Revolution in the Countryside: Rural Conflict and Agrarian Reform in Guatemala, 1944-1954

by Jim Handy

Although most discussions of the Guatemalan "revolution" of 1944-54 focus on international and national politics, Revolution in the Countryside presents a more complex and integrated picture of this decade. Jim Handy examines the rural poor, both Maya and Ladino, as key players who had a decisive impact on the nature of change in Guatemala. He looks at the ways in which ethnic and class relations affected government policy and identifies the conflict generated in the countryside by new economic and social policies. Handy provides the most detailed discussion yet of the Guatemalan agrarian reform, and he shows how peasant organizations extended its impact by using it to lay claim to land, despite attempts by agrarian officials and the president to apply the law strictly. By focusing on changes in rural communities, and by detailing the coercive measures used to reverse the "revolution in the countryside" following the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, Handy provides a framework for interpreting more recent events in Guatemala, especially the continuing struggle for land and democracy.

Genres: History

284 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

Reviews

[David Hollingsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read the books about the 1954 US coup in Guatemala, but have always wondered if a book existed about what actually happened within Guatemala itself during the 10 Years of Spring. The books about the coup, such as those by Kinzer and Gleijeses, touch on it of course, but it's not their focus. Enter "Revolution in the Countryside" by Jim Handy.

This book is relatively short (only 207 pages if you don't count the notes), but pretty informative. The subtitle about "rural conflict" is not just a part of the title in this book, but a huge part of the book. It basically describes the conditions of class and race in Guatemala before and during the 10 Years of Spring, as well as a little bit after. A large part of it describes the conflicts that arose from land reform in the countryside.

Handy clearly did his homework here. Everything is incredibly well-documented and he draws from a great variety of sources. Considering how difficult it usually is to get sources about what happens in rural areas, the amount of detail brought in here is impressive. Reports from various institutions, from papers to government records to NGOs to documents from revolutionary organizations are used to provide an excellently sourced read.

My only real issue, other than things getting overly information dense at a couple points, is Handy's assertion that what happened in the countryside was more important than the coup in overthrowing the Arbenz regime. It's a weird assertion and made almost defensively in response to what he says are the erroneous claims that the coup happened mostly because of a plot by the United Fruit Company (no doubt a dig at Stephen Kinzer's "Bitter Fruit"). The thing is, Kinzer focused his book on the US role in the coup, but nowhere did he say the countryside didn't matter. Handy is replying to a strawman by making a needlessly binary distinction between the US plotters and domestic agents Handy describes, and it's neither necessary or helpful.

That aside, though, I enjoyed this book. Though it can feel a bit dense in a few areas and a bit unfocused in others, overall it works very well. I'm glad to have read it and learned much more about how land reform functioned in Guatemala before, during, and after the 10 Years of Spring.

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

great research & primary sources, draws weird conclusions

[Rodolfo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and short account of the Arévalo and Arbenz years and how rural reform was thrusted as the main issue behind those governments. The book is very informative on how class and race conflicts were intertwined in the Guatemalan countryside, and how Arbenz policy helped solve centuries of injustice but at the same time was too pro-Mayan for the urban middle classes, helping to drive away their support with threats of a 'race war'. This eventually caused him to be deposed.