while he certainly agreed with the idea o f giving beautiful,

low-cost housing to workers, we also know that during his stint as mayor, he constructed

only two dwellings. Additionally, these were raffled off only to people who fulfilled very

exclusive prerequisites (being older than 50 years and having more than five children,

etc.). This was not a measure of massive character, although, given its results, it was

apparently very effective.

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Even then, this was not an original idea. The problem of dwellings for workers

had already been confronted by other members of the dominant sectors. Such was clearly
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a policy during Manuel Pardo’s first government (1904-1908), when Pardo charged

experts from the state with studying the problem.10 Aspillaga also included it,
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coincidentally, in his election platform for 1912. That is to say, Billinghurst was not a

pioneer in this area. Nor was the improvement in workers’ dwellings an element in the
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program of labor struggle, as was. for example, the eight-hour shift. There must have

been other reasons for his popular support.

9In one o f the mysteries of his public career, Billinghurst was surprisingly elected
mayor in 1910 (because the official mayor, Antero Aspillaga, had resigned to prepare for
his campaign), when he did not even appear on the lists. He would win reelection in
1911. The Boletines Municipales from the period indicated that Billinghurst requested
a leave for several months, distancing himself from the post for business reasons.

1QSee, for example, the report by Dr. Santiago Basurco and Ing. Leonides Avendano:
"Informe sobre las casas de vecindad en Lima, 1906." B oletin de la Direction de
Salubridad. Lima, 1907. In 1908, Pardo passed this report on to the municipality of Lima
so that it could take actions with respect to its recommendations.

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In his previously mentioned work, Peter Blanchard notes Billinghurst’s importance

to the labor movement, which is the subject o f his study. As such, his interpretation is

partial, in the sense that Billinghurst’s government does not warrant interest in and of

itself; rather it is considered important only as part of the political experience o f the labor

movement. For Blanchard, Billinghurst’s government provided an important impulse to

the development of the labor movement. The gains achieved by the labor sectors, seen

from this standpoint, reflected the desire o f the President to help them, their growing

strength as a movement, and the elites’ recognition o f that alliance’s power. Yet, this

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reflects a lack o f confidence their own leadership. This is an idea which we share with

the author.
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Blanchard’s focus draws on elements o f justice to explain the phenomenon. The

author characterizes the Billinghurst government as an early populism or a proto-populism

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—that is to say, a very particular political experience." In the first place, this movement

differed from other Latin American populist movements in that it did not begin in the
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1930s; rather, it began much earlier. This is important, because it will demonstrate that

as opposed to the social moment which characterized traditional populist movements --

growing urbanization, the development o f the middle sectors, modernization of the

productive apparatus, etc. — Billinghurst’s government developed within a society that

could still be characterized as traditionally and basically rural. Hence, the particular

features of this experience demonstrated the limitations of the perspective often taken on

"This idea appears to be very marked in the article from JLAS. When it became a
chapter o f his book, the idea was diluted in favor o f the observation of labor activities.

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populist movements, of political and social movements with uniform characteristics. This

government broke with classic schemes which characterize Latin American populism, and

from this standpoint, its study carries singular importance in better characterizing such

particular experiences.

In our work, we will attempt to fill what we consider to be a void in the study of

the country’s history. We propose to study Billinghurst’s government, inserting it within

the process of general Peruvian historical development, on one hand, and the particular

development of the so-called Aristocratic Republic, on the other. Taken as such, we

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believe that this singular experience loses its anecdotal character and finds its real

significance within the unfolding of Peruvian history. In this work, we will observe what
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conditions led to the initiation and development o f Billinghurst’s government, not only
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from the elite perspective, but also from the viewpoint of the development of the popular

sectors. We hope to explain why this government emerged, why a man from outside the
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popular sectors enjoyed their decided support, why this political attempt failed, and what

motivated the coup d 'etat which brought it to its end.

We believe that the study of this government is important for explaining later

phenomena which characterized the country’s history, the foundations of which were laid

precisely during these years.12 Hence, we begin with the consideration that Billinghurst’s

government marked an important moment in the country’s economic, political, and social

l2In recent years, Billinghurst’s government has repeatedly been cited in comparison
to the auto-coup perpetrated by President Fujimori in 1992, when he dissolved Congress,
accusing it of obstructing the country’s development.

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transformation. This process is characterized by economic stability, political stability, and

changes in the population’s social composition, not to mention efforts by the dominant

sectors to generate, through the state, a more modem development of Peruvian society,

in order to better integrate Pern into the world capitalist system.

A first level of analysis, then, centers on studying the dominant sectors. In this

sense, the first hypothesis of the work is that the Billinghurst government was possible

because of the crisis that was occurring within the dominant sectors as a consequence of

the struggle between two antagonistic currents. On one hand, the oligarchy’s old guard

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opposed a modernizing transformation. On the other hand, a group of young members

of the Partido Civil’s reformist wing considered it necessary to carry out certain social
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transformations in order to place the country in a more advantageous position within the

world system.
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This assertion is important, for while it is true that the Aristocratic Republic’s

dominant class possessed no ideology, we can affirm that there did exist at least a
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conception of where the country should be in terms of modernity and its fit with a more

dynamic capitalist system.13 More than a mere struggle to impose the President of their

whims —that is, a mere electoral confrontation —the struggle that appeared between the

two factions of the dominant sectors demonstrates that there existed a difference of

opinion on society and social development, or at least on the practicality of the oligarchic

state generating a development process.

t3With respect to the lack of ideology, see: Manuel Burga and Alberto Flores Galindo,
Appgeo v crisis de la republica aristocratica. Lima: Ediciones Rikchay Peru, 1984. p. 83.

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In political terms, this struggle was characterized by the opposition between

Congress -- represented by the parties and, consequently, by the old guard conservatives -

- and the Presidents and their technocrats or progressive intellectuals (Pardo and Leguia

are good examples of the latter). A second hypothesis o f this work is, then, that the

Peruvian political system was inclining toward a political system dominated by the parties,

which, based on electoral alliances, could impose their will for a more personalistic and

reformist system, a species of presidentialism. And this is precisely what the conservative

sectors wanted to avoid when they opposed Billinghurst, as they had already done when

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they opposed Leguia.

From the confrontation between these tendencies arose the Aristocratic Republic’s
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political crisis, an antagonistic process which evidenced the lack of cohesion within the

dominant class. The electoral struggles among and within the parties, would distract them
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from their primary function (ignoring the countries problems, above all, social problems),

rendering their political dominion more vulnerable and weak. In a sense, this placed their
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capacity to lead and their very legitimacy as a dominant class on trial before the

dominated sectors.14 It comes as no surprise that the crises would flourish precisely

during the presidential successions, when personal appetites came to light. This

additionally demonstrated the orientation of Peru’s democratic political system: a

democracy whose ultimate end was an electoral exercise in which not everybody

14This lack of interior cohesion within the dominant sectors is noted by Steve Stein,
who argues that this was due to the lack of partisan principles and the personal ambitions
o f the leaders, who placed themselves above the system. Steve Stein, Populism in Peru.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1980. p. 48.

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participated.

With such considerations, we repeat that our work proposes the study of the

dominant sectors as our first level o f analysis, above all, as a study o f the dynamics of

the parties which represented them within the electoral process —particularly the Partido

Civil.

Between the two antagonistic groups of the dominant sectors were the popular

sectors, which, through their direct participation in Billinghurst’s election, demonstrated

their electoral importance, becoming a new element to take into account in national

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politics. From this viewpoint, a third hypothesis of this work affirms that the popular
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support for Billinghurst’s government was possible due to the fact that this sector was in

the throws of a formation process and based its actions on its previous political
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experience. This was characterized by the lack of autonomy of a movement linked to the

President, which converted it into his ally against Congress and the political parties, which
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they considered their enemies as they opposed every legal reform that might benefit them.

As a corollary of this, we additionally hypothesize that the attitude in favor o f Billinghurst

represented a continuity o f political experience for the popular sectors. Historically, the

popular sectors were linked powerfully to the traditional political system, through certain

forms of political alliances with the group in power. That is to say, these sectors

maintained a traditionally clientelistic relationship with the government.

The lack of leadership in the popular movement, as with the lack of a true

understanding of their situation and interests as an antagonistic class, is one o f the reasons

for this lack of political autonomy. Hence, the study of the popular sectors composes our

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