LA FORMACIÓN DE LAS HACIENDAS AZUCARERAS Y LOS ORIGENES DEL APRA.

By Peter Klaren '60. Peru: Francisco Moncloa Editores, 1970. 219 PP.130 soles ($3.25).

In recent years Peruvian politics have been largely shaped by the existence of PAP (Partido Aprista Peruano), a political party founded in 1930 by Victor Raul Haya de la Torre. Peter Klaren's study of the origin of PAP is a welcome addition to the already large bibliography dealing with the impact of PAP in Peru.

The rise of Haya de la Torre's party is usually viewed as another consequence of the economic depression that shook the Latin-American social fabric after 1929. Mr. Klaren has effectively challenged this interpretation by showing that the origins of PAP are to be found in the economic and social transformation brought about by the modernization of the sugar industry in the late nineteenth century.

The first chapters describe the system of land tenure in the sugar-producing regions, the gradual concentration of land in the hands of the Larco brothers, Juan Gildemeister, and the W. R. Grace Company in the 1870's, and the modernization of the sugar industry at a time when the European demand for sugar was high. Mr. Klaren goes on to analyze the economic and social effects of these transformations: the destruction of a traditional agrarian structure, the creation of a mass of salaried workers who will soon agitate for better working conditions, the disappearance of small farmers, and the changes which took place in the towns. He then shows how the PAP was founded by young intellectuals who came from this area and how the party recruited its members among the people whose lives had been deeply affected by the transformation of the sugar industry.

Mr. Klaren's book will interest not only Latin American specialists but also all those concerned with the impact of modern technology and foreign investments in the underdeveloped world.

Assistant Professor of History at DartmouthCollege, Mrs. Gerassi teaches courses concentrating on Latin America.